Books - Muscle and a Shovel ch. 3b, Obey not the Gospel.

"4 therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. 5 This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. 6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power," 2 Thessalonians 1:4-9 NASU

"Randall smiled softly and said gently, 'Mike, when Christ comes back He’s going to take vengeance on those who haven’t obeyed the gospel, so don’t you need to know what the gospel is and how to obey it?' ”  (MAAS ch. 3)

“ 'Randall quoted a Bible verse that said Jesus will take vengeance on everyone who did not obey the gospel,' I said to my wife." (MAAS ch. 3)

The book, "Muscle and a Shovel", complains a lot about how denominations take snippets of the Bible out of context to misinterpret them.  But, ironically, so does this book.

To me, this statement, "He's going to take vengeance on [all] those who haven't obeyed the gospel,"(MAAS) is taking the phrase "obey not the gospel"(KJV) out of context.  The words vengeance, revenge, avenge, and Retribution all imply payback for an original offense. Verse six says, "it is just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you."(NASU) This sets the context for the whole passage. So, to me, the phrases "do not know God" and "do not obey the gospel" are labels used here about those people who were actively persecuting the church.  These phrases do not mean all the innocent or ignorant bystanders who don't know, or have not heard, the gospel.  In the context of this passage, they apply to those who violently reject the gospel. 

Paul, the author of this text from 2 Thessalonians, is the first to admit that he was among the worst of these kinds of persecuters (1 Cor. 15:9-10), but he repented, and God forgave him. In this text, Paul is saying that this "retribution" will happen when Christ returns with his holy angels.  That is, after death.  So the phrases "do not know God" and "obey not the gospel" are referring to those who continue to violently reject the gospel even beyond the point of death.