There are some difficulties in the interpretation of the tense of the verb has come.
If God’s endtime wrath is still a future event, and if Paul is referring to this wrath, how can the verb be in the past tense (aorist tense in Greek)? A suggested solution is that Paul is using the so-called prophetic aorist.
1 This would mean that he is using the aorist (past) tense to speak about a future event in order to emphasize its certainty. It is generally agreed that an example of the prophetic aorist is found in Romans 8:30, where Paul speaks about the believer’s glorification (a future event) using the aorist tense (he also glorified
). The believer’s glorification, although future, is so certain that it can be spoken of as if it has already happened. There are, however, a few problems with this interpretation of 1 Thessalonians 2:16c: (a) the prophetic aorist is very rare in the New Testament; (b) there is no good reason why Paul would not have used the future tense here if he was referring to a future event; (c) the adverbial phrase at last
seems to indicate that Paul understands his statement about God’s wrath as a past event—the final one in a series of past events.2 It seems, therefore, that the wrath of God has come
must be understood as a past event.
16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!