Anf-01 ix.vi.xxxiv Pg 56
2 Thess. i. 6–8.
Others again, speaking of Him as a judge, and [referring], as if it were a burning furnace, [to] the day of the Lord, who “gathers the wheat into His barn, but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire,”4297 4297
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.xvi Pg 5
2 Thess. i. 6–8.
The heretic, however, has erased the flaming fire, no doubt that he might extinguish all traces herein of our own God. But the folly of the obliteration is clearly seen. For as the apostle declares that the Lord will come “to take vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel, who,” he says, “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power”5923 5923
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.xvi Pg 8
2 Thess. i. 8.
whether they be sinners among Christians or among Jews. Now, to inflict punishment on the heathen, who very likely have never heard of the Gospel, is not the function of that God who is naturally unknown, and who is revealed nowhere else than in the Gospel, and therefore cannot be known by all men.5926 5926 Non omnibus scibilis.
The Creator, however, ought to be known even by (the light of) nature, for He may be understood from His works, and may thereby become the object of a more widely spread knowledge. To Him, therefore, does it appertain to punish such as know not God, for none ought to be ignorant of Him. In the (apostle’s) phrase, “From the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power,”5927 5927
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.xvi Pg 6
2 Thess. i. 8, 9.
—it follows that, as He comes to inflict punishment, He must require “the flaming fire.” Thus on this consideration too we must, notwithstanding Marcion’s opposition, conclude that Christ belongs to a God who kindles the flames5924 5924 Crematoris Dei.
(of vengeance), and therefore to the Creator, inasmuch as He takes vengeance on such as know not the Lord, that is, on the heathen. For he has mentioned separately “those who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,”5925 5925
Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge, Chapter 1
VERSE (8) - Ge 3:24 De 4:11; 5:5 Ps 21:8,9; 50:2-6 Da 7:10 Mt 25:41,46
