Do ye not remember that, being yet with you, I said these things to you?
Paul has just described the apostasy and the man of sin, and then he stops mid-argument to ask a question. It is a reminder, not new information: he had said all of this out loud in Thessalonica, in a visit of only weeks.
The phrase does not mean other facts that would help them work out the answer. One writer says it points to the very truths Paul had just written. He also draws a lesson from their forgetting.
The apostle had already told them — not some other things which would enable them to understand these (as many take it), but these very things. The Thessalonians had already forgotten teaching they had received. That is a strong reminder of how much we need the written Word. God provided it for us, knowing this would happen. It is right for us to make sure, in every detail, that we have the exact words of Scripture to build our souls on.
The ground he covered in those few weeks is striking.
His time in Thessalonica was short. Even so, while he was there he had taught the disciples about the coming of the Lord. Reading the Epistle makes this completely clear. The disciples had learned that Jesus had delivered them from the wrath to come. They had learned about the resurrection, and about waiting for the Son of God from heaven. They knew they were called to suffer with Christ and to walk in holiness. They knew the Lord would come with fire for judgment, and come with all His saints. They knew that they would be caught up to meet the Lord, that the man of sin would be revealed, and that the mystery of lawlessness was already at work.
The people who received this teaching were not seasoned believers. They were recent converts, and the subject Paul chose for them is one many would call too advanced or too dark.
In the Second Epistle we find that Paul taught the newly converted Thessalonians about "the man of sin" who would be revealed. He is the great sinister figure of the last days, also known as the Antichrist. The Apostle did not think the subject unsuitable to put before recent converts.
Another writer goes further. Prophecy belongs to the youngest believers, he says, because of what it does in them:
We must not push prophetic truth into a place of "advanced teaching" kept for mature believers alone. It is to be taught and known and understood among new believers. It shapes the mind and forms Christian character. It guides the walk, warns of dangers and pitfalls, and guards against many doctrinal errors.
The question carries a mild reproach. A claim that the day of Christ had already come shook them, and they already held the answer.
The Thessalonians were not free of blame in the matter themselves. Neither are we, if we too get deceived. The apostle had already taught them what must come before the day of Christ. Evil must first come to a head in a movement — a "falling away" or an "apostasy." That movement would find its head in a man, the "man of sin," the "son of perdition." Neither of these had happened, so the day of Christ could not be present. He could appeal to them: "Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?" Careful attention to the instructions he had already given would have kept them from deception.
The Thessalonians had heard an apostle in person, and it still slipped away from them. That failure becomes an argument for something more durable than memory.
If only the Thessalonians had kept the spoken testimony in mind, they would have resisted the inroad of error better. But they, like us, should learn even from that failure how great the value of the written word is. Even the earliest tradition is unreliable. It needs the correcting hand of the Holy Spirit, and it receives it… How easy it is to let slip the words of the Lord, or what the apostle used to say!
The difference between them and us decides how we treat those writings:
The Thessalonian believers had these instructions in two ways — by word of mouth and by the written epistle. We have them in one way only. Let us therefore take the more earnest heed to the apostolic writings.
- Told — "These things" are not hints or background; They are the very truths Paul had just written, spoken aloud in Thessalonica long before they were written down.
- Taught — Paul stayed only a few weeks. In that time he covered the Lord's coming, the resurrection, the catching up of believers, the man of sin, and the lawlessness already at work.
- Trusted to beginners — Paul judged prophecy fit for brand-new converts. Commentators here treat it as teaching that shapes character and guards against error, not as advanced material.
- Forgotten — They were shaken by a lie they already had the answer to. Attention to what they had been given would have kept them steady.
- Written — Their lapse shows why God gave a written Word. Spoken teaching and even early tradition fade. We hold the apostle's instruction in one form only, so we heed it all the more.
And now ye know that which restrains, that he should be revealed in his own time.
Paul has just written about a coming man of sin. Now he tells the Thessalonians they already know why that figure has not yet appeared: something is holding him back until his appointed time. Two questions follow. What is this restraint, and why does Paul say so little about it?
Paul does not explain the restraint; he assumes it. He had taught these young believers in person, and commentators say the vagueness is on purpose.
It seems to me that the Spirit here speaks of the restraining influence and person with a studied vagueness. If we are wise, we will not rush to form conclusions. It must be remembered that the letter was an early one, written to young converts who had enjoyed the apostle's spoken teaching on this very matter.
Even so, the silence itself teaches something about the believer's future.
If the saints are not to know now what hinders the revelation of the man of sin, they may learn even from that one thing: they do not have to wait here for such a revelation. That is all I am pressing.
The restraint goes unnamed, but its size and character can still be worked out.
It is clear that what withholds or restrains must be a power greater than man or Satan, and completely opposite in nature to the man of sin. He is evil in bodily form — or rather, its head. So it makes sense that what restrains his revelation is the power of good, holding back the full showing of the lawless one for as long as God pleases.
Verse 6 speaks of a thing; verse 7 speaks of a person. Commentators differ on how to fill in each side.
The lawless one will only be revealed when the Lord comes for the saints of God and removes them from the scene of conflict. At present the forces of evil are under restraint — restraint is the meaning of the two words withholds and lets in verses 6 and 7. There is "He who restrains" and also "what restrains." The former, without doubt, refers to the Holy Spirit of God. He is on earth in person at this time, as He never was before and never will be again. The latter, we believe, refers to the presence of the church on earth. The church is the house of God, where the Holy Spirit lives.
Others read the "what" as human government, not the church.
