Jesus was to be glorified in his holy people

JESUS WAS TO BE GLORIFIED IN HIS HOLY PEOPLE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
2 Thessalonians1:10 10on the day he comes to be
glorifiedin his holy people and to be marveledat
among all those who have believed. This includes you,
because you believedour testimonyto you.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The GreatDay
2 Thessalonians 1:7-10
B.C. Caffin
I. THE JUDGMENT OF THE WICKED.
1. The revelation of the Judge. It is the Lord Jesus, who once was despisedand
rejectedof men; he is ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. He
shall come as God once came down on Mount Sinai, in the like awful glory.
(1) With the angels. Theyshall gather the wickedfrom among the just, and
shall castthem into the furnace of fire. The angels will be the ministers of his
justice - the blessedangels who are now the messengersofhis love and grace.
Now they rejoice overeachsinner that repenteth; then they will castthe

impenitent into the everlasting fire. We think of the angels as gentle, loving,
holy, as our friends and guardians; they are so, so far as we are Christ's. They
desire to look into the mysteries of redemption; they announcedthe Saviour's
birth; they ministered to him in his temptation, his agony;they celebratedhis
resurrectionand ascension. Now they are sentforth to minister for them that
shall be heirs of salvation;they encamp round about those who fear the Lord,
and deliver them. They help in carrying on his blessedwork of love. But they
are holy; they hate evil; they must turn away from those who have yielded
themselves to the dominion of the evil one; they must execute at the last the
awful judgment of God. Fearfulthought, that the blessedangels, loving and
holy as they are, must one day castthe hardened sinner into hell, as once they
castSatanout of heaven.
(2) In flaming fire. The Lord shall be revealedin flaming fire, in that glory
which he had before the world was. His throne is fiery flame (Daniel 7:9). He
himself is a consuming fire. The sight will be appalling to the lost, full of
unutterable terror; "they shall say to the rocks, Fallon us; and to the hills,
Coverus." "By thine agonyand bloody sweat, by thy cross andpassion, good
Lord, deliver us."
2. The lost. Two classes are mentioned here.
(1) Those who know not God - the heathen. They might have known him.
Some of them did know him. They had not the Law, the outward Law, but it
was written in their hearts;God spoke to them in the voice of conscience.
They listened; they did by nature the things containedin the Law. Such men,
we are sure, God in his greatmercy will acceptand save. But, alas!the fearful
picture drawn by St. Paul in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans
represents with only too much truth the generalstate of the heathen world in
the apostolic times. Their blindness was criminal; it was the result of willful
and habitual sin; their ignorance was without excuse.
(2) Those who obeyednot the gospel. All, whether Jews orGentiles, who had
heard the preaching of Christ. They had heard, as we have, all that the Lord
Jesus had done and suffered for us; they had had the opportunity of hearing
his holy precepts. "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world,

and men loved darkness rather than light." To know the gospeland not to
obey it, to have the light around us and not to admit it into our hearts, not to
walk as children of light - this must bring the judgment of God upon the
disobedient. The greaterthe light, the heavier the responsibility of those who
sin againstlight and knowledge.
3. The punishment. The Lord Jesus will award vengeance."Vengeanceis
mine; I will recompense, saiththe Lord." Terrible thought, that vengeance
must come from him, the most loving Saviour, who loved the souls of men
with a love so burning, so intense in its Divine tenderness!But it must be so.
The exceeding guilt of sin is manifest in this; it turns the chiefestof blessings
into an increase ofcondemnation; the cross is utter death to the impenitent
and the ungodly. And that vengeance takeseffectin destruction. The
destruction is eternal; then it is not annihilation. It is the destruction of all
gladness, hope, all that makes life worth living; it is the exclusion from the
face of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. Only the pure in heart can
see God. The lost souls cannotsee his face. The exclusionis eternal; is it
endless? It continues through the ages;will those ages ofmisery ever end in
restoration? Cana soul, once so hardened in guilt that it must be shut out of
the presence ofGod, everrepent in that exclusion? It sinned obstinately
againstlight during its time of probation; canit recoveritself now that the
light is withdrawn? It is hardened through the deceitfulness ofsin and the
powerof evil habits; can it break those chains of darkness now? These are
dark, awful questions. We may ask, onthe other hand, how can "Godbe all in
all," if sin is to exist forever? how can it be that "in Christ shall all be made
alive," while there is still a hell in the universe of God? The subject is beset
with difficulties and perplexities; it excites bewildering, harrowing thoughts.
We must leave it where Holy Scripture leaves it. We would gladly believe, if it
were possible, that there is hope beyond the grave for those who die unblest;
but such an expectationhas no scriptural authority beyond a few slight and
doubtful hints. Who would dare to trust to a hope so exceeding slender? No; if
we shrink in terror from the thought of being one day shut out of God's
presence into the greatouter darkness, letus try to live in that gracious
presence now.
II. THE GLORY OF THE RIGHTEOUS.

1. Its time: when he shall come. They suffer now; sometimes they are
persecuted, their name is castout as evil. But they have their consolation;they
see indeed through a glass darkly, but yet they do see by faith the glory of the
Lord; they are changedinto the same image from glory to glory as by the
Lord the Spirit. They have a glory now; but it is an inner spiritual glory
derived from the indwelling of the blessedSpirit whom the world seeth not,
neither knoweth. Now they are the sons of God; when he shall appear, they
shall be like him, for they shall see him as he is.
2. Its nature: the unveiled presence ofChrist. He shall be glorified in his
saints. "I am glorified in them," he said, when about to leave them. When he
comes again, that glory shall shine forth in all its radiant splendour. He shall
be admired in all them that believe. The glory of his presence abiding in them
shall arouse the wondering admiration of all. The lost spirits will wonder; they
will be amazed at the strangenessofthe salvationof the blessed. "This is he"
(Wisd. 5:3, 5) "whomwe sometimes had in derision... how is he numbered
among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints?" The very angels
will wonder at the exceeding glory of the Lord shining in his saints. For he will
change the body of their humiliation, and make it like the body of his glory.
LESSONS.
1. We must all appearbefore the judgment seatof Christ; let us keepthat
awful day in our thoughts.
2. Think on the fearful misery of eternalseparationfrom God; live in his
presence now.
3. We hope to be like him in his glory; let us take up the cross. - B.C.C.

Biblical Illustrator
When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that
believe
2 Thessalonians 1:10
Christ glorified in glorified men
A. Maclaren, D. D.
There be the two halves — the aspectof that day to those to whom it is the
revelation of a stranger, and the aspectof that day to those to whom it is the
glorifying of Him who is their life.
I. The remarkable words which I have taken for my text suggestto us, first of
all, some thoughts about that striking expressionthat CHRIST IS
GLORIFIED IN THE MEN WHO ARE GLORIFIED IN CHRIST. IF YOU
look on a couple of verses you will find that the apostle returns to this thought
and expressesin the clearestfashionthe reciprocalcharacterofthat
"glorifying" of which he has been speaking. "The name of our Lord Jesus
Christ," says he, "may be glorified in you, and ye in Him." So, then, glorifying
has a double process involved. It means either "to make glorious," or"to
manifest as being glorious." And men are glorified in the former sense in
Christ, that Christ in them may, in the latter sense, be glorified. He makes
them glorious by imparting to them of the lustrous light and flashing beauty
of His own perfectcharacter, in order that that light, receivedinto their
natures, and streaming out at lastconspicuouslymanifest from their

redeemedperfectness, may redound to the praise and the honour, before a
whole universe, of Him who has thus endued their weaknesswith His own
strength, and transmitted their corruptibility into His ownimmortality.
1. The artist is knownby his work. You stand in front of some greatpicture,
or you listen to some greatsymphony, or you read some greatbook, and you
say, "This is the glory of Raffaelle, Beethoven, Shakespeare." Christpoints to
His saints, and He says, "BeholdMy handiwork! Ye are My witnesses.This is
what I can do."
2. But the relation betweenChrist and His saints is far deeperand more
intimate than simply the relation betweenthe artist and his work, for all the
flashing light of moral beauty, of intellectual perfectness whichChristian men
can hope to receive in the future is but the light of the Christ that dwells in
them, "and of whose fulness all they have received." Like some poor vapour,
in itself white and colourless, whichlies in the easternsky there, and as the
sun rises is flushed up into a miracle of rosy beauty, because it has caughtthe
light amongst its flaming threads and vaporous substance, so we, in ourselves
pale, ghostly, colourless as the mountains when the Alpine snow passesoff
them, being recipient of an indwelling Christ shall blush and flame in beauty.
"Then shall the righteous blaze forth like the sun in My Father's Kingdom."
Or, rather they are not suns shining by their own light, but moons reflecting
the light of Christ, who is their light.
II. And now notice, again, out of these full and pregnant words the other
thought, THAT THIS TRANSFORMATIONOF MEN IS THE GREAT
MIRACLE AND MARVEL OF CHRIST'S POWER. "He shall come to be
admired" — which word is employed in its old English signification, "to be
wondered at" — "in all them that believe." So fair and lovely is He that He
needs but to be recognizedfor what He is in order to be glorified. So greatand
stupendous are His operations in redeeming love that they need but to be
beheld to be the objectof wonder. "His name shall be calledWonderful." And
wonderfully the energyof His redeeming and sanctifying grace shall then have
wrought itself out to its legitimate end. Such results from such material!
Chemists tell us that the black bit of coalin your grate and the diamond on
your finger are varying forms of the one substance. Whatabout a power that

