2 Thessalonians 2:7

For the mystery of iniquity - On the meaning of the word mystery, see the notes on Rom 11:25; compare 1Co 2:7; Eph 1:9; Eph 3:3; Col 1:26. It means properly what is hidden or concealed; not necessarily that which is unintelligible. The “mystery of iniquity” seems here to refer to some hidden or concealed depravity - some form of sin which was working secretly and silently, and which had not yet developed itself. Any secret sources of iniquity in the church - anything that tended to corrupt its doctrines, and to destroy the simplicity of the faith of the gospel, would correspond with the meaning of the word. Doddridge correctly supposes that this may refer to the pride and ambition of some ministers, the factious temper of some Christians, the imposing’ of unauthorized severities, the worship of angels, etc.

Doth already work - There are elements of these corruptions already existing in the church. Dr. Newton maintains that the foundations of popery were laid in the apostle’s days, and that the superstructure was raised by degrees; and this is entirely in accordance with the statements of the apostle Paul. In his own time, he says, there were things which, if not restrained, would expand and ripen into that apostasy. He has not told as particularly to what he refers, but there are several intimations in his writings, as well as in other parts of the New Testament, that even in the apostolic age there existed the elements of those corruptions which were afterward developed and imbodied in the papacy. Even then, says Dr. Newton, “idolatry was stealing into the church 1Co 10:14, and a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels.” (Col 2:18; see, however, my note on that passage.) “There existed strife and divisions 1Co 3:3, an adulterating and handling the word of God deceitfully 2Co 2:17; 2Co 4:2, a gain of godliness, teaching of things for filthy lucre’s sake 1Ti 6:5; Tit 1:11, a vain observation of festivals Gal 4:10, a vain distinction of meats 1Co 8:8, a neglecting of the body Col 2:23, traditions, and commandments, and doctrines of men Col 2:8, Col 2:22; compare 3Jo 1:9, “Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence.” These things constituted the elements of the corruptions which were afterward developed in the papacy, and which are imbodied in that system. An eye that could see all, would even then have perceived that if there were no restraint, these incipient corruptions would grow up into that system, and would be expanded into all the corruptions and arrogant claims which have ever characterized it; compare 1Jo 4:3.

Only he who now letteth - Who now hinders, or restrains - ὁ κατέχων ho katechōn. This is the same word which is used in 2Th 2:7, and rendered “withholdeth,” except that it is there in the neuter gender. There can be no doubt that there is reference to the same restraining power, or the same power under the control of an individual; but what that was, is not quite certain. It was some power which operated as a check on the growing corruptions then existing, and which prevented their full development, but which was to be removed at no distant period, and whose removal would give an opportunity for these corruptions to develop themselves, and for the full revelation of the man of sin. Such a supposition as that the civil power of Rome was such a restraint, operating to prevent the assumption of the ecclesiastical claims of supremacy which afterward characterized the papacy, will correspond with all that is necessarily implied in the language.

Will let, until he be taken out of the way - This will be an effectual check on these corruptions, preventing their full development, until it is removed, and then the man of sin will appear. The supposition which will best suit this language is, that there was then some civil restraint, preventing the development of existing corruptions, but that there would be a removal, or withdrawing of that restraint; and that then the tendency of the existing corruptions would be seen. It is evident, as Oldshausen remarks, that this resisting or restraining power must be something out of the church, and distinguished from the anti-Christian tendency itself; yon der Kirche und vom Antichristenthum. It is necessary, therefore, to understand this of the restraints of civil power. Was there, then, any fact in history which will accord with this interpretation? The belief among the primitive Christians was, that what hindered the rise of the man of sin was the Roman empire, and therefore “they prayed for its peace and welfare, as knowing that when the Roman empire should be dissolved and broken in pieces, the empire of the man of sin would be raised on its ruins.”

Dr. Newton. How this revolution was effected, may be seen by the statement of Machiavel. “The emperor of Rome, quitting Rome to dwell at Constantinople” (in the fourth century, under Constantine), “the Roman empire began to decline, but the church of Rome augmented as fast. Nevertheless, until the coming in of the Lombards, all Italy being under the dominion of either emperors or kings, the bishops assumed no more power than what was due to their doctrine and manners; in civil affairs they were subject to the civil power. But Theodoric, king of the Goths, fixing his seat at Ravenna, was that which advanced their interest, and made them more considerable in Italy, for there being no other prince left in Rome, the Romans were forced for protection to pay greater allegiance to the Pope. The Lombards having invaded and reduced Italy into several cantons, the Pope took the opportunity, and began to hold up his head. For being, as it were, governor and principal of Rome, the emperor of Constantinople and the Lombards bare him a respect, so that the Romans (by mediation of their Pope) began to treat and confederate with Longinus (the emperor’s lieutenant), and the Lombards, not as subjects, but as equals and companions; which said custom continuing, and the Pope’s entering into alliance sometimes with the Lombards, and sometimes with the Greeks, contracted great reputation to their dignity.” (History of Florence, B. i., p. 6, of the English translation.) A more extended quotation on the same subject, may be seen in Newton on the Prophecies, pp. 407, 408. To anyone acquainted with the decline and fall of the Roman empire, nothing can be more manifest than the correspondence of the facts in history respecting the rise of the papacy, and the statement of the apostle Paul here. The simple facts are these:

(1) There were early corruptions in the church at Rome, as there were elsewhere, but peculiarly there, as Rome was the seat of philosophy and of power.

(2) There were great efforts made by the bishop of Rome to increase his authority, and there was a steady approximation to what he subsequently claimed - that of being Universal Bishop.

(3) There was a constant tendency to yield to him deference and respect in all matters.

(4) This was kept in check as long as Rome was the seat of the imperial power. Had that power remained there, it would have been impossible for the Roman Bishop ever to have obtained the civil and ecclesiastical eminence which he ultimately did. Rome could not have had two heads, both claiming and exercising supreme power; and there never could have been a “revelation of the man of sin.”

(5) Constantine removed the seat of empire to Constantinople; and this removal or “taking away” of the only restraint on the ambitious projects of the Roman bishops, gave all the opportunity which could be desired for the growth of the papal power. In all history there cannot, probably, be found a series of events corresponding more accurately with a prophetic statement than this; and there is every evidence, therefore, that these are the events to which the Spirit of inspiration referred.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2Th_2:7

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work

Lawlessness and the lawless one

St.

Paul has been telling the Thessalonians that there is much to be done in the world before things will be ripe for the Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the caution needed by the Church in those times; for, in the light of a new revelation--one of the foundation truths of which was the Second Advent of the Redeemer to judge both the dead and the living, and with the charge ever ringing in their ears to watch and pray, lest, coming suddenly, He should find them sleeping, it was natural that they should ask themselves, Why should we take the trouble of living with any interest or earnestness the old life of time, when, at any moment, all may be interrupted and scattered to the winds by the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, to close, on the instant, the things that are seen and temporal, and to introduce, amid all kinds of fearful surprises, new heavens and a new earth? Our danger is from quite a different quarter. Our difficulty lies not in not making enough of the life of time, but in preventing it from filling the whole field of our vision. On this very account there is something doubly striking in the scene here presented--of a Church restless and feverish in anticipation of the Advent. It shows us how far we have fallen from original Christianity if we are suffering in ourselves, under the influences of the infidel talk of the day, any doubt of the fact itself as we rehearse it day by day--From thence He shall come again to judge the quick and the dead.

I. Lawlessness will precede it. On this subject St. Paul leaves no room for doubt. He speaks of a certain particular growth and spirit of evil which must have full scope and play before the Advent. Nor does he leave us in any uncertainty as to the direction in which we must look for the rise of that state of things which will bring down upon itself Gods latest, surest, and direst judgment. He selects for it a particular name, not one of the common names for sin in the Scripture, but a name which he only uses twice or thrice in all his writings, and which has always a very definite and precise meaning. Our English version renders this word in one verse as iniquity, and in the next verse the wicked one; but in the original the word is substantially the same in both verses--in the one the mystery of lawlessness doth already work; and, in the other, then shall the lawless one be revealed. St. Pauls statement is that already, when he was writing this letter eighteen hundred years ago, there was at work in the world, if not in some degree even in the Church, a spirit of lawlessness, which was, however, kept in check by some definite impediment, which he had evidently explained by word of mouth to the privileged Thessalonians. He, perhaps, does not refer to the strength of civil and national government, as it was then exhibited in the great Roman Empire, as exercising a salutary, though rough, control over the tendencies of fallen nature toward insubordination and anarchy; but, he distinctly says, there will come a time when the controlling power will be weakened or withdrawn, and then lawlessness will come to the surface and front of the world; and will set up its own law, which shall be that of menace, intimidation, and violence; or else these same things under more numerous and more subtle nomenclatures, and in full blown insolence, shall bring matters to that pass, that nothing less than the intervention and interposition of the Divine Lord and Judge can restore tranquility and harmony to the dislocated and disorganized earth.

II. The lawless will then be revealed. St. Paul seems to prepare us, in passing from lawlessness to the lawless one, for a sort of incarnation of lawlessness--principle, power, or person, sitting, as it were, in the very temple of God, showing himself that he is God, and yet, in reality, deriving from Satan all the powers and signs of lying wonders by which he deludes the unhappy victims who are not fortified and preoccupied by the devout love of the truth. Why should it be a thing incredible with you that the Empire of Unrule shall at last have a personal head in whom the final discomfiture by the Advent of the great Lord shall manifest itself so that he who runs may read? But the thought profitable to us all is this--lawlessness is the predicted characteristic of the last age. May I not ask, Is it not now abroad on the Continent of Europe? Is it not abroad in one integral portion of what we still fondly term the United Kingdom? Is it not abroad in the family and the Church--in the workshop and the study--in the literature of a science falsely so called--and in the lurking places of political fanatics, who count not their lives dear to them if they can only but embitter an existence or topple down a throne? It is working everywhere with ingenious industry among the time honoured institutions of society itself. Frightful outbreaks of lawlessness have startled us again and again, until they have almost ceased to startle. Soon the newspaper will be fiat and dull which records not one of them--assassinations and attempted assassinations of rulers crowned and uncrowned, despotic, constitutional, or democratic--it matters not. The foundations of the earth are indeed out of course. The reign of lawlessness is begun, though a few years, or a few tens of years, may yet intervene before the actual unveiling of the lawless one. (Dean Vaughan.)

The mystery of iniquity

I. The mystery of iniquity is the power unseen, unknown except by its effects, which is ever working in the world for evil--working against the law and will of God, corrupting what has been well done and well begun by man, causing misery in the natural world in all that man has to do with, through the mischief which it works in the moral and spiritual world, in the heart and soul of men.

1. Try to trace evil back to its origin, and you soon see that your search is vain. God did not create this to be the bane of His handiwork. Are we then to conclude that evil is an independent being, self-subsisting, with a will and deadly energy of its own?

