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The apostle Paul wrote his second letter to the Thessalonians to prepare them for the second coming of Christ, the day “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thess 1:7-8). As frightening as this sounds, Paul actually wanted the Christ-followers in Thessalonica to be comforted by his words, and to realize that God is both just and loving. He promised that by practicing justice God would “repay with affliction those who afflict you,” and by showing love God would “give relief to the afflicted as well as to us” (2 Thess 1:6-7). Paul knew that “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess 2:1) was more than a scary day of judgment, and that the threat of divine punishment could actually turn the Thessalonians into better people. In that sense, he was ahead of his time.
According to The Washington Post, a team of international researchers has discovered that people who believe in divine judgment tend to act less selfishly toward other people, and “they are more likely to adopt behaviors that can create and support large-scale cooperative institutions, such as trade and markets.” To test this, the researchers set up experiments with almost 600 people in six countries, from Christians to Buddhists to believers in ancestor worship. Each person played a pair of economic games in which they were given the chance to cheat or play fair. The researchers discovered that if a person rated their God as moralistic and punishing, they tended to be more fair — in fact, five times more fair than people who didn’t think about God in this way. Concluded one researcher: “They’re playing by the rules towards people they never interact with.”
Paul may have had a hunch about this when he wrote to the Thessalonians, but his intent was not simply to fill them with fear. In fact, he begged them “not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here” (2 Thess 2:2). He knew that there was a lot of doom and gloom being preached by people throughout the region, and he did not want the Thessalonians to panic. Paul spoke of the coming of a “lawless one” who would take his seat in the temple of God and actually declare himself to be God, causing all kinds of chaos and confusion. Don’t worry about him, said Paul — Jesus would destroy him with the breath of his mouth (2 Thess 2:8). Instead, Paul wanted the Thessalonians to know that they had been chosen by God. While they should certainly respect the justice of God and treat each other fairly, they should also have complete confidence that God loved them and wanted to save them. The bottom line was this, according to Paul: God is just and God is loving. Holding the two together is a key to Christian life.
Paul did an impressive job of keeping justice and love in proper balance, while showing that divine judgment is intended to help us. Christians in the developing world tend to understand this better than we do. In his book The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South, Philip Jenkins writes that during the horrors of the Cultural Revolution in China, Christians turned to the Book of Revelation for hope during times of persecution. During decades of mass martyrdom, churches in Sudan read Revelation for its promise that God’s justice would ultimately prevail. Latin American liberation theologians have seen their story in biblical passages about divine judgment, as have Christians in South Africa who took stands against apartheid.
Paul reminded the Thessalonians that God is just, and that divine judgment will correct all of the wrongs in the world. But he kept this message balanced with the assurance that God is loving, and that the Lord will save all those who are walking in the way of Jesus Christ. It is when we remember both of these important truths that we are able to be the people that God wants us to be: Men and women who play by the rules, act unselfishly, and cooperate with others. Paul assured the Thessalonians that they were on the right track. He described them as “brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord,” and he told them that God chose them “as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth” (2 Thess 2:13). He encouraged them to “stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter” (2 Thess 2:15). And he closed by asking Jesus and God to comfort their hearts “and strengthen them in every good work and word” (2 Thess 2:17).
Paul’s words are meant for us as well as for the Thessalonians. This passage is one of the Bible’s greatest hits because it tells us that the justice of God needs always to be balanced by the love of God, a creative tension seen most clearly in Jesus Christ, our judge and our savior. As writer and minister Frederick Buechner has said so well, “The one who judges us most finally will be the one who loves us most fully.” Love and justice: When we keep them together, we are strong in every good word and work.
Questions:
1. What motivates you to believe in God’s justice and treat other people fairly?
2. Why do you think divine judgment is a comfort to persecuted Christians?
3. How do you hold the justice of God and the love of God in balance?
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