{"id":6151,"date":"2022-02-22T15:47:39","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T21:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=6151"},"modified":"2023-03-18T05:59:42","modified_gmt":"2023-03-18T11:59:42","slug":"2-thessalonians-25-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=6151","title":{"rendered":"2 Thessalonians 2:5-8"},"content":{"rendered":"

5\u00a0<\/sup>Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

6\u00a0<\/sup>And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

7\u00a0<\/sup>For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

8\u00a0<\/sup>And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

you know (v.6) \u2014 Paul wasn’t going into detail here. He had already told the Thessalonians everything they needed to know, and not long before. Here he was just reminding them.<\/h3>\n

restraining (v.6) = holding fast, actively and purposefully \u2014 Here it is lawlessness which is restrained in its development<\/h3>\n

he (v.6) \u2014 the Antichrist. He is currently restrained, but will one day be unrestrained<\/h3>\n

in his own time (v.6) \u2014 and not before. The time will come for him to play his part in God’s plan, and at that time the man will appear.<\/h3>\n

When Paul says Antichrist will be \u201crevealed\u00a0in his time\u201d\u00a0<\/i>(v.6), Isaiah predicted the Lords \u201clittle ones\u201d (cf. Matthew 10:41-42<\/span><\/a>) would one day be a majority and the \u201cnation\u201d (Matthew 21:43<\/span><\/a>) of the \u201clittle flock\u201d (Luke 12:32) would become \u201ca strong nation\u201d in the kingdom.\u201d Redeemed Israel has always been a minority on earth, but that will change \u201cin his time,\u201d and Antichrist will be revealed \u201cin his time.\u201d And the time of a prophetic figure can\u2019t come during the age of the mystery. \u2014 Kurth<\/span><\/h3>\n

for (v.7) \u2014 explaining why restraint of lawlessness is necessary at this time.<\/h3>\n

mystery (v.7) \u2014 something that can only be known by revelation from God (see Romans 16:24-25)<\/span><\/a>. A mystery, in Scripture, is never<\/em> something that cannot be known, incomprehensible, or “mysterious” in the usual sense of that word.<\/h3>\n

lawlessness (v.7) \u2014 overthrow of the Divine order, not necessarily confusion and disorder<\/h3>\n

How did we believers come to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ? This was accomplished, not in some dramatic, outward way, but by the quiet working of the Holy Spirit, as we received the Word as the truth of God.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Satan works in the same way, only from sinister motives. He is called in Ephesians 2:2<\/span><\/a>, “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” And as “the mystery of godliness” quietly does its work in the saints, so “the mystery of lawlessness is already at work” in the children of disobedience, behind the scenes, but very effectively, for the Prince of Lawlessness is the driving force that carries it forward. …<\/span><\/h3>\n

What is it that restrains the Antichrist from being revealed and hinders this wicked world from “going the limit” in sin? <\/span><\/h3>\n

Some say it is Satan, who is holding on to his place in the heavenlies “until he be taken out of the way (Revelation 12:9), but it is hard to imagine Satan, even in and by his personal absence from this earth, restraining evil.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Others believe that the restrainer is the Holy Spirit. [But] the Holy Spirit will continue<\/em> working on earth during the Tribulation, helping the believing remnant to remain faithful to the end. <\/span><\/h3>\n

The author holds that it is the Spirit in the Church, the Body of Christ, that is referred to, or we might say, the influence of the Spirit through the Church for, remember it is not the police forces of this world, or its armies, that restrain the evil. It is the true Church, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. When the Church is “taken out of the way,” the Spirit’s ministry through its members will no longer function on earth to restrain lawlessness or the manifestation of Antichrist. This we believe is the only consistent solution to the identity of the Restrainer and is another strong proof that the rapture of the members of Christ’s Body will precede the manifestation of Antichrist. \u2014 Stam, pages 129-130.<\/span><\/h3>\n

When I first read the passage, I assumed the Restrainer was simply Christ who is preventing lawlessness as long as the Age of Grace lasts. I’m still not entirely sure why this can’t be the case, although the commentaries I’m using have other ideas (such as Stam, above) or Ryrie (who believes it is either the Holy Spirit indwelling the Church, or human government, which the Antichrist will overthrow). The Holy Spirit restraining lawlessness through the Church makes sense too.<\/h3>\n

already (v.7) \u2014 Even in Paul’s day, the forces of evil were at work to undermine the truth (see 1 John 2:18).<\/h3>\n

only (v.7) \u2014 Paul is about to explain why the lawlessness is limited at this time.<\/h3>\n

out of the way (v.7) = lit. “out of the midst”<\/h3>\n

with the breath of His mouth (v.8) \u2014 quoted from Isaiah 11:4, LXX, “with the breath of His lips shall He slay the impious one”; a vivid metaphorical statement of the effect of His voice, cp. Job 4:9; Psalm 29:3-6<\/span><\/a>; Psalm 33:6<\/span><\/a>. \u2014 Vine, page 122.<\/span><\/h3>\n

destroy (v.8) = to render inactive, or useless<\/h3>\n

brightness (v.8) = a showing forth<\/h3>\n

of His coming (v.8) \u2014 Christ’s second coming, when He will set up the Millennial Kingdom<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5\u00a0Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6\u00a0And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7\u00a0For the mystery of lawlessness is already at … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2-thessalonians"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6151"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7571,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6151\/revisions\/7571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}