2 Thessalonians 1:7

ἐν φλογι πυρος is the reading of BDG 47 71, vg cop syr pesh, hcl txt, Tert; it appears to be a conformation to Isaiah 66:15; Exodus 3:2 (Hebrew): so Acts 7:30, with a varia lectio; Hebrews 1:7; Revelation 1:14, &c. Weiss, on the other hand, supposes εν πυρι φλογος (given by אAKLP &c., and adopted by other critics) to be due to assimilation of εν φλογι πυρος to the LXX text of Exodus 3:2.

7. καὶ ὑμῖν τοῖς θλιβομένοις ἄνεσιν μεθʼ ἡμῶν, and to you that are being afflicted rest with us: the other and principal side of the coming reversal. Ἄνεσις, here opposed to θλίψις (pressura), is commonly the antonym of ἐπίτασις (tension, strain); it signifies relaxation, relief, as of a tightly strung bow, or of the paroxysms of fever; cf. 2 Corinthians 2:12; 2 Corinthians 7:5; 2 Corinthians 8:13. The synonymous ἀνάψυξις (Acts 3:19; 2 Timothy 1:16) is refreshment as from a cooling wind, a breath of fresh air; while ἀνάπαυσις (Matthew 11:29, &c.) is cessation, the stopping of labour or pain. Job 3:17, “There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary are at rest,” resembles this text in the Hebrew, but is discrepant in the Greek: that passage relates, as this does not, to rest in death. St Paul says “with us,” for his life was full of harassing fatigue—a sigh on his own account! cf. Galatians 6:17; 2 Corinthians 5:2; 1 Corinthians 4:9 ff. In the Apostle’s visions of glory and reward his children in Christ were always present to his mind; cf. “with you,” 2 Corinthians 4:14 : also 2 Corinthians 1:7; 2 Timothy 4:8.

ἐν τῇ�ʼ οὐρανοῦ μετʼ ἀγγέλων δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, in the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven (attended) with angels of His power. This means more than “at the revelation”; the retribution just spoken of is a part of the Lord’s “revelation,” it belongs to the programme of the ἀποκάλυψις. It suits the O.T. imagery, in which the thought of the Epistle here moves, that the coming of the Lord is styled ἀποκάλυψις, not παρουσία as heretofore (1 Thessalonians 3:13, &c.) and afterwards in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 : see also 1 Corinthians 1:7; Luke 17:30; 1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 1:13; 1 Peter 4:13. Ἐπιφάνεια is its synonym in the Pastoral Epistles (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:8). St Paul uses ἀποκάλυψις (-πτω) of the extraordinary manifestation of Jesus Christ to himself at his conversion (Galatians 1:12; Galatians 1:16); this Biblical term implies always a supernatural disclosure, whether inward or outward in its sphere; cf., further, note on 2 Thessalonians 2:6. On ἀπʼ οὐρανοῦ, of. 1 Thessalonians 1:10, and note. This “unveiling from heaven” affords a complete contrast to the lowly and obscure first coming of the Redeemer; see His own words in Matthew 26:64.

For the office of the “angels” at the Advent, see note on 1 Thessalonians 4:16. These beings attend the judicial Theophanies of the O.T., as contributors to God’s glory and ministers of His power: see Psalms 68:17; Psalms 103:20; Deuteronomy 33:2. It is significant that “in some cases the very expressions used in the Hebrew prophets of God have been adopted by St Paul in speaking of Christ” (Lightfoot).

Αὐτοῦ, qualifying δυνάμεως, forbids our reading the latter in the abstract, as a mere (Hebraistic) epithet of ἀγγέλων; so the A.V., “mighty angels,” and Beza, “potentibus.” The δύναμις of this sentence and the ἰσχύς of 2 Thessalonians 1:9 form a part of the consolation: now “power” belongs to the wrongdoers (cf. Luke 4:5 f., Luke 22:53; Ephesians 6:12, &c.); with this attribute, on “the day of the Lord,” His “angels” will be clothed.

ἐν πυρὶ φλογός has been wrongly carried over to 2 Thessalonians 1:8; the clause qualifies ἀποκαλύψει (2 Thessalonians 1:7), and completes the foregoing description given in terms of local movement (ἀπό), personal accompaniment (μετά), and material surrounding (ἐν). Fire of flame is Christ’s awful robe: cf. Revelation 1:13-16; Isaiah 66:15. Πῦρ φλογός (or φλὸξ πυρός) was a recognized sign of miraculous, especially judicial, theophanies; it attends angelic mediations, in such a way that the “angel” and the “flame” are more or less identified: see on the latter point, Psalms 104:4 (as read in Hebrews 1:7); Isaiah 6:2; Isaiah 6:4; and, generally, Exodus 3:2-6; Isaiah 4:4 f., Isaiah 30:27; Isaiah 30:30; Isaiah 64:1 f.; Daniel 7:9 f.; also reff. under 2 Thessalonians 1:7 (angels). This “fire of flame” surrounding the returning Jesus may have been associated in St Paul’s mind with the “light from heaven surpassing the brightness of the sun,” which flashed on him in the “revelation of Jesus Christ” that brought about his conversion (Acts 26:13); that first appearance to himself unmistakably colours his prediction of the final ἐπιφάνεια in Philippians 3:20 f. “Fire” symbolizes Divine anger and majesty; “flame” is fire in motion, leaping and blazing. In 2 Peter 3:7; 2 Peter 3:10, “fire” is the predicted means of destruction for the material world at the Day of the Lord (a conflagratio mundi was anticipated by Stoic philosophy); St Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:13 ff. makes this fire, symbolically, the means of final judgement.