2. Here, then, is part of the mystery of iniquity; and another part is the mystery of its working. See how we are born to evil, as surely as the sparks fly upward. Alongside the primeval blessing, Increase and multiply, there has sprung up a countervailing curse on all our race in the increase and multiplication of sin. The seeds of evil are propagated from parent to child, each little one bringing into the world as his spiritual inheritance a propensity to evil, which mingles with all his propensities to good--a fresh contribution to the already abundant growth of evil; a mere germ at first, but unfolding speedily, growing with the growth of the child as the worm in the bud, and strengthening beyond his strength.

3. So active, so subtle, so successful, is the mystery of iniquity in its working; and what is it in its consequences? (Gen_3:17; Rom_5:12). How mysterious are the chastisements which fall upon us! We may be sure our sin will find us out; though it be long, yet it will not tarry. Still more mysterious is the working out of the consequences of the parents sin upon the children, perhaps even unto the third and fourth generations. The children suffer in body--they are a prey to the same virulent hereditary disease, they drag a blighted existence; or their minds are left untrained, unguarded, a seed plot for every sinful thought that may alight upon them; they are left to drudge in indigence.

II. Great, therefore, without doubt, is the mystery of iniquity; but, thanks be to God, still greater, infinitely greater, is the mystery of godliness--the secret, unseen, unmeasured power which lies in the inspiration, guidance, comfort of His good Spirit, which is within us all, and is freely, abundantly poured out on all who truly seek it. Already it has bruised the serpents head, it has shown us the way by which we may avoid the fascination of its basilisk eyes, and by which, even when it has fastened its fangs upon us, we may recover from its deadly sting. (W. G. Humphrey, B. D.)

The mystery of iniquity

In the former Epistle St. Paul wrote in such vigorous language about the approach of the Second Advent that the Christians had imbibed a stronger impression than he had intended. This he now corrects by the prophecy of the text.

I. The mystery of iniquity.

1. Its characteristics.

(1) It is a mystery, something whose approaches are not open as those of a fair antagonist, but subtle and secret. The term is with two exceptions used in a good sense of some part of the hidden purposes of Gods love, long concealed, but at length revealed. Thus we read of the wisdom of God is a mystery--the mysteries of the kingdom--the mystery of godliness, etc. When, therefore, we find a word so consecrated to the deep things of God here applied to a principle of evil we are prepared for something extraordinarily dark and perplexing. This at once proves that the prophecy cannot apply to Mohammedanism, heathenism, or infidelity, or any avowed enemy of Gods truth.

(2) It is an iniquitous principle, and is expressly referred to Satan. It is not the contrivance of man (2Th_2:9).

(3) It springs out of the bosom of the Church, and its workings are found within the precincts of that Church (2Th_2:4).

2. Trace the working of this fearful system.

(1) In primitive times the Church was persecuted--who would have believed that in a brief lapse of time the Church herself should become a bloody persecutor? What could have effected such a frightful change but the working of Satan?

(2) For what did the primitive Church endure affliction? It was because they abhorred idolatry. Who, then, would have believed it possible that the children of the martyrs would worship the Virgin Mary instead of Diana, and St. Catherine, St. Agnes, etc., instead of the Muses and the Graces? What but the mystery of iniquity could have accomplished this?

(3) Take the stupendous miracles wrought by her first founders; miracles so unquestionable that none ventured to impugn them. How shall their credibility be assailed? By questioning or denying them? No; by base imitation and the multiplication of spurious miracles and lying wonders (2Th_2:9). As surely as pure Christianity is founded on true miracles, so surely is the whole superstructure of the mystery of iniquity raised upon false ones.

3. The deepest scheme of Satans malignity is that he has worked the machinery of the Church against herself, and availed himself of Divine ordinances and spiritual institutions, as so many channels of destruction to souls. It is true that there are some parts of the Christian machinery that Satan never attempts to use if he can avoid it.

(1) Take, e.g., the Holy Scriptures. Wherever the mystery is fully developed the Word of God is withheld from the people. In Protestant countries, where the popular voice calls for the Bible, the priests are ashamed to withhold it, and there Satan draws weapons against the truth even from Scripture itself.

(2) So with preaching; that is suppressed wherever the mystery fully works. But if men will preach, then even this shall be made a proclamation of error, and monks and friars shall publish the merits of saints, etc., instead of the merits of Christ, and their ministry shall arouse a dormant Church to deeds of blood.

(3) But take the Christian ministry--how simple its origin and obvious its Scriptural duties. And what has Satan made of it? He has transformed the preaching, teaching, praying servant of the Church into an arrogant, sacrificing order with mysterious powers inventing the mystery of the confessional. Of all the transformation of the mystery that of priestcraft is the worst.

(4) Nor have the sacraments escaped. To the simple element of water in Baptism superstition has added oil, and even spittle, and divers ceremonies and exorcisms, and has attached to the mere performance of the office necessary grace making it the instrument of regeneration, substituting the outward form for the inward power. But of how much further corruption has the other sacrament been the subject? What so simple and touching as its primitive institution? Could it have been believed possible to convert it into the Roman mass, with its denial of the cup and consequent destruction of communion, its consecrated wafer, said to contain the body, blood, etc., of Christ, its pompous ceremonial and idolatrous worship? What but Satanic working could have produced so deplorable a defection from truth?

II. The period of its development.

1. The Evangelical prophet affirms that this mystery did already work; its ambitious purposes restrained by the dominance of the Imperial power. Yet it worked--it diffused itself through the Christian Churches as a baneful principle, corrupting the faith of some and the practice of others, at once introducing Judaizing teachers and heathen vices preparing the way for the successful corruption of the great apostasy when he that now letteth shall be taken out of the way. The seeds of every corrupt principle and false doctrine, which has since disturbed and divided the Church, were sown by the great enemy under the very eyes of the apostles.

2. We must content ourselves with a birdseye view of the rise and progress of this baneful power, observing its marvellous tenacity of life under the most adverse circumstances.

(1) The conversion of Constantine closed the Pagan dynasty of Rome, and while this event seemed to favour the progress of the gospel it opened the door for the aggrandization of the priesthood, which ultimately led to the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome.

(2) Scarcely had the man of sin been well seated on the eminence which marked him out as Antichrist than the Northern barbarians swept all before them in Europe, but amidst the general wreck the Popedom survives and converts the invaders to its creed.

(3) Then arose Mohammedanism, which paralyzed the Eastern Church and leaves Rome without a rival worthy of the name.

(4) The dark ages succeed, and the mystery reigns undisturbed during a period of spiritual and intellectual stagnation.

(5) But soon a formidable enemy appears in Luther, and men fondly hoped that the reign of Antichrist was at an end. Sad delusion! Loyola appeared in the conflict, and luxurious Rome became ascetic and missionary, and won abroad what it had lost at home.

(6) Time rolls on. Protestantism becomes lukewarm and worldly minded; it makes no conquests, and the ancient mystery undermines its influence. Suddenly a new enemy appears in revolutionary and atheistic France, and Romanism seems to have received its death blow. Not so; within half a century of her destruction the Archbishop of Paris announces the exhibition of a drop of the Saviours blood and a drop of the Virgins milk.

(7) Never since the Reformation has this mystery pursued its war against light and liberty more rigorously than it has recently.

III. How and when shall it be subdued and destroyed? Not until the Saviours Advent (2Th_2:8). Some vainly hope that its overthrow will be accomplished by the cultivation of the human intellect and the diffusion of secular knowledge. Why then did not the talent and philosophy of atheistical France accomplish this? Have we forgotten that that dark Jesuit fraternity has embraced some of the most learned and intelligent of men. What then is to be done?

1. Let every man look to his own soul and pray to be preserved from the working of this mystery.

2. Let all true Protestants combine in spirit and effort to uphold the only one system which can effectually grapple with the system of iniquity. (Dean Close.)

The mystery of iniquity

I. The actual nature of sin: Iniquity. The new revision will prove somewhat clearer than the old version upon this passage.

1. A crime which must be reckoned according to fixed law. The word is lawlessness. So iniquity means inequality, or that which is not up to the standard.

2. A crime which is inherent in personal free will. That wicked is the lawless one: a person, nor a community.

3. A crime which is the vitiating force of our humanity: already. It poisons and corrupts the age.

II. The inexplicable peculiarities of sin. Mystery of iniquity. This verse need not be wasted on the Pope; all sin is Antichrist (1Jn_4:8).

1. Its origin. We found it in the universe we entered: where did it come from?

2. Its power. It crushes barriers of the mightiest resistance.

3. Its omnipresence. It urges its way in at our purest moments.

4. Its gloom. It shadows every life and every age it touches.

III. The tremendous activity of sin: Doth work. The verb is the one which gives us our word energy.

1. Perpetuating itself. No effort needed to keep it alive.

2. Propagating itself. Myriads of new shoots and species every year.

3. Intensifying itself. Malignity of spirit in old poisonous plants; greater responsibility comes from greater light in this age of ours.

A proper consideration of this text will throw illumination upon several others in the Bible:

1. This abominable thing that I hate (Jer_44:4). Sin is the one element of disturbance.

2. The plowing of the wicked is sin (Pro_21:4). The warmth of even honest industry quickens poison in the blood.

3. The ways of death (Pro_14:12). All sin in the system is absolutely fatal; it works.

4. The latter end is worse (2Pe_2:20). Relapses find men weaker to contend with corruption.

5. There is no hope: no (Jer_2:26). Sinners are, positively helpless.

6. A falling away first (2Th_2:3). Things in the world are going to grow worse before they are better.

7. Come, Lord Jesus. The whole cure is on the way (2Th_2:8; Rev_22:20). (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

The mystery of godliness and the mystery of iniquity

I. The mystery of godliness is a mystery of--

1. Light.

(1) Its author is the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. In the character, life, death, resurrection of Christ you will find no shade of what is false or insincere.

(2) So with His revelation. If it be dark it is with excess of splendour; but throughout there is an utter absence of unreality.

(3) No man can understand it but he who has been made sincere and true by the Spirit of God. The light shineth in darkness, but the darkness comprehendeth it not. But there is light within when the veil is removed from the heart, and the light that is in the face of Jesus Christ beams upon the soul.

2. Love.

(1) It springs from a love that cannot be guaged, and exhibits a love that cannot be spanned. Herein is love. The mystery of mysteries is that God spared not His own Son, etc.

(2) The love of Jesus is past finding out. Greater love hath no man than this, etc. Therefore St. Paul prayed that the Ephesians might know the love of Christ that passeth knowledge.

(3) Christs whole religion is a religion of love. The love of Christ constraineth us. Love one another.

3. Wisdom.

(1) Christ is the wisdom of God, and in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

(2) His religion is the most exquisite contrivance, and exhibits the most perfect adaptation to accomplish the purpose of its Author. How wondrous the wisdom that has brought the sinful creature back into fellowship and favour with the Holy Creator.

4. Holiness. Its grand end and aim is to accomplish holiness in the redeemed; hence it is emphatically the mystery of godliness. Be ye holy for I am holy.

II. The mystery of iniquity is a mystery of--

1. Darkness. Romanism is a perversion of the truth. It has a show and mask of retaining the truth, but only to make it subservient to its dark purposes; so that there is not a single Divine truth in the whole compass of Christianity which has not its parallel caricature. Thus if the wondrous transparency and purity of the mystery of godliness is an evidence of its Divine derivation, the wondrous deceivableness of unrighteousness in the mystery of iniquity is an evidence of its derivation from the prince of darkness. Truth must be from above, and error and falsehood from beneath.

