2 Thessalonians 2:8

8. And then shall that Wicked be revealed] Then, “in his own season” (2Th_2:6), in contrast with the now of the last clause, the time of his restraint: then shall be revealed the lawless one (R. V.).

It is essential that we keep in mind the identity of the figure depicted from 2Th_2:3 onwards. The variety, of synonyms employed by the A.V. is distracting. This “revealing of the Lawless One” is the unveiling of “the mystery of lawlessness already at work;” he is no other than “the man of lawlessness, the son of perdition” announced in 2Th_2:3. Three times, with persistent emphasis, the word revealed is repeated (2Th_2:3; 2Th_2:6; 2Th_2:8), as of some unearthly and portentous object, that holds the gazer spell-bound. Comp. note on “mystery,” 2Th_2:7.

“The lawless” (anomos) is a term frequently occurring in the LXX, both in the singular and plural; it denotes the typical “sinner,” or “wicked person” of the O.T.

whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth] According to the true reading, and better rendering, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth (R. V.).

On the title “Lord Jesus” and its relation to the Second Advent, see note to 1Th_2:19. Jesus, the human Name, could not be wanting here, where the overthrow of “the man of lawlessness” is in question.

The words that follow come from the prophecy of the judgement of the Rod of Jesse, Isa_11:4 : “He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked.” Such predictions had not been accomplished in the humble, suffering Messiah,—or but in foretaste, by the denunciations of Jesus (Matthew 23. &c.); they remain to be verified in His triumph. The Lawless One, being the ultimate embodiment of the world’s wickedness and defiance of God, must suffer the conclusive fulfilment of the prophet’s words.

Just as the sight of the Lord Jesus will suffice to bring ruin on cruel persecutors (ch. 2Th_1:9), so it will need but the breath of His mouth to lay low the haughty and Titanic Antichrist: “A word shall quickly slay him!”

and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming] More exactly, and shall bring to nought with the manifestation of his coming (or presence: Greek parousia; see note on this word, 1Th_2:19).

The Greek verb signifies to make inoperative, destroy in effect; it is a favourite word with St Paul: comp. 2Ti_1:10, “having abolished death;” and Gal_3:17, “to make the promise of none effect.” The elect of the manifestation of the Lord Jesus will be to paralyse the Lawless One and strip him of his power. See note on ch. 2Th_1:9, “destruction (coming) from the presence of the Lord.”

The word rendered “manifestation” (epiphaneia, our Epiphany) is not found in St Paul again till we come to his latest Epistles, where it is applied to the Second, and once to the First Coming: 1Ti_6:14; 2Ti_1:10; Tit_2:13. It signifies by usage an extraordinary, commonly a superhuman, divine apperance. Similarly the corresponding adjective, rendered “notable’ in Act_2:20 (from Joe_2:31 : Hebrew, “terrible”). Prima ipsius adventus emicatio (Bengel).

In 2Th_2:9-12 we are told (1) of the agency which brings about the coming of the Man of Lawlessness and the means employed for the purpose, (2) of the victims of his ascendancy (2Th_2:10), and (3) of the issue for which in the sovereignty of Divine judgement his power is overruled (2Th_2:11-12).

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.

And then shall that Wicked be revealed: this revealing I think differs from that mentioned before, 2Th 2:3; he is first revealed, as I said: quoad existentiam, when he comes forth into being, and then quoad apparentiam, when he comes to be discovered. And this I suppose is meant here, because his destruction is mentioned as following upon it; for the discovering of him is the first step to his ruin, and here is called by another name. At his first rising he is a man of sin; but after he hath violated the laws of God and the laws of Christ by setting up his own, he is well called ανομος, that lawless one; and now he that pretended so highly for Christ is discovered to be antichrist. The mystery of iniquity that before lay hid comes to be revealed, God enlightening the eyes of many learned ministers and princes, yea, and of multitudes of people herein; the Scriptures, before shut up in an unknown tongue, being now translated to the understanding of the common people; those that were made drunk with the wine of her fornication, Rev 17:2, now put away their wine from them, as Eli said to Hannah; and the kings and kingdoms that gave their power to the beast, now come to hate the whore, & c., the time being come for the fulfilling the words of God herein, Rev 17:17. And this revelation is signified and foretold when the angel said to John, I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, Rev 17:7. There is need of a Divine revelation to know the mystery of iniquity, as well as the mystery of godliness. And the woman is the same with the man of sin mentioned before, once the spouse of Christ, but now by her idolatry become a whore, and divorced from him; said to be also that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth, Rev 17:18. By the understanding these thngs this wicked one comes to be revealed.

