ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

2 Thessalonians 2.6-8

Book: 2 Thessalonians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

4. he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God. 5. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

6. And now ye know that which restraineth, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. 7. For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way. 8. And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of his coming;

  1. even he, whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10. and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:4-10, ASV)
WEB

4. he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God. 5. Don’t you remember that, when I was still with you, I told you these things?

6. Now you know what is restraining him, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. 7. For the mystery of lawlessness already works. Only there is one who restrains now, until he is taken out of the way. 8. Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his coming;

  1. even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10. and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:4-10, WEB)
KJV

4. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

6. And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. withholdeth: or, holdeth 7. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

  1. Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:4-10, KJV)
YLT

4. who is opposing and is raising himself up above all called God or worshipped, so that he in the sanctuary of God as God hath sat down, shewing himself off that he is God, [the day doth not come]. 5. Do ye not remember that, being yet with you, these things I said to you?

6. and now, what is keeping down ye have known, for his being revealed in his own time, 7. for the secret of the lawlessness doth already work, only he who is keeping down now [will hinder], till he may be out of the way, 8. and then shall be revealed the Lawless One, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the manifestation of his presence,

  1. [him,] whose presence is according to the working of the Adversary, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders, 10. and in all deceitfulness of the unrighteousness in those perishing, because the love of the truth they did not receive for their being saved, (2 Thessalonians 2:4-10, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Paul the Apostle, moving from present restraint to the end of the lawless one.
  • Audience: The church at Thessalonica, capital of the Roman province of Macedonia and a free city on the Via Egnatia. Paul had planted the congregation only months earlier (Acts 17:1-9) and left the city under duress; the believers were still under local pressure, and had been unsettled by a report that the day of the Lord had already arrived (2:2).
  • Location: Most probably Corinth, where Silvanus and Timothy were with Paul (Acts 18:5), written shortly after 1 Thessalonians.
  • Time period: c. AD 50-52. The date is anchored by the Gallio inscription at Delphi, which places the proconsulship of Achaia held by Gallio (Acts 18:12) at roughly AD 51-52.

Theological reading

Restraint, removal, revelation, ruin. The three verses run a sequence: something and someone restrain now, the restraint is removed, the lawless one is revealed, and he is destroyed. The sequence matters more than the identifications, because it is what proves the day has not arrived.

The identity question is genuinely open. The neuter "what restrains" in verse 6 and the masculine "he who restrains" in verse 7 have been taken as the Roman order and its emperor, the gospel mission and its missionary, God's restraining work and his agent, and an angelic power. Paul assumes shared knowledge (2:5) that we do not have.

The destruction is almost dismissive (2:8). "The Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming." The first clause quotes Isaiah 11:4, where the messianic figure "shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." Paul applies to Jesus a text about the shoot from Jesse.

"The appearance of his coming." Epiphaneia and parousia are stacked in one phrase, two words for the same arrival. The doubling is emphatic: the mere showing of him ends the matter, with no contest described.

Pastoral point. A church frightened by a rumour is told that the figure it fears is dispatched by a breath. The passage manages anxiety by proportion, not by information.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.