ARGUMENTUM.
Ad Thessalonicenses secundam scribit Epistolam Apostolus, et notum facit eis de temporibus novissimis, et de adversarii dejectione. Scribit hanc Epistolam ab Athenis per Titum diaconem et Onesimum acolythum.
THE ARGUMENT.
The Apostle writes a second Epistle to the Thessalonians, and makes known to them concerning the last times, and concerning the casting down of the adversary. He writes this Epistle from Athens by Titus the deacon and Onesimus the acolyte.
CAPUT PRIMUM.
VERS. 3.-- Gratias agere, etc. Hic gratias agit Deo de bonis eorum, ne forte de tanto bono quod ex Deo habebant, extollantur, tanquam a seipsis habentes. In invicem. Ut scilicet, qui diligitur diligat alios, et mutuis obsequiis charitatem ostendat.
621AVERS. 5.-- In exemplum justi, etc. Si enim tam severe punit peccata in poenitentibus, quid faciet induratis? Hoc dicit, ut intelligatur quod non parcit impiis qui non parcit justis. Justi: si tamen justum est, quod constat esse. Non enim ponitur hic, si tamen, pro dubitatione, sed pro affirmatione, unde alius interpres ait: Siquidem justus est, etc.
VERS. 7.-- In revelationem. Incipit ostendere quam horribilis tribulatio illis, et quam jucunda requies istis futura est.
VERS. 8.-- Domini Jesu. Venientis in flamma ignis non quod sit flamma circumdatus, sed per effectum, quia inimicos exuret. His qui non noverunt Deum. Nam alii sunt qui nesciunt legem.
VERS. 9.-- Qui poenas dabunt. Id est sustinebunt. 621BDare enim aliquando ponitur pro sustinere, ita et hic. Et congrue, qui enim patitur, dat ei quem offendit, poenas quasi gratas. In interitu aeternas. Quasi dicat: Semper sentient poenas, non tamen semper deficient.
Cum venerit glorificari, etc. Ipse enim clarus et mirabilis videbitur in credentibus, severus autem apparebit in incredulos, cum eos poenis aeternis coarctabit. Et est horum verborum brevis sensus: Veniet punire malos, et glorificare bonos.
VERS. 10.-- Quia testimonium. Ideo vobis tribulatis dat requiem nobiscum, quia testimonium, id est quidquid diximus de illo die judicii, credidistis de gloria bonorum et poena malorum.
VERS. 11.-- In quo. Ordo verborum talis est: In quo die oramus, ut dignetur, id est dignos judicet: 621CSemper oramus. Vel in quo, id est pro quo, vel cujus diei periculo vitando, semper orandum est. Opus fidei. Id est, confessionem quae proprie est opus fidei in virtute, ut a confessione nullo modo flecti possint. Vel, opus fidei, omne bonum quod fides exigit: et sine quibus fides mortua est. In virtute perseverantiae, ut scilicet det vobis perseverantiam usque ad finem.
CHAPTER ONE.
VERS. 3.-- To give thanks, etc. Here he gives thanks to God for their good things, lest perchance they be lifted up over so great a good as they had from God, as though they had it from themselves. Toward one another. Namely, that he who is loved may love others, and by mutual services show forth charity.
621AVERS. 5.-- For an example of the just, etc. For if he punishes sins so severely in the penitent, what will he do to the hardened? He says this, that it may be understood that he spares not the ungodly who spares not the just. Just: if indeed it is just, which it is agreed to be. For if indeed is not put here for doubt, but for affirmation; whence another interpreter says: Since indeed he is just, etc.
VERS. 7.-- Unto the revelation. [Vulg. in revelatione, ablative, "at the revelation"] He begins to show how horrible the tribulation is to be for those, and how pleasant the rest for these.
VERS. 8.-- Of the Lord Jesus. Of him coming in a flame of fire: not that he is encompassed with flame, but by the effect, because he will burn up his enemies. To them that have not known God. For others are they who know not the law.
VERS. 9.-- Who shall give penalties. That is, they shall undergo them. 621BFor "to give" is sometimes put for "to undergo," and so here also. And fittingly: for he who suffers gives to him whom he has offended penalties as it were acceptable. Eternal in destruction. As if he should say: They will always feel the penalties, yet they will not always fail.