Whom the Lord shall consume; which is not done all at once; his consumption goes before his destruction. As Jezebel, the prophetess who seduced the servants of God to commit fornication, is said to be cast into a bed of languishing, Rev 2:20,22; as he rose up by degrees, so shall he be consumed gradually. His power declines by degrees, both civil and ecclesiastical, and the authority he had got both in and over the consciences of men. The seven vials are the seven last plagues, which do gradually consume him. And this is said to be done by the Lord himself, which is the Lord Jesus. He that made war with the Lamb is overcome by the Lamb, Rev 17:14; though many instruments may be employed herein; for he is said to have those with him who are called chosen and faithful; and it belongs to him, as all power of heaven and earth is given to him, to save his people, and to destroy his adversaries; as it is said of him, Psa 97:3; A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about. As he is a refreshing, directing light to his people, so a consuming fire to his adversaries. The stone cut out of the mountain without hands, Dan 2:34, smites the image in the time of the fourth monarchy, when Christ came into the world, and in the latter end of it, under the antichristian state, it is broken in pieces.

With the spirit of his mouth; as was prophesied of him, Isa 11:4; With the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked, even this wicked one here in the text, Rev 18:8; 19:15. And this, as some interpret, he shall do with ease, as by a word speaking; or by a word of command, saying: Let it be done, and it shall be done. Or, as we may read it, with the spirit of his lips, because of the power or spirit that goes along with his word. But this breath of Christ’s mouth Cajetane and others understand of the word of the gospel, which is the breath of Christ’s mouth in the mouths of his ministers, called the everlasting gospel, Rev 14:6, which an angel flying through the midst of heaven is said to have, to preach to them that dwell upon the earth; and then followed by another angel, saying: Babylon is fallen, is fallen, 2Th 2:8. The mystery of iniquity will be unveiled by the clear preaching of the word; and the primitive pure institutions of Christ, and doctrines of the gospel: will be vindicated from the antichristian corruptions and innovations. And the spirit of Christ going forth with the gospel, will make it effectual hereunto. These are the rod of his strength, whereby he rules in the midst of his enemies, Psa 110:2, and whereby he shall consume this man of sin. Nations and people will fall off from him as they come to understand the truth by the word preached.

And shall destroy; after is consuming follows his destruction, καταργησει, the word destroy here signifies to abolish, enervate, to make of no force; and so used often in the New Testament: sometimes applied to the law, Rom 3:31, sometimes to the body of sin, Rom 6:6, sometimes to persons to whom Christ will not be effectual, Gal 5:4; here to the man of sin: so that whatever remains there may be of him in the world, they shall be without any efficacy or power: his jurisdiction shall be abolished, his keys shall not be able to open or shut, the edge of both his swords shall be quite blunted, his triple crown shall fall off his head, his purgatory fire shall be put out, his images shall lose their veneration; the spell of the cross shall be detected, the intercession of saints shall be found to be a fiction, infallibility shall be fonnd to be a deceit, supremacy of the church shall fall to the ground; the rivers of his large revenues shall be dried up, &c., and the beast that was, and is not, and yet is, Rev 17:8, shall now utterly cease to be.

