2 Thessalonians 2:3

“let no man beguile you in any wise: for it will not be, except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition”

“Let no man beguile you”: To seduce wholly, to beguile and deceive. “In any wise”: “Whatever he may say” (Mof). “Paul broadens the warning to go beyond conversation and letter. He includes ‘tricks' of any kind” (Robertson p. 49). This warning infers that Christians can be deceived and they can be badly or wholly deceived. Deception is. constant foe that the child of God must battle (1 Corinthians 6:9; Ephesians 5:6). “For it will not be”: That is, Jesus' coming and our being gathered to Him (2 Thessalonians 2:1). “Except”: “Unless” (NASV). “Until” (Wms). “The falling away”: Defection from truth (properly, the state) apostasy, falling away, to forsake the faith.

The New Testament contains. number of verses that predict. coming apostasy that would come upon the church after the days of the apostles (Acts 20:30; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 4:2). In view of this fact certain points should be highlighted, the present reality in the denominational world proves the accuracy of the Bible. For we find many groups which profess that they are "Christian" who do not follow or teach what Jesus and the apostles taught. The fact that many professed Christians have not even done what is necessary to be saved, and that most churches have no connection with the Lord's church should not shock the person who has read their New Testament (Matthew 7:21). The condition of the modern denominational world is exactly what the Bible said would happen.

“The man of sin”: “Of whom sin is the special characteristic” (Robertson p. 50). “The better manuscripts read ‘man of lawlessness'. However, the difference in meaning between the two terms is not great. Lawlessness must be understood as failure to conform to the law of God, and this is what sin is (cf. 1 John 3:4). In the last resort sin is the refusal to be ruled by God” (Morris p. 220). “For he sins and leads others to sin, for he will cause himself and others to be destroyed” (Denton Lectureship p. 250). “Be revealed”: “Whether the crowning even of the apostasy or another name for the same event” (Robertson p. 50).

“Son of perdition”: “Doomed to perdition” (NEB). “A man doomed to eternal misery” (Thayer p. 191). Quite. bit of misinformation exists concerning the man of sin in the religious world. Some view him as. superhuman personification of evil or the devil incarnated, yet the phrase "son of perdition" is elsewhere used in the Bible in reference to ordinary human beings (John 17:12; Ephesians 2:1). Many try to argue that this is "The Anti-Christ". Fields notes, “We hear lots of preaching about THE antichrist. But John makes it rather clear that antichrist is not one supremely evil person, but that anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ--is antichrist (1 John 2:18; 1 John 2:22; 1 John 4:3). Many people have been taught that this individual is revealed right before or very soon before Jesus comes, yet nothing in the text indicates that. Again, let it be noted that the popular doctrine of Premillennialism has this individual existing after the church is gathered to Jesus. In contrast, Paul taught that the apostasy and the “man of sin” would happen before Jesus came and Christians were gathered to Him (2 Thessalonians 2:1).