shall take all the black coals in the world and transmute them into flashing
diamonds, prismatic with the reflectedlight that comes from His face and
made gems on His strong right hand? The universe shall wonder at such
results from such material. And it shall wonder, too, at the process by which
they were accomplished, wondering at the depth of His pity revealedall the
more pathetically now from the GreatWhite Throne, which casts sucha light
on the Cross of Calvary; wondering at the long, wearypath which He who is
now declaredto be the Judge humbled Himself to travel in the quest of these
poor sinful souls whom He has thus redeemedand glorified.
III. And now a word about what is not expressed, but is necessarilyimplied in
this verse, viz., THE SPECTATORSOF THIS GLORY. We need not
speculate, it is better not to enter into details, but this, at least, is clear, that
that solemn winding up of the long, mysterious, sad, blood and tear-stained
history of man upon the earth is to be an objectof interestand a higher
revelation of God to other. creatures than those that dwell upon the earth;
and we may well believe that for that moment, at all events, the centre of the
universe, which draws the thoughts of all thinking, and the eyes of all seeing
creatures to it, shall be that valley of judgment wherein sits the Man Christ
and judges men, and round Him the flashing reflectors ofHis glory in the
person of His saints.
IV. And lastly, look AT THE PATH TO THIS GLORIFYING. "He shall
come to be glorified in His saints, and to be wondered at in all them that
believed; as that word ought to be rendered. That is to say, they who on earth
were His, consecratedand devoted to Him, and in some humble measure
partaking even here of His reflectedbeauty and imparted righteousness —
these are they in whom He shall be glorified. They who believed": poor,
trembling, struggling, fainting souls, that here on earth, in the midst of many
doubts and temptations, claspedHis hand; and howsoevertremulously, yet
truly put their trust in Him, these are they in whom He shall "be wondered
at."
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The final Advent
D. Thomas, D. D.
The context teaches two things concerning the final Advent of Christ.
1. The mode of His revelationto the world: "Revealedfrom heaven." He is
now hidden within the veil; the veil will then be withdrawn and every eye shall
see Him. But how will He be revealed"with the angels of His might." What
are they, and how numerous? "In a fire of flame." Fire is often representedas
the accompanimentof manifested Deity (Exodus 3:2-18; Exodus 19:18;Daniel
2:9, 10; Malachi4:1; Revelation19:12).
2. The purpose of His revelation to the world. What is it?(1) To deal out
retribution on the ungodly, "Taking vengeance," etc. Whatwill be the
retribution? "Everlasting destruction." What is that? Ah, what! Whence
comes it? "Fromthe presence ofthe Lord." His presence makes the heaven of
the blest, constitutes the hell of the damned.(2) To conferimmortal
blessednessonHis faithful disciples, "To be glorified in His saints." As the
sun's glory is reflected in a mirror, so will Christ's glorious image be seenin
the assembleduniverse in the perfection of His saints. How will Christ be
glorified in this revelation of Himself?
I. THE MAGNIFICENCEOF HIS MORAL TRIUMPHS will be universally
recognized. When the millions of His disciples shall appear from all ages and
lands, redeemedfrom all evil and resplendent with goodness, the glory of
Christ's triumphs over the worstsuperstitions, over the strongestprejudices,
over the mightiest depravities, over the wickedand most hardened of the race.
The Hottentot, the Esquimaux, the Hindoo, the Chinese, the Japanese — men
of all races, willappear as His. How will this strike every soul with admiration
and praise. He who conquers the errors, bad passions, corrupt principles and
habits of our soul, achieves a sublimer conquestthan he who lays thousands of
the mere bodies of men dead on the field of battle. But Christ's conquestof
millions and millions of souls will appearon that day.
II. THE PERFECTIONOF HIS CHARACTER will be universally
recognized.

1. Will not His love be seenin all these conquests, His disinterested,
compassionate, persevering, all-conquering love?
2. Will not His faithfulness be seenin all these conquests? Will not every
redeemedsoul say He is true; all He has promised He has performed.
3. Will not His holiness be seenin all these conquests? He cleansedthem from
all their spiritual pollutions, and they appear before Him without spot or
wrinkle or any such thing.
4. Will not His powerbe seenin all these conquests? Who will not he struck
with His might in accomplishing this greatwork of gathering them all
togetherinto His everlasting kingdom.
(D. Thomas, D. D.)
Christ glorified
H. Kollock, D. D.
What a difference betweenthe first and secondAdvent of the Redeemer. One
greatreasonfor a judgment day was to manifest the glory of Jesus.
I. CHRIST WILL BE GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS. In their —
1. Countless number. Little as the flock of Jesus now appears, yet when all is
collectedwhata mighty host will appear.
2. Diversity of character, nation, age, time. The persecutorPaul and the
persecutedStephen; the convertedGreek and the believing Jew;patriarchs
and modern missionaries.
3. Pastexperience of His grace, converting, consoling, providential.
4. Perfectionand happiness of body and soul forever.
II. CHRIST WILL BE GLORIFIED IN HIS ENEMIES. In their punishment
will be seen—
1. His authority, now denied.

2. His faithfulness to fulfil His threatenings as well as His promises.
3. His holiness as the hater of iniquity.
4. His omniscience in detecting secretcrimes.
(H. Kollock, D. D.)
The SecondComing
N. Lardner, D. D.
I. CHRIST WILL ASSUREDLY COME AGAIN. This is no less certainthan
that He once dwelt on this earth. The time is still a secretto us, and perhaps to
all orders of intelligent creatures;but the circumstance itself is indubitable.
He will come again at the time appointed of the Father. At the ascensionHis
disciples were expresslyassuredof it by two angels (Acts 1:11). Our blessed
Lord also spoke frequently of it (John 14:2, 3); but He never states the time.
"Watch," He says, "for ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Sonof
Man cometh." Though the exacttime is not known, yet the SecondComing of
Christ is a prominent object of faith.
II. WHEN CHRIST COMES, HE WILL REGLORIFIED IN THE HAPPY
AND ADVANTAGEOUS CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS PEOPLE.
1. In their perfection in holiness. This will then reflect honour upon Him.
They will be presented "not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, being
holy, and without blemish."
2. In their eternal glory. Soul and body being reunited, they will be freed from
all the infirmities of sinful and mortal flesh; have enlargedcapacities,fitted
for the noblest services — celestialminds attached to celestialbodies (1
Corinthians 15:42-49;Philippians 3:21; 1 John 3:2).
3. In their number. Jesus spoke ofHis flock as a little one (Luke 12:32);but in
that day the number of His ransomedones will be far greaterthan the stars of
heaven; and they will be gatheredfrom the eastand the west, the north and
the south (Revelation7:9, 10).

III. WHEN CHRIST COMES, HE WILL ALSO BE ADMIRED IN THEM.
1. His wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30).
2. His power, demonstrated by His resurrection(John 5:20-29).
3. His faithfulness. His saints have believed and trusted in Him; now His truth
is confirmed. It will thus be a glorious day to Christ, and a day of unspeakable
joy to His people (Luke 12:37, 38).
(N. Lardner, D. D.)
The saints'estate of glory at the judgment
I. THE STATE ITSELF. It is one of glory. There is twofold glory put upon the
saints.
1. Relative which consists ofthree things —(1) The free and full forgiveness of
our sins by the Judge (Acts 3:19). Which pardon is —
(a)Constitutive by God's new covenant(Acts 10:43).
(b)Declarative when God as a Judge determines our right.
(c)Executively when He remits the deserved penalty, and gives glory and
happiness, All this is done in part here, but more fully at the last day.(2) A
participation of judicial power(1 Corinthians 6:2, 3; Luke 22:30). Here some
of the saints judge the world by their doctrine; all by their conversation
(Hebrews 11:7); there by vote and suffrage.(3)Christ's public owning them
before God and His angels, by head and poll, man by man (Luke 12:8;
Colossians 1:22;Jude 1:24; Ephesians 5:27; Hebrews 2:18).
2. Inherent (Galatians 1:16 cf. Romans 8:18). This glory will be revealed —(1)
In our bodies which shall be made —
(a)Immortal and incorruptible (1 Corinthians 15:42).
(b)Like Christ's glorious body (1 Corinthians 15:43; Matthew 17:2; Matthew
13:43).

(c)A spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:44).(2)In our souls which will be fully
satisfiedand filled up with God (1 John 3:2).
II. THE MEASURE OF THE GLORY CHRIST WILL IMPART. It is a thing
so greatthat it is said —
1. He shall come to be glorified in the saints. Paul does not say that the saints
shall be glorified (Romans 8:17); that were less though much. Nor does he say
Christ shall be glorified in Himself (1 Peter 4:13), but in the saints. He is
glorified in the glory which results to Him from their glory. His experience
shows —(1) The certainty of this effectof His coming. If His glory be
concernedin our glorification, we may be the more confident of it.(2) The
greatness;for how is Christ glorified in the saints?(a)Objectively. Godis
glorified by impression. So all His creatures glorify Him, i.e., offer matter to
setforth His glory (Psalm 145:10;Ephesians 1:12). Not speak but be.(b)
Actively by expression(Psalm 1.23;1 Peter2:9). He will be admired in those
that believe.We admire all those things which exceedknowledge and
expectation. That glory shall exceedall hope; but who are the parties that
shall wonder?(1)The goodangels — the spectators, notthe parties interested,
but beings marvellously affectedby the salvation of sinners (1 Peter1:12;
Ephesians 3:10).(2)The wickedare amazed when they see those so much loved
and advancedby Christ whose lives they counted madness and folly.(3) The
saints themselves are filled with wonder, they finding their expectationso
much exceeded;for admiration is the overplus of expectation. Even in what is
revealed, the saints find many astonishing instances ofGod's love (1 Peter
2:9).
III. THE AUTHOR: Christ. How He is concernedin this; for it is not said the
saints shall be glorified, but He. Our glory as it comes from Christ redounds
to Him (Romans 11:36).
1. He is the procurer of this glorious estate for us by His death and sufferings
(Ephesians 1:14; Romans 8:13; Ephesians 5:27). He gave Himself, not only to
sanctify, but to glorify His people.
2. He has promised it in His gracious covenant(1 John 2:25).

3. He dispenses it. As the husband rises in honour, so does the wife; when the
head is crownedthe members are clothed with honour; when the Captain
enters glory it is with His followers (Hebrews 2:10).
4. He is the pattern of it (Romans 8:29; Philippians 3:21; 1 John 3:2).
IV. THE SUBJECTS — "His saints," "All that believe." Mark —
1. The connectionbetweenthese two characters — saints and believers. It
implies that those who by faith so separate themselves from the world and
consecrate themselves to God shall be glorified (Acts 26:18).
2. This glory is limited to saints and believers (John 3:15; Colossians 3:12;
Acts 20:32;Acts 26:18).
3. Though it be limited to saints, yet there is a greatdifference betweenthe
saints. Some are eminent in grace;others weak and dark; some will be raised,
others changed; but they all agree in this that Christ will be glorified in all.
The glory that will be put upon the humblest will be enoughto raise the
wonder of angels.
V. THE SEASON:"In that day." For this public honour we must wait till the
time fixed. It is not meet that the adopted children should have their glory till
the Sonof Godby nature, be publicly manifested. There is no congruity,
betweentheir present state and this blessedness.
1. The place is not fit it is so full of changes.
2. The persons are not fit. Our souls are not yet purified enough to see God
(Matthew 5:8; 1 John 3:3). When Christ presents us to God we shall be
faultless (Jude 1:25). Old bottles cannot bear this new wine (Matthew 17:16).
3. The time is not fit. We must be some time upon our trial before we enter
upon our final estate. It is fit that Christ should be admired now in the graces,
but then in the glory of His people (1 Peter4:4).Uses:
1. To weanus from the vain glory of this world.
2. To encourage us to seek afterthis glorious estate by continuance in well-
doing.

