2 Thessalonians 2

¹Now we ask you, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering to him, ²not to be quickly shaken from your composure or alarmed by a spirit, a spoken message, or a letter supposedly from us, claiming that the day of the Lord has arrived. ³Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the person of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, ⁴who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in God's temple, displaying himself as God. ⁵Do you not remember that I used to tell you these things while I was still with you?

⁶And now you know what restrains him, so that he may be revealed at his own time. ⁷For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only, the one who now restrains him will do so until he is out of the way. ⁸Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the manifestation of his coming. ⁹The lawless one's coming is in accordance with Satan's working, with all power and signs and wonders of falsehood, ¹⁰and with every deception of unrighteousness for those who are perishing, because they did not accept the love of the truth so that they might be saved. ¹¹For this reason God sends them a working of delusion so that they believe falsehood, ¹²so that all who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness may be condemned.

¹³But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits for salvation through the Spirit's making you holy and faith in the truth. ¹⁴He called you to this through our good news, so that you might obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵So then, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions you were taught, whether through a spoken message or a letter from us.

¹⁶Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, ¹⁷comfort your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.

Translation notes 9

2:1–2 — Coming and the day. Coming translates the same word used for Jesus in verse 8 and the lawless figure in verse 9. Has arrived means that the day is already present, not merely that it is near. A spirit likely refers to a claimed prophetic inspiration or utterance. Supposedly from us may qualify all three channels, not only the letter. Brothers includes women in the community.

2:3 — Rebellion and supplied wording. That day will not come is supplied from verse 2 to complete the unfinished Greek condition. Rebellion can also be expressed as apostasy or falling away; the context concerns opposition to God. The word does not by itself identify a physical departure of believers from earth.

2:3–4 — Lawlessness and destruction. Many manuscripts have sin instead of lawlessness. The adopted reading links this figure with lawlessness in verse 7 and the lawless one in verse 8. Person renders a general human noun; son preserves the separate gendered image, describing someone destined for destruction. The text neither names the figure nor specifies how God's temple is to be identified.

2:6–7 — The restraint. What restrains is grammatically neuter in verse 6; the one who restrains is masculine in verse 7. Neither is named. Him and will do so make the compressed Greek intelligible. Until he is out of the way does not specify who removes the restrainer or how he departs. Now in verse 6 can also be taken with the restraint: you know what restrains him now.

2:7–8 — Mystery and breath. Mystery describes lawlessness already at work before its open revelation; it does not supply the identity of a secret organization. Breath of his mouth preserves the image of effortless destruction. Spirit is another possible sense of the word translated breath, but mouth favors breath here. Some manuscripts omit Jesus after Lord.

2:9–12 — Falsehood and judgment. The lawless one is supplied in verse 9 to identify the Greek relative pronoun’s referent. Wonders of falsehood describes their deceptive character; it need not mean only staged tricks. The letter says that God sends the delusion, following the refusal of truth. It does not merely say he allows it. Condemned expresses the adverse judgment in this context.

2:13 — Firstfruits. The Greek base reads firstfruits, a harvest image for people set apart for God at the beginning of a larger harvest. A substantial manuscript alternative reads from the beginning. This is a textual difference, not two meanings of the same Greek phrase; the precise comparison implied by firstfruits is not stated.

2:13–15 — Holiness and traditions. The Spirit's making you holy interprets the Spirit as the agent of sanctification; holiness of spirit is another possible understanding. Traditions here are the teachings handed on by the letter's senders, in speech or writing, rather than an endorsement of everything later called tradition.

2:16–17 — Comfort and strength. Comfort preserves the repeated word family. The Greek has singular verbs with Jesus and the Father named together; English may express this shared action without resolving its wider theological implications. You after strengthen is supplied from the context.