2. Despotism and oppression. The object of the whole economy of Popery is the exaltation of the priesthood. The mysterious leaven which was working in the apostles day, and ultimately produced this was--

(1) On the part of the laity, that carnal mind which loves to indulge its pleasures and passions while it wants the conscience quiet.

(2) On the part of the clergy the leaven was a love of power and aggrandisement, that mighty principle that cast down angels from heaven, and our first parents from paradise. So Rome has distorted the mystery of godliness so as largely to obscure its loving aspect. Jesus, instead of being the Mediator, requires to be propitiated. Man is enslaved by means of a sacerdotal system that makes him continually seeking a salvation but never finding it; continually working out a salvation he can never accomplish, hanging in the scales of doubt and vibrating between fear and hope. Thus man is kept submissive under his taskmasters; and inasmuch as Rome teaches that sins are never fully forgiven in this life, its devotees are kept in bondage to their latest breath. According to the principles of Rome a man should give himself up to his ghostly director as completely as a staff is wielded by a mans hand, or as wax is moulded by him who uses it. God only knows what are the fearful scenes of oppression and cruelty that are concealed beneath the mantle of Popery.

3. Subtlety. Of all the systems that ingenuity ever elaborated there is none that can compare with Romanism. Only the prince of darkness is equal to the task. There is more than human subtlety and art in it. Though the structure has been built in different ages, and the elements brought from many quarters, yet it so marvellously coheres, and is so wondrously propped by a thousand subsidiary principles that the only greater mystery in the universe is that of godliness. It was Satans last resource; he could not destroy Christianity, so he perverted it and made it subserve his own purposes.

4. Immorality. There are good Roman Catholics, and many have gone to heaven out of Rome; but that is because of the remnant of truth which defies perversion. The whole tenour of the system, however, is contrary to godliness. The commandments of God are made of none effect through their traditions. Then they poison the springs of holiness by their system of casuistry which seems only intended to enable men to sin without being disturbed. The same effect is produced by their absolution, which stupifies the conscience without giving peace to the soul.

Conclusion:

1. Let us adore and cherish the mystery of godliness, share its power, and delight in its faith, and walk worthy of it.

2. Let us sympathize with, pray for, and endeavour to rescue the victims of the mystery of iniquity. (Canon Stowell.)

Wickedness a mystery

in regard to--

I. Its origin.

II. Its connections and the means it employs.

III. Its progress.

IV. Its tendency. (Heubner.)

The development of Antichrist

This mystery, saith St. Paul, doth already work. It shall increase, and go forward, and grow to a perfection. A thorn, when it is young, is soft and gentle; ye may thrust at it with your finger, it will not hurt you: but after it waxeth and groweth hard and stubborn, it will pierce the flesh, and draw blood. A bear, when he is young, is harmless and innocent; ye may dandle it, and dally with it, as with a whelp; it hath no chambers to gripe, no teeth to bite, nor paws to tear: but after, it will grow, and become fierce and cruel like the sire. A serpent, when it is young, is little and pretty; it hath no sting, nor poison; you may take it in your hand, and lay it in your lap, it will not hurt you: after, it will increase in venom, and grow in mischief, and be like itself; then it will shake the sting, and cast poison, and prove dangerous. Such a thorn, such a bear, such a serpent is Antichrist. At the first he shall seem soft, and gentle, and innocent. After, he shall grow fierce, and arm himself with sting and poison. But a thorn, though it be soft, is a thorn: a bear, though he be little, is a bear: a serpent, though he be pretty, is a serpent. Even so Antichrist, though he seem gentle, mild, and simple, yet is he Antichrist. He groweth by degrees, he will be like his sire; his paws will be dreadful, his mouth will be deadly. (Bp. Jewell.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Th 2:7. 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 Eph 1:9. The mystery of iniquity, therefore, is a scheme of error, not openly discovered, whose influence is to encourage iniquity. Doth already work — Ενεργειται, worketh inwardly, in men’s minds, or in the church, and perhaps also secretly. The seeds of corruption were sown, but they were not yet grown up to any maturity: the leaven was fermenting in some parts, but it was far from having yet infected the whole mass. To speak without a figure, the apostle means that the false doctrines and bad practices, which he foresaw in after times would be carried to a great height by the power which he denominates the man of sin, were already operating in the false teachers, who then infested the church. Accordingly, in his speech to the elders of the church at Ephesus, not long after this epistle was written, he told them, (Act 20:29,) that grievous wolves would enter in among them, not sparing the flock; and that of themselves men would arise speaking perverse things, &c. And before he wrote his epistle to the Colossians, false teachers had actually arisen in Phrygia, who earnestly recommended the worship of angels, (Col 2:18,) abstinence from certain meats, and various bodily mortifications, (Col 2:21-22,) according to the traditions and doctrines of men. For the apostle wrote that epistle expressly for the purpose of condemning these idolatries and superstitious practices. To these things may be added an excess of reverence for pastors, and setting them up as heads of factions, 1Co 1:19; 1Co 3:22; the ambition of pastors themselves, and contending for rule and precedence, 3Jn 1:9; errors in point of doctrine already promulgated, as justification by the merit of works, Gal 2:16; external performances put in the room of faith and love; the having recourse to other mediators besides Christ Jesus, and various human inventions added to the written word. Only he who now letteth — That is, restraineth, will restrain, &c. Chandler thinks this verse should be translated thus: The mystery of iniquity already worketh, only until he who restrains it be taken out of the way; that is, it works in a concealed manner only until then. The restraining here spoken of refers to the mystery of iniquity, as the restraining, mentioned 2Th 2:6, refers to the man of sin. These were connected together, and were restrained by something which the apostle had mentioned to the Thessalonians, in his sermons and conversations, but which he did not choose to express in writing. This, as was observed on 2Th 2:6, was generally understood by the fathers to be the Roman emperors and empire, as it is plain from Tertullian, who says, (Apol., p. 31,) “We Christians are under a particular necessity of praying for the emperors, and for the continued state of the empire; because we know that dreadful power which hangs over the whole world, is retarded by the continuance of the time appointed for the Roman empire.” “To this conjecture,” says Macknight, “the fathers may have been led by tradition, or they may have formed it upon Daniel’s prophecies. But, in whatever way they obtained the notion, it seems to have been the truth. For the power of the emperors and of the magistrates under them, first in the heathen state of the empire, and afterward when the empire became Christian, was that which restrained the man of sin, or corrupt clergy, from exalting themselves above all that is called God, or an object of worship civil and religious.” The reader must observe, the Roman empire, united under one powerful head, was extremely jealous of every other authority and power, and therefore was watchful to prevent the establishment of every such spiritual tyranny and usurpation as that by which Satan was attempting to make his grand effort against Christianity. It must be observed, however, that though the Roman empire, for several ages, restrained the progress of the mystery of iniquity, and the increase of the power of the corrupt clergy, by keeping the church under persecution, and curbing all authority but its own, and thereby retarded the establishment of the ecclesiastical tyranny here spoken of; yet, as Mr. Scott remarks, “the conversion of the Roman emperors to Christianity, in the beginning of the fourth century, tended greatly to prepare things for this apostacy, by giving scope to the ambition and avarice of the ecclesiastics, and by multiplying exceedingly merely nominal Christians; but it was not till the subversion of the western empire by the northern nations, and the division of it into ten kingdoms, that way was made for the full establishment of the Papal usurpation at Rome, the capital city of the empire.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2:7 The power of the coming man of lawlessness (2:3-6) is already at work secretly, like the antichrists of 1 Jn 2:18. • secretly (Greek mustērion): A descriptor commonly used of rituals in the mystery religions (see 2 Thes 2:6). • at work: This connotes supernatural intervention, whether divine (1 Thes 2:13) or, as here, evil (2 Thes 2:9; Eph 2:2). • The one who is holding it back could refer to one who is in opposition to the man of lawlessness; to one who is possessed; or to Satan, the one who possesses (2 Thes 2:9; see study note on 2:6).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Th 2:7. Γὰρ, for) Hereby is given the reason why he just before spoke of the revelation as still future [2Th 2:6]. For there is subjoined μυστήριον, the mystery, which is already present.[16]—[17]ἐνεργεῖται, is at work) The verb is in the middle voice (as Rom 7:5), with the personification, indicating the most secret conduct of the enemy.—μόνον, only) This word shows, not the short continuance of the person, or power, “who holdeth back” the evil, nor the speedy full realization of the event, but the fact of the person or power who holdeth it back being the one and only check to its development. ἕως, until, presently after, denotes delay. The subject is, he, who now holdeth back [‘letteth’]: the predicate is elliptical, holdeth back, or continues to be in the way, till he be taken out of the way or ceases to exist, so that he can nowhere be a hindrance to the Iniquitous one [‘Wicked’]. The power of him that holdeth back, as a whole, possessed of authority [an authoritative whole], has been successively divided into many parts: and yet the Withholding power or person is but one.

[16] Beng. means, The revelation of it is still future; for (γὰρ), though it is in a sense already present and at work, it works now only as a mystery, not as a thing revealed.—ED.

[17] Ἤδη, already) It is the one and the same impurity, diffusing itself over many ages.—V. g.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Th_2:7.[48] An explanatory justification of εἰς τὸ ἀποκαλυφθῆναι αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ καιρῷ, but not a parenthesis (Hemming). The mystery of wickedness is certainly even now active, but Antichrist cannot be manifest until the power preventing him be overcome.

μυστήριον] is contrasted with ἀποκαλυφθῆναι, and ἤδη with ἐν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ καιρῷ. But the chief emphasis of the sentence lies on μυστήριον, which on that account is not only placed first, but is besides separated from its further definition τῆς ἀνομίας by the verb and adverb. Comp. Gal_2:6; Gal_2:9; Arrian, Exp. Al. i. 7. 16: καὶ εὑρέσθαι συγγνώμην τῷ πλήθει τῶν Θηβαίων τῆς ἀποστάσεως.

ἀνομία] means lawlessness, then ungodliness or wickedness generally. The expression corresponds to ἀποστασία, 2Th_2:3. For the ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἁμαρτίας was mentioned in 2Th_2:3 as the historical crown of the ἀποστασία; whilst here, in like manner, ἀνομία appears as its forerunner (ἤδη). The genitive τῆς ἀνομίας is not a genitive of the working causewickedness, which lays its concealed snares (Theodoret), or which works under the appearance of good intentions, but uses secret unworthy means for its object (Flatt); or the plan of ungodliness (Baumgarten-Crusius); or the secret counsel of the supernatural power of darkness (κατʼ ἐνέργειαν τοῦ σατανᾶ, 2Th_2:9), which is placed in parallelism with Gods eternal counsel or μυστήριον in reference to Christ and His kingdom (Kern); but is the genitive of apposition. But neither is Antichrist himself meant, who, as Christ, because God manifest in the flesh, is called in 1Ti_3:16 : τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον, is likewise named τὸ μυστήριον τῆς ἀνομίας, because he is an incarnation of the devil (Olshausen); nor is μυστήριον a mere intensification of the idea ἀνομία, so that a hitherto unheard of, unexampled godlessness was designated (Krebs, Hofmann, comp. also Heydenreich, p. 41, and Schott, p. 22).[49] Rather, taking into consideration the emphatic antithesis which ΜΥΣΤΉΡΙΟΝ forms to ἈΠΟΚΑΛΥΦΘῆΝΑΙ, the natural meaning of the words can only be the mystery of wickedness, i.e. wickedness in so far as it is still a mystery, something concealed, not yet publicly brought to light. Paul thinks on the detached traces of wickedness, recognisable in their true import only to a few as to himself, which already appeared, but which only at a later period will concentrate themselves, and reach their climax in Antichrist.

