2 Thessalonians 1:1-9

From Paul, Silas, and Timothy. We send our greetings to you, the Thessalonian congregation of believers, which is in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May God’s delightful grace and peace rest upon you. We feel a personal responsibility to continually be thanking God for you, our spiritual family, every time we pray. And we have every reason to do so because your faith is growing marvelously beyond measure. The unselfish love each of you share for one another is increasing and overflowing! We point to you as an example of unwavering faith for all the churches of God. We boast about how you continue to demonstrate unflinching endurance through all the persecutions and painful trials you are experiencing. All of this proves that God’s judgment is always perfect and is intended to make you worthy of inheriting the kingdom of God, which is why you are going through these troubles. It is right and just for God to trouble your troublers and give rest to the troubled, both to you and to us, at the unveiling of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his messengers of power within a flame of fire. He will bring perfect and full justice to those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to embrace the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction, banished from the Lord’s presence and from the manifestation of his glorious power.