2 Thessalonians 1:9

οἵτινες δίκην τίσουσιν ὄλεθρον αἰώνιον, who shall pay a just penalty, even eternal destruction. Ὅστις, generic and qualitative, implying a reason in stating the fact—“qui (quum ita sint) poenam pendent.” Δίκη means first right, legality, in the abstract; then a suit for right, an action at law; then the right determined or exacted, penalty, &c. It connotes justice in the penalty, punishment determined by a lawful process; whereas κόλασις (Matthew 25:46; Acts 4:21; 2 Peter 2:9; 1 John 4:18) denotes chastisement of the wrong-doer, remedial or otherwise; and τιμωρία (Hebrews 10:29), satisfaction demanded by the injury. Punishment is δίκη from the point of view of the dispassionate judge; κόλασις from that of the criminal; τιμωρία from that of the injured party. Acts 28:4 and Jude 1:7 (δίκην πυρὸς αἰωνίου) furnish the only other N.T. examples of a word exceedingly common in Greek. Τίνω is also a judicial term, a N.T. hap. legomenon; ἀπο-τίνω is preferred, with finesse, in Philemon 1:19.

St Paul uses the term ὄλεθρος respecting the σάρξ of a gross sinner in 1 Corinthians 5:5; in 1 Timothy 6:9, along with ἀπώλεια (the commoner word, marked by the intensive ἀπο-), of the “destruction and perdition into” which riches “plunge” those resolved at all costs on having them. Here, and in 1 Thessalonians 5:3, ὄλεθρος signifies the ruin falling on the ungodly at Christ’s coming.

As αἰώνιος, affecting the man for ever, this ὄλεθρος exceeds any πρόσκαιρος, or “temporal ruin,” that might befall in this fleeting visible world (see the antithesis in 2 Corinthians 4:18). The phrase ὄλεθρος αἰώνιος is found in 4Ma 10:15, where the “eternal destruction” inflicted on a heathen tyrant is contrasted with “the happy death” of a martyr. St Paul does not contemplate under ὄλεθρος the annihilation of the reprobate; the sinner of 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 was not to suffer “destruction of the flesh” in such a way that his “saved spirit” would be bodiless in its future state. Nor does αἰώνιος suggest any periodic limitation (age-long destruction); it lifts the ὄλεθρος out of time-conditions; like the κόλασις αἰώνιος of Matthew 25:46, this ὄλεθρος αἰώνιος is the antithesis of ζωὴ αἰώνιος.

ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ κυρίου καὶ�, from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His strength. Ἀπό is ambiguous in its connexion with ὄλεθρος: (a) If the sense be determined by Isaiah 2:10, &c. (cf. Revelation 6:15 f.), from which this double phrase is manifestly borrowed, then ἀπό is local and pregnant in use, representing the ruin as consisting in “being driven from,” or in “exclusion from, the face of the Lord,” &c. (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:2, below, and note); but the verb of Isaiah (LXX), viz. κρύπτεσθε, “hide yourselves,” connotes motion from as ὄλεθρος does not. The preposition loses its contextual force by its severance from the original context; the idea of separation is not obviously relevant here. (b) Others give to ἀπό a temporal sense, “from (the time of) the Lord’s appearance” (cf. Romans 1:20): this is easier grammatically, but does not suit πρόσωπον and is pointless in sense. (c) The preposition is most appropriate in the causal, semi-local significance it bears in 2 Thessalonians 1:2 and so often—“proceeding from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His strength”—thus recalling in a striking figure, and with impressive repetition, the διδόντος ἐκδίκησιν of 2 Thessalonians 1:8; cf. Acts 3:20, καιροὶ�. The aptness of τῇς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ is evident on this construction. “The strength” of the Judge, glorious in itself, by supplying executive force to His decisions doubles the terror that His “face” wears for the condemned; cf. John 19:37; Revelation 6:16. To the enemies of Christ, by whom He was “crucified in weakness,” His return as Judge in glorious strength must be inexpressibly dreadful (cf. Matthew 26:64). Ἰσχύς is strength resident in a person; δύναμις, power relevant to its use. For the (hostile)“face of the Lord,” cf. Psalms 34:16; Psalms 76:7 : “Who may stand in Thy sight, when once Thou art angry?” Estius remarks: “Si enim daemones praesentiam Christi versantis in terris non sustinebant, quanto minus praesentiam ejus cum tanta majestate venientis ad judicium impii sustinere poterunt!”

The “affliction” of the persecutors and the “relief” of the persecuted, contrasted in themselves (2 Thessalonians 1:6 f.), are identified in their occasion; for justice will overtake the former—