When he shall come to be glorified, etc. For he himself will be seen glorious and wonderful in them that believe, but he will appear severe upon the unbelieving, when he shall shut them up in eternal punishments. And the brief sense of these words is this: He will come to punish the wicked, and to glorify the good.
VERS. 10.-- Because the testimony. Therefore he gives rest with us to you that are afflicted, because the testimony, that is, whatever we have said concerning that day of judgment, you have believed concerning the glory of the good and the punishment of the wicked.
VERS. 11.-- In which. The order of the words is this: In which day we pray, that he may vouchsafe, that is, may judge you worthy: 621CWe always pray. Or in which, that is, for which, or for the avoiding of the peril of which day, prayer must always be made. The work of faith. That is, confession, which properly is the work of faith in power, so that they may in no wise be turned aside from confession. Or, the work of faith is every good thing which faith requires: and without which faith is dead. In the power of perseverance, namely, that he may give you perseverance even unto the end.
CAPUT II.
VERS. 1.-- Rogamus autem vos, fratres, per adventum Domini nostri Jesu Christi, etc. Hucusque dixit se eis gratias agere et orare, hic determinat de die judicii, obsecrans eos ne leviter et facile de adventu Domini quasi de prope imminenti opinionem recipiant vel terreantur.
VERS. 2.-- Non cito moveamini. Quasi dicat: Si moveamini; cito est, nihil enim vobis infertur quod diu duret. Neque per spiritum. Id est, si malignus spiritus, quasi angelus lucis apparens in visione hoc vobis persuadeat. Vel, si quis dicat per Spiritum sanctum revelantem hoc se cognovisse quod dies judicii immineat, nolite credere. Neque per Epistolam. Solent enim tergiversatores, ut fallant, sub nomine clari alicujus viri epistolam fingere, ut auctoritas nominis possit commendare quod per seipsum recipi non posset. Quasi instet dies Domini. Non hoc ita dicit quin velit, ut habeant succinctos lumbos et lucernas ardentes in manibus, exspectantes quando revertatur Dominus a nuptiis.
622AVERS. 5.-- Quoniam nisi venerit. Occulte loquitur de destructione imperii Romani, ne irritaret eos ad persecutionem Ecclesiae. Vel hoc dicit de spirituali imperio Romanae Ecclesiae, vel discessione a fide. Nisi venerit refuga primum. Sic aliqui codices habent. Quod nulli dubium est de Antichristo eum dixisse, quem refugam vocat: utique a Domino Deo. Si enim hoc de omnibus impiis merito dici potest, quanto magis de isto! Filius perditionis. Antichristus, non per naturam, sed per imitationem.
VERS. 4.-- In templo. Vel, templum. Nonnulli non ipsum principem tantum, sed universum corpus ejus, id est, ad eum pertinentem hominum multitudinem simul cum ipso principe hoc loco intelligi volunt: rectiusque dici putant, sicut in Graeco est, 622Bnon in templo, sed in templum Dei sedeat, quasi ipse cum suis sit templum Dei, quod est Ecclesia. Sicut dicitur: Sedet in amicum, id est ut amicus.
VERS. 6.-- Scitis. Eos scire dicit quid detineat, nec aperte exponit, et ideo nos nescimus, nisi quod quidam suspicantur de Romano imperio dictum fuisse, donec tollatur, vel de medio fiat. Et ideo Apostolum non id aperte scribere voluisse, ne calumniam scilicet incurreret, quod Romano imperio male optaverit, cum speraretur aeternum. Suo tempore. Completa accessione ad Romanum imperium, et ad Romanae Ecclesiae obedientiam, aderit discessio ab utroque imperio: qua impleta aderit ille iniquus, impleto tempore misericordiae quo plenitudo 622Cgentium intrat ad fidem: revelabitur discessio, et sic instabit dies Domini.