With the brightness of his coming: the breath of his mouth wasted him, and the brightness of his coming destroys him. Some interpret this of Christ’s personal coming to judgment, which will be with great brightness, as Mat 24:27; As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of man be; coming in the glory of heaven, and every eye shall see him; and of his coming he spake 1Th 4:1-18, and in this chapter also, as that which was not so near at hand as some imagined. And without question his coming will destroy him, if not destroyed before, as well as the rest of the wicked, 2Th 1:9; but whether judgment may not first proceed against the antichristian state, and those that have sinned under the gospel, is a question. It is sometimes mentioned particularly with respect to them: as in the parable of the tares and wheat, Mat 13:1-30, of the ten virgins, and the talents, Mat 25:1-46. And the beast and false prophet are cast into the lake of fire, Rev 19:20, before the general judgment, mentioned Rev 20:12. So that at Christ’s personal coming his judgment will, as some conceive, begin here, and then proceed to the rest of the world; whereupon many assign some great length of time to Christ’s stay upon earth, and judging the world. Others take

the brightness of his coming in a spiritual sense, for a clearer manifestation of Christ in the world. As the kingdom of antichrist, or of this man of sin, is founded in darkness, so the brightness of this coming will dispel and destroy it. With respect to his eternal generation, Christ is said to be

the brightness of his Father’s glory, Heb 1:2; but this is a brightness with respect to men. And though he hath come in his Spirit to enlighten his church from the beginning of the world, and more eminently after his ascension, yet this will exceed all the former, and is peculiarly styled

the brightness of his coming. And so they expect this destruction of this man of sin before Christ’s coming to judgment; for if it be the same with the fall of Babylon, mentioned in the Revelation, many things are to be done here upon earth after that, before Christ’s last coming, and they mention the calling of the Jews, the destruction of those enemies called Gog and Magog, the coming down of the new Jerusalem from heaven, which is some glorious state of the ctmrch here upon earth. However, the apostle here mentions nothing of a destruction by the material sword; what princes may do of different religions upon a civil account, I do not know, but as this man of sin rose out of the apostacy of the church, so he will not be consumed and destroyed but by a return from it, which is done by the breath of Christ’s mouth, and the brightness of his coming. But yet, by some instruments or other, God will avenge the blood of his servants upon this man of sin in the time and way appointed of him.

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

2Th_2:8

And then shall that wicked be revealed

Antichrist

I.

His title. That lawless one. It is the property of Antichrist to boast himself to be above all laws, in which he resembles Antiochus (Dan_11:36). It cannot, therefore, be hard to find him out, for--

1. Who is that infallible judge that takes upon him to decide all controversies, who judges all things, is judged of none; who destroys with fire and sword those who question his authority, and who releases from their allegiance the subjects of those who dispute his supreme sovereignty?

2. Who is he that takes upon him, with faculties, licences, and pardons to dispense with the law of God, and to allow open and notorious sins?

3. Who is he that by his own writers is said to be freed from all human law, that has a paramount authority to all laws, that he cannot be bound by them? One expressly says that he is above law, against law, and without law; a plain description of the lawless one in the text; and another, not without a spice of blasphemy, God and the Pope have their will for a law.

4. Who is he that has brought into the Church the worship of God by images, and the worship of saints and angels, which is the great lawlessness which is branded by the Christian law as such? If there be no such power extant, then we are yet to seek for Antichrist; but if there be, none so wilfully blind as they that cannot see wood for trees, and know not where to fix this character.

II. His revelation.

1. His appearance in the world. He shall be in the world as soon as a certain hindrance is removed.

(1) The most learned argue that this impediment was the Roman empire: that gone, Antichrist was to be revealed or the prediction proved false.

(2) Things of great moment cannot be removed nor established in a minute. The removing of the Roman empire was not all at once, nor the rising of the pontificate, but by degrees. When Constantine began to remove the imperial throne to Byzantium, though the majesty of the empire continued at Rome, yet this was a step in removing the impediment; it lessened the Emperors authority there and increased that of the Popes.

(3) The progress of Antichristian tyranny is, in short, this: About A.D. 600 their ecclesiastical power began to be raised when the majesty of the empire was weak in Italy. When John of Constantinople had usurped the title of universal bishop, Gregory the Great said, The king of pride is near, and an army of priests is prepared to serve him as their general; and in about six years Phoeos conferred on Pope Boniface the same title. About 688 the Pope obtained the Pantheon, or temple of all devils, and consecrated it to Mary and all saints. The temporal monarchy was long in hatching, but began in that century. Pope Constantine would have his foot kissed like another Diocletian, and openly resisted the Emperor Philippius, and encouraged the treason of Justine and Anastasius. In the eighth century, Gregorys II and III continued the rebellion, and caused all Italy to withdraw their obedience from the Emperor Leo; and later Zachary assisted Pepin to depose Childeric. Afterward Adrian took upon him to translate the empire of the Greeks to the Latins, and ever since the Popes have made broils in kingdoms and assumed the right of deposing kings.