(T. Manton, D. D.)
The glory of Christ as exhibited in His people
J. Kay.
I. IN THE EXCELLENCE OF THEIR CHARACTER. Whatevercontributes
to the honour of an individual must in some way reflect His worth. The
productions of an author form the medium of His praise. Thus creationis the
medium of the Creator's glorybecause it displays His wisdom, power, and
goodness.So at the last day the vast assemblyof the redeemedderiving all
that they possessfrom the Saviour will be the medium through which the
efficacyof His atonement, the powerof His grace, and the extent of His love
will be manifested in an admiring universe.
1. In estimating the improvement of an individual or the advancementof a
community, it is necessaryto bear in mind their original condition. So
informing a correctestimate of what the Saviour does for His people it is
necessaryto remember —
(1)Their lowly origin.
(2)Their ignorance of God, Christ, salvation, duty, destiny.
(3)Their depravity. They were enemies of God, transgressors ofthe law, etc.
2. Who without grateful emotion canthink of such as they shall finally appear
in glory?
(1)The mists of ignorance shall be dispelled.
(2)All sin will be put away.
(3)They as lesserluminaries will reflectthe glory and the grace of the Sun of
Righteousness.
II. IN THE PERFECTION AND SECURITYOF THEIR BLISS.

1. There was a time when they were strangers to joy — through the
indulgence of evil passions, the gratificationof evil propensities, distance from
God.
2. At the judgment and onwards their bliss will be —(1) Perfect. After their
conversionit was by no means contemptible, but it was incomplete, and so
imperfectly reflectedChrist's glory.(2) Secure. Here it is interrupted and not
seldom destroyed;by and by no danger will alarm, enemy intrude, or
temptation seduce.Conclusion:Hence we see —
1. The dignity of the Christian character.
2. The Christian's glorious hope.
(J. Kay.)
Christ glorified in His saints
J. Vaughan, M. A.
"When He shall come." How many things are waiting that issue, how many
mysteries to be solved, purposes to be unfolded, longing hopes to be at rest!
1. Paul does not define the time — the word is one of studied indefiniteness —
"When ever He shall come." But the objectis determined, viz., that Christ
may be glorified and admired. Far and above everything else on this grand
day this will be the end of ends.
2. In this, that day only puts its right climax on all that went before; for this
earth, from the beginning was made to be a platform to exhibit Christ — the
Fall, sorrow, death, the material world.
3. This may be a comfort now. Who has not said, "I wish to glorify Christ —
but do I, and can I?" And the poor divided, sin-stained Church — it is
pleasantto be assuredthat it will fully glorify Christ then.

4. It does not say that Christ will be glorified, etc., by but in His saints —
others will be the admirers, angels, the assembleduniverse — we shall be the
reflectors.
5. "Saints" here are the perfectly holy. Now holiness is the final end of man.
All else, election, redemption, grace, is only a means; and for the reasonthat
Holiness is the image of God. That there might be such an image was the end
of the first creationand the second. Therefore whenevery grace is complete
the whole Deity will be representedin its fulness — the Father's love in
choosing, the Son's love in dying, the Spirit's love in moulding every man's
life. That process whichwent on day by day and slowlyhere, will be finished.
6. To "believe" is to take God at His word. And those who believe look very
strange here. Men cannot understand them. They seemto be giving up
substances forshadows. But then the whole world will see with astonishment
the triumphs of faith, and the faithfulness of Jesus to His ownword.
7. You will do wellto make much of the saints and to extol the virtues of the
faithful, not for hero worship but to gather from them the features of Christ
and to imitate them.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Christ marvelled at
Many persons look upon Christians as common place holders of a
commonplace creed. Our Christianity is a story of marvels. It begins in
wonder; it will never end.
I. THE LORD JESUS WILL BE MARVELLED AT BY HIS SAINTS, WHO
WILL SEE, FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE GREATNESS OF THE
DELIVERANCE HE HAS WROUGHT FOR THEM. There are those who
look upon sin as a slight thing to be delivered from; but all through the Bible
we hear of Christ as the greatDeliverer, because He comes to deliver us from
sin. He is greatbecause He delivers from a greatevil; and when we see how
greatChrist is He will he "marvelled at by all them that believed." At present

we take our salvationvery coolly, as if it were a small matter. We only half
understand it now; but it will be far better understood some day. And when
we see it as we ought, as it is, then Jesus, who has wrought it all, will indeed be
"marvelled at" by us.
II. THE LORD JESUS WILL BE MARVELLED AT BY HIS SAINTS FOR
THE COURSE OF PROVIDENCE BYWHICH HE HAS LED THEM
HOME. The Jewishpeople had a story of marvels. Their rescue from Egypt
was a wonder; their passageacross the Red Sea was a wonder; the saving of
their life when the destroying angelpassedover the land was a wonder; the
waterfor their thirst gushing from the rock was a wonder; the bread for their
hunger falling from the heaven was a wonder; and, in fine, the whole history
of the people was one chain of wonders. So, in truth, is the whole history of all
Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles. Thoughthere seems nothing particular
in their lives, if they are lookedat in a proper spirit, even those comparatively
prosaic, are chargedwith the elements of mystery. Godhas kept them in
Jesus, has rescuedthem, has carried them over many an abyss. They were not
at all aware ofit at the time; but they will be fully aware of it "in that day,"
and they will marvel at their marvellous Leader. The history of His salvation
is continued in the history of His providence. So when they stand before Him
as His acceptedones they will see that He verily is the great marvel of their
past. Many a marvel has He done; but He Himself is the marvel of marvels.
III. THE LORD JESUS WILL BE MARVELLED AT BY HIS SAINTS,
FORASMUCHAS HE WILL BE SEEN AS HE IS. Himself a wonder, He will
awake a wondering sentiment in the hearts of those who, for the first time, see
what He really is. This is the one revelation waitedfor. We have seenmany
things, but we have not seenChrist; we have seenmany deliverances, but we
have not seenthe Deliverer; we have seenthe temple, but we have not seenthe
Lord of the temple. We talk to Christ every day, but we have not seenHim
yet. In our spirit we have seenChrist coming to our spirit — so seenHim that
we have marvelled at His beauty, and understood somewhatwhy those who
actually saw Him in the clays of His flesh were so attractedto Him. But Christ
— "the chief among ten thousand, and the altogetherlovely" — is sometimes
darkness upon darkness to our sinning soul, and no light shines out of the
gloom. You remember the story of a child during an eclipse sobbing until the

darkness became so intense that the sobs were hushed in terror; but when the
darkness passedaway, and the light came, the little one clapped her hands,
and cried, "Beautiful!" So with us; when He doth appear, and we see Him as
He is, He will be marvelled at for all the forms of beauty in His one Person.
Jesus admired in them that believe
C. H. Spurgeon.
1. What a difference between the first and secondcomings of our Lord. When
He shall come a secondtime it will be to be glorified and admired, but when
He came the first time He was despisedand rejectedof men.
2. The design of Christ's return is to be glorified in His people. Even now His
saints glorify Him. When they walk in holiness they reflectHis light: their
holy deeds are beams from the Sun of Righteousness. Whenthey believe in
Him they also glorify Him, because no grace pays lowlier homage to the
throne of Jesus.
3. We do not glorify Him as we could desire for too often we dishonour Him
by our want of zeal and our many sins. Happy day when this shall be no more
possible.
I. THE SPECIALGLORIFICATION HERE INTENDED.
1. The Time: "When He shall come." Forthis He waits, and the Church waits
with Him.
2. In whom this glorificationis to be found. He is glorified by what we do here,
but at last He will be glorified in what we are.(1)In His saints. All will be holy
ones;but inasmuch as they are believers the holiness with which they will
honour Christ is a holiness based on faith in Him.(2) "In all that believe."
This is enlargedby the hint that they are believers in a certain testimony,
according to the bracketedsentence. The testimony of the apostles was
concerning Christ — His incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
All who believe this witness are saved. But inasmuch as they are first said to

be saints, this faith must be a living faith which renews the characterand
shapes the life after the model of Christ.
3. By whom will Christ be glorified? He shines in His people but who shall see
the glory?
(1)His own people. Every saint will admire Christ in Himself, and in his
brother saints.
(2)His holy angels.
(3)Perhaps the inhabitants of other worlds.
(4)Satanand his defeatedlegions. These shallglorify Christ in His people, in
whom they have been completely overthrown.
4. In what degree? The very highest. Admiration means wonder; surpassing
all conception. Every one will be astonished, none more so than the saint
himself.
5. In what respects?(1)On accountof the number of the saints. "A great
multitude whom no man can number." Those who laughed will now see how
the little one has become a thousand.(2) An accountof their quality. They
shall be "without spot or wrinkle or any such thing." Absolutely perfect.
II. THE SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS THIS TRUTH SUGGESTS.
1. That the principal subjectfor self-examinationwith us all should be — Am
I a saint?
2. The small value of human opinion. When Christ was here the world
reckonedHim a nobody, and while His people are here they must expect to be
judged in the same way. Nevermind the reproachwhich will then be silenced.
3. A greatencouragementto seekers. If Christ is to be glorified in saved
sinners will He not be glorified indeed if He savedyou?
4. An exhortation to believers. If Christ is to be honoured in His people let us
think well of and love them all. Some are uncomely, poor, ignorant; but do
not, therefore, despise them.

5. An encouragementto all who love Jesus and bear testimony to His name.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The beauty of God
When Charles Kingsley was dying he seemedto have a glimpse of the
heavenly splendour into which he was going, and of God in His brightness and
loveliness, and he exclaimed, "How beautiful God is!" Every revelation of
God that is made to us is a revelationof beauty. Everywhere in nature, in
flowerthat blooms, in bird that sings, in dewdrop that sparkles onleaf or
plant, in star that shines, in sunset that burns with splendour, we see
disclosures orreflections of God's beauty. In the Holy Scriptures, where the
invisible God is manifested and interpreted, every revelationof His character
presents God to us in surpassing loveliness. Christwas God manifest in the
flesh, the brightness of the Father's glory, the express image of His person,
and He was altogetherlovely. Such enrapturing beauty the world has never
seenincarnated, save in that one blessedLife.
Christ glorified
In historical paintings, the principal personageswhosehistory is to be
representedoccupy the foreground, and stand out, as it were, from the other
figures which occupy the background. In the painting of the death of General
Wolfe, who fell at Quebec, the dying hero immediately arrests your attention;
your eyes fastenupon him, and all your sympathies and feelings are united
there. So with the believer, it is Christ who occupies the foreground of his
vision. He is the glorious personage who continually fills his eye and secures
his attention, and makes every surrounding object little in its dimensions
beside Him. It is Christ who died for him at Calvary; this draws out his
affections towards Him. All other objects are eclipsedin their beauty, and
have no beauty in comparisonwith Christ. "Whom have I in heaven," etc.

