2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

2 Thess. 2:1-12 What to expect before the end, including the appearance of the lawless one

In verses 1-2, what has upset the Thessalonians?

They think they have received information, either through a prophetic word from the Spirit or by a letter supposedly from Paul, saying that the Second Coming is already here or has already begun (see the Introduction).

In verse 1, Paul describes the Second Coming as our “assembling with” the Lord (NABRE) or being “gathered together to him” (NRSV) – it is when we will rejoin him and live with him forever.

In verses 3-4, what two things does Paul say must happen before the Second Coming of Christ?

There will be an apostasy – a time in which many people renounce the faith – and the lawless one will be revealed.

In verses 3-4, how does Paul describe the lawless one (or man of lawlessness, or man of sin)?

In verse 4, Paul describes this anti-Christ as seated in the temple of God.  This image has been interpreted in a variety of ways (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, fn. to 2 Thess. 2:4, p. 382):

• Some church fathers saw this as referring to a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem.  I don’t think Paul would have seen it that way.  The Temple was still standing in Jerusalem when he wrote this.  The Jews had suffered the ignominy of having Antiochus IV sack Jerusalem and set up a statue of the Greek god Zeus in the Temple, but to Paul, the Temple in Jerusalem was no longer a focal point of God’s activity.  God now resided in his people, not in a building (see next bullet).  So Paul is not likely to have had the physical Temple in Jerusalem in mind.

• Some church fathers believed Paul was talking about the Church.  This fits well with Paul’s other letters.  To Paul, Christians individually (1 Cor. 3:16-17) and collectively (2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21) were and are the temple of God. 

• Some scholars read the passage more metaphorically, seeing the Antichrist as placing himself symbolically in the place of God, in our hearts, in our nations, in our world.

In verses 9-10, how does Paul describe the lawless one?

Based on verses 10 and 11, what is the lawless one’s primary tool for doing his evil work?

Deceit.

In  verse 7, Paul says that lawlessness is already at work in the world.  What are some ways that you see lawlessness at work in your world?

Lawlessness shows up in big ways (murder) and small ways (excessive speeding).  It shows up in family abuse and neglect, in the sale of unsafe products by corporations and the failure to give workers their rights to overtime pay, in the “anything goes” attitude that infects many corners of the Internet, in athletes who break the rules in order to win, and the list goes on.

If you look behind the surface manifestations of lawlessness, what would you say is the root cause behind the many different kinds of lawlessness in our world?

There are many possible answers to this question.  It could be the attitude that the law does not apply to me, that I decide what is right and wrong, that I’m more important than anyone else and my welfare and goals matter most.  That could be described as selfishness.  Another possible answer is that in our world there is an underlying disregard for human life or a dehumanization of others that desensitizes us to the ways we are out of control.  The fact that a society allows these things to happen can lead to a resignation to the idea that there is no other way to live.

Paul suggests that the lawlessness is not yet at flood level – it is restrained right now.  Specifically, in verse 6 he tells the Thessalonians that they know what is restraining lawlessness right now, because he told them.  We do not know what he told them and cannot be sure what he has in mind.  Scholars disagree among themselves about what the restraining power is (verse 6) and who the one who restrains is (verse 7).  Here are some of the explanations they offer (the following points are drawn from NABRE, fn. to 2 Thess. 2:6-7; and Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, “Word Study: Restraining (2 Thess.2:6),” p. 382):

• Some say the Roman Empire or the Roman emperor is the restraining force because they establish order.  They point to Paul’s view of government in Romans 13:1-7 as support for this position.  (Others argue against this view, pointing to the rampant abuses perpetrated by the Romans in their dealings with every nation they sought to conquer, control, and exploit, which Paul would have known well.)

• Some draw on Revelations 12:7-9 and 20:1-3 to suggest that angelic powers such as Michael the Archangel hold Satan back (2 Thess. 2:9).  (Verse 7’s statement that the one who restrains the evil will be removed poses a problem for this interpretation.)

• Some say that God himself is the restrainer: that the Holy Spirit is the restraining power in verse 6 and God the Father is the one who restrains in verse 7.

