Not Knowing God and Not Obeying the Gospel (2 Thess. 1:8): One Group or Two?

     Divine judgment is against “the ones not knowing God and the ones not obeying the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thess. 1:8).¹ Does this refer to two separate groups,² or only one?³ Those “not knowing God” are clearly equated with “the heathen [ta ethnē] not knowing God” (1 Thess. 4:5), as confirmed elsewhere in scripture (Rom. 1:28; 1 Cor. 1:21; Gal. 4:8-9; cf. Job 18:21; Psa. 79:6; Jer. 10:25). Nevertheless, applicability to unbelieving Jews cannot be discounted (Jer. 4:22; 9:6; Hos. 5:4; John 8:55). Those “not obeying the gospel” would surely include unreceptive Jews resistant to Christ’s message (1 Thess. 2:14-16; cf. Acts 17:5, 13), confirmed elsewhere in scripture (Rom. 10:1-3, 16; cf. Isa. 66:4). But this is applicable to Gentiles as well (Rom. 10:16; 11:30).

     More likely this is a type of parallelism, where the same point is repeated for emphasis, using varied phraseology (cf. vv. 9b, 10). To “know” God requires more than simply knowing about him. The term used here is the participial form of the verb oida, the most commonly used “knowing” verb in the Thessalonian letters (1 Thess. 1:4, 5; 2:1, 2, 5, 11; 3:3, 4; 4:2, 4, 5; 5:2, 12; 2 Thess. 1:8; 2:6; 3:7), and ginōskō is employed once (1 Thess. 3:5). While the two verbs can be used interchangeably (cf. Gal. 4:8-9), the idea of “knowing God” is not merely acquiring information about him but “speaks of a very particular relationship” (H. N. Ridderbos, Galatians [NICNT] 161 n. 3). This necessarily involves an obedient response (cf. 1 John 2:3-5), i.e., “obeying the gospel” (cf. 1 Thess. 1:3, 5; 2:2, 4, 8, 9; 3:2).⁴

--Kevin L. Moore

Endnotes:

     ¹ Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are the author’s own translation.

     ² J. E. Frame, Thessalonians 233; I. H. Marshall, Thessalonians 177-78; cf. also E. D. Edwards, Commentary on I and II Thessalonians 50.

     ³ F. F. Bruce, Thessalonians 151; A. J. Malherbe, Thessalonians 401; J. Weima, Thessalonians 472-73; cf. also E. D. Edwards, Commentary on I and II Thessalonians 50.

     ⁴ See also Matt. 7:21; John 3:21; 7:17; 8:12, 51; 14:15, 21-24; 15:10-14; Rom. 1:5; 5:19; 6:16-18; 15:18; 16:19, 26; 2 Cor. 7:15; 10:5, 6; Gal. 5:6; Philem. 21; Heb. 5:8-9; Jas. 2:14-26; cf. Rom. 10:16; Phil. 2:12.

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