2. Gods discovery of him to the world was also by degrees, in raising up witnesses against the tyranny and usurpation of Rome in every age. Five hundred years before Luther, Peter Bruis began, and Henry, his scholar, succeeded him, and to both succeeded the Waldenses and Albigenses; then Wicliffe, the Bohemians, Savonarola, and lastly Luther and the German and English reformers.

III. His ruin.

1. The manner of his fall.

(1) Consumed. Antichrist is not presently to be destroyed, but to waste away by a lingering consumption; as his rising was by degrees so he will lose his authority.

(a) The reason for this is that God has a use for him as he has for the devil himself, and therefore permits him some limited power to scourge his people for their sins, to try his peoples obedience, to cure their divisions, and to keep up a remembrance of His mercies.

(b) Observe how this consumption is accomplished. The pomp and height was about 1,500 years after Christ, but what a decay has happened since by the revival of religion and learning.

(c) Caution. Antichrist is being consumed, but he is not yet dead. What strength he may recover before his last destruction God knows; but it has re-entered many countries from which it was cast out, and made havoc among the evangelical Churches. What, then, shall we do? Watch and pray (Mat_13:25); reform and repent (Rev_2:5); be fortified and established by knowledge (2Pe_3:17), by grace (Heb_13:9; 1Jn_2:20).

(d) The author and means of this consumption, The Lord … with the breath of his mouth, which means either His providential Word (Isa_11:4; Psa_33:6; Heb_1:3; Joh_18:6), or the efficacy of His Gospel (Eph_6:17; Heb_4:12; Rev_2:16). Antichrists destruction is to be by the victorious evidence of truth. It must needs be so, for the tyranny is upheld by darkness which is dispelled by the light of truth; and therefore the Papists cannot endure the Scriptures. Again, his kingdom is carried on by falsehood, and his impostures are discovered by the simplicity of the gospel.

(2) Destroyed. The coming which is to accomplish this final annihilation is most likely the Second Advent (2Th_1:7-8; 2Th_2:1-3). Others conceive some notable manifestation of his presence and power in his Church, but it is certain that at the judgment the beast and false prophet shall be cast into the lake of fire (Rev_19:20).

2. The use to be made of this. Be not discouraged at the survival of Antichrist: his doom is sealed. (T. Manton, D. D.)

The means of the destruction of Antichrist

The gospel--the breath of His mouth. And how admirably adapted is the means to accomplish the end!

1. The man of sin has usurped the place of God in the throne of the Church. What is required to depose the tyrant? The proclamation and reception of the gospel. This shows that St. Peter had no dominion over the consciences of his brethren or the faith of the Church to which he ministered, and consequently that he never transferred such power to others. The gospel shows that God is the only Lord of conscience: and as this is known and appreciated will man fall from the position he has usurped, and God be raised and worshipped.

2. The man of sin has dictated the creed of the Church and declared it to be the merit of human actions and sufferings. And what is necessary to consume this fatal error, but the knowledge of the gospel which declares that the just shall live by faith: that salvation is of grace, through faith, and the gift of God.

3. The man of sin has vended and sold pardons and future rewards, what is necessary to consume this power of the Pope, except the knowledge and belief that God only can forgive sins; that He forgives freely through the merits of Christ, and for His sake confers the kingdom of heaven on those that believe.

4. The man of sin assumes a dominion over the invisible world, and professes to have power to deliver souls from the flames of purgatory, what is necessary to consume this error, but to circulate the Scriptures, which most clearly show that God only has power to reach the inhabitants of the invisible world.

5. The man of sin labours to keep men in ignorance. What is necessary to dispel the darkness of the human mind, and thus to consume this his stronghold, but to send men the light of life. (C. Lee.)

The Christian revelation of life

1. In Modern Painters Ruskin reminds us of the delight we feel in view of a bright distance over a dark horizon. At sunrise, beyond some line of purple hills, we have seen the sky become a great space of light, and though the shadows of night were lingering in the valley we have looked into the dawn.

