Category Archives: Index

Closing thoughts So I started with just the text and Gordon Fee’s commentary on 2 Thess. And I soon worked with just the text as I found Fee too unwilling to consider the possibility that these events had already happened. … Continue reading →

Verse-by-verse exposition Let’s work through the text to see how it fits to equate the Rebel with Simon bar Giora, the leader of the Jewish rebels against  Rome — (2 Thess. 2:3-4 ESV)  3 Let no one deceive you in … Continue reading →

A little history The language Paul uses for the Rebel is borrowed from Daniel’s description of Antiochus Epiphanes and Eze 28:2. Eze 28:2 condemns the king of Tyre for claiming to be god. The desecration of the Temple by Antiochus … Continue reading →

Paul’s explanation of the timing of the Second Coming It’s my view, contrary to much Protestant teaching, that in 2 Thessalonians, Paul is speaking of the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, not some as-of-yet future war involving a Jerusalem … Continue reading →

Well, things get interesting in chapter 2 — downright apocalyptic. It seems that the Thessalonians were struggling with understanding the Second Coming (no real surprise). Paul had mentioned the Second Coming in 1 Thessalonians and offers a more comprehensive explanation … Continue reading →

2 Thess 1:11-12 (2 Thess. 1:11-12 ESV)  11 To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his … Continue reading →

There are, of course, passages that the Available Light advocates argue from. I covered them in the Available Light series some time ago. The most heavily relied upon passage, in my experience, is — (Rom. 2:6-8 NET)  6 He will reward … Continue reading →

That’s the OT perspective on the presence of God, and Paul almost certainly thought in these terms. But there’s another way of looking at God’s presence — equally valid. Just think of what it means for God to be present in … Continue reading →

2 Thess 1:9-10 (2 Thess. 1:9-10 ESV)  9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,  10 when he comes on that day to be glorified … Continue reading →

  Interpreting 2 Thess 1:7-8 In light of yesterday’s post, let’s consider a more fleshed out translation, but a tentative one: (2 Thess. 1:7b-8 ESV) when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels  8 in flaming … Continue reading →