ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

2 Thessalonians 2.9-12

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

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

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;

9. 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. 11. And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: 12. that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

  1. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, for that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 14. whereunto he called you through our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 2:7-14, ASV)
WEB

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;

9. 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. 11. Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie; 12. that they all might be judged who didn’t believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

  1. But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth; 14. to which he called you through our Good News, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 2:7-14, WEB)
KJV

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:

9. 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. 11. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12. That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

  1. But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 14. Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 2:7-14, KJV)
YLT

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,

9. [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, 11. and because of this shall God send to them a working of delusion, for their believing the lie, 12. that they may be judged, all who did not believe the truth, but were well pleased in the unrighteousness.

  1. And we, we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, that God did choose you from the beginning to salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth, 14. to which He did call you through our good news, to the acquiring of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ; (2 Thessalonians 2:7-14, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Paul the Apostle, explaining how deception works and why it succeeds.
  • 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

A moral account of deception, not a mechanical one. Paul explains the success of the lawless one in terms of what people love rather than what they know. Those who perish do so "because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved" (2:10). Notice the phrasing: not that they lacked information, and not merely that they did not accept the truth, but that they did not love it.

Counterfeit power (2:9). Real force, real signs, all of it serving a lie. The genitive "of falsehood" governs the whole triad. Scripture is consistent here: Deuteronomy 13:1-3 already refused to treat a fulfilled sign as validating a message that leads away from God.

The sending of the delusion (2:11). "God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe the lie." This is the hardest clause in the paragraph, and the order in the text is the key to reading it. The refusal in verse 10 precedes the sending in verse 11. The pattern matches Romans 1:24-28, where God "gave them over" to what they had already chosen. Judgment here is ratification of a settled direction rather than the manufacture of one.

The verdict (2:12). Those judged are those who "did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness." The two verbs pair belief and delight, which is Paul's consistent way of describing how the will and the intellect move together.

Contrast with verse 13. The paragraph is immediately followed by thanksgiving for the readers, who were chosen "for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth." The dark paragraph exists to set off the light one.

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

Arguments and defeaters:

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.