2 Thessalonians 1

¹ Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ We are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each and every one of you toward one another abounds,

⁴ so that we ourselves boast about you in the assemblies of God for your perseverance and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure.

⁵ This is an obvious sign of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you may be counted worthy of God’s Kingdom, for which you also suffer.

⁶ For it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you,

⁷ and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,

⁸ punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,

⁹ who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

¹⁰ when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

¹¹ To this end we also pray always for you that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith with power,

¹² that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Around 2 Thessalonians 1

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

2 Thessalonians 1 · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this chapter says

Paul, Silvanus and Timothy write to a church that is being hurt. They begin with thanks, because the Thessalonians’ faith grows exceedingly and their love for one another abounds. The writers boast about them in other assemblies for their perseverance in persecutions and afflictions.

Then the letter speaks of justice. Paul calls their endurance a sign of God’s righteous judgment: God will repay affliction to those who afflict them and give relief to those who suffer, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his angels in flaming fire. Those who do not know God and do not obey the Good News will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the face of the Lord. On that day he is to be glorified in his saints.

The chapter ends with a prayer that God will count them worthy of their calling and that the name of the Lord Jesus will be glorified in them.

Background

The letter is usually dated shortly after 1 Thessalonians, and its first readers are living under pressure. Many scholars accept Paul as the author, while some doubt it. The passage on judgment is among the hardest in the letter. The text promises relief to the afflicted and does not tell them to take revenge. Christians differ on what eternal destruction means: some read it as everlasting conscious punishment, some as a final end, and some hold other views. See Romans 12 for Paul’s counsel on repaying evil.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 18 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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World English Bible. Public-domain source and edition notes