_We beseech you, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ_ As you look for Christ's second coming, and expect comfort from it; or rather _concerning his coming, as_ the preposition υπερ is understood to signify in other places of Scripture, and in other authors. For he does not beseech _by_ the coming... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let no man deceive you by any means_ By any of these ways fore-mentioned, or any other; for _that day shall not come, unless a falling away_, η αποστασια, _the apostacy, come first_ The _article_ here is emphatical, denoting both that this was to be a great apostacy, _the apostacy_, by way of emine... [ Continue Reading ]
_Remember ye not_, &c. These things were not asserted now merely to serve the present occasion: the apostle had spoken, yea, and borne a faithful testimony concerning them while he was at Thessalonica. Indeed, the rise and progress of this apostacy, with the various heresies connected with it, and t... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the mystery of iniquity_ There is a mystery of iniquity as well as of godliness, the one in direct opposition to the other. The expression, _a mystery_, in the Scripture sense of it, is something secret or undiscovered. See note on Ephesians 1:9. _The mystery of iniquity_, therefore, is a schem... [ Continue Reading ]
_And then_ When every prince and power that restrains is taken away; _that wicked_ Ο ανομος, _that lawless one_, who boasts himself to be above all laws, and the infallible judge, dispensing with, and interpreting the laws of God, according to his pleasure. Nothing can be more plain than that this _... [ Continue Reading ]
_Him whose coming_ The apostle, in his eagerness to foretel the destruction of the man of sin, having broken in upon his subject, now returns to it again, and describes the other qualifications by which this wicked one should advance and establish himself in the world. He should rise, the apostle si... [ Continue Reading ]
_For this cause God shall send them_ That is, shall judicially permit to come upon them; _strong delusion_ The strong working of error in their hearts. From this we learn that, as a punishment of their sins, God suffers wicked men to fall into greater sins; and as the sin of the persons described in... [ Continue Reading ]
_But_, &c. Here he proceeds to comfort them against the terrors of the preceding prophecy; _we are bound to give thanks always for you_ As if he had said, I do not mean that ye believers at Thessalonica will be concerned either in this revolt against God, or in the punishment thereof; _brethren, bel... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore, brethren, stand fast_ In your adherence to the truth and possession of the grace of the gospel; _and hold_ Without adding to or diminishing from them; _the traditions which ye have been taught_ The instructions which have been delivered to you; _whether by word_ When we were present with... [ Continue Reading ]