VERS. 7.-- Nam mysterium, etc. Jam in ipsis initiis accessionis invenitur iniquitas, sed mystica, id est pietatis nomine palliata, ut velint haberi ministri Christi cum sint pseudo. Diabolus occulte per Neronem et alios occidebat martyres, sicut per illum tunc aperte facturus est, occidendo Eliam et Enoch aliosque plurimos: et sunt Nero et alii umbra futuri Antichristi, sicut David et Abel Christi. Donec de medio fiat. Id est, tollatur illa potestas Romani imperii de medio mundi: quia omnes undique Romam quasi ad caput confluebant. Vel, qui fidem tenet, teneat, donec ipsa refrigescat. Vel, qui detinet illum, id est accessio ad fidem, detineat, donec ipsa tollatur de medio. Vel, donec iniquitas, quae modo est mystica, fiat de medio, id est quasi de communibus, ut non erubescat homo adulterari vel furari, sicut nec ambulare vel loqui. De medio fiat. Scilicet discessio, id est manifeste appareat: et tunc jam revelata discessione a Deo vero, jam refrigerata charitate ex abundantia iniquitatis revelabitur, etc.
VERS. 8.-- Spiritu oris sui. Id est virtute Spiritus sancti, qui dicitur spiritus oris, quia ab eo procedit.
VERS. 9, 10.-- Mendacibus et in omni seductione. Signa illa vocantur mendacia, vel quia non vera ut 623Avidentur, sed phantastica erunt. Vel si vera, Dei permissione ad mendacium trahent.
Ideo mittet illis Deus. (AUG., lib. XX, de Civit. Dei, c. 19.) Deus diabolum ista facere permittet, etc., usque ad alias injustissime judicatum.
VERS. 12.-- Primitias in salutem. Ut scilicet non in illo periculoso tempore ultimo, sed in primitiva Ecclesia crederemus in Christum, atque fidem confiteremur. Vel, nos apostolos primitias omnium credentium, quia apostoli primi crediderunt, et hoc in salutem omnium gentium.
VERS. 13.-- In acquisitionem gloriae Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Vel, ut sitis acquisitio, in qua Deus glorificetur.
VERS. 15.-- Et dedit consolationem. Promittendo 623Bcoelorum regnum. In gratia. Id est per gratiam quam dedit, speramus aeterna. Vel haec omnia dedit non merito nostro, sed in gratia sua.
CHAPTER II.
VERS. 1.-- And we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, etc. Thus far he has said that he gives thanks for them and prays; here he determines concerning the day of judgment, beseeching them that they do not lightly and readily take up an opinion concerning the coming of the Lord as of one close at hand, nor be terrified.
VERS. 2.-- Be not soon moved. As if he should say: If you be moved; it is soon, for nothing is brought upon you which lasts long. Nor by spirit. That is, if a malignant spirit, appearing in a vision as an angel of light, should persuade you of this. Or, if any man should say that through the Holy Spirit revealing it he has come to know this, that the day of judgment is at hand, do not believe him. Nor by epistle. For prevaricators are wont, that they may deceive, to feign a letter under the name of some famous man, that the authority of the name may commend what by itself could not be received. As if the day of the Lord were at hand. He does not say this in such a way as not to wish that they should have their loins girt and lamps burning in their hands, waiting for when the Lord shall return from the wedding.
622AVERS. 5.-- For unless there come. He speaks covertly of the destruction of the Roman empire, lest he should provoke them to the persecution of the Church. Or he says this of the spiritual empire of the Roman Church, or of a departure from the faith. Unless the deserter come first. [Vulg. discessio, "the departure"] So some codices have it. And it is doubtful to none that he said this of Antichrist, whom he calls a deserter: from the Lord God, assuredly. For if this can deservedly be said of all the ungodly, how much more of this one! The son of perdition. Antichrist, not by nature, but by imitation.
VERS. 4.-- In the temple. Or, the temple. Some will have it that in this place not the prince himself only, but his whole body, that is, the multitude of men belonging to him together with the prince himself, is to be understood; and they think it more rightly said, as it is in the Greek, 622Bnot in the temple, but that he sit into the temple of God, as though he himself with his own were the temple of God, which is the Church. As it is said: He sits into a friend, that is, as a friend.