ἐνεργεῖται] is not passive, as Estius, Grotius, Kypke, Nösselt, Storr, Schott, Bloomfield, and others assume, but middle, is active, begins to bestir itself or to develope its activity. The subject of ἐνεργεῖται is ΤῸ ΜΥΣΤΉΡΙΟΝ, not Antichrist, as Zeger thinks.

ΜΌΝΟΝ] is still by Heinsius[50] and Kypke connected with the preceding, and separated from what follows by a comma. Erroneously, as μόνον is irreconcilable with ἬΔΗ in the same clause. But also ΜΌΝΟΝ does not begin a protasis to which ΚΑῚ ΤΌΤΕ, 2Th_2:8, introduces the apodosis (Koppe). Rather a comma is to be put after ἈΝΟΜΊΑς, and a colon after ΓΈΝΗΤΑΙ. Accordingly 2Th_2:7 is divided into two halves, of which the first forms a concession, and the second a limitation. The meaning is: as a mystery wickedness certainly works even now, only, before Antichrist can be manifested, we must wait until, etc.

ἕως] until that, should properly stand before ὁ κατέχων; but it is placed after, in order to bring forward more emphatically Ὁ ΚΑΤΈΧΩΝ as the chief idea. Comp. Gal_2:10 : μόνον τῶν πτωχῶν ἵνα μνημονεύωμεν. See Winer, p. 485 [E. T. 688]. Erroneously Tychsen: the construction is somewhat distorted; it should have been ΜΌΝΟΝ Ὁ ΚΑΤΈΧΩΝ ἝΩς ἌΡΤΙ. Others, equally erroneously, assume that for the completion of the sentence an additional verb is to be taken from the participle Ὁ ΚΑΤΈΧΩΝ. Thus, in conformity with the Vulgate (tantum ut qui tenet nunc, teneat, donec de medio fiat), Nicolas de Lyra, Erasmus, Zwingli, Zeger, Camerarius, Estius, Lucius and Andrew Osiander, Balduin, Menochius, Cornelius a Lapide, and others, who supply ΚΑΤΕΧΈΤΩ; Jac. Cappellus, Beza, Calixt, Joachim Lange, Whitby, who supply ΚΑΘΈΞΕΙ; Bengel, Storr, Pelt, who supply ΚΑΤΈΧΕΙ. Not less arbitrarily do Knatchbull, Benson, and Baumgarten proceed, who would add ἘΣΤΊΝ after ΜΌΝΟΝ. For not the mere copula ἐστίν, but the emphatic and independent ἔστιν, would warrant the sense assumed by them; but a word which has the emphasis cannot be left out.

ὁ κατέχων] must be essentially the same as what was designated in 2Th_2:6 by the neuter τὸ κατέχον. For the same function is ascribed to both, whilst in a similar manner as τὸ κατέχον formerly, so now also Ὁ ΚΑΤΈΧΩΝ (comp. 2Th_2:8) appears as that by which the ἈΠΟΚΆΛΥΨΙς of Antichrist is still delayed. The restraining power, on which Paul thought, must accordingly have been so constituted that it can be brought under a twofold form of description, and be represented both as a thing and as a person. To make ὁ κατέχων denote the ruling power (qui obtinet, i. e. rerum potitur, Beza, and so also Whitby, Noesselt, and others) is as contrary to the context as it would be to supply fidem as an accusative to it (Nicolas de Lyra: qui tenet nunc fidem catholicam, teneat eam firmiter), or fidem atque caritatem (Zeger), or Christum et veram ejus religionem (Estius), or Christi adventum (Vatablus), or τὴν ἀνομίαν (Flatt, Heydenreich, Schott), and the like.

ἌΡΤΙ] is closely connected with Ὁ ΚΑΤΈΧΩΝ, and brings specially forward the reference already contained in the present participle to the immediate present time of the writer. Schott, after Flatt and Pelt, thinks that if ἌΡΤΙ is to be limited to the time of the speaker, it is not suitable to the view of the apostle (see on 1Th_4:15); that it may accordingly be understood generally: tempus efficientiae ΤΟῦ ΚΑΤΈΧΟΝΤΟς opportunum, quod porro elapsurum sit ad initium usque temporis illi oppositi i. e. donec, remoto Τῷ ΚΑΤΈΧΟΝΤΙ, palam sit proditura Ἡ ἈΠΟΣΤΑΣΊΑ.

ἘΚ ΜΈΣΟΥ ΓΊΝΕΣΘΑΙ] is not necessarily to be considered of death or violence (Olshausen, Baumgarten-Crusius). It can denote any removal or being taken out of the way, however it may happen. Comp. 1Co_5:2; Col_2:14; Plutarch, Timol. p. 238: ἔγνω ζῆν καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ἐκ μέσου γενόμενος. The opposite of ἘΚ ΜΈΣΟΥ ΓΊΝΕΣΘΑΙ or ΑἼΡΕΣΘΑΙ is ἘΝ ΜΈΣῼ ΕἾΝΑΙ, to be in the way, or to be obstructive. Comp. Xenoph. Cyrop. v. 2. 26: καὶ σφόδρʼ ἂν εἴ πῃ γε δύναιντο συμμίξαι. Τί δʼ ἐν μέσῳ, ἔφη, ἐστὶ τοῦ συμμίξαι; Ἀσσύριοι, ἔφασαν, τὸ αὐτὸ ἔθνος, διʼ οὗπερ νῦν πορεύῃ.

[48] Comp. C. Th. Beyer, de κατέχοντι τὴν ἀνομίαν, 2Th_2:7, commentatio, Lips. 1824.J. Grimm, the κατέχων of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians (Regensburger Lyceal-Programm), 1861.

[49] For this meaning an appeal is made to Joseph, de bello Jud. i. 24. 2 Thessalonians 1 : καὶ τὸν Ἀντιπάτρου βίον οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι τις εἰπὼν κακίας μυστήριον.

[50] Heinsius finds the thought expressed: what was only begun in the time of Nero, Antichrist will at a later period bring to a conclusion.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Th 2:7 . γὰρ , explaining οἴδατε . The κατέχων is a fact of present experience and observation, which accounts for the ἀνομία being as yet a μυστήριον , operating secretly, and not an ἀποκάλυψις . Paul does not say by whom (the ἄνομος himself?) the restraint is removed. μόνον , the hiatus must be filled up with some phrase like “it cannot be manifested”. Its real character and full scope are not yet disclosed. For ἄρτι = νῦν , cf. Nägeli’s note in der Wortschätz des Apostels Paulus (36, 37), and for omission of ἄν , Blass, § 65, 10.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. τὸ γὰρ μυστήριον ἤδη ἐνεργεῖται τῆς ἀνομίας. For the mystery is already working (or set in operation)—(that) of lawlessness. For ἐνεργεῖται, see note on 1Th 2:13. 2Th 2:7 explains (γάρ) 2Th 2:6; at present the Lawless One is held back till the fit time, “for he is already here in principle, operative as a mystery awaiting revelation, and checked so long as the withholder stands in the way” (see notes on 2Th 2:6). Νῦν is nunc, now, at this time; ἤδη, jam, already, by this time; ἄρτι, in prœsenti, just now or then, at the moment: for ἤδη, cf. further 1Co 4:8; 1Co 5:3; Php 3:12; 2Ti 2:18; 2Ti 4:6; 1Jn 4:3. The sentence identifies the present hidden with the future open and unrestrained working of the forces embodied in ὁ ἄνομος.

Τὸ μυστήριον, correlative with ἀποκαλυφθῆναι (as in Rom 16:25; 1Co 2:7-10; 1Co 14:2; Eph 3:3; Eph 3:9 f.; Col 1:26; Rev 1:1; Rev 1:19 f.), is, like that, a term proper to the things of God and the manifestation of Christ, appropriated here to the master-work of Satan and the appearing of the Man of Lawlessness; cf. note on 2Th 2:3 (ἀποκαλυφθῇ). Τὸ μυστήριον, in St Paul’s dialect, is not something strange and hard to understand; nor is it some secret reserved, like the Mysteries of Greek Paganism or of Jewish Alexandrian or Essenic esoteric systems, for the initiated few; it denotes that which is by its nature above man’s reason, and is therefore known only as and when God is pleased to reveal it (2Th 2:6; 2Th 2:8); 1Co 2:6-16 sets the Pauline use of the word in a full light: see the Note ad rem in J. A. Robinson’s Ephesians, pp. 234 ff. In the Book of Daniel, μυστήριον (LXX: rendered “secret”) first appears in its distinct Biblical sense; then in Wis 2:22; Wis 6:24, &c. In the Gospels (Mat 13:11 and parallels) the word is once cited from the lips of Jesus, referring to the truths conveyed to disciples but veiled from others by His parables. So monstrous and enormous are the possibilities of sin in humanity, that with all we know of its working the character of the Man of Lawlessness remains incomprehensible beforehand. The history of Sin, like that of Divine Grace, is full of surprises.

μόνον ὁ κατέχων ἄρτι ἕως ἐκ μέσου γένηται: only (there is) the withholder for the present, until he be taken out of the way. Again a hiatus in the Greek, as in 2Th 2:3, an incoherence of expression very natural in a letter written by dictation, and due seemingly to the excitement raised by the apparition of ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας before the writer’s gaze. Ἄρτι qualifies ὁ κατέχων: the restraint at present in exercise holds down (κατέχω, as in Rom 1:18) lawlessness, and veils its nature by limiting its activity, until ὁ καιρὸς τοῦ ἀνόμου (2Th 2:6) shall arrive. Ἄρτι (see note on ἤδη above; also on 1Th 3:6) indicates a particular juncture, or epoch; it suggests a brief transitional period, such as St Paul, without claiming certain knowledge, was inclined to suppose the current Christian dispensation to be; see note on 1Th 4:15, also 1Co 7:29, &c. Ἕως and synonymous conjunctions, often in classical Greek and more often than not in the N.T., dispense with ἄν in governing the subjunctive of contingency,—perhaps after the analogy of ἵνα; see Winer-Moulton, p. 371, A. Buttmann, N. T. Grammar, pp. 230 f. For ἐκ μέσου, cf. 1Co 5:2; 2Co 6:17; Col 2:14 (ἐκ τοῦ μέσου, classical); and contrast 1Th 2:7.

