2 Thessalonians 1:12

AGP 17 &c., add Χριστου to the first Ιησου. Cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:8 above.

12. ὅπως ἐνδοξάσθῃ τὀ ὄνομα τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ ἐν ὑμῖν, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you: the purpose of the prayer just uttered; ὅπως κ.τ.λ. (avoiding the repetition of ἵνα: cf. 1 Corinthians 1:28 ff.; 2 Corinthians 8:14) expounds the εἰς ὅ of 2 Thessalonians 1:11 (see note). “The glory of our Lord Jesus” was the aim of the Father in the entire dispensation of the Gospel (see Philippians 2:9-11; Philippians 2:14 below), and is therefore the governing object of the Apostle’s prayer and work (Philippians 1:20). For ἐνδοξάζω, see note on 2 Thessalonians 1:10.

To “glorify the name of the Lord Jesus” is to exalt Him to the height of His character and attributes, or, more definitely, to show that “Jesus is Lord,” giving Him τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα (Philippians 2:9 ff.). In the final revelation (2 Thessalonians 1:7), His redeemed people will supply the best reason for calling Jesus “Lord”: cf. 1 Peter 1:7; Revelation 1:5 f., Revelation 5:9 f., &c. The general description of the ground of Christ’s Advent glory in 2 Thessalonians 1:10—ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ, ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς πιστεύσασιν—is now translated into the specific and consoling ἐν ὑμῖν (cf. 1 Peter 1:4 f.). The Thessalonian Church was to supply its missionaries with their δόξα καὶ χαρά (1 Thessalonians 2:20)—nay, it will supply this to the Lord Jesus Himself; all beholders will praise Him, on seeing His completed work “in you”!

καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐν αὐτῷ is added, since the glory accruing to the name of Jesus in the Thessalonians will shine in their own character, now that they are “presented perfect” in Him (see Colossians 1:22; Colossians 1:28; Ephesians 5:26 ff.; Romans 8:29 f., τούτους καὶ ἐδόξασεν), so that His highest glory carries with it theirs. They will be not merely “glorified with Him” (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:11; 2 Timothy 2:11 f.; Romans 8:17), but “in Him” (see note on ἐν Χριστῷ, 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; and cf. 1 Corinthians 1:30; Galatians 1:20): this implies the intrinsic union of Christ and His own, set forth by St Paul in his next Epistle under the figure of the body and its members (1 Corinthians 12:12-27)—a union brought to its consummation in the Second Advent (1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Colossians 3:1-4; Philippians 3:21), which the Apocalypse represents under the emblem of “the marriage of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:7; cf. John 14:3; John 17:24).

Ὅπως ἐνδοξασθῇ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ κυρίου … ἐν ὑμῖν is part of the web of O.T. prophetic sayings woven into this section. The writer of Isaiah 66:5 (as in the LXX; cf. the references under 2 Thessalonians 1:8 above, and Introd. pp. lx f.) comforts the persecuted and fearful remnant of Israel with the anticipation, ἵνα τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου δοξασθῇ καὶ ὀφθῇ ἐν τῇ εὐφροσύνῃ αὐτῶν. See, besides, Isaiah 49:3; Ezekiel 28:22; Ezekiel 38:23; Ezekiel 39:21,—in which last passage ἐν ὑμῖν appears, and the verb ἐνδοξάζομαι (with God, the Lord, for subject) in the other three. That the δόξα κυρίου is to be manifested to the whole world in Israel’s redemption from her oppressors, was the grand consolation of exilic prophecy.

The adjunct κατὰ τὴν χάριν κ.τ.λ. belongs to the entire qualified predicate, ἐνδοξασθῇ … ἐν αὐτῷ; it is in accordance with the grace of our God (ours, as thus caring for us) and the Lord Jesus Christ, that the glorification of Christ and Christians in each other should come about. That Christ should find His glory in men, and share His glory with them, is the greatest conceivable favour (χάρις)—a favour on God’s part to begin with, since “He gave up His own Son” (Romans 4:24 f., Romans 8:32; John 3:16; 1 John 4:9, &c.) for this end: for ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ in this connexion, see particularly 2 Thessalonians 2:16 below; Romans 3:24 f., Romans 5:15-21; Ephesians 1:6-14; Ephesians 2:4-10; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 2:11; Titus 3:7; Hebrews 2:9 f.; 1 Peter 1:13. As to ἡ χάρις τοῦ κυρίου, see 2 Corinthians 8:9 : “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that on your account He became poor when He was rich, that you through His poverty might become rich.” In His grace our Lord prayed to the Father’s grace for His disciples, “that they may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory” (John 17:23 f.). To ask this was the highest possible mark of regard that our Lord could pay to His servants.