VERS. 6.-- You know. He says that they know what withholds, and he does not openly expound it, and therefore we know not, save that certain men suspect it to have been said of the Roman empire, until it be taken away, or be made out of the midst. And therefore that the Apostle did not wish to write this openly, lest, namely, he should incur the calumny of having wished ill to the Roman empire, since it was hoped to be everlasting. In his own time. The accession to the Roman empire and to the obedience of the Roman Church being completed, there will come the departure from both empires: which being fulfilled, that wicked one will come, the time of mercy being fulfilled in which the fulness 622Cof the Gentiles enters into the faith: the departure will be revealed, and so the day of the Lord will be at hand.
VERS. 7.-- For the mystery, etc. Already in the very beginnings of the accession iniquity is found, but a mystical one, that is, cloaked under the name of piety, so that they wish to be held ministers of Christ when they are false ones. The devil secretly slew the martyrs through Nero and others, as he is then about to do openly through him, by slaying Elias and Enoch and very many others: and Nero and the others are a shadow of the Antichrist to come, as David and Abel are of Christ. Until it be made out of the midst. That is, let that power of the Roman empire be taken away out of the midst of the world: because all men from every side flowed together to Rome as to a head. Or, let him who holds the faith hold it, until it grow cold. Or, let him who withholds him, that is, the accession to the faith, withhold, until it be taken out of the midst. Or, until the iniquity which now is mystical be made out of the midst, that is, as it were among common things, so that a man blush not to commit adultery or to steal, as neither to walk or to speak. Let it be made out of the midst. Namely the departure, that is, let it appear manifestly: and then, the departure from the true God being now revealed, charity being now grown cold from the abundance of iniquity, he will be revealed, etc.
VERS. 8.-- With the spirit of his mouth. That is, by the power of the Holy Spirit, who is called the spirit of the mouth, because he proceeds from him.
VERS. 9, 10.-- Lying, and in all seduction. Those signs are called lying, either because they will not be true as they 623Aappear, but phantastic. Or if true, by God's permission they will draw men to a lie.
Therefore God shall send them. (AUG., lib. XX, de Civit. Dei, c. 19.) God will permit the devil to do these things, etc., as far as otherwise most unjustly judged.
VERS. 12.-- Firstfruits unto salvation. Namely, that not in that perilous last time, but in the primitive Church we should believe in Christ, and confess the faith. Or, us the apostles the firstfruits of all believers, because the apostles believed first, and this unto the salvation of all nations.
VERS. 13.-- Unto the purchasing of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Or, that you may be a purchase in which God may be glorified.
VERS. 15.-- And hath given consolation. By promising 623Bthe kingdom of heaven. In grace. That is, through the grace which he has given, we hope for eternal things. Or, he gave all these things not by our merit, but in his grace.
CAPUT III.
VERS. 1.-- De caetero, fratres, orate. Orandum esse hortatur, ut dignetur Deus doctrinam suam infatigabili cursu dirigere et transfundere per ora apostolorum in aures audientium, et ab auribus in corda, ut compescantur malorum seditiones.
VERS. 2.-- Ut liberemur. A pseudo, ne nostros seducant, vel nobis insidias tendant. Vel, liberemur ab importunis, id est infidelibus qui resistunt verbo Dei, nec stant in portu quietis. Et malis, qui persequuntur infideles. Ideo dico liberemur, quia nondum 623Cacceperunt omnes fidem per me qui accepturi sunt. Non enim omnium est fides. Id est, nec vobis orantibus omnes sunt credituri, sed tantum praeordinati in adoptionem filiorum.
VERS. 6.-- Denuntiamus. De curiosis incipit et otiosis, monens bonos ut eos corripiant.
VERS. 7.-- Scitis quomodo oporteat nos imitari. Et cum illi haec non faciant, debetis vitare. Vel, 624Anon ambulant secundum traditionem. Scitis enim quomodo me habui, quod in illis non videtis, quasi dicat: Non est opus ut exponam vobis eam traditionem quia eam scitis, quod non inquieti fuerimus, ut ii qui aliena negotia curant, vagantes hac illac.
VERS. 9.-- Sed ut nosmetipsos. Notandum quia Apostolus non solum verbis docebat, sed hortabatur et factis. Idonei enim magistri est quae docet verbis, operibus explere.