On ὁ κατέχων, see note to τὸ κατέχον, 2Th 2:6. While the restrainer and the object of restraint are each expressed in both personal and impersonal form, it is noticeable that the former appears as primarily impersonal, while the latter is predominantly personal: the writers contemplate the power of lawlessness in its ultimate manifestation, as embodied in a supreme human antagonist of Christ; whereas the restraint delaying Antichrist’s appearance appears to be conceived as an influence or principle, which at the same time may be personally represented. It is better therefore to render ὁ κατέχων “he that restraineth,” rather than “one that restraineth” (R.V.); the expression seems to signify a class, not an individual: cf. Eph 4:28.

Where then are we to look, amongst the influences dominant at the time and known to the readers, for the check and bridle of lawlessness? where but to law itself,—Staat und Gesetz (J. A. Dorner)? For this power the Apostle Paul had a profound respect; he taught that αἱ οὖσαι ἐξουσίαι were ὑπὸ θεοῦ τεταγμέναι (Rom 13:1-7). Silvanus and himself were citizens of Rome, and had reason to value the protection of her laws; see Act 16:35-39; Act 22:23-29; Act 25:10-12. About this time he was finding in the upright Proconsul Gallio a shield from the lawlessness of the Jewish mob at Corinth; the Thessalonian “politarchs” at least made some show of doing him justice (Act 17:5-9). St Paul’s political acumen, guided by his prophetical inspiration, was competent to distinguish between the character and personal action of the Emperor-god and the grand fabric of the Roman Empire over which he presided.

As head of the civil State, the reigning Augustus was the impersonation of law, while in his character as a man, and in his assumptions of deity, he might be the type of the most profane and wanton lawlessness (witness Caligula, Nero, Elagabalus). Roman law and the authority of the magistrate formed a breakwater against the excesses of autocratic tyranny as well as of popular violence. The absolutism of the bad Cæsars had after all its limit; their despotic power trampled on the laws, and was yet restrained by them. Imagine a Nero master of the civilized world and adored as a god, with all respect for civil justice destroyed in the action of the powers of the State, and St Paul’s “mystery of lawlessness” would be amply “revealed.” Despite τὸ κατέχον ἄρτι, the reign of Nero, following in a few years the writing of this Letter, showed to what incredible lengths the idolatry of a wicked human will may be carried, in the decay of religion and the general decline of moral courage which this entails. This monster of depravity, “the lion” of 2Ti 4:17, stood for the portrait of “the wild beast” in St John’s Apocalypse, which carried forward St Paul’s image of “the lawless one,” even as the latter took up Daniel’s idea of the godless king impersonated in Antiochus Epiphanes. Döllinger, seeing in Nero St Paul’s ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας, regarded Claudius, the reigning emperor, as ὁ κατέχων—scil. preventing, while he lived, Nero’s accession—because of the resemblance of his name to claudens, a Latin equivalent for κατέχων: but this ascribes to the Apostle an unlikely kind of foresight; and it credits him with a pun (made in Latin too, though he is writing in Greek) quite out of keeping with the solemnity of the subject. (Askwith identifies Claudius and his policy with ὁ κατέχων, τὸ κατέχον, inasmuch as he rescinded the edict of Caligula.) Nero fell; and the Roman State remained, to be the restrainer of lawlessness and, so far, a protector of infant Christianity. Wiser rulers and better times were in store for the Empire. Through ages the κατέχον of the Apostolic times has proved a bulwark of society. In the crisis of the 8th century “the laws of Rome saved Christianity from Saracen dominion more than the armies.… The torrent of Mohammedan invasion was arrested” for 700 years. “As long as Roman law was cultivated in the Empire and administered under proper control, the invaders of Byzantine territory were everywhere unsuccessful” (Finlay, History of Byzantine Empire, pp. 27 f.). Nor did Roman Law fall with the Empire itself, any more than it rose therefrom. It allied itself with Christianity, and has thus become largely the parent of the legal systems of Christendom. Meanwhile Cœsarism also survives, a second legacy from Rome and a word of evil omen, the title and model of illegal sovereignty. The lawlessness of human nature holds this “mystery” in solution, ready to precipitate itself and “to be revealed at the last season.” The mystery betrays its working in partial and transitional manifestations, until “in its season” it crystallizes into its complete expression. Let reverence for law disappear in public life along with religious faith, and there is nothing to prevent a new Cæsar becoming master and god of the civilized world, armed with immensely greater power. For other interpretations given to ὁ κατέχων, see the Appendix.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He which is now in authority and ruleth all, to wit, the Roman Empire.

He foretelleth that when the empire of Rome is taken away, the seat that falleth away from God shall succeed and shall hold his place, as the old writers, Tertullian, Chrysostomes and Jerome do expound it.

Even in the Apostles’ time the first foundations of the Apostolical seat were laid, but yet so, that they deceived men.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

the mystery of iniquity--the counterwork to "the mystery of godliness" (Ti1 3:16). Anti-Christianity latently working, as distinguished from its final open manifestation. "Mystery" in Scripture means, not what remains always a secret, but that which is for a while hidden, but in due time manifested (compare Eph 3:4-5). Satan will resort to a mode of opposition more conformed to the then imminent "appearing" and "presence" of the Saviour, and will anticipate Him with a last effort to maintain the dominion of the world [DE BURGH], just as at His first advent he rushed into open opposition, by taking possession of the bodies of men. "Iniquity," Greek, "lawlessness"; defiant rejection of God's law (compare Note, see on Zac 5:9, Zac 5:10). "Wickedness" (translated by the Septuagint by the same Greek, meaning "lawlessness," which Paul employs here), embodied there as a woman, answers to "the mystery of iniquity," here embodied finally in "the man of sin": as the former was ultimately banished for ever from the Holy Land to her own congenial soil, Babylon, so iniquity and the man of sin shall fall before Michael and the Lord Himself, who shall appear as the Deliverer of His people (Dan 12:1-3; Zac 14:3-9). Compare Mat 12:43. The Jewish nation dispossessed of the evil spirit, the demon of idolatry being cast out through the Babylonian captivity, receives ultimately a worse form of the evil spirit, Christ-opposing self-righteousness. Also, the Christian Church in course of time taken possession of by the demon of Romish idolatry, then dispossessed of it by the Reformation, then its house "garnished" by hypocrisy, secularity, and rationalism, but "swept empty" of living faith, then finally apostatizing and repossessed by "the man of sin," and outwardly destroyed for a brief time (though even then Christ shall have witnesses for Him among both the Jews, Zac 13:9, and Gentiles, Mat 28:20), when Christ shall suddenly come (Dan 11:32-45; Luk 18:7-8).

already-- (Jo2 1:9-10; Col 2:18-23; Ti1 4:1); compare "even now already" (Jo1 2:18; Jo1 4:3) as distinguished from "in his own time" of being revealed hereafter. Antiquity, it appears from hence, is not a justification for unscriptural usages or dogmas, since these were "already," even in Paul's time, beginning to spring up: the written word is the only sure test. "Judaism infecting Christianity is the fuel; the mystery of iniquity is the spark." "It is one and the same impurity diffusing itself over many ages" [BENGEL].

only he who now letteth will let--The italicized words are not in the Greek. Therefore, translate rather, "only (that is, the continuance of the MYSTERY of iniquity-working will be only) until he who now withholdeth (the same Greek as in Th2 2:6) be taken out of the way." "Only (waiting, Heb 10:13) until he," &c. Then it will work no longer in mystery, but in open manifestation.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work] There is a system of corrupt doctrine, which will lead to the general apostasy, already in existence, but it is a mystery; it is as yet hidden; it dare not show itself, because of that which hindereth or withholdeth. But when that which now restraineth shall be taken out of the way, then shall that wicked one be revealed-it will then be manifest who he is, and what he is. See the observations at the end of this chapter. "2Th 2:17"

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. The mystery of iniquity. This is opposed to revelation; for as Satan had not yet gathered so much strength, as that Antichrist could openly oppress the Church, he says that he is carrying on secretly and clandestinely what he would do openly in his own time. He was therefore at that time secretly laying the foundations on which he would afterwards rear the edifice, as actually took place. And this tends to confirm more fully what I have already stated, that it is not one individual that is represented under the term Antichrist, but one kingdom, which extends itself through many ages. In the same sense, John says that Antichrist will come, but that there were already many in his time. (1 John 2:18.) For he admonishes those who were then living to be on their guard against that deadly pestilence, which was at that time shooting up in various forms. For sects were rising up which were the seeds, as it were, of that unhappy weed which has well-nigh choked and destroyed God’s entire tillage. But although Paul conveys the idea of a secret manner of working, yet he has made use of the term mystery rather than any other, alluding to the mystery of salvation, of which he speaks elsewhere, (Colossians 1:26,) for he carefully insists on the struggle of repugnancy between the Son of God and this son of perdition

Only now withholding. While he makes both statements in reference to one person — that he will hold supremacy for a time, and that he will shortly be taken out of the way, I have no doubt that he refers to Antichrist; and the participle withholding must be explained in the future tense. For he has, in my opinion, added this for the consolation of believers — that the reign of Antichrist will be temporary, the limits of it having been assigned to it by God; for believers might object — “Of what avail is it that the gospel is preached, if Satan is now hatching a tyranny that he is to exercise for ever?” He accordingly exhorts to patience, because God afflicts his Church only for a time, that he may one day afford it deliverance; and, on the other hand, the perpetuity of Christ’s reign must be considered, in order that believers may repose in it.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(7) For.—Logically, the “for” belongs to the clause “he that letteth;” thus:” For, although the mystery is already at work, the wicked one will not be revealed until he that now withholds shall disappear.”

The mystery of iniquity doth already work.—Both “mystery” and “iniquity” have the article in the Greek, perhaps (as in 2Th_2:3) because the phrase was well known to the Thessalonians. Lawlessness is a more literal rendering than “iniquity”; the same word in 1Jn_3:4 is rendered “the transgression of the law.” The word “mystery” in Greek does not necessarily involve any notion of mysteriousness in our modern sense. It means a secret (which may be, in its own nature, quite simple) known to the initiated, but incapable of being known until it is divulged. Here the whole emphasis is thrown, by a very peculiar order of the Greek words, upon the word “mystery.” It may be paraphrased thus:—“For as a secret, into which the world is not yet initiated, that lawlessness is already at work.” Thus the word “mystery” stands in sharp contrast with the word “revealed” in 2Th_2:6; 2Th_2:8 : the time for publishing, openly avowing, the secret is not yet come. To whom, then, is the mystery of that lawlessness now known? Not to all those who are contributing to its ultimate manifestation, for most of them are deceived by it (2Th_2:10), and, while sharers in the Apostasy, still believe themselves members of the Church. The mystery is known to God, and (1) to enlightened Christians like St. Paul; (2) to Satan and a few Satanic men who avow to themselves their real object in joining the movement. Though the mystery is said to work (the verb expresses an inward activity, e.g., 1Th_2:13, Rom_7:5, like that of leaven on the lump), it is not a personal thing, not (like “Man of Sin,” “that which withholdeth,”) a covert description of any person or set of persons; it is solely the unavowed design which is gradually gaining influence over men’s hearts: it is the same movement as the “falling away” of 2Th_2:3. In several places (e.g., 2Pe_2:1 et seq.; Jud_1:18 et seq.) the coarser side of the “falling away” is spoken of, but here the “lawlessness” seems not so much to mean ordinary antinomianism as insubordination to God—rebellion.

