TOM · The Owner's Manual · New Testament

2 Thessalonians 2

Chapter 2 in 30 seconds

Somebody sent a fake letter saying the Day of the Lord already came. Paul says not yet. First the rebellion has to happen and the man of lawlessness has to show up, and something is holding him back. When he comes, Jesus will wipe him out with a breath. So stand firm.

Tap a color to hide it

In this chapterField Notes · ArchaeologyCaligula and the Temple · after verse 2 The Big Question · Christians disagreeThe Man of Lawlessness · after verse 12

The Man of Lawlessness

¹Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers, ²not to be easily disconcerted or alarmed by any spirit or message or letter seeming to be from us, alleging that the Day of the Lord has already come. ³Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness—the son of destruction—is revealed. ⁴He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

2TH 2:2[NOTE]A FAKE LETTER. Someone was spreading a message seemingly from us, maybe a letter forged in Paul's name. That is why he signs this one himself, 3:17. Check everything, even when it uses a famous name, 1 Thessalonians 5:21.
2TH 2:3[PROPHECY]That Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God... whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming → STILL TO COME
2TH 2:3[NOTE]WHO IS HE? See The Big Question pages on the man of lawlessness and the restrainer, and the Caligula and the Temple Field Notes page.
2TH 2:4[DEMONIC]The man of lawlessness exalts himself above every god
2TH 2:4[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← DAN 11:36

Field Notes · Archaeology

Caligula and the Temple

2 Thessalonians 2:3 to 4 · Mark 13:14 · Daniel 11:31

Left: marble portrait of the emperor Gaius, called Caligula, AD 37 to 41. Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain. Right: a bronze sestertius of Caligula, Rome, AD 37 to 38. Bibliothèque nationale de France, public domain.

WHAT IT IS: A marble head of the Roman emperor Gaius, nicknamed Caligula, and one of his coins with his name, C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS.
HOW OLD IT IS: Both are from his own reign, AD 37 to 41, about ten years before Paul wrote this letter.
WHAT HE TRIED TO DO: Caligula wanted to be worshiped as a god. About AD 40 he ordered a giant statue of himself set up inside the temple in Jerusalem. The Jewish writer Philo, who met him, and the historian Josephus both tell the story. The Roman governor Petronius stalled, Jewish crowds begged him to stop, and King Agrippa pleaded with Caligula. Then Caligula was murdered in January AD 41, and the statue never went in.
WHY IT MATTERS HERE: Paul says the man of lawlessness will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God, 2:4. The Thessalonians had just lived through a real emperor who tried to do exactly that. Many scholars think it shaped how they heard Paul's words.
HOW PEOPLE READ IT: Some see Caligula as a preview of a future Antichrist who will do it for real. Preterists see the fulfillment in the Romans and Zealots who defiled the temple before it burned in AD 70. Others read temple of God as the church. See The Big Question pages.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: Paul never names Caligula. The coin and portrait show who Caligula was, not who Paul had in mind.

CONFIDENCE: HIGH FOR THE HISTORY · THE LINK IS A SCHOLARS' VIEW

⁵Do you not remember that I told you these things while I was still with you? ⁶And you know what is now restraining him, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. ⁷For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who now restrains it will continue until he is taken out of the way. ⁸And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival.

2TH 2:8[PROPHECY]The Lord Jesus will destroy the lawless one by the breath of His mouth at His coming → STILL TO COME
2TH 2:8[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← IS 11:4

⁹The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder, ¹⁰and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them. ¹¹For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie, ¹²in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.

2TH 2:11[PROPHECY]God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned → STILL TO COME

The Big Question · Christians disagree

The Man of Lawlessness

Who Is He?

