2 Thessalonians 2
The Day of Christ and the Man of Sin 1–12
Thanksgiving and Exhortation to Stand Firm 13–15
Concluding Prayer for Comfort and Steadfastness 16–17
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for 2 Thessalonians 2
Verse 1
our gathering together unto him — Episynagoge is a gathering to one place; it occurs in the New Testament only here and in Heb 10:25 (‘the assembling of ourselves together’). It is joined to ‘the coming’ (parousia, presence) of Christ, as in his words that the angels ‘shall gather together his elect’ (Matt 24:31) and in 1 Thess 4:17.
Verse 2
shaken in mind… as that the day of Christ is at hand — Saleuo is to shake or disturb; throeo, ‘troubled’, is to be alarmed (Matt 24:6). Three channels are named: ‘spirit’, ‘word’, ‘letter as from us’. ‘Is at hand’ is enistemi, to be present, the word of ‘things present’ in Rom 8:38: the claim was that the day had come.
Verse 3
a falling away first — Apostasia is defection or revolt, from the verb of ‘some shall depart from the faith’ (1 Tim 4:1). ‘That man of sin’ joins anthropos, man, to hamartia, sin; ‘the son of perdition’ (apoleia, ruin) is the title Christ gives Judas (John 17:12). ‘Revealed’ (apokalypto, uncovered) is used of him in vv.3, 6 and 8.
Verse 4
sitteth in the temple of God — Antikeimai is to stand opposed; hyperairomai, to lift oneself above. ‘That is worshipped’ is sebasma, an object of worship (Acts 17:23). The king of Dan 11:36 ‘shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god’. Whether the ‘temple’ (naos) is a building or the church, as in 1 Cor 3:16, has been read both ways.
Verse 5
I told you these things — ‘Told’ is in the imperfect tense: Paul used to tell them, repeatedly. The teaching was given in a short stay; at Thessalonica he ‘three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures’ (Acts 17:2). ‘Remember’ (mnemoneuo) is a question that asks them to recall what they already have.
Verse 6
what withholdeth — Katecho is to hold down or hold back. Paul says ‘ye know’ (eido) and does not name the restraining power in the letter; faithful readers have taken it differently. It holds back the revealing of the lawless one ‘in his time’ (kairos, an appointed season), so that his appearing comes in a set season.
Verse 7
The mystery of iniquity doth already work — Mysterion is a secret not yet disclosed; anomia is lawlessness, the root of ‘that Wicked’ (anomos) in v.8. ‘Doth work’ is energeo, and the noun energeia returns in v.9 and v.11. ‘Letteth’ is the old English for hinders, katecho as in v.6; John says that ‘even now are there many antichrists’ (1 John 2:18).
Verse 8
shall consume with the spirit of his mouth — The words recall Isa 11:4: ‘with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked’. ‘Destroy’ is katargeo, to render powerless. ‘Brightness’ is epiphaneia, an appearing, the word used for Christ’s appearing in 2 Tim 4:1, and it is joined here to the parousia, his coming.
Verse 9
all power and signs and lying wonders — Dynamis, semeion and teras are the three words used of Christ’s works, ‘miracles and wonders and signs’ (Acts 2:22). Here the working is of Satan (energeia), and the wonders are pseudos, false. Christ warned that false Christs ‘shall shew great signs and wonders’ (Matt 24:24); Deut 13:1–3 treats such a sign as a test.
Verse 10
received not the love of the truth — ‘Received’ is dechomai, to welcome; the failure is not to have welcomed ‘the love of the truth’ (agape, aletheia), ‘that they might be saved’. ‘Deceivableness’ is apate, deceit, working on ‘them that perish’, the participle of 1 Cor 1:18, ‘to them that perish foolishness’. The cause is set in their refusal, not in the deceit alone.
Verse 11
God shall send them strong delusion — ‘Strong delusion’ is energeia planes, a working of error, the energeia of v.9 now sent by God. It follows ‘for this cause’, their refusal in v.10. The pattern is found in Rom 1:28, ‘God gave them over to a reprobate mind’, in Ps 81:12, and in Micaiah’s vision of the ‘lying spirit’ (1 Kgs 22:22–23).
Verse 13
God hath from the beginning chosen you — Haireomai is to choose for oneself; ‘from the beginning’ (arche) may be compared with Eph 1:4, ‘before the foundation of the world’. The means are joined: ‘sanctification of the Spirit’ (hagiasmos) and ‘belief of the truth’, the reverse of v.10. ‘Beloved of the Lord’ is a perfect participle, ‘having been loved’.
Verse 14
the obtaining of the glory — Peripoiesis is acquiring; the same noun is in 1 Thess 5:9, ‘to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ’, and is related to the verb of Acts 20:28, ‘purchased’. The call (kaleo) came ‘by our gospel’ (euangelion) and leads to ‘the glory of our Lord’; compare 1 Thess 2:12, ‘called you unto his kingdom and glory’.
Verse 15
hold the traditions — Paradosis is what is handed on; krateo is to seize and keep, steko to stand firm. Teaching came ‘by word, or our epistle’, the same two channels through which false claims came ‘as from us’ in v.2. The word is used of the ‘tradition of men’ Christ condemned (Mark 7:8–9); here it is what Paul taught (2 Thess 3:6).
Verse 16
everlasting consolation and good hope through grace — ‘Consolation’ is paraklesis, from the root of ‘comfort’ (parakaleo) in v.17. ‘Hath loved us’ and ‘hath given’ are both aorist: the love and the gift are acts already done. The Son is named first, then ‘God, even our Father’. ‘Hope’ (elpis) is ‘good’ (agathos) and rests on grace (charis).
Verse 17
stablish you in every good word and work — Sterizo is to set fast, the verb Christ used to Peter, ‘strengthen thy brethren’ (Luke 22:32), and of Paul’s sending of Timotheus ‘to establish you’ (1 Thess 3:2). ‘Every good word and work’ answers v.15, ‘by word, or our epistle’; the promise of the same stablishing is made again in 2 Thess 3:3.