Christ reflectedin His people
C. H. Spurgeon.
You may have seena room hung round with mirrors, and when you stoodin
the midst you were reflectedfrom every point: you were seenhere, and seen
there, and there again, and there again, and so every part of you was
reflected;just such is heaven, Jesus is the centre, and all his saints like
mirrors reflectHis glory. Is He human? So are they! Is He the Son of God? So
are they sons of God! Is He perfect? So are they! Is He exalted? So are they! Is
He a prophet? So are they, making known unto principalities and powers the
manifold wisdom of God. Is He a priest? So are they! Is He a king? So are
they, for He hath made us priests and kings unto God, and we shall reign
forever and ever. Look where you will along the ranks of the redeemed, this
one thing shall be seen, the glory of Christ Jesus, evento surprise and wonder.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ glorified in His people
C. H. Spurgeon.
As a king is glorious in his regalia, so will Christ put on His saints as His
personalsplendour in that day when He shall make up His jewels. It is with
Christ as it was with that noble Romanmatron, who when she calledat her
friends' houses and saw their trinkets, askedthem to come next day to her
house, and she would exhibit her jewels. Theyexpected to see ruby, and pearl,
and diamond, but she calledin her two boys, and said, "These are my jewels."
Even so will Jesus insteadof emerald and amethyst, and onyx and topaz,
exhibit His saints. "These are my choice treasures,"saithHe, "in whom I will
be glorified." Solomon surely was never more full of glory than when he had
finished the temple, when all the tribes came togetherto see the noble
structure, and confessedit to be "beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole
earth." But what will be the glory of Christ when all the living stones shall be
put into their places and His Church shall have her windows of agates and her
gates ofcarbuncle, and all her borders of precious stones? Then, indeed, will

He be glorified, when the twelve foundations of His new Jerusalemshallbe
courses ofstones most precious, the like of which was never seen.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The day of Christ's glory and of the Church's joy
C. J. P. Eyre, M. A., W. Brock, D. D.
Sometimes we read of "the last day," "the greatday," — here "that day";
because it is the day to which all other days point, in prospectof which all
other days come with their duties, trials, responsibilities;the day towards
which the hopes of the Church, founded on the promise of God, and the
course of the world governedby the providence of God, are both gradually
tending, just as converging lines do to a point of contact. In heaven it is the
day longedfor, for it is the day of the revelation of the greatKing, and the
completion of the brotherhood betweenangels and saints. On earth it is the
day the Church sighs for, and over the grave of her departed children she
says, "Accomplishthe number of Thine elect. HastenThine appearing!" In
hell it is the day feared, because there the angels who left their first estate are
reservedin everlasting chains, in darkness, unto the judgment of that great
day. Of this day the conscienceofevery one of us warns. It is not the mere
induction of logic from the prevalence of evil and the suffering and loss which
attends goodness;it is no mere depressionof spirits through forfeiture of self-
respector fear of man, that punishes the poor victim of deep remorse, when
he shrinks from the reckoning to come;the evidence is in that man as surely
as it may be seenwithout him in the government of God's world, as surely as
it may be seenbefore him in the letter of God's Word; it is a portion of the
economyof his constitution, the economyof every rational mind, placedthere
by Him who made man. Scoffers in our day, as in St. Peter's, who keeptheir
eyes on the apparent constancyof the present order of things, may say,
"Where is the promise of His coming?" but a coming of some kind to
judgment their very fears will show, and the desire to shake the veracity of the
promises of Scripture regarding that day is encouragedby these secretfears.
The coming of that day is as sure a thing as the existence ofthe Personof God,

the Judge of man. The revealedcouncils of the Trinity would be nugatory
without it. If the Father is gathering to Himself a greatfamily, of which the
everlasting Son is not ashamed to be calledthe Brother, this is the day for the
manifestation of that family. If He has promised to the Redeemerthat He
shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied, that there shall be a public
acceptanceofthe children given Him and the possessionofan earthly
kingdom, this is the day for the fulfilment of the engagement. Of this day the
Holy Ghosthas written, and to prepare men for it He abides with the Church.
And this day is calledin Scripture, "the last day," "the day of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ." He humbled Himself to humanity in the prospectof
this day; He hung upon the cross to win this day; the resurrection and
ascensionwere only steps of preparation towards this day; His heavenly life is
an expectationof this day. Royalty not yet enjoyed, hope not yet satisfied,
glory not yet perfected, all wait for their fulness on that day when "the Lord
Jesus shallbe revealed," etc.
The day of Christ's glory and of the Church's joy: —
I. HE SHALL COME TO BE GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS. To glorify
means to secure honour or renown for a person. This prerogative Christ
claims for Himself (John 11). He was glorified in Lazarus; He shall be
glorified in the saints:
1. In the number of His saints. Even now through a little flock, He receives
honour through them. But so little are they in comparisonwith the world
around that the glory Christ receives now is not worthy to be comparedwith
that He will receive when "the multitude which no man can number" will be
gatheredround Him, the largestof the two which shall be there. Do we not
read "All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord," "All flesh shall
see the salvationof God"? We may fairly infer that previous to the judgment
there will be a vast accessionto the Church. One generationshallsucceedto
another eachincreasing, one and all combining to swellthe number of those of
whom Christ spoke when He said, "I, if I be lifted up," etc.

2. In he harmony of the saints. This harmony was regardedby our Lord as of
greatimportance. It is true that this does not exist as it should to the shame of
the Church. But there is unity, and that unity redounds to the glory of Christ.
But how much more shall it do so when every difference is extinct, every error
rectified, and every passionquelled. The greattheologicalcontroversalistswill
then see eye to eye, and the Saviour will then see His desire accomplished.
3. The holiness of the saints. This was one of the objects of Christ's death; His
honour is involved in it. How then will honour be secured, when body and
soul, and the whole Church shall be perfect.
II. HE WILL BE ADMIRED IN ALL WHO BELIEVE. You admire Him now
even as seenin His ordinances, and in prayer, Rut the hour is coming when
that admiration shall be past description.
1. His full possessionofmediatorial glory shall lead you to admire Him. He
will not come amidst poverty and shame, but in flaming fire, etc. If the
Saviour appears now as the "altogetherlovely," althoughwe only see through
a glass darkly, what will He appearto be when we see Him face to face.
2. The universal acknowledgmentof His supremacy shall lead you to admire
Him — devils, heathen, and all His enemies will bow before Him, and every
tongue shall confess thatHe is Lord.
3. The knowledge ofwhat He has done will lead you to admire Him. We can
conceive now, in some measure, our obligation to Christ, but how little
compared with what we shall know when the depth of the depravity from
which we have been rescued, the dreadfulness of the danger from which we
have been preserved, and the glory of the heaven to which we are introduced,
are fully revealed.Application:
1. Let Christians, animated by such a prospect, and possessedof such an
inheritance, cherishholy gratitude and practice grateful obedience.
2. Let the unconverted seriouslyconsiderthe loss and peril of their position.
(W. Brock, D. D.)

Becauseour testimony among you was believed
The testimony believed
T. Manton, D. D.
I. THE GREAT TEST OF CHRISTIANS IS BELIEVING. The promises run
everywhere in this strain (Mark 16:16;John 3:36).
II. FAITH OF ANY SORT IS NOT ENOUGH, WE MUST TRULY AND
SINCERELYBELIEVE (John 8:31; 1 Thessalonians 1:5). We distinguish
betweenthe two when the truths believed have an effectualpower to change
our hearts and reform our lives (1 Thessalonians 2:13;Titus 1:16; Hosea 8:2).
III. THE MATTER WE ARE TO BELIEVE IS THE APOSTLE'S
TESTIMONYCONCERNING GOD'SGOOD WILL TO SINNERS IN
CHRIST.
1. Christianity, or the doctrine of salvationby Christ, is a testimony. A
testimony is the proof necessaryin matters that cannototherwise be decided
by rational deduction: as in two cases —(1)In matters that depend upon the
arbitrary will of another. If I want to know how a man stands affected
towards me, I must know it by his testimony. So none can know God's good
will, but those to whom He reveals it (Matthew 11:27).(2)In matters of fact.
Matters of law are argued by reason, matters of fact are only proved by
credible witnesses;and in this respectthe gospelis a testimony. Its facts
transpired necessarilyin one place, but the knowledge ofthem concerns the
whole world.
2. This testimony is given —(1) By Christ (John 3:33; Revelation3:14).(2)By
the apostles who were commissionedby Christ as His witnesses (Acts 1:8; Acts
2:32; Acts 10:39-41). This testimony is valuable to produce a saving belief in
Christianity.
(a)They had the testimony of sense (2 Peter 1:16, 17; 1 John 1:1-3).
(b)They were men of holiness and integrity (1 Corinthians 15:15).
(c)They were authorized by miracles (Hebrews 2:3, 4).

(d)Their testimony they gave in word and writing (Acts 4:33; 1 John 4:12).
(e)Christ prays for all who should believe through them (John 17:20).Use
1. Of information.(1) Of the nature of faith — belief of testimony. We can only
believe on testimony; we know by sense and reason.(2)The ground of faith.
Christ and the apostle's testimonyas transmitted to us.
2. Of exhortation. Believe this testimony that you may make out your title to
eternal life. If we receive it not it will be a testimony againstus. Two sorts will
never be allowedfor true believers.
(1)The careless(Matthew 13:19).
(2)The unsanctified who deny the faith (1 Timothy 5:8).
(T. Manton, D. D.)
Faith as a motive power
Prof. Tholuck.
How could the question, Whether faith be a motive power, have ever been
made the subject of controversy? Formany a year, every day and every hour
has strengthenedmy convictionthat what a man believes, and what he does
not believe, is either the lever or the bar to all that he does. If I believe what,
by his pale cheek, as wellas by word of mouth, the messengerannounces —
that sentence ofdeath has been pronounced againstme, and that tomorrow's
dawn will shine upon my scaffold;if I believe the intelligent architectwhen he
assures me that the beams which support the roof of my chamber must in a
few hours give way; if I believe the smooth tongue which whispers that my
friend is a villain — is it possible that these things should not prove to me a
spur and a goad? Were faith, indeed, a mere imagination, and did it signify
nothing but the presentationto the mind's eye, of so many possibilities and
shadowyimages of beauty, it might be otherwise. But faith is no such baseless
picture drawn by the imagination. It is a piece of myself, and what we believe
penetrates through secretand unexplored passages, into the deepestrecesses

of our being. It cannot be otherwise, therefore, than that a man's life is the
reflex of his faith. If thou believestin the breath of another world, then that
breath will become the soul of thy life.
(Prof. Tholuck.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(10) When he shall come.—Notsimply a repetition of the temporal date which
was mentioned in 2Thessalonians 1:7—“whenthe Lord,” &c—but an
introduction of the contrastwhich will be presented“in that day” by the
spectacle ofthe glory of the saints. Thus the penalty of 2Thessalonians1:9 is
made to appear greater, while at the same time the readers’minds are turned
back to a more wholesome subjectfor meditation.
To be glorified in his saints.—This is not exactly the purpose, but the effectof
His coming. A comparisonof John 13:31-32;John 14:13; John 17:10;
2Thessalonians1:12;shows that the saints are the objects on which and by
which the glorious perfection of Christ is exhibited: to see what the saints will
be exalted to “in that day” will make all observers acknowledge, notthe
holiness or greatness ofthe men, but the divine powerof Him who was able so
to exalt them. As the persecutors were divided into two classesto be punished,
so the savedare describedunder two aspects:in contrast with “them that
know not God” they are “saints,” i.e., fully consecratedto God; in contrast
with “them that obey not the gospel” they are “they that believed” (for the
past tense is the better reading), i.e., acceptedthe gospel. As the profane
Gentiles, looking on the saints, recognise the “glory” of the God whom they
knew not, so the disobedient Jews, seeing the faithful, are aptly filled with
“wonder” (Acts 13:41), before they perish, at the glory to be attained by
obedience to the law of suffering.

