CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
2 Thessalonians 2:1. Beseech … by the coming of our Lord.—The English reader who consults the similar phrase “to beseech by” in Romans 12:1 will be wholly astray. St Paul begs his readers not to be thrown into consternation or kept in a flutter of excitement over that matter of the Parousia, or “coming.”
2 Thessalonians 2:2. Not soon shaken.—Like a house built on sand when the storm breaks in fury, or like the mobile vulgus in Thessalonica who were only too willing to follow the lead of Jewish agitators (Acts 17:13). In mind.—R.V. “from your mind.” “Out of your wits” expresses the apostle’s meaning exactly. They are to behave like men in whom reason is supreme—not like men in a panic. Or be troubled.—The same word was used in reporting our Lord’s counsels on the same subject. “Be not troubled: … the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6). By epistle as from us.—Either by misinterpretation of something St. Paul had written, or by a forged letter purporting to have come from him.
2 Thessalonians 2:3. Let no man deceive.—R.V. “beguile or cheat you.” A falling away.—Lit. “the apostasy,” a desertion from the army of God; a recantation of faith in Christ. Our Master foretold that when “iniquity shall abound the love of the many shall be blown cool” (Matthew 24:12). That man of sin.—Another reading is “lawlessness.” The man in whom sin gathers itself up into a head—the last product of sin. The son of perdition—par excellence, sharing the title with him whom Christ so named (John 17:12). Abaddon (Revelation 9:11) may claim him as his own ultimately.
2 Thessalonians 2:4. Who opposeth and exalteth himself.—The participle rendered “who opposeth” is used twice by St. Luke in the plural as “adversaries.” So in the singular (1 Timothy 5:14). The compound word for “exalteth himself” occurs (2 Corinthians 12:7), and is given as “exalted-above-measure.” Above all that is called God.—The shudder of horror in these words reminds us how a monotheistic Jew must regard the impious act. We can understand that a Roman emperor would regard the God of Jew or Christian as a tutelary deity; but the acme of profanity is reached in this act of Antichrist. Or that is worshipped.—R.V. margin, “Gr. an object of worship.” “The very name Sebastos, the Greek rendering of the imperial title Augustus, to which Divus was added at death (signifying ‘the one to be worshipped’), was an offence to the religious mind.… Later, Cæsar or Christ was the martyr’s alternative” (Findlay). Showing Himself that He is God.—Or, as we should say, “representing Himself to be God.” Compare Herod’s acceptance of the worship (Acts 12:22).
2 Thessalonians 2:6. What withholdeth.—R.V. “that which restraineth.” “A hint was sufficient, verbum sapientibus: more than a hint would have been dangerous” (Ibid.).
2 Thessalonians 2:7. He who now letteth.—R.V. “there is one that restraineth.” This old word for “obstruct” is found in Isaiah 43:13: “I will work, and who shall let (i.e. hinder) it?” “Where then are we to look … for the check and bridle of lawlessness? Where but to law itself? The fabric of civil law and the authority of the magistrate formed a bulwark and breakwater against the excesses both of autocratic tyranny and of popular violence” (Ibid.).
2 Thessalonians 2:8. And then shall that Wicked be revealed.—R.V. “and then shall be revealed the lawless one.” Outward restraint being withdrawn, there is no inward principle to keep him back: he is “lawless.” And shall destroy.—R.V. “bring to nought.” It is the same word as that which describes the effect of the revelation of the gospel on “death” in 2 Timothy 1:10—to render absolutely powerless. With the brightness of His coming.—R.V. “by the manifestation of His coming.” Lit. “by the epiphany of His presence.”
2 Thessalonians 2:9. Even Him, whose coming, etc.—These words look back to the beginning of 2 Thessalonians 2:8. “The two comings—the parousia of the Lord Jesus and that of the Man of Lawlessness—are set in contrast. The second forms the dark background to the glory of the first” (Ibid.). Power and signs and lying wonders.—Simulating the supernatural evidences of the gospel as the magicians of Egypt those of Moses.