2. In the Bible we are always looking over a foreground in shadow into a bright distance.

(1) In Old Testament prophecy the waste and tumult of history were seen against the far Messianic glory.

(2) In the New Testament the apostles have learned to see all the wickedness of the world horizoned by the manifestation of the Coming of Christ.

3. In Christian vision, then, two aspects of Christian life and world history should be viewed together.

(1) If we have been compelled to observe the evil of the world we need to look on until we see its darkness beneath the brightness of the Lords presence.

(2) On the other hand, we must not shrink from any knowledge of the evil of the world. The Good Shepherd will seek the lost sheep, and not wait for the coming dawn.

4. Observe how Jesus always seemed to see both aspects. Sin was an ever present fact to Him, but He saw it all set in the holy love of God; and because of this He could at once condemn sin and rejoice over it.

5. A similar juxtaposition characterizes this chapter. We do not know exactly of what Paul was thinking, but it is clear that he saw the darker foreground, and the bright distance, the mystery of iniquity still working, and the manifestation of the coming of Christ.

I. The text discovers the law by which the manifestation of the presence of Christ follows the revelation of the man of sin. The revelation of sin is necessary for its judgment. As soon as the man of sin becomes revealed, then follows his destruction. Things have to grow worse in order that they may become better. We can discover this principle when we survey great historic masses of sin. When Babylons abominations were full, Gods judgment brought all her pomp down to hell. So with pagan and mediaeval Rome. The Goth and Vandals were let loose by Providence when the vices of a decayed civilization had filled the cup of wrath; and the Papal corruption was ripe for destruction when Luther sounded his appeal. What availed the voice of some New England divine to check the growing system of slavery in America? Both North and South were making money by letting it alone. But all the while it was growing up under the law of Gods judgment. Providence lets wheat and tares grow till the harvest. And when at last that man of sin was fully revealed, the compromises which had restrained the full growth and revelation of slavery being taken away, then came the hour of its destruction.

II. There is always, therefore, reason for hope when we see some evil thing coming out of its concealment, and making its power felt with a more shameless impudence. Whether it be intemperance, the power of the saloon, or greed, or lust, or monopoly, or anarchy. This law is a reason for hope and courage in all Christian work. Something may have given you a moments revelation of the mystery of iniquity in your neighbourhood, and discouraged, you are tempted to say What is the use of our feeble endeavour against such powers of evil? Or you may have run against some dead wall of indifference, or custom, or wrong method entrenched in some good institution, and because rebuffed where you expected sympathy you either drop the work or continue with heartlessness. But you have furled to look up until you saw some bit of Gods sky at the end of your way. If we are sure we have seen the wrong and harm, we may be sure that it will be manifest in time, and that in time what hinders its revelation will be removed, and then it shall be consumed in the brightness of the Lords Coming. This is the reason why the men who really have seen evil things, and fought mightily against them, as a rule have been not only the bravest men, the self sacrificing, the martyrs, but also the cheeriest and most hopeful men. It is the indifferent man, he who does not lift a finger to take any burden from mens shoulders, who fears that his country is going to destruction, as it might do for aught he does.

III. The same principle obtains with reference to our individual salvation. Sins one after another come to revelation in our lives, and, as they are revealed will be consumed in some manifestation of Christ. A man goes on in a life that was not satisfactory to his conscience or heart. Something happens to bring that dissatisfaction to revelation. He sees a larger, diviner self rising before his present self, condemning it, and ready to consume it as by the presence of Christ. That is a crisis for any man. And if we disown the man of sin in us, and own the Christ self, we are converted. And every time any sin comes to revelation is Gods opportunity of grace. When it Teaches its full measure it may not prove to be a vehement passion, or devouring beast, but only some little meanness, selfishness, etc. But at last we see it as an evil thing, contrary to God. Then let it be consumed in the presence of Christ. Behold now is the accepted time. And the progress upward is one of ever increasing quickness of perception of evil and power over sin.

