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From: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 11-12
Greeting
Thanksgiving
[5] This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be made wor-
thy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.
Prayer for Perseverance
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Commentary:
1-2. This heading is similar to that of the first letter. Two slight differences bear
comment. The first is the adjective “our” applied to God the Father. This under-
lines the divine filiation of Christians. Only the second person, the Word, is the
Son of God by nature; human beings are children of God by adoption, thanks to
the Son’s deigning to make us sharers in the divine filiation which is his in all its
fullness; in theology this is expressed in the well-known proposition that we are
“filii in Filio,” sons in the Son. “The Son of God, his only son by nature,” St
Augustine says, “deigned to become Son of man, so that we who are sons of
man by nature might become sons of God by grace” (”The City of God”, 21,15).
And St lrenaeus explains that “if the Word became flesh, and if the Son of God
became Son of man, he did this so that man, by entering into communion with
the Word and receiving the privilege of adoption, might become a son of God”
(”Against Heresies”, 2,19).
The Second Vatican Council gives the same teaching when it says that “the fol-
lowers of Christ, called by God not in virtue of their works but by his design and
grace, and justified in the Lord Jesus, have been made sons of God in the bap-
tism of faith and partakers of the divine nature, and so are truly sanctified” (”Lu-
men Gentium”, 40). The full import of what Christian life means becomes clear
if one keeps in mind “this expressible and simple fact—that he is our Father and
we are his children” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 144).
The second difference in the heading (as compared with the first letter) is that it
specifically says that grace comes “from God the Father and [from] the Lord Je-
sus Christ”. Peace is inseparable from grace, and has its source in God. That is
why the Second Vatican Council emphasized that “peace on earth, which flows
from love of one’s neighbor, symbolizes and derives from the peace of Christ
which proceeds from God the Father” (”Gaudium Et Spes”, 78).
See the note on 1 Thess 1:1-2.
3-4. As in other letters, the Apostle expresses his deep gratitude to the Lord (cf.
Phil 4:6; Col 3:15-17; 1 Tim 2:1; etc.). By doing so he is imitating Jesus himself
who at the start of prayer used to praise the Father and give him thanks (cf. Mt
11:25; 15:36; 26:27 and par.; Jn 11:41; etc.). In its supreme act of worship, the
Mass, the Church exclaims at the start of the Preface: “We do well always and
everywhere to give you thanks.” In addition to showing the nobility of our feelings,
gratefulness also puts us in the way of further gifts, because the Lord is particu-
larly well disposed to a humble and grateful heart. As St Bernard teaches,
“someone who humbly recognizes himself as obliged for gifts and who is grateful
for them, is bound to receive many more. For if he shows that he is faithful in lit-
tle things, he has a right to be entrusted with many; whereas on the contrary,
someone who does not appreciate the favors he has been given renders himself
unworthy of being given additional favors” (”Sermons on Psalm 90”, 4).
That is why the Christian feels the need to express his gratitude to God: “Thank
you, my Jesus, for your choosing to become perfect Man, with a most loving and
lovable heart; a heart which loves unto death; a heart which suffers; which is fitted
with joy and sorrow; which delights in the things of men and shows us the way to
heaven; which subjects itself heroically to duty and acts with mercy; which wat-
ches over the poor and the rich, which cares for sinners and the just.... Thank
you, my Jesus. Give us hearts to measure up to Yours!” (St. J. Escriva, “Furrow”,
813).
“Your faith is growing”: faith needs to grow, it needs to be alive. It grows when it
is joined to love. The Thessalonians were active in their practice of faith and love,
and this meant that their morale was good despite persecution and affliction. “Ob-
serve how the love and mutual solidarity of the believers is a great help in resis-
ting evils and bearing affliction,” St John Chrysostom says. “That deep fraternity
was a great source of consolation. It is only a weak faith and an imperfect charity
that afflictions cause to waver; but a solid, robust faith is in fact strengthened by
affliction. A weak, languid soul derives no benefit from suffering, whereas a gene-
rous soul finds in suffering a source of new energy” (”Hom. on 2 Thess, ad loc.”).
5. Fidelity to God, even in a situation which is adverse and difficult; is a guaran-
tee of future reward. Our Lord sometimes allows us to experience suffering for
the sake of the Gospel; he thereby tests our love and makes us worthy of the
enduring Kingdom which awaits us in the life to come. In a particularly authori-
tative way, Paul VI taught that “the Kingdom of God begun here below in the
Church of Christ is not of this world whose form is passing, and [...] its proper
growth cannot be confounded with the progress of civilization, of science or of
human technology, but [...] consists in an ever more profound knowledge of the
unfathomable riches of Christ, an ever stronger hope in eternal blessings, an
ever more ardent response to the Love of God, and an ever more generous be-
stowal of grace and holiness among men” (”Creed of the People of God”, 27).
Suffering, like faith, should he accepted as a mark of God’s special love: “it has
been granted to you that...you should not only believe in him but also suffer for
his sake” (Phil 1:29). Making the same point Bl. John Paul II reminds us that
“in bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised hu-
man suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus each man, in his suffering,
can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ” (”Salvifici Dolo-
ris”, 19).
11. St. Paul takes up the thread of the prayer he began in v. 4, asking God to
keep the believers true to their calling. He himself is very good example of how
teachers of Christian doctrine should approach their work; he does not confine
himself to expounding the truths of faith: the first step he takes is to pray for his
work to be fruitful. St. Augustine observes that anyone who wants to teach the
word of God “tries as far as possible to make his words understandable, pleasing
and persuasive. But he should be convinced that if he is to obtain a good result
it will be due more to the piety of his prayers than to his gifts of speech. And so,
praying for those he is to address, he should be more a supplicant than a spea-
ker. When the time comes for him to speak, before actually doing so he should
raise his parched soul to God that he may utter only what he has himself eaten
and drunk” (”Christian Instruction”, 4, 15).
The Apostle asks God to make the Thessalonians “worthy of his call”, that their
efforts should have the support of divine grace, for no supernatural action can be
planned, begun or brought to a conclusion without the grace of God (cf. Boniface
II, “Per Filium Nostrum, Dz-Sch”, 399). Hence the liturgical prayer: “Lord, be the
beginning and end of all that we do and say. Prompt our actions with your grace,
and complete them with your all-powerful help” (”Liturgy of the Hours”, Morning
Prayer, Monday Week 1).
12. The Greek formula here translated as “according to the grace of our God and
the Lord Jesus Christ” could also be interpreted as “according to the grace of our
God and Lord Jesus Christ”—in which case we would have here a confession of
Christological faith which would be of enormous value on account of its antiquity.
It would be an acknowledgment of Christ being both God (”Theos”) and Lord
(”Kyrios”), that is, “Iesus Christus, Dominus et Deus noster”. However, the ex-
pression “our God” often appears in Pauline writings (cf., in this very chapter, vv.
2 and 11); he also frequently uses the formula “Lord Jesus Christ”. This suggests
that there is a distinction between “our God” and “the Lord Jesus Christ” (or even
“our Lord Jesus Christ”); hence the preferred translation.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.