2 Thessalonians 2:10. Deceivableness of unrighteousness.—R.V. “deceit.” The deceit which is characteristic of unrighteousness, or marks its methods. They received not the love of the truth. The sine qua non for an answer to Pilate’s question is this love of the truth.
2 Thessalonians 2:11. God shall send them strong delusion.—R.V. “God sendeth them a working of error.” “It is a just, but mournful result, that rejecters of Christ’s miracles become believers in Satan’s, and that atheism should be avenged by superstition. So it has been and will be” (Ibid.). One is reminded of the old saying that “the gods first drive mad those whom they mean to destroy.”
2 Thessalonians 2:12. Believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.—Here again we have the mental rejection of truth consequent on a liking for that which truth condemns. If “the heart makes the theologian,” the want of it makes the infidel.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Antichrist Portrayed.
Various interpretations of this remarkable paragraph have been attempted. Some modern German critics would divest it of any prophetic significance, and treat it as a representation of the writer’s own personal feelings and forebodings. Others would restrict its application to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and to persons, principles, and events that preceded that catastrophe. The commonly received Protestant interpretation is to identify the Man of Sin and his doings with the Papacy; and there are certainly many points of that interpretation that accord very remarkably with the prophecy. But there are serious objections to all these views. We believe the revelation of the Antichrist here depicted is yet future, though the elements of his power are now in preparation. From the whole passage we gather the following suggestions:—
I. That Antichrist will be embodied in some living personality.—He is called “that man of sin, the son of perdition”: “that Wicked”—the lawless one (2 Thessalonians 2:3-8). The fathers of the early Church, for at least three centuries after the apostolic age, while differing on some minor details, seemed unanimous in understanding by the Man of Sin, not a system of deceit and wickedness, or a succession of individuals at the head of such a system, but some one man, the living personal Antichrist, the incarnation of Satanic craft and energy, who should put forth his power to weaken and destroy the Church.
1. He will arrogantly assume divine prerogatives.—“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, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4). In these words we note Antichrist’s intrusion into the special dwelling-place of God, his usurping session there, and his blasphemous and ostentatious assumption of divinity. The wildest excesses of pride and audacity cannot exceed this.
2. His advent will be accompanied with remarkable displays of Satanic power.—“Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9). Antichrist as the masterpiece of Satan will be endowed with extraordinary qualities. The devil will tax his prodigious abilities to the utmost in making this great adversary of the Church as potent for mischief as possible. We know how readily the man of science can impose upon the ignorant with his experiments. And how easy it is for Satan, with his vast knowledge and resources, to delude thousands with his simulations of the miraculous! The advent of Antichrist is to be a fiendish caricature and audacious mockery of the glorious coming of the Son of God!
II. That Antichrist will work deplorable mischief in human souls.—
1. He seeks by secret methods to promote apostasy from the Church of God.” “A falling away first” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). “The mystery of iniquity doth already work” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). Here we detect the germs and preparation of the antichristian curse that is to work such havoc. The primitive Church of apostolic times was not such a model of perfection as we sometimes imagine. The leaven of iniquity, of lawlessness, the essence of all sin, was already working. Observe the sorrowing references of the apostle to the many evils of the different Churches. Titus 1:11; 1 Timothy 6:5; 2 Corinthians 11:26; Philemon 1:9; 2 Timothy 1:15; 1 John 2:18-20; 2 John 1:7; 3 John 1:9. Passim. The most disastrous apostasies have been the result of long, secret endeavours.
2. He begets a dislike to saving truth.—“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 2:10). The truth was revealed, its saving benefits were offered; they had but to accept the truth and they were safe. But they rejected the truth; they loved it not. Their treatment of the gospel rendered them more easy victims to the deceptions of Antichrist; fascinated by his unrighteous glamour, they recede from the truth and cherish a bitter hostility towards it.
3. His victims are abandoned to self-delusion and condemnation.—“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned”—might be judged according to their individual character and works—“who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12). See here the fearful consequences of a hatred to and rejection of the truth! The soul takes delight in sinning—has “pleasure in unrighteousness.” It is, then, not only abandoned to its iniquity, but its delusions are intensified so as to embrace the most palpable falsehoods as truth. It shall then be judged on its own merits, so that God shall be justified in His speaking and clear in His judging. Terrible indeed is the fate of the victims who fall under the spell of Antichrist.
