Passage

2 Thessalonians 2.9

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

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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,

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: (2 Thessalonians 2:7-11, 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,

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; (2 Thessalonians 2:7-11, 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,

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: (2 Thessalonians 2:7-11, 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,

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, (2 Thessalonians 2:7-11, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle, on the power behind 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

Derivative power. The coming of the lawless one is "according to the working of Satan." Paul uses parousia for it, the same word he uses for the coming of Christ, and energeia for the power behind it. The figure is drawn as a counterfeit throughout the chapter: a coming, an unveiling, a display of power, all of them borrowed.

"With all power and signs and lying wonders." The Greek attaches the genitive "of falsehood" to the whole triad rather than only to the last noun. The point is not that the displays are stage tricks but that they are directed toward a lie. Paul does not say the signs fail; he says what they serve.

The Bible's consistent line on signs. Deuteronomy 13:1-3 had already ruled that a sign or wonder that comes true does not validate a prophet who leads toward another god. Jesus warns of false christs performing signs at Mark 13:22. A wonder is never presented in Scripture as self-authenticating, and this verse is the Pauline form of the same principle.

Apologetic relevance. The passage is often cited against Christian appeals to miracle, and it does mean that a miracle claim alone settles nothing. What it also shows is that the biblical writers held that view themselves, which is not the position of a tradition credulous about wonders.

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.

G3952 - parousia, parousia, Strong's G3952
G4567 - satanas, satanas, Strong's G4567
G3956 - pas, pas, Strong's G3956

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.