2 Thessalonians 1:10

when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that day.

When he shall come ... The Greek word here, according to Kelcy, "is the aorist subjunctive, a construction indicating the certainty of the event and yet the uncertainty of the time of it," [29] the same being another bit of evidence that neither Christ nor any of his apostles expected the coming as a certainty in their day. Kelcy is also supported in this by all the other Greek scholars consulted in this work.

There are two purposes of the coming here cited, but these need not be considered as a total list. Paul's use of "come" in this verse shows that the "revelation of Christ," spoken of a moment earlier, is the same as his "coming"; and, therefore, the various references to his revelation, his appearance and his coming all apply to the same event.

The last sentence in this verse is considered difficult by scholars; and Morris thought that Lightfoot's paraphrase of it gives the true meaning thus:

The meaning then being ... "in all them that believed, and therefore in you, for our testimony was believed by you," the testimony borne among the Thessalonians had borne the desired fruit[30]

"The past tense is used because it looks back from the Judgment Day, to the time when the gospel was first believed at the time of its first being preached to the Thessalonians."[31]

To be marveled at ... The full glory of Christ at the time of the Second Advent cannot even be imagined. As Adam Clarke expressed it:

Much as true believers may marvel at, and much as they admire the perfections of the Redeemer of mankind, and much as they wonder at his amazing condescension in becoming a man, and dying for the sins of the world; all their present amazement and wonder will be as nothing when compared with what they shall feel when they come to see him with all his glory, the glory that he had with the Father before the world was.[32]

[29] Raymond C. Kelcy, op. cit., p. 146.

[30] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 121.

[31] A. J. Mason, op. cit., p. 153.

[32] Adam Clarke, op. cit., p. 564.