Becauseour testimony.—Introduced to show why the writers had said
specially“in all them that believed” (the past tense is employed because it
looks back from the Judgment Day to the moment when the gospelwas
offered and the divergence betweenbelievers and unbelievers began); the
reasonwas, becauseamong “allthem that believed” the Thessalonianswould
be found included.
In that day.—Added at the end to make the readers look once more (as it
were)upon the wonderful sight on which the writer’s prophetic eyes were
raptly fixed.
MacLaren's Expositions
2 Thessalonians
CHRIST GLORIFIED IN GLORIFIED MEN
2 Thessalonians 1:10.
The two Epistles to the Thessalonians, whichare the Apostle’s earliestletters,
both give very greatprominence to the thought of the secondcoming of our
Lord to judgment. In the immediate context we have that coming described,
with circumstances ofmajesty and of terror. He ‘shall be revealed. . . with the
angels of His power.’ ‘Flaming fire’ shall herald His coming; vengeance shall
be in His hands, punishment shall follow His sentence;everlasting destruction
shall be the issue of evil confronted with ‘the face of the Lord’--for so the
words in the previous verse rendered ‘the presence ofthe Lord’ might more
accuratelybe translated.

And all these facts and images are, as it were, piled up in one half of the
Apostle’s sky, as in thunderous lurid masses;and on the other side there is the
pure blue and the peacefulsunshine. For all this terror and destruction, and
flashing fire, and punitive vengeance come to pass in the day when ‘He shall
come to be glorified in His saints, and to be wondered at in all them that
believe.’
There be the two halves--the aspectof that day to those to whom it is the
all, some thoughts about that striking expressionthat Christ is glorified in the
men who are glorified in Christ.
If you look on a couple of verses you will find that the Apostle returns to this
thought, and expresses in the clearestfashionthe reciprocalcharacterofthat
‘glorifying’ of which he has been speaking. ‘The name of our Lord Jesus
Christ,’ says he, ‘may be glorified in you, and ye in Him.’
So, then, glorifying has a double meaning. There is a double process involved.
It means either ‘to make glorious’or ‘to manifest as being glorious.’And men
are glorified in the former sense in Christ, that Christ in them may, in the
latter sense, be glorified. He makes them glorious by imparting to them of the
lustrous light and flashing beauty of His own perfect character, in order that
that light, received into their natures, and streaming out at last conspicuously
manifest from their redeemed perfectness, mayredound to the praise and the
honour, before a whole universe, of Him who has thus endued their weakness
with His ownstrength, and transmuted their corruptibility into His own
immortality. We are glorified in Christ in some partial, and, alas!sinfully

fragmentary, manner here; we shall be so perfectly in that day. And when we
are thus glorified in Him, then--wondrous thought!--even we shall be able to
manifest Him as glorious before some gazing eyes, whichwithout us would
have seenHim as less fair. Dim, and therefore greatand blessedthoughts
about what men may become are involved in such words. The highest end, the
greatpurpose of the Gospeland of all God’s dealings with us in Christ Jesus is
to make us like our Lord. As we have borne the image of the earthly we shall
also bear the image of the heavenly. ‘We, beholding the glory, are changed
into the glory.’
And that glorifying of men in Christ, which is the goaland highestend of
Christ’s Cross and passionand of all God’s dealings, is accomplishedonly
because Christdwells in the men whom He glorifies. We read words applying
to His relation to His Fatherwhich need but to be transferred to our relation
to Him, in order to teachus high and blessedthings about this glorifying. The
Father dwelt in Christ, therefore Christ was glorified by the indwelling
divinity, in the sense that His humanity was made partaker of the divine glory,
and thereby He glorified the divinity that dwelt in Him, in the sense that He
conspicuouslydisplayed it before the world as worthy of all admiration and
love.
And, in like manner, as is the Son with the Father, participant of mutual and
reciprocalglorification, so is the Christian with Christ, glorified in Him and
therefore glorifying Him.
What may be involved therein of perfectmoral purity, of enlargedfaculties
and powers, ofa bodily frame capable of manifesting all the finest issues ofa
perfect spirit, it is not for us to say. These things are great, being hidden; and
are hidden because they are great. But whatever may be the lofty heights of
Christlikeness to which we shall attain, all shall come from the indwelling
Lord who fills us with His own Spirit.

And, then, according to the greatteaching here, this glorified humanity,
perfectedand separatedfrom all imperfection, and helped into all
symmetrical unfolding of dormant possibilities, shall be the highestglory of
Christ evenin that day when He comes in His glory and sits upon the throne
of His glory with His holy angels with Him. One would have thought that, if
the Apostle wanted to speak of the glorifying of Jesus Christ, he would have
pointed to the greatwhite throne, His majestic divinity, the solemnities of His
judicial office;but he passes by all these, and says, ‘Nay! the highestglory of
the Christ lies here, in the men whom He has made to share His own nature.’
The artist is known by his work. You stand in front of some great picture, or
you listen to some greatsymphony, or you read some greatbook, and you say,
‘This is the glory of Raphael, Beethoven, Shakespeare.’Christpoints to His
saints, and He says, ‘Behold My handiwork! Ye are my witnesses.This is what
I can do.’
But the relation betweenChrist and His saints is far deeper and more intimate
than simply the relation betweenthe artist and his work, for all the flashing
light of moral beauty, of intellectual perfectness whichChristian men can
hope to receive in the future is but the light of the Christ that dwells in them,
‘and of whose fulness all they have received.’Like some poor vapour, in itself
white and colourless, whichlies in the easternskythere, and as the sun rises is
flushed up into a miracle of rosy beauty, because it has caught the light
amongstits flaming threads and vaporous substance, so we, in ourselves pale,
ghostly, colourless as the mountains when the Alpine snow passes offthem,
being recipient of an indwelling Christ, shall blush and flame in beauty. ‘Then
shall the righteous blaze forth like the sun in my Father’s kingdom.’ Or,
rather they are not suns shining by their own light, but moons reflecting the
light of Christ, who is their light.

And perchance some eyes, incapable of beholding the sun, may be able to look
undazzled upon the sunshine in the cloud, and some eyes that could not
discern the glory of Christ as it shines in His face as the sun shineth in its
strength, may not be too weak to behold and delight in the light as it is
reflectedfrom the face of His servants. At all events, He shall come to be
glorified in the saints whom He has made glorious.
II. And now, notice again, out of these full and pregnant words the other
thought, that this transformation of men is the greatmiracle and marvel of
Christ’s power.
‘He shall come to be admired’--which word is employed in its old English
signification, ‘to be wonderedat’--’in all them that believe.’ So fair and lovely
is He that He needs but to be recognisedfor what He is in order to be
glorified. So greatand stupendous are His operations in redeeming love that
they need but to be beheld to be the objectof wonder. ‘His name shall be
calledWonderful,’ and wonderfully the energyof His redeeming and
sanctifying grace shallthen have wrought itself out to its legitimate end. There
you getthe crowning marvel of marvels, and the highest of miracles. He did
wonderful works upon earth which we rightly call miraculous,--things to be
wondered at--but the highestof all His wonders is the wonderthat takes such
material as you and me, and by such a process, andon such conditions, simply
because we trust Him, evolves such marvellous forms of beauty and
perfectness from us. ‘He is to be wondered at in all them that believe.’
Such results from such material! Chemists tell us that the black bit of coalin
your grate and the diamond on your finger are varying forms of the one
substance. Whatabout a powerthat shall take all the black coals in the world
and transmute them into flashing diamonds, prismatic with the reflected light
that comes from His face, and made gems on His strong right hand? The
universe will wonder at such results from such material.

And it will wonder, too, at the process by which they were accomplished,
wondering at the depth of His pity revealedall the more pathetically now
from the greatwhite throne which casts sucha light on the Cross of Calvary;
wondering at the long, weary path which He who is now declaredto be the
Judge humbled Himself to travel in the quest of these poor sinful souls whom
He has redeemed and glorified. The miracle of miracles is redeeming love;
and the high-water mark of Christ’s wonders is touched in this fact, that out
of men He makes saints;and out of saints He makes perfectlikenessesof
Himself.
this verse, viz., the spectators ofthis glory.
The Apostle does not tell us what eyes they are before which Christ is thus to
be glorified. He does not summon the spectators to look upon this wonderful
exhibition of divine judgment and divine glory; but we may dwell for a
moment on the thought that to whomsoeverin the whole universe Christ at
that greatday shall be manifested, to them, whoeverthey be, will His glory, in
His glorified saints, be a revelation beyond what they have known before.
‘Every eye shall see Him.’ And whatsoevereyes look upon Him, then on His
throne, they shall behold the attendant courtiers and the assessors ofHis
judgment, and see in them the manifestation of His own lustrous light.
We read that ‘unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places shallbe
made known’ in future days, ‘by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God.’
We hear that, after the burst of praise which comes from redeemed men
standing around the throne, every creature in the earth and in the heavens,
and in the sea and all that are therein were heard saying, ‘Blessing and
honour and glory and powerbe unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and
unto the Lamb for ever and ever.’