IV. Such is the benign law of growth and grace; but its alternative cannot be escaped. If the man of sin in us is revealed, and we will not let him go, what then? The sin must be punished. God cannot hold heaven safe in one hand, and let the sin of the world escape from the other. The man of sin must be destroyed, and if we cling to it how can God separate us from its fate? We must go where sin goes, if our hearts cleave to the sin. That is so in this world, why should it be different in any ether? All dishonesties go straight and sure towards ruin, and eventually carry the defaulters with them. Hence the urgency of the gospel to us now. (Newman Smyth, D. D.)

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

2Th 2:8. And then — When every prince and power that restrains is taken away; that wicked — Ο ανομος, that lawless one, who boasts himself to be above all laws, and the infallible judge, dispensing with, and interpreting the laws of God, according to his pleasure. Nothing can be more plain than that this wicked or lawless one, and the man of sin, must be one and the same person: shall be revealed — This revelation must mean that he would then no longer work secretly, but would openly show himself, possessing the character, and performing the actions ascribed to the man of sin. Whom the Lord shall consume — The apostle does not mean that he should be consumed immediately after he was revealed; but, to comfort the Thessalonians, he no sooner mentions his revelation, than he foretels also his destruction, even before he describes his other qualifications; which qualifications should have been described first in order of time, but the apostle hastens to what was first and warmest in his thoughts and wishes. The word αναλωσει, here rendered to consume, Chandler observes, is used to denote a lingering, gradual consumption; being applied to the waste of time, to the dissipation of an estate, and the slow death of being eaten up of worms. He supposes it has the same meaning here, importing that the man of sin is to be gradually destroyed by the spirit — Or breath rather, as it seems πνευμα should have been here translated; of Christ’s mouth — By which expression the preaching of true doctrine, and its efficacy in destroying the man of sin, are predicted. For the mouth being the instrument by which speech is formed of breath, or air from the lungs, the breath of his mouth is a proper figurative expression to denote the speaking or preaching of true doctrine. Accordingly, the preaching of the gospel is termed, (Rev 19:15,) a sharp sword proceeding out of the mouth of Christ; and (Hos 6:5) God says, I have hewed them by the prophets, I have slain them by the word of my mouth. See also Isa 11:4. Or, the expression may include both the preaching of the gospel and the power of the Spirit accompanying it; and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming — By clear, convincing reasons and arguments contained in the doctrine of those that shall speak or write by the Spirit of Christ, or by God’s manifest judgments against him in the pouring out of the several vials, Revelation 16. The original expression, επιφανεια της παρουσιας αυτου, is, literally, the bright shining of his coming, and means that, as darkness is dispelled by the rising of the sun, so the mystery of iniquity shall be destroyed by the lustre with which Christ will cause the true doctrine of the gospel to shine. “If,” says Dr. Benson, “St. John and St. Paul have prophesied of the same corruptions, it should seem that the head of the apostacy will be destroyed by some signal judgment, after its influence or dominion hath, in a gradual manner, been destroyed by the force of truth.” According to Daniel, (Dan 7:27,) after the little horn is consumed and destroyed, the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; a prediction which undoubtedly signifies the general conversion of both Gentiles and Jews to the Christian faith, and the universal reign of righteousness and peace through all the earth.

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

2:8 Paul announces the doom of the man of lawlessness (cp. 2:3). Although this figure claims to be divine, places his cult above all other worship (2:4), and receives power from Satan (2:9), the Lord Jesus will violently and utterly destroy him (Isa 11:4). • splendor: A reference to Christ’s epiphany (1 Tim 6:14; 2 Tim 1:10; 4:1, 8; Titus 2:13), an alternative description of Christ’s coming (2 Thes 2:1; 1 Thes 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23) or unveiling (2 Thes 1:7). In ancient literature, an epiphany was the appearance of a deity or a demonstration of divine power that evoked worship.