Grammatically, ἡμῶν and κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ might be parallel complements to τοῦ θεοῦ,—God of us and of the Lord, &c.; but Pauline usage forbids this construction (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:1 f., 1 Thessalonians 1:1, &c.). The grand expression “our Lord Jesus Christ” (in full style and title) heightens the emphasis of χάρις. More plausible, in view of the anarthrous κυρίου and the rule prescribing the reference of two coordinate nouns prefaced by a single article to the same subject (A. Buttmann’s Gram. of N.T. Greek, pp. 97–101), is the rendering (grace) of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ, adopted by Hofmann (cf. 2 Peter 1:1; 2 Peter 1:11; Titus 2:13). The Apostle Paul appears to call Jesus Christ explicitly θεός in Romans 9:5 and Titus 2:13 (cf. John 20:28), as he does implicitly in Colossians 1:15 ff; Colossians 2:9; Philippians 2:6, &c.; but his habitual discrimination between “the Father” as θεός and “Jesus Christ” as κύριος (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 a, 2 Thessalonians 2:16, &c.; also 1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 4:5; Philippians 2:11) makes the identification improbable in point of usage; the context in no way suggests it. The absence of the article is accounted for by St Paul’s frequent use of κύριος as a proper name of Jesus Christ (Winer-Moulton, p. 154).

For χάρις, see note on 1 Thessalonians 1:1, to which the following observations are added:—(1) The radical sense of χάρις is pleasingness. From the artistic feeling of the Greek nature, this came to be synonymous with loveliness, gracefulness, which was variously personified in the three Χάριτες, divinities idealizing all that is charming in person and in social intercourse. Such was the connexion of the term with religion in classical Greek. (2) Ethically applied, χάρις denoted pleasingness of disposition, favour—both (a) in the active sense of obligingness, graciousness; and (b) in the passive sense of acceptableness: Psalms 44:3 (LXX) illustrates the former use, similarly Colossians 4:6; while (b) is exemplified in the familiar phrase, to “find grace in the eyes of” so and so (cf. Luke 2:52). On (2) (a) is based the specific N.T. signification of χάρις, so conspicuous in St Paul. It denotes, therefore, (3) the favour of God towards mankind revealed in Jesus Christ, which stands in contrast with human ill-desert, and seeks to overcome and displace sin (see Romans 5:20 f., &c.). It proceeds from the fatherly nature of God Himself (2 Thessalonians 1:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:16; John 1:14, &c.); His grace is His redeeming love to sinners. Mercy (not grace) is the nearest O.T. counterpart to the N.T. χάρις: the former expresses God’s pitiful disposition towards man as weak and wretched; the latter, His loving, forgiving disposition toward man as guilty and lost. χάρις acts in the way of forgiveness (cf. the use of χαρίζομαι in Ephesians 4:32, &c.), and makes a free gift of the blessings of salvation (Romans 3:24; Romans 5:17, &c.). Hence it is opposed, in Pauline teaching, not only to sin which it abolishes, but to human merit which it sets aside—to “works of law” regarded as means of salvation, and to everything that would make God’s benefits, conferred in Christ on mankind, matter of “debt” on His part: see Romans 3:19-21; Romans 4:4-15; Galatians 2:15-21; Ephesians 2:1-10. (4) Χάρις may signify a specific act or bestowment of Divine bounty, “grace” in some concrete form (Romans 1:5; Ephesians 3:8, &c.); with this application is connected the use of χάρισμα for a specific endowment, or function, imparted in the order of Divine grace (1 Corinthians 7:7; 1 Corinthians 12:4 ff., &c.). (5) Sometimes, again, χάρις denotes a state of grace in man,—God’s grace realized and operative in the Christian, as in Romans 5:2; 2 Timothy 2:1; 2 Peter 3:18. (6) Lastly, χάρις bears in the N.T., as in common Greek, the sense of thanks, gratefulness; so in 2 Timothy 1:3.