VERS. 10.-- Quoniam si quis non vult operari. Dicunt quidam de operibus spiritualibus hoc Apostolum praecepisse, alioquin si de opere corporali hoc diceret, in quo vel agricolae vel opifices laborant, videretur sentire adversus Dominum, qui dicit in Evangelio: Nolite solliciti esse, quid manducetis 624B(Matth. VI), etc. Sed superflue conantur et sibi et caeteris caliginem obducere, ut quod utiliter charitas monet, non solum facere velint, sed nec intelligere, cum multis aliis locis epistolarum quid hic sentiat Apostolus apertissime doceat. Vult enim servos Dei corporaliter operari unde vivant ut non compellantur egestate necessaria petere. Nec est contra illud quod praedictum est: Nolite solliciti esse quid manducetis, etc. Non enim hoc ideo dictum est, ut non procurent quantum necessitati sat est, unde honeste potuerunt, sed non ut ista intueantur, nec propter ista faciant quidquid Evangelii praeconio facere jubentur.
VERS. 11.-- Curiose agentes. Hoc factum abhorret disciplina Dominica, eorum enim deus venter 624Cest, qui foeda cura necessaria sibi provident.
VERS. 13.-- Nolite deficere. Quia etsi operentur, possunt tamen nonnullis indigere. Et ideo monet, ne illi qui habebant unde servis Dei necessaria praeberent, hac occasione pigrescerent. Non enim in reprehensionem venit qui humanus est in largiendo, sed hic qui, cum possit laborem ferre, otiose vult vitam agere.
CHAPTER III.
VERS. 1.-- For the rest, brethren, pray. He exhorts that prayer must be made, that God may vouchsafe to direct his doctrine with unwearied course and to pour it through the mouths of the apostles into the ears of the hearers, and from the ears into the hearts, that the seditions of the wicked may be curbed.
VERS. 2.-- That we may be delivered. From the false ones, lest they seduce ours, or lay snares for us. Or, that we may be delivered from importunate men, that is, from unbelievers who resist the word of God, and stand not in the haven of quiet. And from wicked men, who, being unbelievers, persecute. Therefore I say, that we may be delivered, because not yet 623Chave all received the faith through me who are to receive it. For faith is not of all men. That is, not even with you praying will all believe, but only those foreordained unto the adoption of sons.
VERS. 6.-- We charge. He begins concerning the curious and the idle, admonishing the good to correct them.
VERS. 7.-- You know how you ought to imitate us. [Vulg. quemadmodum oporteat imitari nos, "how you ought to imitate us"] And since they do not these things, you ought to shun them. Or, 624Athey walk not according to the tradition. For you know how I bore myself, which you do not see in them; as if he should say: There is no need that I should expound to you that tradition, because you know it, namely that we were not restless, as those are who mind other men's business, wandering hither and thither.
VERS. 9.-- But that we ourselves. It is to be noted that the Apostle taught not by words only, but exhorted also by deeds. For it belongs to a fit master to fulfil in works the things which he teaches in words.
VERS. 10.-- For if any man will not work. Certain men say that the Apostle enjoined this concerning spiritual works; otherwise, if he said this of bodily work, in which either husbandmen or craftsmen labour, he would seem to hold an opinion against the Lord, who says in the Gospel: Be not solicitous, what you shall eat 624B(Matth. VI), etc. But to no purpose do they strive to draw a mist over both themselves and others, so that they not only wish velint to do what charity profitably admonishes, but not even to understand it, since the Apostle in many other places of the epistles most plainly teaches what he here means. For he wills that the servants of God work bodily whereby they may live, that they be not compelled by want to beg for necessaries. Nor is this against that which was said before: Be not solicitous what you shall eat, etc. For this was not said to this end, that they should not procure as much as is enough for necessity, from whence they honourably could, but not in order that sed non ut they may look upon these things, nor do for the sake of these things whatever they are bidden to do by the proclamation of the Gospel.
VERS. 11.-- Curiously meddling. The Lord's discipline abhors this deed, for their god is the belly, 624Cwho with foul care provide necessaries for themselves.
VERS. 13.-- Faint not. Because although they work, yet they may want some things. And therefore he admonishes, lest those who had wherewith to supply necessaries to the servants of God should on this occasion grow slothful. For he does not come under reproof who is kindly in bestowing, but he who, when he could bear labour, wishes to lead his life in idleness.