CHAPTER 1
1. Paulus and Silwanus and Timotheos, to the called-out congregation of the Thessalonians in Elohim our Father and [in] the Master, Yeshua the Messiah:
2. Empowering favor to you, and total well-being from Elohim our Father and [from the] Master, Yeshua the Messiah.
3. We always owe it to Elohim to give thanks concerning you, brothers, as is deserved because your faith is increasing [to an] extraordinary degree, and the love of each one of you all to another is more than abounding.
4. So, as for ourselves, our boast about you in Elohim’s called-out congregations [is] your steadfastness and faithfulness amid all your persecutions and in the pressures that you are undergoing [patiently]--
5. a clear evidence of Elohim’s righteous judgment leading to your being counted worthy of the Kingdom of Elohim, for which, in particular, you are suffering,
6. if indeed it is just for Elohim to recompense those who afflict you with affliction,
7. and you who are being oppressed will find relief along with us when the Master, Yeshua the Messiah is disclosed form out of the heavens, along with his powerful messengers
8. in a blaze of fire, spelling retribution on those who do not acknowledge Elohim and those who do not heed the glad news [about] our Master, Yeshua,
Spelling: literally, giving or producing, pouring out or yielding. In other words, it seals the sentence of those who perpetrate this oppression they are undergoing; they will receive back the same treatment they have doled out.
9. who will pay the just penalty of perpetual ruin, away from the presence of YHWH and away from the good opinion of which He is capable
10. when He comes to be honored by those he has set apart and to be marveled at among those who have trusted, because our testimony about you was believed in that Day,
11. toward which purpose we always pray for you: that He may count you worthy of our Elohim’s invitation and [that] He may satisfy every good purpose
12. so that the reputation of our Master Yeshua may be honored through you, and you by Him, according to the empowering favor of our Elohim and of [the] Master, Yeshua the Messiah.
CHAPTER 2
1. But we plead with you, brothers [and sisters], in regard to our Master Yeshua the Messiah’s coming and our gathering together unto him,
Unto him: literally, onto him—or on the basis of him; we are to be added to him, forming a body of which he is the head, once our “gestation” in the forge of pressure and heat has done its complete work.
2. that you not so quickly be shaken from [your composure of] mind or be alarmed, either by spirit or word or letter purporting to be from us, suggesting that the Day of YHWH is [already] here.
Day of YHWH: a 1,000-year “Sabbath” foretold by many prophets (Yeshayahu, Yirmeyahu, Y’hezq’El, Yoel, Amos, Ovadyah, Ts’fanyah, and Mal’akhi.
3. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, because provided the radical departure has not come first, and the lawless human being has been unveiled—the son of being cut off,
Radical departure: possibly falling away or defection; Joseph Good sees this as referring to the catching away described in 1 Thess. 4:16-18. Lawless: in Hebraic terms, “without Torah”, i.e., the one who says the Torah has been annulled or done away with. (cf. Mat. 5:17-19) Cut off: the punishment for a huge number of sins in Israel. It means being put out of the camp (thus having no protection) or separated from YHWH’s presence, which is more likely the case here.
4. who is adverse too and arrogantly lifts himself up above everything that is called an elohim or [any] object of worship, to the point that he seats himself in the Temple of Elohim, claiming [with apparent evidence] that he himself is [an] elohim.
Because the trinitarian doctrine has taught so widely that the Messiah is “God in the flesh”, when this impostor claims to be the Messiah, he will easily be able to make this false claim and deceive many. (vv. 9-11)
5. Don’t you remember that I was telling you these things while I was still with you?
6. And you know what is now holding him back from being uncovered in his [proper] season,
7. for the mystery of lawlessness is already activated; only [there is] that which holds [it] back at the present time, until it comes to be gone from [your] midst,
8. and then there will be the unveiling of the lawless one, whom the Master Yeshua will remove with the breath of his mouth and will render him inactive by the [glorious] manifestation of his arrival--
Unveiling: disclosing as in unmasking his disguise.
9. whose coming is by the energizing of the adversary with every [kind of] force, with [supernatural] signs and counterfeit miracles,
The adversary: literally, Satan. Force: Daniel said he will revere a “god of forces”. (Dan.11:38) Counterfeit miracles: apparently using the natural laws that YHWH has created but with borrowed techniques, “smoke and mirrors”, and “PhotoShop”-like deception.
10. and with every [kind of] unjust delusion for those who are to be destroyed, in return for [the fact that] they would not accept the love of the truth, in order that they might be preserved.
Preserved: or rescued, i.e. from the deceit, because it will be recognizable by those who do welcome the truth.
11. And because of this, Elohim will send them [something that] causes them to wander, making them believe what is false.
Wander: err or be deluded, led astray. What is false: or, more literally, the lie. What particular lie? The one perpetrated all the way back at the beginning—that human beings could be “like Elohim” (Gen. 3:5)—the very claim this counterfeit Messiah makes for himself, and why not, since it was the same motivating factor that led Chawwah to believe it and to persuade Adam to follow through even though he was not deceived as she was. (1 Tim. 2:14)
12. in order that all those who did not believe the truth, but had delighted in unrighteousness, might be condemned.
13. We, however, always owe it to Elohim to give thanks concerning you, brothers [who are] beloved by the Master, that Elohim has chosen you from the beginning to be rescued through having [your] spirit set apart and by being faithful to the truth.
