Future.I wrote:Paul neither says that the man of sin, nor those who persecuted the Thessalonian believers would, necessarily, be living when Christ returns.
You replied with:
2 Thess. 1:3-10 (with highlights in bold) and:
So Rick...70AD or still future?
The persecutors of the Thessalonian believers have not been repaid with the retribution Paul was writing about. Nor have the Thessalonian Christians come into the rest Paul described. While it may be true that all of these Thessalonian people currently experience their respective just rewards to whatever level or extent in an intermediate state (1 & 2 Thess have no teaching about an intermediate state); Paul is not writing about that here. And as I mentioned before, neither letter describes the resurrection of the ungodly, though we know Paul believed in the general resurrection on the Day of the Lord--when--both living and deceased Christians will "meet the Lord in the air" {1 Thess 4} and all people will be judged {Day of the Lord = "at the last day" in the Gospels}.
Just as in 1 Thess; in 2 Thess Paul writes with a sense of expectancy as if Christ could, or possibly (or seemingly almost?) would, return within his and their lifetimes. This is characteristic of all apocalyptic literature and/or apocalyptic sections of NT writings {the entire book of Revelation, Matt 24 and parallels, the "apocalyptic sections" in 1 & 2 Thess, etc.}. Apocalyptic can be difficult to interpret as we tend to see more than is really there {is not there}, or don't see what actually is there. I try to see ONLY what the text says and no more, which is hard to do because I was taught a lot of dispensational stuff that 'clouded my vision', so to speak. 1 & 2 Thess are a mixture of 'regular letters' and apocalyptic. Also, it seems like 2 Thess could have been written in a hurry or something like that. However, apocalyptic literature always has that sense of "impending bloom and doom". Paul "quickly shifts" from his regular letter mode into apocalyptic in both letters, especially in 2 Thess.
So, future, because this is about the second coming..."when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marvelled at on that day among all who have believed" {2 Thess 1:10a, NRSV}. "All who have believed" are all believers of all time.
Life application:
To me, though Paul wasn't writing directly to us in these Thessalonian letters; he taught that all Christians of all times will get their just rewards...and so will those who have or will persecute Christians: then, now, or later.