We need not speculate, it is better not to enter into details, but this, at least, is
clear, that that solemn winding up of the long, mysterious, sad, blood and
tear-stainedhistory of man upon the earth is to be an objectof interestand a
higher revelationof God to other creatures than those that dwell upon the
earth; and we may wellbelieve that for that moment, at all events, the centre
of the universe, which draws the thoughts of all thinking, and the eyes of all
seeing, creatures to it, shall be that valley of judgment wherein sits the Man
Christ and judges men, and round Him the flashing reflectors of His glory in
the personof His saints.
IV. And lastly, look at men’s path to this glorifying.
‘He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be wonderedat in all them
that believed ‘; as that word ought to be rendered. That is to say, they who on
earth were His, consecratedanddevoted to Him, and in some humble
measure partaking even here of His reflected beauty and imparted
righteousness--theseare they in whom He shall be glorified. They who
‘believed’; poor, trembling, struggling, fainting souls, that here on earth, in
the midst of many doubts and temptations, claspedHis hand; and howsoever
tremulously, yet truly put their trust in Him, these are they in whom He shall
‘be wonderedat.’
The simple act of faith knits us to the Lord. If we trust Him He comes into our
hearts here, and begins to purify us, and to make us like Himself; and, if that
be so, and we keephold of Him, we shall finally share in His glory.
What a hope, what an encouragement, whata stimulus and exhortation to
humble and timorous souls there is in that great word, ‘In all them that
believed’! Howsoeverimperfect, still they shall be kept by the power of God

unto that final salvation. And when He comes in His glory, not one shall be
wanting that put their trust in Him.
It will take them all, eachin his severalwayreflecting it, to setforth
adequately the glory. As many diamonds round a central light, which from
eachfacetgive off a severalray and a definite colour; so all that circle round
Christ and partaking of His glory, will eachreceive it, transmit it, and so
manifest it in a different fashion. And it needs the innumerable company of
the redeemed, eacha severalperfectness,to set forth all the fulness of the
Christ that dwells in us.
So, dear brethren, beginning with simple faith in Him, partially receiving the
beauty of His transforming spirit, seeking here on earth by assimilationto the
Masterin some humble measure to adorn the doctrine and to glorify the
Christ, we may hope that eachblackness will be changedinto brightness, our
limitations done awaywith, our weaknesslifted into rejoicing strength; and
that we shall be like Him, seeing Him as He is, and glorified in Him, shall
glorify Him before the universe.
You and I will be there. Choose which of the two halves of that skythat I was
speaking about in my introductory remarks will be your sky; whether He
shall be revealed, and the light of His face be to you like a sword whose
flashing edge means destruction, or whether the light of His face shall fall
upon your heart because you love Him and trust Him, like the sunshine on the
Alpine snow, lifting it to a more lustrous whiteness, and tingeing it with an
etherealhue of more than earthly beauty, which no other power but an
indwelling Christ can give. He shall come with ‘everlasting destruction from
the face’;and ‘He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be wondered
at in all them that believed.’ Do you choose whichof the two shall be your
portion in that day.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:5-10 Religion, if worth anything, is worth every thing; and those have no
religion, or none worth having, or know not how to value it, cannotfind their
hearts to suffer for it. We cannot by all our sufferings, any more than by our
services, merit heaven; but by our patience under sufferings, we are prepared
for the promised joy. Nothing more strongly marks a man for eternal ruin,
than a spirit of persecutionand enmity to the name and people of God. God
will trouble those that trouble his people. And there is a rest for the people of
God; a rest from sin and sorrow. The certainty of future recompence is
proved by the righteousness ofGod. The thoughts of this should be terrible to
wickedmen, and support the righteous. Faith, looking to the greatday, is
enabled partly to understand the book of providence, which appears confused
to unbelievers. The Lord Jesus will in that day appearfrom heaven. He will
come in the glory and powerof the upper world. His light will be piercing, and
his powerconsuming, to all who in that day shall be found as chaff. This
appearance will be terrible to those that know not God, especiallyto those
who rebel againstrevelation, and obey not the gospelof our Lord Jesus
Christ. This is the greatcrime of multitudes, the gospelis revealed, and they
will not believe it; or if they pretend to believe, they will not obey it. Believing
the truths of the gospel, is in order to our obeying the precepts of the gospel.
Though sinners may be long spared, they will be punished at last. They did
sin's work, and must receive sin's wages. Here Godpunishes sinners by
creatures as instruments; but then, it will be destruction from the Almighty;
and who knows the powerof his anger? It will be a joyful day to some, to the
saints, to those who believe and obey the gospel. In that bright and blessed
day, Christ Jesus will be glorified and admired by his saints. And Christ will
be glorified and admired in them. His grace and powerwill be shown, when it
shall appear what he has purchased for, and wrought in, and bestowedupon
those who believe in him. Lord, if the glory put upon thy saints shall be thus
admired, how much more shalt thou be admired, as the Bestowerof that
glory! The glory of thy justice in the damnation of the wickedwill be admired,
but not as the glory of thy mercy in the salvation of believers. How will this
strike the adoring angels with holy admiration, and transport thy admiring
saints with eternal rapture! The meanestbeliever shall enjoy more than the
most enlargedheart can imagine while we are here; Christ will be admired in
all those that believe, the meanestbeliever not excepted.

Barnes'Notes on the Bible
When he shall come to be glorified in his saints - That is, the redeemedin that
day will be the means of promoting his glory, or the universe will see his glory
manifested in their redemption. His chief glory as seenin that day will be
connectedwith the fact that he has redeemedhis people;and he will come in
order that all the appropriate honor of such a work may then be manifested.
He will be "glorified" then by the numbers that shall have been redeemed; by
their patience in the trials through which they have passed;by the triumphs
which religion shall have made on the earth; by their praises and songs, and
by their ascentwith him to the realms of blessedness.
And to be admired in all them that believe - This may either mean that he will
be admired among or by them that believe; or that the ground of the
admiration which he will receive in that day will be what will be seenin them;
that is, their graces, their numbers, their joys, their triumphs will be the
occasionofproducing admiration of him - for he will be regardedas the
source of it all. Tyndale renders it: "and to be made marvelous in all them
that believe." The latter interpretation seems to me to be the correctone. The
generalidea is, that Christ in that day will be manifestedin a glorious
manner, and that the source of his highest triumphs will be what is seenin the
saints. His main honor when he returns to the world will not be the outward
splendors which will attend his coming, nor the angels that will accompany
him, nor the manifestationof his power overthe elements, but the church
which he has redeemed. It will then be seenthat he is worthy of universal
admiration, for having redeemedthat church. He shall then be admired or
glorified in his people:
(1) for having conceivedthe plan of redeeming them;
(2) for being willing to become incarnate and to die to save them;
(3) for the defense of his church in all its persecutions and trials;
(4) for raising his people from the dead;
(5) for the virtues and graces whichthey will exhibit in that day.

This appropriate honor of Christ in the church has never yet been fully seen.
His people on earth have, in general, mostimperfectly reflectedhis image.
They have in generalbeen comparatively few in number, and scatteredupon
the earth. They have been poor and despised. Often they have been persecuted
and regardedas the "filth of the world and the offscouring of all things." The
honors of this world have been withheld from them. The greathave regarded
it as no honor to be identified with the church, and the proud have been
ashamedto be enrolled among the followers of the Lamb. In the last day all
this will be changed, and the assembledchurch will show to admiring worlds
how greatand glorious is it, Redeemer, and how glorious was the work of
redemption.
Becauseour testimony among you was believed. - The meaning of this seems
to be, that they would be among the number of those who would in that day
honor the Saviour, because theyhad embraced what the apostle had preached
to them respecting these future scenes. Thus interpreted, this clause should be
regardedas connectedwith 2 Thessalonians 2:7. "And to you it is a righteous
thing that he should give rest with us, because our testimony among you was
believed," That is, you have shownthat you are true Christians, and it is
proper that you should partake of the triumphs and hopes of that day.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
10. "When He shall have come."
glorified in his saints—as the element and mirror IN which His glory shall
shine brightly (Joh 17:10).
admired in all them that believe—Greek, "themthat believed." Once they
believed, now they see:they had takenHis word on trust. Now His word is
made goodand they need faith no longer. With wonder all celestial
intelligences (Eph 3:10) shall see and admire the Redeemeron accountof the
excellencieswhichHe has wrought in them.
because, &c.—Supply for the sense, among whom(namely, those who shall be
found to have believed) you, too, shall be; "because ourtestimony unto (so the
Greek for 'among') you was believed" (and was not rejectedas by those "who

obey not the Gospel," 2Th1:8). The early preaching of the Gospelwas not
abstractdiscussions, but a testimony to facts and truths experimentally known
(Lu 24:48;Ac 1:8). Faith is defined by BishopPearsonas "anassentunto
truths, credible upon the testimony of God, delivered unto us by the apostles
and prophets" (originally delivering their testimony orally, but now in their
writings). "Glorified in His saints" reminds us that holiness is glory in the
bud; glory is holiness manifested.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
This speaks the different manner of Christ’s coming towards the saints and
believers;not in flaming fire to destroy them, as in the former verse; but to be
glorified and admired in them. He saith not to be glorified by them, by their
adoring and praising of him, but in them. He hath a personalglory, wherein
he will appear glorious, and another mystical, in his saints. The Head will be
glorified in the members, as they are glorified in and from the Head: as the
sun hath a lustre and glory in the moon and stars besides what it hath in its
own body, as Colossians 3:4:When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we
also shall appear with him in glory. The glory God gave his Son, he hath given
it to his saints, John 17:22, and will put it upon them, and be glorified in it in
the day of his appearing; as God is said to have glorified himself in Israel,
Isaiah44:23.
And to be admired; and this glory will be so great, that he shall be admired in
it, as the word signifies. It will set the saints themselves, and all the angels of
heaven, yea, the whole world, a wondering. Small things do not cause
admiration, but what is great and we cannotcomprehend, that we admire.
And Christ will not only be admired by them, but in them; the wonderful love,
grace, mercy, wisdom, and faithfulness of Christ towards them will be
admired. To raise up such a number of poor, sinful, despicable worms out of
the dust into such a sublime state of glory and dignity, will be admirable.

Becauseour testimony among you was believed; and that these Thessalonians
might have the comfort of this particularly, he having spokenof saints, and
those that believe in general, the apostle applies this therefore to themselves in
way of parenthesis:q.d. Christ will be admired in all that believe; and ye are
among them that believe;ergo, &c. And the doctrine of the gospelhe had
preached, he called it his testimony, as John 3:33 1 Corinthians 3:6; which
implies it was not an invention of his own, he did not speak ofhimself, as the
word implies: and this testimony found different entertainment, some believed
it not, others believed it and receivedit; upon which accountthe
Thessalonians are commended and comforted here by the apostle. The Syriac
read the words in the future tense, without a parenthesis;Christ will come to
be thus glorified and admired in his saints, because our testimony among you
concerning it shall be believed or confirmed in that day; he means the day of
Christ’s last coming, which he calledthe day of the Lord, 1 Thessalonians5:2;
and because it is so greata day, is therefore by wayof emphasis calledthat
day.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
When he shall come to be glorified in his saints,.... Or by them who are set
apart for holiness and happiness by God the Father; whose sins are expiated
by the blood and sacrifice ofChrist; to whom he is made sanctification;and
who are sanctified by the Spirit and grace ofGod; and in whom Christ has a
peculiar interest, through his Father's gift, his own purchase, and the power
of his grace:and when he comes a secondtime he will be glorified in these
persons;he will appear glorious to them; he will come in his own glory both as
God and man; and in his Father's glory, authority, and majesty, conferredon
him as the Judge of the whole earth; and with the glory of his angels, who will
accompanyhim. And he will also bestow a glory on them; their souls will be
endowedwith perfect knowledge andholiness; and their bodies will be made
like to his glorious body; and both will shine like the sun in the kingdom of
their Father; and this glory on the members of Christ will redound to the
glory of him their head. And as he will then, in the most full and clear
manner, display the glory of his personand perfections, of his wisdom, power,
faithfulness, and goodness, setoffthe glory of his offices, and, the
administration of them, and open the riches both of his grace andglory to