III. That the coming of Antichrist is for a time restrained.—“And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.… Only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7). There is an external power with an individual at its head which holds back the power of Antichrist until the proper season comes. What that power is is not revealed; but God can use any power for this purpose, until the divinely appointed time shall come for the revelation and overthrow of Antichrist.
IV. That Antichrist shall be summarily destroyed.—“Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth”—as insects wither on the mere approach of fire—“and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:8)—with the appearing of His coming, as it were the first gleaming dawn of His advent. For a time Antichrist shall reign in pomp and splendour and delude many to their ruin; but at the coming of the true Lord of the Church the great impostor shall be dethroned and utterly abolished. “It is enough,” says Chrysostom, “that He be present, and all these things perish. He will stay the deception simply by appearing.”
V. That the followers of Christ need not be afraid of losing any benefits to be conferred by His second coming.—“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2)—on hand, has already come. When Paul wrote the first epistle, the Thessalonians “were sorrowing by the graves of their departed friends, and the grief of nature was enhanced by the apprehension that their beloved ones might suffer loss at the coming of the Lord. But now, should they hear that He had come and had not called for them, a yet deeper, more agitating motion must seize them, lest they themselves had forfeited their share in the glory of the kingdom.” These words would allay their fears. Christ has yet to come, and before that coming Antichrist is to arise and reign. Wait patiently, labour diligently, and be not harassed with too great an eagerness to know future events. All the blessings of Christ’s second coming shall be shared by you and by all who are to be gathered together unto Him.
Lessons.—
1. There are trying times ahead.
2. The only safety for the soul is to hold fast the truth.
3. At the darkest moment of the Church’s trial the glory of God will appear.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2 Thessalonians 2:1-6. A Warning against Imposition.
I. The danger.—
1. Their faith was imperilled.
2. Daily duties were interfered with.
II. Signs of the coming end.—
1. By a great apostasy.
2. The appearance of Antichrist as the man of sin and son of perdition.
3. The proud pretensions of Antichrist.
(1) Opposing Christ.
(2) Substituting error for truth.
(3) Overweening self-exaltation.
III. Hindrances to the spread of truth (2 Thessalonians 2:6).—
1. The civil powers of that day.
2. The machinations of Satan at all times.
3. The unfaithfulness of God’s people.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3. A False Alarm—
I. May arise from a misconception of an important truth.—“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto Him” (2 Thessalonians 2:1).
II. Is aggravated by unwarrantable deceptions.—“Let no man deceive you by any means” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). “Neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is come” (2 Thessalonians 2:2).
III. Is the cause of much real suffering.—“Shaken in mind—troubled” (2 Thessalonians 2:2)—like a ship escaped from its moorings, tossed in a rolling sea.
IV. Is allayed by the affectionate entreaty of competent teachers.—“We beseech you, brethren” (2 Thessalonians 2:1).
2 Thessalonians 2:5. Memory—
I. Is freighted with treasures of precious truth.—“I told you these things.”
II. Associates the presence and character of the teacher with the truth taught.—“When I was yet with you.”
III. Is often vividly reminded of the value of its possession.—“Remember ye not.”
2 Thessalonians 2:7-10. The Mystery of Iniquity—
I. Is the deepest and most subtle form of error.
II. Is propagated with great cunning and persistency.
III. Is embodied in a powerful and wicked personality (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8).
IV. Is Satanic in its origin and manifestation (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10).
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12. The Destructive Subtlety of Sin.
I. It has manifold methods of deception.—“With all deceivableness of unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:10).
II. It incites the soul to a hatred of saving truth.—“That received not the love of the truth that they might be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:10).
III. It abandons its victims to judicial self-deception.—“God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:11).
IV. It leads to inevitable condemnation.—“That they all might be damned” (2 Thessalonians 2:12).
V. It encourages sin for the love of sin.—“Who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:12).
2 Thessalonians 2:11-12. Strong Delusions.
I. Believing a lie as truth.
II. Sent as a judgment for not believing the truth.
III. Are brought on by those who have pleasure in sin.