He repeats a theme he began in 1;3, before this very fruitful digression.
14. To this He also called you through our glad proclamation, so that you may make the honor of our Master, Yeshua the Messiah, your own.
Make your own: or attain, obtain, possess. I.e., reach a place where the Messiah himself honors you as you have honored him.
15. That being established, then, brothers [and sisters], stand firm [to preserve] and hold fast [to retain] the traditions that you were taught, whether through word or through a letter from us.
Traditions: things passed down from generation to generation, a term that refers in particular those precepts of the Jewish legal tradition (in this case, those based in Torah, unlike those Yeshua criticized). A letter: probably the first one he had sent them, which is preserved for us today.
16. Now may our Master, Yeshua the Messiah, himself, and Elohim our Father, the One who has loved us and has provided for us perpetual encouragement and good hope with empowering favor,
Hope: not in the modern sense which holds no guarantee of being definite, but in the original sense of a confident expectation.
17. encourage your own hearts and make them resolute in every deed and word.
Resolute: conformed and turned solidly in the right direction.
CHAPTER 3
1. What remains, brothers [and sisters, is that you] pray for us, that the Master’s word may spread quickly and be honored (just as it also [did] toward you),
Word: what he says or his way of thinking.
2. and that we may be rescued from warped and malicious people, because not all [belong to] the faith.
Warped: literally, out-of-place or out-of-line, i.e., acting improperly, going amiss. The faith: or, the faithful. I.e., not everyone can be trusted, but it is better still to ask YHWH to keep us away from situations where we would have to live so suspiciously.
3. But he Master is faithful, who will establish you firmly and keep you away from the evil [one].
4. But through the Master we are convinced in regard to you that you are both carrying out and will carry out the things that we transmitted to you.
Transmitted: or charged, by giving “a command that is fully authorized because it has gone through all the proper (necessary) channels.” (Thayer)
5. Now may YHWH [Himself] direct your hearts into the love of Elohim and into the constancy of the Messiah.
6. But we solemnly charge you, brothers, in the name of our Master, Yeshua the Messiah, that you withdraw from every brother who conducts himself in a disorderly manner and not according to the tradition which you received from us.
Withdraw: includes the senses of taking precautions, making arrangements to remove oneself, setting up checks and balances, putting restraints in place to be able to avoid these people. Disorderly: unruly, undisciplined, neglecting one’s duty, careless, both breaking rank and being unproductive. Tradition: or instruction, precepts.
7. For you yourselves know how it is necessary for you to follow our example, because we were not careless [when] among you,
8. nor did we eat bread from anyone without paying; rather, we worked [at a trade], taking pains and laboring until exhausted, so as not to be a burden on any of you.
9. Not that we didn’t have the right [to], but in order that we might offer ourselves to you as a model so that you could imitate us.
Right: due to carrying the weight of authority.
10. For even when we were with you, we were solemnly notifying you that “if anyone is not willing to work, he should not even eat either”
This does not refer to those unable to work, but the lazy freeloaders who are parasites on others’ work.
11. –because we hear tat some among you are conducting themselves idly, not working at all, but being busybodies.
Busybodies: literally, going around work, avoiding it, i.e. meddling, going beyond proper boundaries (where a person does not belong); fixating on what others are doing, instead of doing what the person himself is supposed to do. (Thayer)
12. Now such [people] we, through the Master Yeshua the Messiah, warn and call aside so that, working calmly, they may eat their own bread.
13. But you, brothers [and sisters], do not grow weary of doing what is right.
14. Now if anyone will not submit to this instruction of ours by way of the letter, mark that one out to not associate with, so that he may recoil in shame.
Mark out: or, take note of. Recoil in shame: be shocked into considering his ways and turning away from them.
15. And yet, don’t consider him an enemy, but warn him as a brother.
Enemy: specifically, one to be hated. Warn: exert positive pressure on him by reasoning, urging him to choose better and correct his ways.
16. Now may the Master of Peace himself give you peace through everything, in every way. The Master is with you all.
Master of Peace: probably an allusion to “Sar shalom” (“prince of peace”) in Yeshayahu 9:6. Peace may, for some, only come the hard way (v. 15), yet this is the goal nonetheless, rather than punishment. Is with: or, may he be with, but either interpretation is implicit rather than overt in the language. The Aramaic favors the former (only saying “our Master” instead), so that is the one we have chosen.
17. I, Paulus, [write] the [closing] salutation with my own hand, which is my mark of authentication in every letter; this is how I write.
This is his trademark, his modus operandi, in case anyone should doubt that the letter was really from him. The rest would have been written by an amanuensis or hired scribe, probably because he had difficulty seeing. (Galatians 4:15)
18. May the empowering favor of our Master, Yeshua the Messiah, be with all of you. Amen!
THE SECOND LETTER
OF PAULUS
TO THE
Thessalonians
INTRODUCTION: Beginning in much the same way as his first extant letter to this congregation, this letter continues to give his audience the “back story” behind the persecution they are suffering, but also focuses more on questions they had about Yeshua’s return and the rumor that it had already come to pass and that they had somehow missed it. He gives us valuable information about how to recognize the great counterfeit which will just precede and therefore signal the actual imminence of that genuine coming.
