NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible | Page 6

F E AT U R E S
2162 | 2 THESSALONIANS 1:12
ev ery deed prompted by faith. r 12 We pray this so that the name
of our Lord Jesus may be glo ri fied in you, s and you in him,
ac cord ing to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. a
The Man of Lawlessness
2
Con cern ing the com ing of our Lord Jesus Christ and
our be ing gath ered to him, t we ask you, broth ers and
sis ters, 2 not to be come eas ily un set tled or alarmed by the
teach ing al leg edly from us — whether by a proph ecy or by
word of mouth or by let ter u — as sert ing that the day of the
Lord v has al ready come. 3 Don’t let any one de ceive you w in
any way, for that day will not come un til the re bel lion oc curs
and the man of law less ness b is re vealed, x the man doomed to
de struc tion. 4 He will op pose and will ex alt him self over ev-
Roman emperor Caligula,
ery thing that is called God y or is wor shiped, so that he sets
AD 37 – 41.
him self up in God’s tem ple, pro claim ing him self to be God. z
Kim Walton, taken at the National
5 Don’t you re mem ber that when I was with you I used to
Archaeological Museum of Athens
tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is hold ing
him back, so that he may be re vealed at the proper time.
7 For the se cret power of law less ness is al ready at work; but the one who now holds it back
will con tinue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the law less one will be
re vealed, whom the Lord Jesus will over throw with the breath of his mouth a and de stroy
by the splen dor of his com ing. 9 The com ing of the law less one will be in ac cor dance with
how Sa tan works. He will use all sorts of dis plays of power through signs and won ders b
that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wick ed ness de ceives those who are per ish ing. c
a
12 Or God and Lord, Jesus Christ
b
1:11 r 1Th 1:3
1:12 s Php 2:9-11
2:1 t Mk 13:27;
1Th 4:15-17
2:2 u 2Th 3:17 v 1Co 1:8
2:3 w Eph 5:6-8
x Da 7:25; 8:25; 11:36;
Rev 13:5, 6
2:4 y 1Co 8:5
z Isa 14:13, 14; Eze 28:2
2:8 a Isa 11:4; Rev 19:15
2:9 b Mt 24:24;
Jn 4:48
2:10 c 1Co 1:18
3 Some manuscripts sin
their every good desire and deed. God will
thus ensure that “the name of our Lord Jesus
may be glorified in you, and you in him.” The
Thessalonian believers are again (see note on
2 Thess 1:10) comforted with the promise that
their faith will be vindicated by being person-
ally present in the end-time glorification of
Christ (“in you”), and they will also themselves
be glorified (“and you in him”).
2:1 – 17 Comfort Concerning the Day of the Lord.
The first major topic of the letter concerns a
false claim about the day of the Lord that caused
the Thessalonian church to become greatly
alarmed. Paul’s purpose is not to predict the
future but to pastor his readers by giving them
a word of comfort about this end-time event.
2:1 – 2 Crisis: Fear Over the Claim That “The Day
of the Lord Has Already Come.” Someone has
falsely claimed that the day of the Lord has al-
ready come, thereby causing the young church
to fear that they might not avoid the wrath of
God connected with the day of judgment.
2:1 our being gathered to him. The immediate
reference is to the comforting concept of how
all believers, both deceased and living, will be
gathered to Jesus at his return (1 Thess 4:16 – 17;
5:10). But this idea goes back to the OT hope in
the gathering of the scattered exiles to their
own land on the day of the Lord (e.g., Ps 106:47;
Isa 11:10 – 12; 27:13; 43:4 – 7; Jer 31:8; Joel 3:1 – 2).
2:2 alarmed. Jesus issued the identical com-
mand (Mark 13:7). Paul is not merely satisfying
his readers’ curiosity about the end times but
providing desperately needed pastoral com-
fort to a church frightened about the day of
the Lord and unsure about their salvation on
that day — a fear that also lies behind 1 Thess
5:1 – 11 (see notes there). prophecy . . . word of
mouth . . . letter. Paul seemingly suspects that
the source of the false claim about the day of
the Lord was the first member of the triad: a
prophecy (see second note on v. 15). has already
come. Asserting that the day is actually pres-
ent, not that it is imminent (as in the KJV: “is
at hand”). The Thessalonians may have viewed
the day of the Lord as consisting of several
events of which Christ’s coming was just one
part. Although the claim is false, the Thessa-
lonian church — already apprehensive about
the day of the Lord (1 Thess 5:1 – 11) — became
alarmed. Fear is often irrational and contagious.
2:3 – 12 Correction: Events That Must Precede
the Day of the Lord. Paul corrects the false
claim by reminding the Thessalonians that
the day of the Lord will not take place until
certain clearly defined events take place first.
2:3 Two events must precede the day of the
Lord: (1) the rebellion. It is not Christians who
rebel against God (Paul expects his readers to
persevere in the faith to the end; see vv. 13 – 14;
1:3 – 4,10 – 12; 1 Thess 1:3,6; 2:14; 3:6 – 8; 5:4,9)
but the rest of humanity. This rebellion will be
primarily religious in nature, but any rebellion
against God will naturally also involve a revolt
against the general laws and morals of society.
(2) the man of lawlessness is revealed. He is
not Satan, as v. 9 makes clear, but is typically
identified with the antichrist (1 John 2:18,22;
4:3; 2 John 7). This figure’s