Only he. . . .—More correctly, Only [it cannot be revealed] until he that now withholdeth disappear from the midst. The English version has obscured the meaning by putting “letteth,” although the word is precisely the same as in 2Th_2:6—the only difference being that there it was neuter: “the thing which withholdeth;” while here it is masculine:” he.” Evidently to St. Paul’s mind there was a great obstructive power, which was gathered up in, and wielded by, the person so described:” he that withholdeth.” How this potentate would “disappear out of our midst” St. Paul gives no hint; but obviously not by death: for, unless the power itself was to disappear with him, his successor would equally be “he that now withholdeth.” We may therefore say that the prophecy would be satisfied if “he that withholdeth” proved to be a whole succession of persons; we have hardly the same right to say so of the “Lawless One.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work] Better, of lawlessness (R. V.)—same word as that we adopted from the marginal Revised reading of 2Th_2:3; comp. “the lawless one,” 2Th_2:8.

“Doth work,” i.e. is operative, or in operation. See note on “working,” 2Th_2:9.

Lawlessness has indeed been “at work” ever since man fell from God by sin. But this “mystery of lawlessness” is surely some embodiment of the universal principle of sin which it has assumed in times recent to St Paul (“doth already work”), and which contained, in his belief, the germ and potency of the supreme revelation of evil reserved for the eve of Christ’s advent.

A mystery is not some secret knowledge or practice reserved to a select few, like the Mysteries of Greek Paganism; it is, in St Paul’s dialect, the counterpart of revelation, and the word here takes up again the “revealed” of 2Th_2:6 : “until he be revealed, I say; for the mystery (the thing to be revealed) doth already work.” It denotes something by its nature above man’s knowledge, which can only be understood when and so far as God reveals it Comp. note on “revelation,” ch. 2Th_1:7; also the various “mysteries” of Col_2:2-3; Eph_3:4-6; Rom_11:25, &c. So monstrous and enormous are the possibilities of sin in humanity, that with all we know of its present and past effects, the character of the Man of Lawlessness must remain beyond comprehension,—till he be “revealed in his season.”

only he who now letteth will let, untill he be taken out of the way] Again, as in 2Th_2:3, there is a hiatus in the Greek, due perhaps to the excitement raised by the apparition of this awful personality in the writer’s mind. The R. V. completes the sense more simply and naturally: only there is one that restraineth now,—or, there is at present the Restrainer. “Let” has this sense in the Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, as often in old writers: “We are sore let and hindered in running the race set before us.”

On “the Restrainer” see note, 2Th_2:6. It passes from neuter to masculine; while the thing restrained makes an opposite transition, and appears predominantly in a personal form (comp. 2Th_2:3-4 with 7, and again with 2Th_2:8-9). For the Apostle contemplates the power of Lawlessness in its ultimate manifestation, as embodied in some one human antagonist of Christ; whereas the restraint that delays his appearance is thought of rather as a general influence, or principle, which at the same time has its personal representatives. We prefer, therefore, to render St Paul’s phrase he that restraineth rather than one that restraineth; for it signifies not an individual, but a class.

Where then are we to look, amongst the influences prevalent in the Apostle’s time and known to his Thessalonian readers, for the check and bridle of Lawlessness? Where but to law itself (Staat und Gesetz Dorner)? The fabric of civil law and the authority of the magistrate formed a bulwark and break water against the excesses both of autocratic tyranny and of popular violence. For this power St Paul had a profound respect (see Rom_13:1-7). He was himself a citizen of Rome, and had reason to value the protection of her laws. (See Act_16:35-39; Act_22:23-29; Act_25:10-12.) About this very time he found in the upright Proconsul, Gallio (brother of Seneca, the tutor and ill-fated “restrainer” of Nero), a shield from the lawlessness of the Jewish mob at Corinth; the Thessalonian “politarchs” at least tried to do him justice (Act_17:5-9). We must distinguish between the laws of the Roman State and the personal power of the Emperor, whose despotism habitually trampled on the laws and yet was checked by them. Within a year of the writing of this letter Nero assumed the purple, who pushed the principle of lawless autocracy, the idolatry of a wicked human will, to lengths unimagined before. In Nero’s reign it seemed as though St Paul’s vision of the Man of Lawlessness were already realised. This monster of depravity, “the lion” of 2Ti_4:17, stood for the portrait of “the wild beast” of St John’s Apocalypse, which carries forward Paul’s image of the Lawless One, as the latter takes up Daniel’s conception of the godless king, impersonated In Antiochus Epiphanes. The absolutism of the bad Cæsars found, after all, its limit in the strong framework of civil legalism and the sense of public justice, native to the Latin race. Nero fell, and did not drag down Rome with him, nor bring about the final ruin. Wiser rulers and better times remained for the Empire. In the crisis of the 8th Century, “the laws of Rome saved Christianity from Saracen domination more than the armies … The torrent of Mohammedan invasion was arrested”—for 700 years. “As long as Roman law was cultivated in the Empire, and administered under proper control, the invaders of the Byzantine territory were everywhere unsuccessful” (Finlay, Hist. of Byzantine Empire, pp. 27, 28). Nor did Roman Law fall with the Empire itself, any more than it rose from it. It has been in spirit, and to a large extent in substance, the parent of the legal systems of Christendom. Meanwhile Cœarism survives, a legacy from Rome and a word of evil omen,—the title and model of illegal sovereignty.

The lawlessness of the world holds this “mystery” of St Paul In solution, ready to precipitate itself. It betrays itself in many partial and transitional manifestations, until “in its season” it shall crystallize into its complete expression. Let reverence for law disappear in public life, along with religious faith, and there is nothing to prevent a new Cæsar becoming master and god of the civilized world, armed with infinitely greater power.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work,.... Or "the mystery of that wicked one", as the Syriac; meaning either antichrist himself, and the spirit of antichrist, which were already in the world, Jo1 2:18, "mystery" being one of the names of antichrist, Rev 17:5 and anciently this word was engraven on the mitres of the popes of Rome: or the evil doctrines and practices of antichrist may be intended; for as the doctrine of the Gospel is called a mystery, and the mystery of godliness; so the doctrines and practices of antichrist may be called the mystery of iniquity, especially as they were now secretly spread, imbibed, and practised: the foundations of it were now laying in the church by false teachers; for errors and heresies of every sort, respecting the person and offices of Christ, and in opposition to them, were now broached; idolatry, and holding communion with idolaters, now obtained; worshipping of angels was used by some; and superstition and will worship, worship after the commandments of men, were practised; days, and months, and years, distinguished by Jews and Pagans, and difference of meats, were observed; celibacy and virginity began to be admired and commended; dominion and magistracy were despised, and church authority contemned, and many, as Diotrephes, loved to have the pre-eminence; and the doctrine of justification by the works of the law was industriously spread, and zealously preached and received; all which laid the foundation, and are the life and soul of popery:

only he who now letteth, will let, until he be taken out of the way; that is, the Roman empire and Roman emperors, and which were by degrees entirely removed, and so made way for the revelation of this wicked one: and which was done partly by Constantine the emperor receiving the Christian faith, whereby the Roman empire as Pagan ceased; and by increasing the riches of the church, and feeding the pride, ambition, and covetousness of the bishops, especially the bishop of Rome; and next by removing the seat of the empire from Rome to Byzantium, which he called Constantinople: here the Greek emperors continued in succession, and neither they themselves, nor even their exarchs, resided at Rome, but at Ravenna; so that way was made for antichrist to come to his seat, and there was nothing to rival and eclipse the grandeur, power, and glory of the Roman popes: and that which let was also taken out of the way, by the division of the empire, by Theodosius, giving to his elder son Arcadius, the eastern, and to the younger, Honorius, the western parts of it: the eastern empire was in process of time seized upon and possessed by Mahomet and the Saracens; and the western empire was overrun by the Goths, Vandals, and Huns, and became extinct about the year 476, in Augustulus, the last of the Roman emperors, who was obliged to abdicate the government by Odoacer king of the Heruli; when the kingdom of the Lombards took place in Italy, and afterwards that was translated to Charles the great, king of the French; so that there was nothing more of the Roman empire remaining than the bare name, as at this day; and by this means the popes of Rome got to the height of their power and glory, which is meant by the revelation of the man of sin.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

Ver. 7. For the mystery of iniquity] Policy palliated with the name of piety; dissembled sanctity, which is double iniquity. The Council of Trent (where Popery was established by a law in all parts of it, and a divorce sued out from Christ) was carried by the pope and his complices with such infinite guile and craft, as that themselves will even smile in the triumphs of their own wits (when they hear it but mentioned) as at a master stratagem, a very mystery of iniquity. (Spec. Europ.)

Doth already work] In those ancient apostates and antichrists St John complaineth of. Tertullian condemneth the bishop’s sprouting ambition in these words, I hear that there is a peremptory edict set forth lately, Pontifex scilicet maximus. Episcopus episcoporum dicit, &c. Thus saith the chief priest, the bishop of bishops, &c. Odi fastum illius Ecclesiae, saith Basil, I hate the pride of that Western Church. {a} Ammianus Marcellinus (a heathen historian) sharply taxed the Roman bishops of his time for their pride and prodigality. How stiffly did Gregory the Great oppose John of Constantinople for affecting the title of universal bishop; and yet how basely did the same Gregory collogue with Phocas the emperor, that himself might be so styled. This Phocas, a wild, drunken, bloody, adulterous tyrant, advanced the bishop of Rome (Gregory’s successor) to the primacy, and was therefore slaughtered by Heraclius, who cut off his wicked hands and feet, and then his genitals by piece-meal. (Zonaras.)

Until he be taken out of the way] That is, the Roman emperor have removed his seat to Constantinople, that Rome may become the nest of Antichrist. Joannes de Columna writeth, that Otho, emperor of Germany, thought to have seated himself at Rome (as former emperors had done), and began to build him there a stately palace. But at the earnest importunity of the Romans he gave over that design. The like had been attempted 300 years before by Constans, nephew to Heraclius, but could never be ejected. This was a singular providence of God (saith Genebrard, a Popish chronologer) that the kingdom of the Church prophesied of by Daniel might have its seat at Rome. If he had said, that the kingdom of Antichrist, prophesied of by St Paul and St John, might have its seat in that city seated upon seven hills, he had said the very truth, he had hit the nail on the head.

