Reading for August 19th

Read 2 Thess 1.3-10
In verses 3-10 Perseverance and future vindication.
This long sentence includes a thanksgiving (vv. 3-4) and a commentary on affliction (vv. 5-10).
In verses 3-4 the thanksgiving report relates the community's progress and steadfastness.
In verse 4 persecutions...afflictions, both mean suffering, but the first, external suffering,
is more specific.
They may mean the woes of the end time; see Dan 12.1.
In verses 5-10 these verses teach that suffering is a sign of being chosen and that those who suffer will be vindicated at the judgment.
That day anticipates 2.1-12, which refutes those who think their recent afflictions mean that the
"day of the Lord" has already appeared.
In verses 7-10 descriptions of God in the Hebrew Scriptures and other Jewish writings now apply to Jesus (see the angels in Zech 14.5; 1 Enoch 1.9; flaming fire in Isa 66.15-16; glorified in Ps 89.7).
In verses 11-12 A prayer.
These verses are the letter's main teaching.
Resolve, work of faith anticipate the refutations in 2.1-12 and 3.1-15.
In verse 12 see Isaiah 66.5, but it is Jesus who will be glorified.
Comments or Questions...