Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Thessalonians 2:14

"whereunto he called you through our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." — 2 Thessalonians 2:14 (ASV)

Whereunto — From the neuter gender of the relative in the Greek, we see that the antecedent in St. Paul’s mind is not exactly “belief of the truth,” nor “sanctification of the Spirit,” nor even “salvation,” but the general state of life composed of these three ideas: “to which thing He called you.” The election or choice takes place in eternity (2 Thessalonians 2:13), while the call occurs at the point in time when people first hear the gospel .

By our gospel — That is, of course, “by our bringing you the happy message.” The emphasis is on the historical delivery of the message rather than its contents.

To the obtaining of the glory of our Lord — Almost all the ancient commentators interpret this as, “for obtaining glory for our Lord.” St. Chrysostom says beautifully, “This is no small thing either, if Christ esteems our salvation His glory. It is, indeed, a glory to the one who loves humanity that the number of those who are being saved should be large.” However, this interpretation is not as grammatically straightforward as our own, nor does it fit the context as well.

Instead, St. Paul is encouraging his readers with the same thought of their destiny that he put forward in 2 Thessalonians 1:11–12: the shared joy of the Redeemer and the redeemed (Matthew 25:23). It is worth noting that God did not call them directly “to the glory of our Lord,” but “to the obtaining” of it.

This “obtaining” does not mean a passive receiving of glory on the last day, but a laborious course of “earning” or “purchasing” it during this life. The word is the same as that used in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 (see the note on that verse).