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6. εἴπερ δίκαιόν ἐστιν παρὰ θεῷ, if to be sure it is righteous with God. Εἴπερ is siquidem (Ambrose, &c.), not si tamen (Vulg.); cf. Rom 3:30; Rom 8:9; Rom 8:17; 1Co 8:5 : the particle states rhetorically, in the form of hypothesis, a recognized fact; so Theodoret, οὐκ ἐπὶ ἀμφιβολίας τέθεικεν ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ βεβαιώσεως; “veluti verum inferens de quo nefas sit dubitare” (Erasmus). Δίκαιόν κ.τ.λ. repeats the δικαίας κρίσεως of 2Th 1:5; justice one certainly expects from God (Rom 3:5 f., Rom 3:26, Rom 9:14): “a token,” I say, “of God’s righteous judgement … for righteous it is with Him to pay back the afflicters with affliction, &c.” Παρὰ θεῷ, apud Deum, in His sight, or estimate, at His tribunal; cf. Rom 2:11; Rom 2:13; Luk 1:30, &c.
ἀνταποδοῦναι τοῖς θλίβουσιν ὑμᾶς θλίψιν, to recompense to those that afflict you affliction. For θλίβω, θλίψις, see notes to 2Th 1:4 and 1Th 1:6; and for ἀνταποδίδωμι, on 1Th 3:9. Τοῖς θλίβουσιν … θλίψιν follows the jus talionis, an axiom of justice inculcated by the Law of Moses in Lev 24:20, and generalized by St Paul in Col 3:25 as the principle of God’s future retributions; our Lord pictures its application in the story of Dives and Lazarus (Luk 16:25); see also Mat 26:52; Rev 13:10. Θλίψις is used once besides of the future pains of the wicked, in Rom 2:9 : θλίψις κ. στενοχωρία ἐπὶ πᾶσαν ψυχὴν ἀνθρώπου τοῦ κατεργαζομένου τὸ κακόν; it represents their anguish as a personal infliction, that which God Himself lays upon them.
Ἀνταποδίδωμι (or ἀποδίδωμι), with its derivatives, is found in a series of O.T. sayings relating to God’s vengeance on the enemies of Israel, or upon His enemies within Israel (the idea pervades prophecy): see Isa 66:4 ff., Isa 66:14 ff., Isa 63:4; Isa 63:7, Isa 34:8; Isa 35:4; Isa 59:18; Jeremiah 28. (LXX) 6, 24, 56; Thren. 3:63; Oba 1:15; Sir 32:13; Sir 32:23 ff. (LXX). The first of the above passages is evidently before the writers’ mind; the context supplies other parallels to it, in the κρἰσεως (κριθήσονται) of the last verse, the ἐν πυρὶ φλογός, ἐκδίκησιν, and τοῖς μὴ ὑπακούουσιν (οὐχ ὑπήκουσαν, τοῖς ἀπειθοῦσιν) of 2Th 1:8. The whole Isaianic passage should be read in the LXX, also Psa 78:6, and Jer 10:25; Jer 25:12 (εἰς ἀφανισμὸν αἰώνιον), along with Isa 61:2, in order to realize how St Paul’s conception and imagery of the future judgement are steeped in the O.T. Apocalyptic. Other parallels will appear when we come to 2Th 1:9 ff.; cf. Introd. pp. lx. f.