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.
and then the lawless one shall be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the breath of his mouth, and shall annul by the appearing of his coming;
The verse names the moment when hidden evil finally takes a face and a name, and then, in the same breath, names its end. Who is this figure? What does it mean to be killed "with the breath of His mouth"? And why does Paul say the appearing of His coming, not just His coming?
Paul has just spoken of lawlessness working secretly. The verse marks where that secret work surfaces in one man.
Here we see the link between the mystery, or secret, of lawlessness already at work and that result. It was going on when the apostle wrote. The hidden leaven of evil, the mystery of lawlessness, will keep working until it comes out in this person, the lawless one. Then it will be secret no longer. It will be out in the open, defying God and trampling on all truth in the world — a complete abandonment of all revelation, and a rising up in personal pride and hostility against the Lord Himself. This is the lawless one or the Antichrist of John.
Some translations read "that wicked one" here. That word is too weak, and the difference matters.
I fully agree with those who find the word "wicked" far too weak. It should be "that lawless one." All lawlessness is wickedness. But not all wickedness takes the shape of lawlessness. An unfaithful person may behave badly and still acknowledge a real authority above him. Lawlessness means not only evil, but the complete rejection of every authority above him.
The first half of the sentence describes the character of the judgment, not a weapon the Lord picks up.
The first of these two means — the breath of His mouth — marks the character of the judgment. It is the word of truth applied in judgment according to the power of God. In the Revelation, it says that the sword proceeds out of His mouth. Here He is not spoken of as a man of war, as in Revelation 19. The breath of His mouth is that inward and divine power which kindles and executes the judgment. It is not an instrument, it is the divine source of power which carries out its purpose by a word (compare Isaiah 30:33).
Some have read "the breath of His mouth" as the gospel gradually wearing the evil power down. The wording itself rules that out.
To consume is not to weaken. Analisko, the word here translated "consume," strictly means to take away, to destroy. It is the word used in Luke 9:54. There the disciples ask our Lord if they may call fire down from heaven to consume the Samaritans. Surely that means no slow weakening, but utter and sudden destruction. Nor does the phrase "breath of his mouth" mean the gospel, or the gracious influences of the Spirit… Look at Job 4:9 and 15:30; Isaiah 30:28 and 33; also Isaiah 11:4. They show that this phrase expresses judgment on the wicked, not the saving work of the Spirit of God.
Verse 1 of this same chapter speaks of the Lord's coming and the gathering of His people to Him. Verse 8 adds a word that verse 1 never uses.
The apostle does not say "the appearing of His coming" when Christ gathers the saints… Here the subject is the destruction of the man of sin. So he speaks not just of His coming, but of the appearing — the brightness — of His coming. If the Lord appears when He comes to gather His saints, why is His appearing not brought in there? He might come and be seen only as far as He pleased. But here we have the open showing of His arrival… When He comes to take up His saints, what has the world to do with it? They belonged to Him, not to the world. He does not make the world a spectator before He appears in glory to destroy the antichrist.
This verse settles what an older prophecy meant, and it marks off the age that follows from the one we live in now.
There is no dispute here: Paul gives Isaiah 11:4 its authoritative meaning. The Lord Jesus destroys the lawless one with the breath of His mouth, and annuls him by the shining forth of His presence or coming. The Lord's appearing will bring in and keep up a wholly new age of triumphant power in righteous government. That age stands apart from this day of grace, when Satan reigns, and those who are Christ's suffer, yet overcome by faith.
Two men meet here, and their histories run in opposite directions.
One Man once obeyed and humbled Himself on the earth. God has exalted Him and made Him Lord of all. He is the one who destroys the lawless man — the man who lifted himself above everything and made himself as God, instead of obeying God.
- Then — what has worked in secret since the apostle's day comes out in the open, in one man.
- Lawless — his sin is not just bad behaviour. It is the total refusal of any authority above himself.
- Breath — no weapon, no war, no campaign: the inward divine power that carries out its purpose by a word.
- Appearing — he falls not at the coming that gathers believers, but at its public shining out, which the world will see.
- After — his end is the door into a new age of righteous government, the one Isaiah promised.