2 Thessalonians 1:8. In flaming fire. This accompaniment of the revelation of Jesus Christ is the same which under the Old Testament symbolized the majesty and holiness of God. See the references. The fire is not viewed primarily as the instrument of vengeance, but as the natural symbol of perfect purity and unapproachable majesty.

Them that know not God. The first class who will be the objects of this vengeance spoken of: those who ‘did not like to retain God in their knowledge,' and who were therefore given over to a reprobate mind. To this first class belong the Gentiles, whose conduct and doom is described by Paul in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.

Them that obey not the gospel. This second class includes the Jews, who had rejected Christ, and to whom the persecutions of the Christians were mainly due. To obey the Gospel is to yield oneself to its influence; to accept its light, to think of God as He is revealed in it, and to give ourselves to the life to which it prompts.

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Old Testament