2 Thessalonians 2:16b-The Child of God Was Given An Eternal Encouragement Resulting in a Confident Expectation of Blessing

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2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now, may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself as well as God, who is our Father, who divinely loved each and every one of us, namely by means of grace having given to each one of us as a gift an encouragement, which is eternal resulting in a confident expectation of blessing, which is divine-good, 17 encourage and exhort your hearts. Specifically, by strengthening each and every one of you with respect to every kind of action and oral communication, which are divine-good in quality and character. (Lecturer’s translation)

2 Thessalonians 2:16 is marking a transition from Paul’s statements in 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15 to his statements in 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17.

Now, in 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, Paul communicates to the Thessalonian Christian community an intercessory prayer that he, Silvanus and Timothy regularly offered up to the Father on behalf of each and every one of them.

They communicate this prayer to the Thessalonians to encourage them and to express their love and concern for them.

In this prayer, both the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father are described as having loved them.

By divinely-loving them, Paul means that by means of grace the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father gave to each of them an encouragement, which is eternal in nature which resulted in a confident expectation of blessing, which is divine-good in quality and character.

Paul, Silvanus and Timothy requested that both the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father encourage and exhort the hearts of the Thessalonians by strengthening them with respect to every kind of action and word, which is divine-good in quality and character.

Therefore, 2 Thessalonians 2:16 is marking a transition from Paul communicating to the Thessalonians that he, Silvanus and Timothy regularly gave thanks to the Father for them which is followed by their command for them to begin to strongly adhere to their teaching regarding the eschatological day of the Lord and continue doing so to communicating to them, the intercessory prayer that he, Silvanus and Timothy regularly offered up to the Father for them.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 contain a grammatical oddity related to the referent of the third person singular form of the verbs agapaō (ἀγαπάω), didōmi (δίδωμι), parakaleō and stērizō (στηρίζω) since all of these verbs are used with a plural subject.

Specifically, the subject of all four of these verbs is the articular nominative masculine singular form of the noun kurios (κύριος), “Lord” as well as the articular nominative masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός), “God.”

Therefore, both the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father are the referents of all four of these verbs and thus perform the actions of all four of them.

Therefore, in relation to the verb agapaō (ἀγαπάω), this would indicate that the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father performed the action of divinely loving Paul, Silvanus and Timothy as well as each member of the Thessalonian Christian community.

In relation to the verb didōmi (δίδωμι), this would indicate that both the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father by means of their grace performed the action of giving Paul, Silvanus, Timothy and each member of the Thessalonian Christian community as a gift an encouragement which is eternal in nature.

This resulted in them receiving a confident expectation of blessing, which is divine-good in quality and character.

As we noted, in 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, Paul communicates to the Thessalonian Christian community an intercessory prayer that he, Silvanus and Timothy regularly offered up to the Father on behalf of each and every one of them.

They communicate this prayer to the Thessalonians to encourage them and to express their love and concern for them.

In this prayer, both the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father are described as having loved them.

We also noted that by divinely-loving them, Paul means that by means of grace the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father gave to each of them an encouragement, which is eternal in nature which resulted in a confident expectation of blessing, which is divine-good in quality and character.

As we noted, the apostle Paul here in 2 Thessalonians 2:16 describes both the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father as having given to Paul, Silvanus and Timothy as well as each member of the Thessalonian Christian community as a gift an encouragement, which is eternal in nature.

This resulted in them receiving a confident expectation of blessing, which is divine-good in quality and character by means of their grace.

The noun paraklēsis (παράκλησις), “encouragement” refers to the encouragement Paul, Silvanus and Timothy as well as each member of the Thessalonian Christian community received through the Spirit inspired teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ which He communicated by the Spirit to the apostles such as Paul.

Through the Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ communicated to them the Father’s will for their lives which manifested His divine-love for each of them.

The Thessalonian Christian community received this encouragement from Paul, Silvanus and Timothy’s Spirit empowered teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ which revealed the Father’s will for their lives.

This teaching was in the form of oral communication as well as through the contents of First and Second Thessalonians.

This encouragement would include the guarantee of a resurrection body at the rapture or resurrection of the church as well as the guarantee of rewards for faithful service at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church which immediately follows the rapture.

This encouragement would also include the guarantee of victory over the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system because they are in union with Jesus Christ and identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.

The Thessalonians would experience this victory by appropriating by faith this union and identification with Jesus Christ.

The adjective aiōnios, “eternal” indicates that this encouragement, which Paul, Silvanus and Timothy as well as each member of the Thessalonian Christian community received from the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father, possesses the attribute of being eternal in nature because its intrinsic to the character and nature of the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father as well as the Holy Spirit.

Paul also asserts that as a result of the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father giving Paul, Silvanus, Timothy and the Thessalonian Christian community as a gift an encouragement, which is eternal in nature, each of them received a confident expectation of blessing, which is divine-good in quality and character.

The noun elpis (ἐλπίς), “confident expectation of blessing” refers to the blessing of receiving a resurrection body from the Lord Jesus Christ at the rapture of the church as well as rewards for faithful service from Him at the Bema Seat.

It is used of course in this context in relation to Paul, Silvanus and Timothy as well as each member of the Thessalonian Christian community.

Ultimately, it is used of each member of the Christian community who lived during the church age.

We also noted that the noun elpis (ἐλπίς), “confident expectation of blessing” is modified by the adjective agathos (ἀγαθός), “divine-good” which describes this confident expectation of blessing as good in the sense that it is divine in quality and character because it is in accordance with the Father’s will.

It describes this confident expectation of blessing as being intrinsically valuable, intrinsically good, inherently good in quality but with the idea of good which is also profitable, useful, benefiting others, benevolent.