{a} This he called οφρυν δυτικην. Vehiculis insidentes circumspecte vestiti, epulas curantes profusas, &c.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The mystery of iniquity already worketh,[8] or is now wrought, by the precursors of antichrist; i.e. by infidels and heretics. For, as St. John says, there are many antichrists, precursors to the great antichrist, and enemies of Christ. (1 John chap. ii.) (Witham) --- That he who now holdeth, do hold. That is, let each one remain in the faith which he has received of us, and let him not permit himself to be deceived by any discourse, as coming from us. Or rather, let those who shall then be in the world keep their faith, remaining firm in their belief and attachment to the Church of Christ, until antichrist, that man of iniquity, shall be taken away. (Calmet) --- According to others, it is an admonition to the faithful not to be beguiled during this day of trial by such, as under the garb of religion, and with an ostentatious parade of zeal for the holy Scriptures, seek to deceive them. When the mystery of sin shall be revealed, then shall we plainly discover that apostacy from the Catholic Church is the obvious and certain road to a dereliction of all religious principle; yes, to antichristianism and to atheism. (Haydock)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Mysterium jam operatur iniquitatis, Greek: to musteroin ede energeitai.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; the way was prepared by degrees for the man of sin, before he came actually to be revealed, or constituted in his complete existence; and this was by the working of the mystery of iniquity. A mystery is something in general which is abstruse, intricate, and not easily discerned. And there are mysteries in doctrine, and in practice; mysteries of godliness, and mysteries of iniquity; mysteries of the kingdom of God, and of the devil’s kingdom. So there are the deep things of God, 1Co 2:10, and the depths of Satan, Rev 2:24. The mystery ushering in the man of sin is a mystery of iniquity. It is not open sin and wickedness, but dissembled piety, specious errors, wickedness under a form of godliness cunningly managed, that is here meant: see the book called The Mystery of Jesuitism, or the Provincial Letters. And it is a mystery that worketh; it doth exert and put forth itself, but secretly, as a mole which worketh under ground. And its working is not against the being, providence, and attributes of God, or natural religion; but to undermine Christianity in the peculiar doctrines, worship, and practice of it. In doctrines are brought in privily damnable heresies, 2Pe 2:1. In worship, inventions and commandments of men, under pretences of greater reverence, devotion, and humility, Col 2:22,23. In practice, dispensations to moral impieties under colour of service to the catholic church. And this mystery, saith our apostle, already worketh; in the false doctrines of the false teachers of his time, in the traditions and inventions of men obtruding themselves into the worship of God in his time, in the affectation of pre-eminence in the church in his time, and making merchandise of the gospel in his time, and gain godliness; and in mingling philosophical notions with the simplicity of the gospel, and gratifying the flesh under a form of godliness, and pretence of gospel liberty. And it was not among the heathen, or the Jews, but among the professors of Christianity, that this mystery was then working, as I suppose the apostle meaneth. And when the man of sin was fully revealed all these corruptions did centre in him, as sinks in the common sewer; the lesser antichrists in the great antichrist.

Only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way: the idolatries and persecutions of the heathen emperors must be taken out of the way, to make way for those that arise under a Christian, or rather antichristian, state, the dragon giving his seat, spirit, and power to the beast. And the power that was in the Roman emperor, whether heathen or Christian, must be taken out of the way to make room for the exaltation of this man of sin. For notwithstanding all corruptions; in doctrine, worship, or practice which might be introduced before, yet he is not fully revealed till he hath his jurisdiction and secular power also in his hand. And then this mystery of iniquity is arrived to its height; which St. John saw written in the forehead of the great whore, Rev 17:5; Mystery, Babylon the great, & c., and which, some have said, was written anciently in the pope’s mitre.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. The mystery of iniquity—As antithetical to “the mystery of godliness,” 1Ti_3:16, which is the incarnation, including its kindred truths, the mystery of iniquity is Satanic possession, (see note on 2Th_2:9,) with its kindred errors and lies, as described in 2Th_2:10-12.

Now—Literally, already. Surprisingly early. This word hints at an unknown distance of development of existing seeds of guilty error.

Work—In-work, operating secretly and lurkingly in the minds of men. Same word as rendered working in 2Th_2:9, where see note.

The seed doctrine here alluded to was the radical principle of Simon Magus, and the vital germ of Gnosticism, the inherence of all evil in matter alone. See note, Act_8:9. This doctrine (note, Act_6:5) had two sides to it. First, it could be said by one class of GNOSTICS, that the material body could be consigned over to all licentiousness, while the soul remained pure and holy; or, Second, it could be said by others that the body should be abhorred, scourged, starved, and ascetically crucified. Of the former of these two classes Conybeare and Howson say:

“Their immorality is the subject of constant animadversion in the writings of the Fathers, who tell us that the calumnies which were cast upon the Christians by the heathen were caused by the vices of the Gnostics. Irenaeus asserts that they said, ‘as gold deposited in the mud does not lose its beauty, so they themselves, whatever may be their outward immortality, cannot be injured by it, nor lose their spiritual substance.’—Iren., 6. 2, quoted by Burton. And so Justin Martyr speaks of heretics, who said ‘that though they lived sinful lives, yet, if they know God, the Lord will not impute to them sin.’—Tryph., 141. And Epiphanius gives horrible details of the enormities which they practised. Again, their addiction to magical arts was notorious. And their leaders, Basilides and Valentinus, are accused of eating idol-sacrifices (like the Nicolaitans of the Apocalypse) to avoid persecution.”—Vol, i, p. 453. Note on 1Ti_6:20.

Against the holders of this former view St. John affirms that any such denial of sin is untrue, 1Jn_1:6-10; that the truly regenerate does not practice sin, 2Th_3:8-9; that all transgression of law is sin, 2Th_3:4; and he denounces these licentious hypocrites in Rev_2:14, etc. The latter view led in the Corinthian Church to the denial of the resurrection of the body, (1Co_15:12-19;) in the Colossian Church to ascetic fastings, celibacies, and mysticisms, (Col_2:18;) and in Asia Minor generally to Docetism, or the denial of the unity of the Logos with a body of real flesh, condemned by 1Jn_4:3, and expressly identified by him with antichrist, “whereof ye have heard that it should come.”

St. John’s allusions to antichrist are, indeed, here very instructive. They are three: 1Jn_2:18-22; 1Jn_4:3; 2Jn_1:7. In the last two antichrist is expressly identified with the last of these two classes of views. In the first we have three points: 1. That the coming of the antichrist was generally known to be predicted as taking place at the last time; 2. That there are many (without the article) elemental antichrists now; and, 3. From this it is inferred that it is a (without the definite article) last time. This is not asserting, as Alford ineffectually maintains, that the real antichrist, or the real advent, is approaching; but that some terminus is approaching analogous to the final catastrophe, (see note, 1Ti_4:1,) since there are some antichrists existing analogous to the final antichrist.

The above described asceticism, based on the inherent evil of matter, was wrought at a later period into the system of Gnosticism. Thence it was embraced in the Popish system in the form of clerical celibacy, abstaining from meats, bodily flagellations, and monasticism. The forbidding to marry, consummated by Pope Hildebrand, completed the absoluteness of the papacy, by cutting the clergy from all human ties and compacting them into a devoted hierarchy, profoundly servile to the pope. And the enactment of the dogma of the “immaculate conception” of the blessed mother by Pope Pius Ninth, in our own day, is the last articulate expression of the ascetic Gnosticism which was already working in Paul’s day.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the mystery. "Mystery" here denotes something which was unknown or secret before it was revealed. (comp. Eph_3:3-5) So also one of the names of Babylon, the seat of the antichristian power, is Mystery. (Rev_17:3) Of iniquity; rather, of lawlessness; namely, this apostasy which shall precede the coming of the man of sin. The genitive here is that of apposition mystery which is lawlessness, whose essence and sphere of operation is lawlessness. Doth already work; or, is already working. The mystery of iniquity even now works in secret; but the man of sin himself will not appear until the restraining power be removed. Even at the time the apostle wrote the seeds of apostasy were already sown; the leaven of lawlessness was fermenting inside Christianity; the foundations of a false Christianity were being laid. Thus the apostle warned the Ephesians that false teachers would arise from among themselves; to Timothy he writes of those perilous times which were then present; and, in his Epistles, mention is made of false practices and doctrines, such as the worship of angels, abstinence from meats, bodily mortifications, and the honour conferred on celibacy. So also John, in his First Epistle, refers to this working of this antichristian power when he says, "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists .... Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world". (1Jn_2:18 1Jn_4:3) "Antichrist does not step on the scene suddenly without any preparations; on the contrary, a stream of anti-christian sentiment and conduct pervades the whole history of the world" (Olshausen). Only he that now letteth; or, restraineth, the old meaning of the word "let." Will let. These words are not in the original, and ought to be omitted. Until he be taken out of the way. The whole clause ought to be rendered, "The mystery of lawlessness is already working, only until he who restraineth is removed;" when that takes place, when the restraining influence is removed, the mystery of lawlessness will no longer work secretly, but will be openly manifested.

Vers. 7, 8.

The mystery of lawlessness.

The exact, objective application of this prediction, like that of the preceding description, is not easy to discover. But principles are involved which are susceptible of general application.

I THERE IS A MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS. By this expression the apostle probably means a mystery the character of which is lawless.

1. We may expect to meet with new mysteries. While time and inquiry resolve some mysteries, they bring upon us fresh ones. We are not to expect to be able to understand all the forces and influences with which we are surrounded. It is enough that we are in the hands of God who knows all, and trusting in Christ who can lead us safely through the darkness.

2. New mysteries may be characterized by new lawlessness. The answer to our inquiries may be very unsatisfactory in revealing only evil. There are strange novelties which are obscure in all points but their moral character, and that is plainly evil. If so, we may hope for no good from them, and need not further interest ourselves in them.

3. All lawlessness is mysterious. How did it originate? How is its existence possible? Why does not God sweep it away? These questions have perplexed men in all ages. We bow before them in helpless, pained wonder.

II THERE IS A RESTRAINT ON THE MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS.

1. Its full power is not yet revealed. There are those who treat all sin with unbecoming levity, because they do not yet see its terrible fruits. They are playing with a torpid adder, that may awake at any moment and inflict a fatal wound. No one knows what hidden possibilities of harm lurk in the deep caverns of undeveloped sin. There are volcanoes in the hearts of some quiet men which may burst into destructive fires.

2. Human means may be used to restrain the mystery of lawlessness. Government, law, society, healthy habits of the majority, keep it down for a time.

3. God holds the mystery of lawlessness in check. He is supreme over its wildest raging. "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh." God restrains the superabundant wrath of man. (Psa_76:10)

III THE HIDDEN MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS WILL BE REVEALED. The volcano must break into eruption some day. Evil cannot slumber forever. Hypocrisy will tire of its meek, innocent demeanour. The harvest of sin will have to be reaped. Let not any man put his confidence in the secretness or slowness of the processes of evil. The more they are hidden now, the worse will be the appalling outburst of them when the restraint under which they groan at present is released. The longer the wild horses are held in by the leash, the fiercer will be their mad gallop when they break loose.

IV CHRIST WILL CONQUER THE MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS. Evil will not long be rampant. One fearful rebellion and then a tremendous defeat.

1. Christ is to be the Conqueror of it. He came to destroy the works of the devil. We could not effect this great work. He, our Saviour, does it for us.

