2 Thessalonians 2:6

And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. NOW YE KNOW - by my having told you. The power was one 'known' to the Thessalonians. WHAT WITHHOLDETH - holds him back. 'The power that [ to (G3588) katechon (G2722)] keeps in check' the man of sin from his development is the moral and conservative influence of states (Olshausen): human polity as a coercive power: "he who now letteth" refers to those who rule that polity by which the upbursting of godlessness is kept down (Alford). Legality, as opposed to 'lawlessness.' The "what withholdeth" is the general hindrance; "he who now letteth," the person in whom that hindrance is summed up. Romanism, as a forerunner, was kept in check by the Roman emperor (the then representative of the co...

6_. And now what withholdeth _ Τὸ κατέχον means here properly an impediment or occasion of delay. Chrysostom, who thinks that this can only be understood as referring to the Spirit, or to the Roman Empire, prefers to lean to the latter opinion. He assigns a plausible reason — because Paul would not have spoken of the Spirit in enigmatical terms, (655) but in speaking of the Roman Empire wished to avoid exciting unpleasant feeling. He states also the reason why the state of the Roman Empire retards the revelation of Antichrist — that, as the monarchy of Babylon was overthrown by the Persians and Medes, and the Macedonians, having conquered the Persians, again took possession of the monarchy, and the Macedonians were at last subdued by the Romans, so Antichrist seized hold for himself of the vacant supremacy of the Roman Empire. There is not one of these things that was not aft

5-12 Something hindered or withheld the man of sin. It is supposed to be the power of the Roman empire, which the apostle did not mention more plainly at that time. Corruption of doctrine and worship came in by degrees, and the usurping of power was gradual; thus the mystery of iniquity prevailed. Superstition and idolatry were advanced by pretended devotion, and bigotry and persecution were promoted by pretended zeal for God and his glory. This mystery of iniquity was even then begun; while the apostles were yet living, persons pretended zeal for Christ, but really opposed him. The fall or ruin of the antichristian state is declared. The pure word of God, with the Spirit of God, will discover this mystery of iniquity, and in due time it shall be destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming. Signs and wonders, visions and miracles, are pretended; but they are false signs to support fa...

Verse 6. _AND NOW YE KNOW WHAT WITHHOLDETH_] I told you this among other things; I informed you what it was that _prevented_ this man of sin, this son of perdition, from revealing himself fully....

AND NOW YE KNOW WHAT WITHHOLDETH - Margin, “holdeth.” The reference is, to something that then operated to constrain or hold back the obvious tendency of things, so that the “man of sin” should not at once appear, or so that things should not soon so develop themselves as to give rise to this anti-Christian power. There were causes at work even then, which would ultimately lead to this; but there was also something which checked the tendency of things, so that the revelation or development of the “man of sin” was put off to a future period. The obvious meaning of this would be, that, when the apostle wrote, there was a tendency to what would occur under the great apostasy, and that this would soon develop itself if it were not restrained. If the reference is to the papacy, this would consist in corruptions already existing in the church, having a resemblance to those which afterward exis...

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...

AND NOW YE KNOW WHAT WITHHOLDETH,.... Or hinders the revelation of the man of sin, or antichrist; by which is meant not the Apostle Paul, though he by his ministry was a very great hinderance of the growth of error, and the spread of evil practices in the churches, and so of the more open appearance of the man of sin in his forerunners; and after his departure from Ephesus, and imprisonment at Rome, and suffering death, there was a great falling off in the churches, and among professors of religion, which made way for the manifestation of antichrist in due time: nor the preaching of the Gospel, in its power and purity, in the several parts of the world; though so long as this obtained, got ground, and gained success, the man of sin could not show his head; and therefore it must, as it did, decline, and was gradually taken away that he might appear: nor the Spirit of God, as the spirit of...

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:...

II. WHAT PRECEDES THE MANIFESTATION OF THE LORD CHAPTER 2 _ 1. The gathering of the saints preceding that day (2 Thessalonians 2:1)_ 2. The apostasy and the man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2:3) 3. The revelation of the man of sin and his fate (2 Thessalonians 2:5) 4. His deceptions and the fate of Christendom (2 Thessalonians 2:9) As this section of the Epistle is one of the most important of the New Testament, we give it first of all in a corrected translation. “Now we beg you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathe

THE MISCONCEPTION OF THE PAROUSIA. This section forms the heart of the epistle. The previous chapter is merely an introduction, and the following chapter merely a conclusion, to this paragraph. The Thessalonians seem to have misinterpreted Paul's teaching about the Parousia, with disastrous effect. The belief that Christ was immediately to reappear thoroughly disorganised their lives. In this paragraph Paul tries to remove the misconception, and definitely affirms that the Parousia cannot take place till certain conditions have been fulfilled. First of all must come the apostasy and the revelation of the Man of Sin. At present, however, there is a restraining power at work which makes this revelation impossible. When the restraining power is removed, the lawless one will appear, and will be followed by Christ, who will slay him with the breath of His mouth. The meaning of this section ha...