that all might be judged who have not believed the truth, but have found pleasure in unrighteousness.
This verse states the outcome of everything the chapter has just described. It raises two hard questions: what does "condemned" mean here, and is God unjust to send the delusion that comes just before it?
Some older translations use the word "damned" here. One writer says that word is wrong — but the outcome behind it is no lighter:
"Damned" in the Authorised Version is a false rendering. But the result of being "judged" is damnation, because only unbelievers come into judgment. That is why the Psalmist pleads, "Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you." Salvation is by grace through faith. God has already pardoned the believer. He has also condemned sin in the flesh by Christ as a sacrifice for sin. So there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
The people in view are not those who never heard. They are people who once held the message and let it go:
God punishes them for not believing the gospel, which they must have known. He punishes them for not loving the truth, which could have saved them. They are not judged for ignorance, like people who never heard. They are apostates — judged for giving up what they once professed to accept as the truth. God's gospel leads to God's Christ; their gospel leads to antichrist... Truth that is not loved is sure to become distasteful and opposed.
The verse names two things: not believing, and taking pleasure in unrighteousness. One writer traces both back to something earlier — they heard the truth and did not love it.
Those who will fall prey to all this deceit of unrighteousness are the very people who heard the truth and did not love it. They did not love it, so they did not believe it. Instead they had pleasure in unrighteousness. Now the deceit of unrighteousness captures them. They believe the lie, and they all fall under the judgment of God. Once God sent them the truth... Now God sends them a strong delusion. He does for them what He once had to do for rebellious Israel, when He "blinded their eyes and hardened their heart." Is God unrighteous in acting this way? On the contrary; He is acting in righteousness of the strictest and most exact kind.
One writer answers a common claim: that what a person believes is his own business:
Men may say they have a right to believe what they please, but it is false. We have a right to believe only what is right. Those who refuse truth on purpose and choose falsehood are plainly the people who "have pleasure in unrighteousness." Grace may bear long with them, but the end must come in judgment.
The delusion of verse 11 and the sentence of this verse belong together. God's answer matches a choice people have already made — and the same writer shows why anyone escapes at all:
The apostle then gives the moral reason for so stern a judgment... God's sending a working of error is judicial hardening. Satan follows with his deceiving marvels of power to drag down all his followers to ruin. It is divine retribution. They renounced the truth and salvation with it; they loved the lie. They must perish. The elect of that day escape solely by divine grace, as is true of all the elect in any day.
This verse describes people who already heard the truth. So writers use it to answer a common question: is there another chance later?
People often ask whether they "get a second chance" after the rapture. This gives the clear answer. No! Nothing here is said about those who have never heard the truth. But take any to whom it has been presented, and who have not received it. Not only will they "not get a second chance" — God Himself will step in, so that they are conditioned to believe what is false.
One writer turns it into a question for the reader today:
Suppose you have not believed God in the day of the Holy Spirit. Suppose you have not believed the gospel now, in the day when God is telling of His love... Then every possible influence and power under heaven, out of hell, and on the earth will be against you. Do you suppose you will believe the truth then? ... Far better to have the truth now. Christ is the truth.
- Love — the trail starts in the will, not the mind. They did not love the truth, so they never believed it.
- Refusal — they heard the truth and let it go. God judges them not for ignorance, but for giving up what they once professed.
- Retribution — the delusion God sends is judicial hardening. It answers a settled refusal exactly, and it is not cruelty.
- Judgment — "judged" is the better word, but the result is still condemnation. Only unbelievers come into judgment.
- Grace — anyone who escapes, escapes by grace alone. So the moment to receive the truth is now, not later.
But we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of [the] Lord, that God has chosen you from [the] beginning to salvation in sanctification of [the] Spirit and belief of [the] truth
Paul has just described a world deceived and judged for refusing the truth. Now he turns and thanks God for the Thessalonians. One sentence holds God's eternal choice, the Spirit's work, and the believer's faith. How far back does that choice reach? And why does Paul name sanctification before belief?
Paul places this thanksgiving here on purpose. Just above, he described people who welcomed the lie. These believers are their opposite, so they need not fear the day of judgment.
The day of the Lord, then, will be a day of judgment, and those whom antichrist has deceived — willingly deceived — will be caught in it. But what were the people Paul wrote to? They were beloved of the Lord. God chose them from the beginning to salvation... How marked is the difference between them and those in Christendom who will be swept into the coming judgment. Could the beloved of the Lord be objects of His unsparing judgment? The refutation of the error was complete.
William Kelly takes "the beginning" as far back as it can go. He also weighs the verb "chose" itself.
The context appears to decide that we must take "from the beginning" in the largest sense. It does not mean only from the start of the gospel, or from Christ's appearing on earth. It means from of old, from everlasting. "Chose" is also somewhat unusual here: not so much chose out from others as chose for Himself. This is sweet and comforting to a believer whom true repentance has made nothing in his own eyes. If human nature takes it up, it turns into pride and hardness without a drop of real consolation.
Commentators differ on how far back "the beginning" reaches. Leslie M. Grant ties the phrase to the time the Son of God appeared on earth. He reads the stress differently: "it seems the emphasis is that there could be no change in their position, for they had been chosen long before." Greek copies differ here by a single letter, and the ESV follows the other reading: "as the firstfruits." William Kelly rejects that reading: "Of what could the Thessalonian saints be firstfruits? Not even of Macedonia, since the Philippians were earlier."
Paul names the Spirit's setting apart first, then faith. This is not holiness of life growing after conversion. It is what makes a sinner into a saint at the start.
Sanctification of the Spirit means that mighty separating act of the Holy Spirit that first sets a soul apart to God in a living way. And so faith of the truth goes with it. Practical holiness is the consequence... Here it is rather the great principle and power that goes with conversion to God, so generally overlooked... It is that work which meets a man while he is a sinner, and by grace makes him a saint. People are willing to allow it afterwards in practice, but are afraid to own it at the starting point.
Scripture uses the word "sanctification" in two other senses too. Keeping them apart clears up much confusion.
Salvation is in view here. God accomplishes it through sanctification of the Spirit (His internal work in the soul) and belief of the truth (the soul's response to Him in faith)... Sanctification by the blood of Christ is positional. God sets the believer apart in his position by the shedding of the blood of Christ (Heb. 10). Sanctification by the truth (John 17) is progressive, dealing with a daily, practical setting apart of the saints to God.
The verse has three layers: what God intended, what He produced, and how He did it.
"Chosen you to salvation" — that is the object God purposed in Himself. "In sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" — that is the effect produced in the elect, in keeping with God's purpose. "Our gospel" — that is the means God used to produce that effect.
What does this choice mean for the person who believes? W. T. P. Wolston answers with a picture of a gate.
Suppose I go up to a gate. On it I find written, "Whoever will may enter." I say, "That's free enough; I'll go inside." "But how do you know it means you?" It says "whoever" — that means me, and anybody. I touch the door and it swings open. I enter, and the door closes. On the inside I see written, "Whoever gets inside this door never gets out." Election secures this. God takes good care that the soul who believes His word will never be lost... The two things, sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, are inseparable; where one is, the other must be.
- Chosen — God's choice runs back before time, and the verb means chosen for Himself. It comforts a humbled believer, but human nature turns it into pride.
- Separated — the Spirit's act meets a man while he is a sinner and sets him apart to God. Practical holiness follows later.
- Believing — the Spirit's work and faith are inseparable. Where one is, the other must be.
- Called — salvation is God's purpose. Sanctification and faith are the effect. The gospel is the means He used.
- Secure — the beloved of the Lord are the opposite of the deceived. They cannot be objects of the judgment Paul has just described.