2. Christ is to come again for this object. When the mystery is revealed, Christ"s "manifestation" follows.

3. Christ conquers with a breath. His first work was difficult, involving his death. His last work will be divinely simple, and yet sublimely successful. W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He will surely be revealed; for the mystery - The deep, secret power of iniquity, just opposite to the power of godliness, already worketh. It began with the love of honour, and the desire of power; and is completed in the entire subversion of the gospel of Christ. This mystery of iniquity is not wholly confined to the Romish church, but extends itself to others also. It seems to consist of,

1. Human inventions added to the written word.

2. Mere outside performances put in the room of faith and love.

3. Other mediators besides the man Christ Jesus. The two last branches, together with idolatry and bloodshed, are the direct consequences of the former; namely, the adding to the word of God. Already worketh - In the church. Only he that restraineth - That is, the potentate who successively has Rome in his power. The emperors, heathen or Christian; the kings, Goths or Lombards; the Carolingian or German emperors.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

mystery

(See Scofield "Mat 13:11").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, the beginnings of Antichristianity are secretly and mysteriously already working, which will bring Antichrist himself forth in time, even Antichristian doctrines, and the affecting of Antichristian dominion: only the empire that now hindereth must be removed and taken out of the way.

Note here, so great an enemy is Satan to the salvation of mankind, that no sooner did Christ erect a kingdom in the world for saving sinners, but the devil set up his ensign in opposition thereunto. Antichristianism is almost as old as Christianity; the mystery of iniquity soon appeared after the revelation of the mystery of godliness; though truth be error’s elder, yet error is not much truth’s younger: The mystery of iniquity doth already work.

And from these words, He that letteth, will let, till taken out of the way, learn, That the greatest empires and monarchies upon earth have their final and fatal periods determined by God, beyond which they shall not stand; the Roman empire that letteth, shall be taken out of the way.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way . [In verse 6 we have a thing ("that which") restraining the person of antichrist, and in this verse we have the thing ("mystery of lawlessness") which would produce the antichrist restrained by a person. This nicety of expression is important, and should be noted. The traces of that spirit which overrules God's laws and substitutes its own were abundant in the church. It showed itself in attempts to engraft both Judaism and paganism into Christianity, thus paving the way for an apostasy, with a great head apostate. Romans and Galatians were written to correct Judaizing tendencies, and the Epistle to the Hebrews was an attempt to wean weak Christians from the sensuous ritualism of Moses. Tendencies to lapse into paganism are also frequently reproved. See especially Col_2:16-23 ; 1Co_5:1-8 ]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. For the mystery of iniquity. This revelation of the man of sin. It was a mystery, that is, something yet hidden. Doth already work. Causes are beginning to work which will lead to it. Only he who now letteth. He that hindereth must first be taken out of the way. There was no room for an arrogant spiritual power in Rome as long as imperial Rome continued to persecute the church. A persecuted church cannot be a haughty church. Two things were needful before the papal power could be developed; viz., the overthrow of paganism, and the removal of the capital of the Empire from Rome. When these things were done, it was free to seize the old Roman scepter.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

7.] For (explanation of last verse) the mystery (as opposed to the ἀποκάλυψις of the man of sin) already (as opposed to ἐν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ καιρῷ above) is working (not ‘is being wrought,’ passive, as Est., Grot., all. I retain the inversion of the words, to mark better the primary and secondary emphasis: see below) of lawlessness (i.e. ungodliness—refusal to recognize God’s law—see reff.

The genitive is one of apposition: the ἀνομία is that wherein the μυστήριον consists:—not a genitive of the working cause, as Thdrt. (ὡς κεκρυμμένην ἔχοντας τῆς ἀνομίας τὴν πάγην),—nor must we understand by the words, Antichrist himself, as Olsh., comparing τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον, 1Ti 3:16,—not the unexampled depths of ungodliness, as Krebs, al., from Joseph. B. J. in reff.

As to the order of the words, cf. Arrian, exp. Alex. i. 17. 6, κ. εὑρέσθαι συγγνώμην τῷ πλήθει τῶν Θηβαίων τῆς ἀποστάσεως, Lün.) only until he that now hinders (ὁ κατέχων is placed before ἕως for emphasis, as in ref. Gal., μόνον τῶν πτωχῶν ἵνα μνημονεύωμεν) be removed (the phrase is used of any person or thing which is taken out of the way, whether by death or other removal. So in reff.: and Plut. Timol. p. 238. 3 (Wetst.): ἔγνω ζῆν καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ἐκ μέσου γενόμενος,—Ter. Phorm. v. 9. 40, ‘ea mortem obiit, e medio abiit.’ See also Herod. viii. 22: and for the opposite, ἐν μέσῳ εἶναι, Xen. Cyr. v. 2. 26.

Various erroneous arrangements and renderings of this sentence have been current: of which the principal have arisen from fancying that the participle κατέχων requires some verb to be supplied after it. So Vulg. (‘tantum ut qui tenet nunc, teneat, donec de medio fiat:’ so Syr., Erasm., Est., all.), and E. V. (‘only he who now letteth, will let,’ so Beza, Whitby, al.),—κατέχει (so Bengel, Pelt, al.):—ἐστίν (so Knatchb., Burton, al.)):

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. τὸ γὰρ μυστήριον κτλ “For” (γά), to explain the connection between the present action intimated in τὸ κατέχο and the future revelation of the Anomos, “the secret, namely, of lawlessness has already been set in operation” (by Satan), and is preparing the way for the definitive apostasy on earth and its concomitant, the revelation of the Anomos (v.3). “Only,” that apostasy will not come and the Anomos will not be revealed, “until he who is now holding sway (or, detains or restrains him) is put out of the way; and then will be revealed the Anomos.” The phrase τὸ μυστήριον τῆς ἀνομία, the secret whose content is lawlessness, or “the mystery of which the characterising feature, or, so to say, the active principle is ἀνομί” (Ell.), is unique in the Gk. Bib. The exact meaning cannot at present be made out; but with some probability it may be referred not to the ἀποστασί (v. 3) itself, but to the secretly developing lawlessness which is to culminate in the definitive apostasy on earth (cf. Dob.). As ἐνεργεῖτα suggests, an evil power sets in operation “the secret of lawlessness”; and since it is improbable that ἀνομίας = ἀνόμο, this evil power is not the Anomos (the instrument of Satan) operating from his place of concealment, but Satan himself (cf. Schaefer), or more precisely, if we may identify τὸ κατέχο with Satan, τὸ κατέχο, the spirit that holds sway, energising in the sons of disobedience. In this case, τὸ κατέχο (present participle) and τὸ μυστήριο (note the ἤδ) are connected both essentially and temporally.

In the light of I 2:13 ἐνεργεῖτα may be middle “is already operating,” or passive “has already been set in operation.” In the latter case, the present tense with the adverb is to be rendered by the English perfect; cf. I 3:6 ἔχετε πάντοτ and BMT 17.—It is to be observed in passing that in vv. 6-7 Paul not only exposes the absurdity of the allegation that the day is present (v. 2) but also intimates (ἤδη ἐνεργεῖτα) that that day is not far distant.—On μυστήριο, which may have been suggested by ἀποκαλυφθῆνα, cf. 1Co 2:1, etc. (with τοῦ θεου), Col 4:3, etc. (with τοῦ Χριστου), Eph 1:9 (with θελήματο; cf. Judith 2:2 with βουλῆ), and Eph 6:19 (with εὐαγγελίο); also ἀποκαλύπτειν μυστήρι Sap. 6:22, Sir. 3:18, 27:16 ff. Dan. (Lxx) 2:28 f. (Th.) 2:19, 30, 47. See further, Hatch, Essays, 57 ff.; SH on Rom 11:25; Lft. on Col 1:26; Swete on Mar 4:11; and Robinson, Ephesians, 235 ff.

μόνον ὁ κατέχων ἄρτι κτλ. There is an ellipsis here; and since the clause with μόνο is evidently the link between the present action implied in τὸ κατέχο and the terminus of that action at the revelation of the Anomos, it is natural to supply not only “that apostasy, which is the culmination of the secret of lawlessness, will not come,” but also, in the light of vv. 6b and 8a, “the Anomos will not be revealed.” Both the ellipsis and the position of ἕω have a striking parallel in Gal 2:10: μόνον τῶν πτωχῶν ἵνα μνημονεύωμε

On the probable meaning of these obscure words, v. supra, pp. 259 ff.—Since Gal 2:10 explains, satisfactorily both the ellipsis and the inverted order of the words, it is unnecessary to resort to other expedients, as, for example, that of the Vulgate: tantum ut qui tenet nunc, teneat, donec de medio fiat. Many commentators think it needless “to supply definitely any verb to complete the ellipsis. The μόο belongs to ἕως and simply states the limitation involved in the present working of the μυστήριον τῆς ἀνομία; it is working already, but only with unconcentrated action until the obstacle be removed and Antichrist be revealed.” (Ell.).—The conjunction ἕω occurs in Paul only here and 1Co 4:5 (ἕως ἄ; so GF in our passage; cf. BMT 323).—ἐκ μέσο is rather frequent in Gk. Bib. with αἴρει (Col 2:14, Isa 57:2, ἐκ μέσο being absolute in both instances), ἐξολευθρεύει (Exo 31:14 with λαου), and ἁρπάζει (Act 23:10 with αὐτῶ); but ἐκ μέσο with γίνεσθα occurs only here in the Gk. Bib. Wetstein notes Plut. Timol. 238 B: ἔγνω ζῆν καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ἐκ μέσου γενόμενο The fact not the manner of the removal (cf. Fulford) is indicated: “to be put out of the way.” See further, Soph. Lex sub μέσο and Steph. Thesaurus, 6087.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mystery of iniquity [μυστηριον της ανομιας] . Better, of lawlessness. The phrase is unique in N. T. and o LXX Mystery is found in various combinations, as mystery of the kingdom of heaven, Mt 13:11; of God, 1Co 2:1 : of his will, Eph 1:9 : of Christ, Eph 3:4 : of the gospel, Eph 6:19 : of faith, 1Ti 3:9 : of godliness, 1Ti 3:16 : of the seven stars Rev 1:20 : of the woman, Rev 17:7. A mystery does not lie in the obscurity of a thing, but in its secrecy. It is not in the thing, but envelops it. Applied to a truth, it signifies a truth once hidden but now revealed or to be revealed; a truth which without special revelation would be unknown. It is almost universally found in connection with words signifying publication or revelation. See on Mt 13:11. The mystery of lawlessness is the mass of lawlessness yet hidden, but which is to reveal itself in the person and power of Antichrist. The position of the word is emphatic, emphasising the concealed character of the evil power.

Only [μονον] . The sentence is elliptical : "only we must wait," or "only it must work in secret, until he that letteth," etc. For a similar instance see Gal 2:10. The collocation of A. V. is wrong.

Letteth [κατεχων] . The same word as restraineth, ver. 6. Let is old English for hipder, prevent. Often in Chaucer.

"May I him lette of that?" (prevent him from it). Troil. and Cress. ii. 732.

"And bothe in love y - like sore they brente (burned) That noon or alle hir (their) frendes might hit lette." Legend of Good Women, 731.

So Shakespeare :

"What lets but one may enter?" Two Gentlemen of Verona, 3 1.

"I'll make a ghost of him that lets me." Hamlet 1 4.

"The flesh resisteth the work of the Holy Ghost in our hearts, and lets it." - Latimer, Serm.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.