them; so they will, in return, ascribe honour, praise, and glory, to him, and
give him the glory of their salvationto all eternity:
and to be admired in all them that believe; who are the same with the saints;
these are convertible terms; for no man can be a saint, unless he is a believer
in Christ, let him make what pretensions to holiness he will: and no man can
be a true believer in Christ, unless he is a saint; for true faith works by love,
and in a way of holiness;and in those, or by those that are sanctified by faith
in him, will he be admired when he appears a secondtime. He is admired by
them now; he is with them the chiefest among ten thousands, and altogether
lovely: they wonder at the glory and beauty of his person, and the fulness of
his grace;and are amazed that such as they are should be admitted to
communion with him; and how much more will they wonder, when they shall
see him as he is? and he will be admired by others on the accountof them,
when they shall see those that they have despised, and persecuted, and
accountedas the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things, received
into the arms of Jesus with all the expressions oftenderness and love; placed
at his right hand, and set down with him on his throne, clothed with white
robes, and crowns on their head, and palms in their hands: and he himself will
be admired with them, when they shall see him whom they took to be a mere
man, and who was a man of sorrows, and acquaintedwith griefs, and was
loaded with reproachand ignominy, and at lastsuffered a shameful death,
coming in the clouds of heaven in power and greatglory as the Judge of quick
and dead; thus will he be admired by them, in them, and with them.
(Because ourtestimony among you was believed) in that day; the phrase, "in
that day", belongs to all that goes before, as that Christ shall take vengeance
on wickedmen, and they shall be punished by him, and he shall be glorified
and admired in and by his people in that day, when he shall be revealedfrom
heaven, and come to judge both quick and dead. Though some versions read it
in construction with the clause immediately preceding, "becauseour
testimony among you was believed in that day"; or concerning that day; that
is, you gave credit to the testimony we bore, when among you, concerning this
illustrious day of the Lord; or our testimony, the ministry of the word by us,
in which we bore a testimony to the person and grace ofChrist, to his first,
and to his secondcoming, was receivedand embraced by you with a view to

this day, and to the enjoyment of the glory of it. The Arabic version renders it,
"for our testimony will be true in that day"; that is, it will appearto be so,
everything we have said will be accomplishedthen. The Syriac versionis very
remote, "that our testimony concerning you may be believed in that day": but
it is best to read this clause in a parenthesis, as in our version; which is an
application of what is said to the Thessalonians, who might conclude, that
since they had embracedthe testimony of the Lord Jesus, borne unto him by
his apostles,they would be found among the number of the saints and
believers, in whom Christ would be glorified and admired; the consideration
of which might animate and encourage themto endure afflictions and
persecutions with patience, and to hold out to the end, and at lastenjoy the
heavenly glory, for which the apostle next prays.
Geneva Study Bible
When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them
that believe ({7} because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
(7) They are consideredas children of Godby the faith which they have in the
Gospel, which is preachedto them by the apostles.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
2 Thessalonians 1:10. Further, with this explanation 2 Thessalonians 1:10
agrees best, since in it, as the counterpart to 2 Thessalonians1:9, the discourse
is not so much of a glorificationof Christ as of a glorificationof Christians—a
glorificationcertainly which necessarilyreflects on Christ Himself as its
producer.
ὅτανἔλθῃ] when He shall have come, a statement of the time of δίκην
τίσουσιν, 2 Thessalonians1:9. Schott less simply unites it with διδόντος
ἐκδίκησιν, 2 Thessalonians 1:8.

ἐνδοξασθῆναι]the infinitive of design. See Winer, p. 284 [E. T. 399]. The ἅγιοι
are not the attending angels (Macknight, Schrader), but Christians. ἐν τοῖς
ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ does not, however, import through His saints (Chrysostom,
Oecumenius, Theophylact, Kypke, II. p. 341, Vater, Pelt, Schott, and others),
nor among them, but in them, so that the glorification of Christians becomes a
glorificationof Christ Himself. So also Christ is admired in all believers,
because the admiration of the blessednessto which believers have been exalted
has as its consequence anadmiration of Christ as the Creatorof that
blessedness.
ὅτι ἐπιστεύθη … ἐφʼ ὑμᾶς]is a parenthesis:[39] for our testimony brought to
you has been believed. This is occasionedby πιστεύσασιν. It is designed to
bring forward the certainty that also the Thessaloniansbelong to the
ΠΙΣΤΕΎΣΑΝΤΕς. In a peculiar—intermixing much that is strange—and
unnatural manner Ewald:“As the subjectparticularly treats of the truth of
the apostolic testimonyconcerning divine things (!), or whether the gospel, as
the apostles andfirst witnesses proclaimedit, will or will not one day be
confirmed in its entire contents and promises by God Himself at the last
judgment (?), so Paul summarizes the chief contents (?) of that glory and
admiration in a lively reference to his immediate readers directly in words
which one might almost then exclaim: ‘Our testimony among you was verified
(?).’ And it is as if the apostle had put here this somewhatstrange short
expression, the rather because he has said directly before that God (?) will be
admired in those who believed, as if a verification or complete confirmation
(?) of the contents of faith must at last justly correspondto the human faith
regarding them.”
τὸ μαρτύριονἡμῶν]our testimony, i.e. the testimony proclaimed by us. Really
different, neither from μαρτύριοντοῦ Χριστοῦ, 1 Corinthians 1:6 : the
testimony whose subject is Christ; nor from ΜΑΡΤΎΡΙΟΝ ΤΟῦ ΘΕΟῦ, 1
Corinthians 2:1 : the testimony which God published through the apostles
concerning Christ. To limit, with Bretschneider, ΜΑΡΤΎΡΙΟΝto the

instructions of the apostle concerning the advent of Christ contained in the
First Epistle, instead of taking it entirely generallyin the sense ofΚΉΡΥΓΜΑ
or ΕὐΑΓΓΈΛΙΟΝ, is rendered impossible by the relation of ὍΤΙ
ἘΠΙΣΤΕΎΘΗ to ΠΙΣΤΕΎΣΑΣΙΝ.
ἘΦʼ ὙΜᾶς] is connectedwith ΤῸ ΜΑΡΤΎΡΙΟΝ ἩΜῶΝ into one idea; and
hence the article ΤΌ, whose repetition before ἘΦʼ ὙΜᾶς might have been
expected, is omitted. See Winer, p. 123 [E. T. 169]. Comp. on ἘΠΊ with
ΜΑΡΤΎΡΙΟΝ,Luke 9:5. Ingenuous, but erroneous, Bengel:ἘΦʼ ὙΜᾶς
denotes:ad vos usque, in occidente.
ἘΝ Τῇ ἩΜΈΡᾼἘΚΕΊΝῌ] belongs not to ἜΛΘῌ (Zeger, Pelt, Olshausen),
but to ΘΑΥΜΑΣΘῆΝΑΙ, whilst by it the indication of time, ὍΤΑΝ ἜΛΘῌ, is
resumed. The Peshito, likewisePelagius, JohnDamascenus, Estius, Lucius
Osiander, Menochius, Cornelius a Lapide, Grotius, Harduin, Storr, Koppe,
Krause, Rosenmüller, Nösselt, Flatt, Baumgarten-Crusius, and others, not
assuming a parenthesis, unite ἘΝ Τῇ ἩΜΈΡᾼἘΚΕΊΝῌ with the directly
preceding, either with ΜΑΡΤΎΡΙΟΝ orwith ἘΠΙΣΤΕΎΘΗ. The
interpretations resulting from this mode of connectionvary much from each
other; but are all arbitrary, inasmuch as, on the one hand, in order to
preserve the statementof time in ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ, one feels himself
constrainedto considerthe aoristἐπιστεύθη as placed for the future, and thus
to alter the import of the verb (will be authenticated); or, on the other hand,
in order to preserve ἐπιστεύθη in the sense of the aorist, one has recourse to
the expedient of construing ἘΝ Τῇ ἩΜΈΡᾼἘΚΕΊΝῌas the objective
statementbelonging to ΜΑΡΤΎΡΙΟΝ, in the sense of ΠΕΡῚ Τῆς ἩΜΈΡΑς
ἘΚΕΊΝΗς.
But wherefore did Paul add ἘΝ Τῇ ἩΜΈΡᾼἘΚΕΊΝῌafter the sentence
beginning with ὍΤΙ? Perhaps only for the sake ofparallelism. But possibly

also Calvin is correctwhenhe says:“repetit in die illa … Ideo autem repetit,
ut fidelium vota cohibeat, ne ultra modum festinent.”
[39] Certainly otherwise Hofmann. According to him, ὅτι ἐπιστεύθη τὸ
μαρτύριονἡμῶνἐφʼ ὑμᾶς is to be added as a reasonto ἀνταποδοῦναι ὑμῖν
ἄνεσιν μεθʼ ἡμῶν, ver. 6 f. (!). But this is not yet enough. Besides the statement
of design, ἵνα ὑμᾶς ἀξιώσῃ κ.τ.λ., ver. 11, is made also to depend on ἐπιστεύθη
τὸ μαρτύριονἡμῶνἐφʼ ὑμᾶς; to this statementof designalso ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ
ἐκείνῃ belongs;this is placedbefore ἵνα for the sake ofemphasis, and εἰς ὃ καὶ
προσευχόμεθα πάντοτε περὶ ὑμῶν forms a mere parenthesis—suppositions
which are certainly worthy of an exegesis like that of Hofmann, but are only
possible to it.
Expositor's Greek Testament
2 Thessalonians 1:10. ἐπιστώθη, like the variant ἐπιστεύθη, is suggestedby
πιστεύουσιν(cf. a similar instance in 2 Thessalonians 3:3). The abrupt
parenthesis (“you included—for”) shows how Paul was thinking of the
Thessalonians especially, while he depicted the bliss of the saints in general.—
ἐνδοξ., in one sense they were to be a credit and honour to their apostles (I., 1
Thessalonians 2:19 f.); in another, they were a glory to Christ Himself, by
their ripened character—a Johannine touch(cf. John 17:10, and 2
Thessalonians 1:12 of this chapter; the parallel betweenἔργον πίστεως and
John 6:29 is verbal).—θαυμ. = to be wondered at (by whom? cf. Ezekiel39:21,
Ephesians 3:10?)in (i.e., by reasonof, on accountof) believers; for a partial
parallel to the phrase see Isaiah62:6 (καὶ ἐν τῷ πλούτῳ αὐτῶν
θαυμασθήσεσθε). If ὅτι … ὑμᾶς had been meant to give the reasonfor
θαυμασθῆναι (so Zimmer, Wohl.), Paul would probably have put God’s
witness instead of our witness, and expressedthe idea unambiguously; the
transition from the πᾶσιν to the specialcaseofthe Thessalonians becomes, on
this construction, an anti-climax. The rhythmical swing of 7b–10 suggests a
reminiscence or quotation of some early Christian liturgical hymn, perhaps
one of the prophetic ψαλμοί which he had heard at Corinth (1 Corinthians
14:15;1 Corinthians 14:26).

Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
10. when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all
them that believe] Better, without the comma: when He hath come to be
glorified in His holy ones and wonderedat in all those who believed. The last
verb, in the true reading, is past in tense. We are transported to the time of
the Parousia. With astonishmentall beholders look back on the faith of these
now perfectedsaints, and view its glorious outcome; they think of the
“mustard seed” which has growninto so mighty “a tree” (Matthew 13:31-32).
And they give the praise of all to Christ. Comp. 2 Thessalonians 1:12, and
note; for holy ones, see note on 1 Thessalonians 3:13.
At His coming “the glory of His might” brings ruin to the wicked(2
Thessalonians 1:9). But there is another glory dearer to Him, that “ofHis
grace” (Ephesians 1:4-6), which will be now exhibited in its full splendour, in
His holy ones. “Iam glorified in them,” said Jesus (John 17:10;comp. 2
Corinthians 8:23). Himself “the Holy One of God” and “Firstborn among
many brethren,” His triumph is realisedin the multitude of those who
through believing in Him have become holy like Himself. So the Thessalonian
believers “in that day” will be Christ’s high glory, as they are already the
“gloryand joy” of their Apostle (1 Thessalonians 2:20).
With glory like that rendered to God, a tribute of wonder will then be paid to
Christ—by the angels surely (see Ephesians 3:10, and 1 Peter1:12, for the
interest they take in Christ’s work on earth), and by the saints themselves,
wondering at themselves and at eachother, and at the undreamed-of results of
their faith. It will be said then, in the fullest sense, “This is the Lord’s doing; it
is marvellous in our eyes” (Psalm118:23). The praise that will be rendered to
Christ at His advent is anticipated in such words as those of Revelation1:5-6 :
“Unto Him that loveth us, and loosedis from our sins in His blood; and He
made us His kingdom, made us priests unto His God and Father—to Him be
the glory and the might for ever and ever.”

because our testimony among you was believed] Rather, unto you (R. V.)—
“our testimony addressedto you,” or “in its application to you.” This
parenthesis, characteristic ofSt Paul’s style (see Introd. p. 33), emphasizes the
fact of the Thessalonians’faith, the primary condition in all His holy ones of
the glory He will reap from them. “Glorified, I say, in you that believed. Yes,
for the testimony we addressedto you wonyour faith; and in that faith of
yours we see the pledge of Christ’s glorification.” Similarly in 1 Thessalonians
1:3-4 the Apostle found in the vigorous faith of his readers an evidence of
their “election” to eternallife (see note).
in that day] Added with solemnemphasis to signalize the time of the
revelation of Christ, when He will win honour and admiration from His
saints, and inflict ruin on their enemies and His. The clause looks beyond the
foregoing parenthesis to “the revelation of the Lord Jesus” describedin 2
Thessalonians 1:1-10. Comp. the position and emphasis of the similar adjunct
in Romans 2:16. For “that day,” see notes on 1 Thessalonians 5:2;1
Thessalonians 5:4.
The Apostle’s Thanksgiving, as in other instances (1 Thessalonians 3:9-13;
Ephesians 1:3-19;Php 1:3-11; &c.), ends in prayer, that the marvellous
results which he anticipates from his readers’faith may he fully realised.
Bengel's Gnomen
2 Thessalonians 1:10. Ἐν, in) Saints and believers shall not only behold Him,
but by them the admirable glory of Christ will put itself forth in its fulness.
See the following verses.—ἁγίοις,the saints) The mention of glory, and the
saints, is sweetlyjoined, as is also the mention of admiration (Christ coming
“to be admired”), and, believers (“them that believe”).—πᾶσι, all) This word,
not added to, the saints, but to them that believe, intimates, that the term
believers [“them that believe”]has a somewhatwidersignification than saints.
See Acts 20:32, note. So all, Php 1:9,[5] note. ‘Saints’ are those of the

circumcision; ‘believers’are they of the Gentiles, among whom were also the
Thessalonians [who, when the testimony of the Apostles had reachedalso
them, receivedit with praise-worthy firmness of mind.—V. g.]. Comp. the two
expressions[6]standing in antithesis to these, 2 Thessalonians 1:8, note.—ὅτι,
because)The motive of ‘admiration’ [which shall prompt them to “admire
Christ”] will be, that the testimony of the Apostles concerning Christ, having
obtained faith among the Thessalonians,proves to be what it professed
[stands forth unshaken] in that day, on which truth alone stands firm. Comp.
Php 2:16; 1 Thessalonians 2:19.—ἐπιστεύθη)‫,ןמאנ‬ ΠΙΣΤῸΝ, stoodforth as
faithful [was proved to be trustworthy and stedfast], and as such was received
[credited] by you, upon whom it (the testimony) had come.—ἐφʼὑμᾶς [among
you, i.e.] even to you) coming as far as to you, in the west.—ἘΝ Τῇ)construe
with ἜΛΘῌ, When He shall come [not with ἐπιστεύθη, was believed or
accountedfaithful].
[5] “I pray that your love may abound—in knowledge and in all judgment;”
where the all is prefixed before ‘judgment’ as being the more generalterm;
but not before knowledge as being more specialand limited. So here, all
before “them that believe,” but not before the more restrictedterm, “the
saints.”—ED.
[6] Viz. τοῖς μὴ εἰδόσι Θεὸν, “them that know not God,” namely, Gentiles;
and τοῖς μὴ ὑπακούουσιν, “themthat obey not, namely, the Jews who refused
to believe, though the Gospelwas preachedto them.—ED.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 10. - When; defining the period when this judgment of the wickedwill
occur. He; namely, the Lord Jesus. Shallcome to be glorified; the purpose of
his coming. In; not "through," or "among," but "in," as the sphere or
element of his glory. His saints; not the holy angels who will accompanyhim
to judgment, but holy men whom he has redeemed with his blood. Christ will
be glorified in his saints, inasmuch as their glory was the result of his

sufferings and death, and their holiness is the reflectionof his holiness;"They
will reflectas in a mirror the glory of the Lord." And to be admired;
wondered at, praised. In all them that believe;or, believed. The work of faith
is past; the result of faith, the state of sight and glory, has commenced. The
glorificationof believers will thus become the glorificationof Christ. The
glory of Christ does not arise from the punishment of the wicked, but from the
glorificationof believers. Christ will indeed be glorified in the punishment of
the wicked. His justice will be manifested and vindicated; but his glory will be
especiallyseenin the manifestation of his mercy toward believers. Because
our testimony; namely, the testimony of Paul and his associates, Silas and
Timothy. Among you; or rather, unto you. Was believed; to be consideredas a
parenthesis. In that day; namely, the day of the Lord's advent, to be
connectedwith the commencementof the verse, "In that day when he shall
come to be glorified in his saints." Some, overlooking the parenthesis, render
the words either, "because ourtestimony concerning that day was believed
among you;" or, "because ourtestimony among you shall be believed on that
day" - assentedto by the whole universe; but the first rendering gives a false
meaning to the preposition, and the seconda false constructionto the verb, as
if it were future.
Vincent's Word Studies
To be glorified (ἐνδοξασθῆναι)
Only here and 2 Thessalonians 1:12 in N.T. Repeatedlyin lxx. See Exodus
14:4, Exodus 14:17; Isaiah45:26. oClass.
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR
When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that
believe

2 Thessalonians 1:10
Christ glorified in glorified men
A. Maclaren, D. D.
There be the two halves — the aspectof that day to those to whom it is the
all, some thoughts about that striking expressionthat CHRIST IS
GLORIFIED IN THE MEN WHO ARE GLORIFIED IN CHRIST. IF YOU
look on a couple of verses you will find that the apostle returns to this thought
and expressesin the clearestfashionthe reciprocalcharacter ofthat
"glorifying" of which he has been speaking. "The name of our Lord Jesus
Christ," says he, "may be glorified in you, and ye in Him." So, then, glorifying
has a double process involved. It means either "to make glorious," or"to
manifest as being glorious." And men are glorified in the former sense in
Christ, that Christ in them may, in the latter sense, be glorified. He makes
them glorious by imparting to them of the lustrous light and flashing beauty
of His own perfectcharacter, in order that that light, receivedinto their
natures, and streaming out at lastconspicuouslymanifest from their
redeemedperfectness, may redound to the praise and the honour, before a
whole universe, of Him who has thus endued their weaknesswith His own
strength, and transmitted their corruptibility into His ownimmortality.
1. The artist is knownby his work. You stand in front of some greatpicture,
or you listen to some greatsymphony, or you read some greatbook, and you
say, "This is the glory of Raffaelle, Beethoven, Shakespeare." Christpoints to
His saints, and He says, "BeholdMy handiwork! Ye are My witnesses.This is
what I can do."
2. But the relation betweenChrist and His saints is far deeperand more
intimate than simply the relation betweenthe artist and his work, for all the
flashing light of moral beauty, of intellectual perfectness whichChristian men
can hope to receive in the future is but the light of the Christ that dwells in

them, "and of whose fulness all they have received." Like some poor vapour,
in itself white and colourless, whichlies in the easternsky there, and as the
sun rises is flushed up into a miracle of rosy beauty, because it has caughtthe
light amongstits flaming threads and vaporous substance, so we, in ourselves
pale, ghostly, colourless as the mountains when the Alpine snow passesoff
them, being recipient of an indwelling Christ shall blush and flame in beauty.
"Then shall the righteous blaze forth like the sun in My Father's Kingdom."
Or, rather they are not suns shining by their own light, but moons reflecting
the light of Christ, who is their light.
II. And now notice, again, out of these full and pregnant words the other
thought, THAT THIS TRANSFORMATIONOF MEN IS THE GREAT
MIRACLE AND MARVEL OF CHRIST'S POWER. "He shall come to be
admired" — which word is employed in its old English signification, "to be
wondered at" — "in all them that believe." So fair and lovely is He that He
needs but to be recognizedfor what He is in order to be glorified. So greatand
stupendous are His operations in redeeming love that they need but to be
beheld to be the objectof wonder. "His name shall be calledWonderful." And
wonderfully the energyof His redeeming and sanctifying grace shall then have
wrought itself out to its legitimate end. Such results from such material!
Chemists tell us that the black bit of coalin your grate and the diamond on
your finger are varying forms of the one substance. Whatabout a power that
shall take all the black coals in the world and transmute them into flashing
diamonds, prismatic with the reflectedlight that comes from His face and
made gems on His strong right hand? The universe shall wonder at such
results from such material. And it shall wonder, too, at the process by which
they were accomplished, wondering at the depth of His pity revealedall the
more pathetically now from the GreatWhite Throne, which casts sucha light
on the Cross of Calvary; wondering at the long, wearypath which He who is
now declaredto be the Judge humbled Himself to travel in the quest of these
poor sinful souls whom He has thus redeemedand glorified.
this verse, viz., THE SPECTATORSOF THIS GLORY. We need not
speculate, it is better not to enter into details, but this, at least, is clear, that
that solemn winding up of the long, mysterious, sad, blood and tear-stained

Jesus was to be glorified in his holy people

Jesus was to be glorified in his holy people

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