2 Thessalonians 1:9

Punished with everlasting destruction specifies the “vengeance” to be taken. But the word “destruction” does not stand absolutely and alone as a synonym for “annihilation.” This passage, in itself, gives us no reason to suppose that the lost will be “destroyed” in the ordinary sense of the word. They are to be “destroyed from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” — i.e., cut off from it for ever. The “presence” — or, more literally here, ”the face — of the Lord,” as well as “the glory of His power,” is a metaphor from the courts of Oriental kings, where only honoured courtiers are admitted to spend their time in the immediate and familiar presence of the sovereign. Familiar contact with Christ hereafter, which will be accorded to all the saved, was God’s ideal intention for the lost as well, therefore it is a positive “destruction” to be banished from it. But to the Jews, who looked for a Messiah who should keep regal state, the punishment was peculiarly appropriate. The word is used besides in 1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:3; 1 Timothy 6:9. As for the word rendered “everlasting” (or eternal, for it is the same which is used, e.g., Hebrews 6:2), it would certainly convey to St. Paul’s readers the notion of incessant duration in time; it is, of course, only an adaptation to human language to speak of time at all in such a case, as we cannot tell what may take the place of time in the next dispensation; however, so far as the actual words go, there is nothing in these passages (Matthew 18:8; Matthew 25:41; Matthew 25:46; Mark 3:29; Hebrews 6:2; Jude 1:7) to suggest any future alteration in the state of the lost. In this, as in some other doctrines, there seem to be two distinct sets of passages, the logical reconciliation of which in our present state seems almost impossible.