2 Thessalonians 2:3

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; BY ANY MEANS - Greek, 'in any manner.' Christ (Matthew 24:4) gives the same warning. Paul indicated three ways (2 Thessalonians 2:2) in which they might be deceived (cf. other ways, 2 Thessalonians 2:9, and Matthew 24:5; Matthew 24:24). A FALLING AWAY, [ he ...

3_Let no man deceive you_. That they may not groundlessly promise themselves the arrival in so short a time of the joyful day of redemption, he presents to them a melancholy prediction as to the future scattering of the Church. This discourse entirely corresponds with that which Christ held in the presence of his disciples, when they had asked him respecting the end of the world. For he exhorts them to prepare themselves for enduring hard conflicts, (639) (Matthew 24:6,) and after he has discoursed of the most grievous and previously unheard of calamities, by which the earth was to be reduced almost to a desert, he adds, that the _end is not yet_, but that _these things are the beginnings of sorrows_. In the same way, Paul declares that believers must exercise warfare for a long period, before gaining a triumph. We have here, however,

1-4 If errors arise among Christians, we should set them right; and good men will be careful to suppress errors which rise from mistaking their words and actions. We have a cunning adversary, who watches to do mischief, and will promote errors, even by the words of Scripture. Whatever uncertainty we are in, or whatever mistakes may arise about the time of Christ's coming, that coming itself is certain. This has been the faith and hope of all Christians, in all ages of the church; it was the faith and hope of the Old Testament saints. All believers shall be gathered together to Christ, to be with him, and to be happy in his presence for ever. We should firmly believe the second coming of Christ; but there was danger lest the Thessalonians, being mistaken as to the time, should question the truth or certainty of the thing itself. False doctrines are like the winds that toss the water to a...

Verse 2 Thessalonians 2:3. _EXCEPT THERE COME A FALLING AWAY FIRST_] We have the original word αποστασια in our word _apostasy_; and by this term we understand a _dereliction of the essential principles of religious_ _truth_-either a _total abandonment_ of Christianity itself, or such a _corruption_ of its doctrines as renders the whole system completely inefficient to salvation. But what _this_ apostasy means is a question which has not yet, and perhaps never will be, answered to general satisfaction. At present I shall content myself with making a few literal remarks on this obscure prophecy, and afterwards give the opinions of learned men on its principal parts. _THAT MAN OF SIN_] Ὁ ανθρωπος της ἁμαρτιας· The same as the Hebrew expresses by איש און _ish aven_, and איש בליעל _ish_ _beliyaal_;

LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU BY ANY MEANS - That is, respecting the coming of the Lord Jesus. This implies that there were then attempts to deceive, and that it was of great importance for Christians to be on their guard. The result has shown that there is almost no subject on which caution is more proper, and on which men are more liable to delusion. The means then resorted to for deception appear from the previous verse to have been either an appeal to a pretended verbal message from the apostle, or a pretended letter from him. The means now, consist of a claim to uncommon wisdom in the interpretation of obscure prophecies of the Scriptures. The necessity for the caution here given has not ceased. FOR THAT DAY SHALL NOT COME, EXCEPT THERE COME A FALLING AWAY FIRST - Until an apostasy (ἀποστασία apostasia) shall have occurred - the great apostasy. Ther

EXPOSITION CONTENTS.—The apostle now proceeds to the principal object which he had in view in writing this Epistle. The Thessalonians had adopted erroneous notions concerning the advent; they supposed that the day of the Lord was imminent, and, in consequence of this belief, they were thrown into a state of excitement and alarm. The apostle reminds them of his former instructions on this subject; how he bad told them that before the coming of the day of the Lord there should be a great apostasy, and the man of sin, whose nature and characteristics he had described to them, should be revealed; but that at present there was a restraining influence which prevented his appearance. When that restraining influence was removed, the man of sin would be revealed, accompanied with powers and signs and wonders of falsehood, and would succeed in deceiving those who were destitute of the love of the...

LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU BY ANY MEANS,.... By any of the above means; by pretending to a revelation from the Spirit; or to have had it from the mouth of anyone of the apostles; or to have a letter as from them, declaring the day of Christ to be instant; or by any other means whatever; do not be imposed upon by them for the following reasons, for there were things to be done before the coming of Christ, which were not then done, and which required time: for that day shall not come, EXCEPT THERE COME A FALLING AWAY FIRST; either in a political sense, of the nations from the Roman empire, which was divided into the eastern and western empire; for which, way was made by translating the seat of empire from Rome to Byzantium, or Constantinople; the former of these empires was seized by Mahomet, and still possessed by the Turks; and the latter was overrun by the Goths, Huns, and Vandals, and tor...

2 Thessalonians 2:1. _Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand._ In the Church of Christ, the teaching has always been that Christ is coming quickly, and that teaching must never be withdrawn, for he is coming quickly, as he said to John in the Revelation. At the same time, this teaching has given an opportunity to certain presumptuous people to prophesy that at such and such a time Christ will come. They know nothing about it, and their prophecies are not worth the breath they spend in uttering them, and we have today what the apostle wrote to the Thessalonians:...

FOR THAT DAY The order of events is: (1) The working of the mystery of lawlessness under divine restraint which had already begun in the apostle's time (2 Thessalonians 2:7). (2) the apostasy of the professing church (2 Thessalonians 1:3); (Luke 18:8); (2 Timothy 3:1). (3) the removal of that which restrains the mystery of lawlessness (2 Thessalonians 2:6); (2 Thessalonians 2:7). The re

2 THESSALONIANS 2:3 avnomi,aj {B} Did the apostle write “man of sin,” as most witnesses read, or “man of lawlessness,” as a B 81 88mg 1739 copsa, bo arm Marcion Tertullian and others attest? Despite the broader external testimony supporting a`marti,aj (witnesses from each of three text-types: A; D G it vg; K L P most minuscules), on the whole it appears that the early Alexandrian witnesses preserve the original reading, avnomi,aj, a word rarely used by Paul, which was altered by copyists to the much more frequently used word, a`marti,aj. Furthermore, ga.r … avnomi,aj in ver....