The "what" in verse 6, unnamed by the apostle, is probably government. It is still true that "the authorities that exist have been instituted by God" (Rom. 13:1); and while this is so there is at least a measure of check on human will. But before long that will no longer be true. The supreme power in Christendom will receive his throne and authority straight from the dragon.
One reason for the vague wording is that the restraint has not always worn the same form.
"That which restrains" — the Greek means a thing. What is it? God has not told us what it is. No doubt this is because the thing that restrained then is not what restrains now. Then it was, in one sense, the Roman empire, as the early writers thought. They saw the power of that empire as a hindrance to the revelation of the man of sin, so they prayed that the empire would prosper. At present the hindrance is still the existence of the governments God has established in the world. He will keep them there as long as the gathering of His church is here below.
This restraint changes how believers face the evil around them.
The forces of evil are not allowed to proceed unchecked... In His government God will not allow evil to go beyond the limits He has set. That government continues while the saints are on earth. So we should never be alarmed by the drift away from the truths of God, or by the different kinds of evil that rear their heads in these days.
The restraint will not last for ever.
People do not know how much they owe to this restraint of Satan from doing his worst. But the time will come when God will cease to hinder; and then Satan will for a season carry all before him on the earth.
- Restraint assumed. Paul takes it that the Thessalonians already know the hindrance from his spoken teaching. The wording stays vague on purpose.
- Restraint measured. It must be a power greater than man and Satan, and opposite in nature to the man of sin.
- Restraint described. Verse 6 calls it a thing, verse 7 a person. Commentators differ: is the "what" the church on earth, or God-given government?
- Restraint shifting. Its form has changed. Once it was the Roman empire; now it is the governments God maintains while His church is here.
- Restraint removed. When it goes, the lawless one is revealed at his appointed time. Until then, evil stays inside limits God has set.
For the mystery of lawlessness already works; only [there is] he who restrains now until he be gone,
Paul has just told the Thessalonians that the day of the Lord cannot come before the falling away and the appearing of the man of sin. Here he explains why that man has not yet come. The evil is already running underground. Someone is holding back the moment it breaks the surface.
The word behind "lawlessness" links this verse to the person described a verse later. One writer says the two differ only as a thing differs from a person.
Here it is a question of this mystery of lawlessness; the apostasy or falling away is not a mystery. There is no need of a revelation to inform us that a man who denies Jesus Christ is not a Christian; he says it. But here it is an evil that has begun working inside the Christian world, in connection with Christianity. The lawless one will be the full revelation of that mystery. In most versions the words are translated "iniquity" and "wicked one." In the original they are the same word. One points to the thing, the other to the person.
The last words of the verse matter too. One writer compares the older English versions and finds "taken" too strong.
The Geneva Bible set the pattern in substance for the Authorised Version, but in both "taken" goes too far. "Till he withdraws" is perhaps acceptable, or "be out of the way."
In Scripture a mystery is something you could never guess. Someone has to tell you. That is why this evil can work for centuries and escape notice.
The mystery of iniquity is evil at work in a hidden way inside the church. It is like a seed meant to grow until the revolt. That revolt will run its course until it rises up openly against Christ shown in glory. While men were sleeping, the enemy sowed the weeds. God does not judge what is still only in the state of a mystery. A mystery is known only when it is revealed. Without that it stays hidden from all human understanding.
Paul does not put this in the future. Other New Testament writers say the same of their own day.
John tells us that the last time has already come. Paul says that the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Peter says the hour has arrived to judge the house of God. Jude says that those who would be judged at the end had already crept in unnoticed.
Paul does not name the restrainer. An early view pointed to the Roman Empire. One writer treats it as an outward hindrance that could be replaced, while the restrainer stays.
While the Roman empire lasted, it might be — and was — an outward hindrance. When it fell, other rulers appointed by God stood in the way. To have named only the Roman Empire would have been a mistake which divine wisdom avoided. The particular barrier might vary, and it did. But the restrainer remains, using "the powers that be" in providence.
Another writer argues from the size of the task.
Clearly the one who restrains must be a power greater than man and Satan. This power is completely different in nature from the man of sin. The restraining one is a power and a person. It is the Holy Spirit of God.
His removal does not bring the end at once. One writer sees a gap between the church's departure and the lawless one in full view.
I have no doubt at all that the hinderer is the power of the Spirit of God. He does not only live in the church; He acts to control the world. Suppose it were only the Holy Spirit living in the church. Then the man of sin would appear the moment the church was taken away. But it seems the lawless one will not reach his full growth and open display as soon as the saints are caught up. There will be an interval and a testimony which God will give. When this testimony disappears, or is put down by violence, the man of sin comes out fully.
The verse that shows evil at work also shows evil held back. That steadies the believer who feels its pressure.
We are aware of the growing power of evil in man's world, and of his complete inability to deal with it. How thankful we are to know that one result of the Holy Spirit's presence is His ability to restrain evil. However great the power of violence and corruption, all is under divine control. This truth brings comfort and assurance to the believer.
- Hidden — the evil is a mystery. It works inside the Christian profession, and only revelation exposes it.
- Present — it was already running in Paul's day, and John, Peter and Jude all say the same of theirs.
- Restrained — someone greater than man and Satan holds the man of sin back. The outward barrier has changed over the centuries. The restrainer has not.
- Released — when He withdraws, the restraint ends. After an interval of testimony, the lawless one stands out in the open.
- Reassuring — until then every outbreak of violence and corruption stays under divine control. That is why Paul tells us this.