2 Thessalonians 2:1 to 12 · 1 John 2:18 · Daniel 11:36

WHAT PAUL SAID: Some told the church that the Day of the Lord had already come. Paul says it will not come until two things happen. First, the rebellion. Second, the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, is revealed. He sets himself above every god, sits in the temple of God and claims to be God, 2:3 to 4. Satan gives him power and fake miracles, 2:9. Then Jesus destroys him with the breath of His mouth, 2:8. Paul had told them more in person, 2:5, but he did not write it down, so we have to piece it together.
FUTURE ANTICHRIST: Most Christians today read him as one evil world ruler still to come at the end, the same as the beast of Revelation 13 and the king of Daniel 11:36. Many expect a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. Early leaders like Irenaeus, about AD 180, and Hippolytus, about AD 200, read it this way, and so do most dispensational and premillennial teachers today.
ALREADY HAPPENED, AD 70: Preterists say he came in the first century. Some point to Nero; some to the Zealot leaders who took over the temple and filled it with murder during the war with Rome; some to the Roman general Titus, who stood in the temple as it burned in AD 70. They point out that Paul spoke to his readers about a temple that was standing at the time.
THE PAPACY: The Protestant Reformers taught that the man of lawlessness was the office of the pope, sitting in the temple of God, the church, and claiming God's authority. Martin Luther said so in the Smalcald Articles, 1537, and the Westminster Confession of Faith, 1646, called the pope that man of sin. Many churches later took that line out, like American Presbyterians in 1903. Catholics, of course, reject it.
A SPIRIT IN EVERY AGE: Some read the man of lawlessness as a picture of the spirit of rebellion that shows up again and again, in many tyrants and false teachers. John says many antichrists have already come, 1 John 2:18. Many who hold this still expect a final one.
THE REBELLION, 2:3: The Greek word is apostasia, falling away or rebellion, a great turning from God. A few pre tribulation teachers argue it means a departure, the rapture itself, and note that Tyndale's 1526 New Testament and the Geneva Bible of 1560 said departing. Most scholars say the word means rebellion, and most modern Bibles say so.

The One Who Restrains · What Is Holding It Back?

2 Thessalonians 2:5 to 8

WHAT PAUL SAID: Something is holding back the man of lawlessness until the right time, 2:6. Paul calls it a thing in 2:6 and a person in 2:7, the one who now restrains it, until he is taken out of the way. The readers knew what he meant, 2:6. We do not. Augustine admitted about AD 426 that he had no idea what Paul meant.
THE HOLY SPIRIT, OR THE CHURCH: Only God is strong enough to hold back Satan's man. The Holy Spirit lives in the church, so when the church is taken in the rapture, the restraint is gone. This is the main pre tribulation view. Others agree it is the Spirit but say He is not removed from the earth, only the way He holds back evil changes.
ROMAN LAW AND ORDER: The oldest known answer. Tertullian, about AD 200, and John Chrysostom, about AD 400, said it was the Roman Empire, a thing, and the emperor, a person. That fits Paul switching between it and he. Many today widen it to government and law in general, Romans 13:1 to 4.
THE ANGEL MICHAEL: Michael stands guard over God's people in Daniel 10:21 and 12:1, and Daniel 12:1 ties him to a time of great distress at the end. Some read that verse as Michael standing aside, and think Paul means him.
THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL: The end cannot come until the gospel goes to all nations, Matthew 24:14. Some say the restrainer is that mission, or Paul himself as its leader. Others say it is God Himself, holding things back until His set time.
THE TIMING DEBATE: This passage is a key text for when the rapture happens. Post tribulation readers say 2:1 to 3 puts our being gathered to Him after the man of lawlessness shows up. Pre tribulation readers say the restrainer's removal in 2:7 is the rapture, before he is revealed. See The Big Question pages in 1 Thessalonians.
WHAT WE ALL AGREE ON: Evil will not win. God sets the timing. The lawless one is doomed the moment Jesus shows up, 2:8. And Paul's point is practical: do not be shaken, 2:2, and stand firm, 2:15.

Stand Firm

¹³But we should always thank God for you, brothers who are loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved by the sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in the truth. ¹⁴To this He called you through our gospel, so that you may share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵Therefore, brothers, stand firm and cling to the traditions we taught you, whether by speech or by letter.

2TH 2:15[NOTE]THE TRADITIONS. The Greek word paradosis means what is handed down. Catholic and Orthodox Christians read this as Sacred Tradition, teaching passed on by speech beside the written Word. Most Protestants say the apostles' spoken teaching is now preserved in Scripture, and Scripture is the final judge of every tradition. Both agree: hold on to what the apostles taught.

¹⁶Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who by grace has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope, ¹⁷encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good word and deed.

2 Thessalonians 2

The Man of Lawlessness

Stand Firm

See the whole Bible light up in color.

Frequently asked questions