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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - 2 Thessalonians 1:9 - 1:9
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Who (hoitines). Qualitative use, such as. Vanishing in papyri though surviving in Paul (1Co 3:17; Rom 1:25; Gal 4:26; Phi 4:3).
Shall suffer punishment (dikēn tisousin). Future active of old verb tinō, to pay penalty (dikēn, right, justice), here only in N.T., but apotinō once also to repay Phm 1:19. In the papyri dikē is used for a case or process in law. This is the regular phrase in classic writers for paying the penalty.
Eternal destruction (olethron aiōnion). Accusative case in apposition with dikēn (penalty). This phrase does not appear elsewhere in the N.T., but is in 4 Maccabees 10:15 ton aiōnion tou turannou olethron the eternal destruction of the tyrant (Antiochus Epiphanes). Destruction (cf. 1Th 5:3) does not mean here annihilation, but, as Paul proceeds to show, separation from the face of the Lord (apo prosōpou tou kuriou) and from the glory of his might (kai apo tēs doxēs tēs ischuos autou), an eternity of woe such as befell Antiochus Epiphanes. Aiōnios in itself only means age-long and papyri and inscriptions give it in the weakened sense of a Caesar’s life (Milligan), but Paul means by age-long the coming age in contrast with this age, as eternal as the New Testament knows how to make it. See note on Mat 25:46 for use of aiōnios both with zōēn, life, and kolasin, punishment.