• Some say that the preaching of the gospel holds lawlessness back, or that the need to allow time for the spread of the gospel to all nations holds off the end (Mark 13:10).

• Some argue that “restraining” is the wrong translation of the Greek word and that “seizing” is a more accurate translation.  In this view, Paul is saying that an evil prophetic spirit like those seen in the worship of the Greek god Dionysius is seizing people in the Thessalonian Christian community and shaking them out of their wits (verse 2).  Paul has warned them about it so that they can avoid it, but they have given in to deceit.  But this is just a foretaste of the threat posed by the lawless one in the full power of his deceit.

Given the wide range of guesses as to who or what Paul thinks is restraining lawlessness, it is not fruitful to spend too much time speculating about it.  But 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that the Lord is patient and delays his coming so that all may come to repentance, and Revelation 20:2-3 tells us that we are living in the figurative “one-thousand-year” period between Jesus’s victory over sin and his final return, during which Satan is being restrained.

In one way or another, God is restraining evil or allowing it to be restrained.  In what ways do you see God restraining evil in our day and giving people time to repent and turn to him?

In verse 8, Paul says that the Lord kills the lawless one by the breath of his mouth.  This is a reference to Isaiah 11:4.  In Isaiah 11:1-9, Isaiah issued a prophecy describing an ideal king from the line of David, the one who would come and set all things right.  In verse 4 of that passage, he says that this shoot from the stump of Jesse, on whom the spirit of the Lord rests, would judge the poor with justice and slay the wicked with his breath.

When Paul invokes the prophecy about Jesus in Isaiah 11:4 to say that the Lord slays the lawless one with the breath of his mouth, that prophecy says that the future Son of David will defend the poor and slay the wicked.  How is the mistreatment of the poor a manifestation of the lawlessness in the world?

How can we stand up for the poor against the lawless powers that mistreat them?

In verses 10-12, Paul says that the lawless one, who is aligned with the power of Satan, deceives those who do not believe the truth.  How can you know when you are being spiritually deceived?

In verse 11, where Paul says God sends upon them a deceiving power or delusion (NABRE/NRSV), this is typical Jewish language of Paul’s time, where everything was attributed to God because nothing can happen unless God allows it.  Since God does not tempt anyone to do evil (James 1:13), it is wisest to interpret this passage as talking about God’s permissive will, not his direct action – i.e., that God allows it, not that he causes it.  God does not tempt us to do evil, but he does not shield us from being deceived when we have refused to accept the truth.

The hinge or linchpin around which this whole passage revolves is verse 8.  What does it say the Lord will do?

If the Lord will destroy this evil one when he comes in his Second Coming, with what attitude can we approach the future?

In verse 8, the Lord gains victory over the lawless one by a simple word – the breath of his mouth.  God speaks a word in Genesis 1 and Creation comes into being.  Jesus speaks a word in Mark 4:39 and the roaring storm is stilled.  There is no battle between God and the lawless one; God merely issue a word and the opposition is gone.  What does this ability of God to issue a word say to you in your life?

Notice that this passage began by saying that these things must happen before the Second Coming of the Lord.  Therefore, he is telling them that “the day of the Lord” is not at hand; it is not almost about to happen.  A lot of other things must happen first.  What they should worry about is not the timing of the Lord’s return but the risk of being deceived and losing their faith.  What are the things in your life today that might pose a risk that you might lose your faith?  What can you do about it?

What message in this passage is important to you?

Take a step back and consider this:

Paul is trying to walk a fine line: telling the Thessalonians about the future and the Second Coming of Christ but not having them become overly preoccupied by it.

That is probably a wise approach for us as well.

Why is a basic understanding of the Second Coming of Christ an important element of our faith?

Why is it more important to focus on what is going on in the here-and-now and not get too worked up (as the Thessalonians had) about possible signs of the future “end times”?

How can you strike this balance?  In particular, what is one thing (or more) that you should hang onto about Christ’s Second Coming and one thing (or more) that you should focus on as more important right now than the timing of the end times?