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

2Th 2:8. Τότε, then) immediately.—ὁ ἄνομος) This is the last and most weighty appellation, comprehending the force of the preceding ones. That unjust, iniquitous, lawless one, and (by a more nervous term used by Plautus and Nonius, ‘illex’) the outlaw. רשע, LXX., ἀσεβὴς, ungodly, Isa 11:4: He shall smite the earth with the word (rod) of His mouth (τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ), and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the ungodly (ἐν πνεύματι—ἀνελεῖ ἀσεβῆ).—ὃν, whom) after having long enough acted the part of a man of violence.—ὁ Κυρίος,[18] the Lord) the Lord of lords, Rev 19:16.—τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, by the breath [or rather, the Spirit] of His mouth) There also proceeds out of this mouth a sword (ῥομφαία), Ib. Rev 19:15; Rev 19:21.—Τῇ ἘΠΙΦΑΝΕΊᾼ Τῆς ΠΑΡΟΥΣΊΑς ΑὐΤΟῦ, with the appearance of His coming [But Engl. Vers., with the brightness of His coming]) In some places appearance, in others coming [παρουσία], is mentioned, the latter in 2Th 2:1, both being used in the same sense; but here the appearance of His coming is before the coming itself, or at least (it expresses) the first dawn of the brightness of His actual coming, as ἐπιφάνεια τῆς ἡμέρας [expresses the appearance or dawning of day].

[18] The 2d Ed. prefers the fuller reading ὁ Κυρίος Ἰησοῦς; and the Germ. Vers. follows it.—E. B.

Tisch., with B (judging from silence), Rec. Text, Orig. 1, 668d, reads ὁ Κύριος. But Lachm. better, with AD(Δ) corrected, Gfg Vulg., Orig. 4, 321b, Iren. 182, 323, Hilary, reads ὁ Κύριος Ἰησοῦς. Orig. 1, 424e has Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς.—ED.

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

2Th_2:8. What was left to the readers themselves to supply to μόνον, 2Th_2:7, from the conclusion of 2Th_2:6, is now, in its essence, although in an altered form, expressly indicated by καὶ τότε ἀποκαλυφθήσεται ὁ ἄνομος.

καὶ τότε] and then, namely, as soon as the κατέχων is taken out of the way. The emphasis is on καὶ τότε, not on ὁ ἄνομος (Grotius), nor on ἀποκαλυφθήσεται.

ὁ ἄνομος] the lawless one, is not a different person from ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἁμαρτίας (Grotius), but identical with him. For καὶ τότε ἀποκαλυφθήσεται points back to μόνον, 2Th_2:7, and by this to ἀποκαλυφθῆναι αὐτόν, 2Th_2:6. The expression ἀνομία, just used, afforded the easily explained occasion for calling Antichrist ἄνομος.

With the relative sentence ὃν ὁ κύριος … παρουσίας αὐτοῦ (which is incorrectly enclosed in a parenthesis by Benson, Moldenhauer, Schott, and Kern) the apostle immediately adds the ultimate fate which Antichrist has to expect. That Paul so directly passes over to this, although he has it yet in view to speak of the working of Antichrist before his destruction (comp. 2Th_2:9-10), is an involuntary impulse of his Christian heart which causes him immediately to resolve the horror which the announcement of such an event as the ἀποκάλυψις τοῦ ἀνόμου has into comfort and consolation, as a discord into harmony, comp. 2Th_2:3-4.

In a soaring and poetical form of expression, the members of which have their Hebrew parallels, Paul describes the fate of Antichrist. Not improbably Isa_11:4 was present to his mind, where it is declared of the promised Deliverer of the seed of Jesse: καὶ πατάξει λῆν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν πνεύματι διὰ χειλέων ἀνελεῖ ἀσεβῆ.

ἀναλίσκειν] to consume, to destroy.

τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ] describes the power and irresistible might of the reappearing Christ, the breath of whose mouth suffices to bring His opponents to nothing. More definite interpretations, as the sentence of condemnation (Vatablus, Cornelius a Lapide), or a command or address (Theodoret: φθέγξεται μόνον; Theodore Mopsuestia, ed. Fritzsche, p. 148: μόνον ἐπιβοήσας … τοῦτο γὰρ λέγει τὸ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ ἀντὶ τοῦ τῇ φωνῇ, ἀπὸ τοῦ παρʼ ἡμῖν αὐτὸ εἰρηκώς, ἐπειδὴ ἡμεῖς τῷ πνεύματι συνεργῷ κεχρήμεθα πρὸς τὴν ἔναρθρον λαλιάν), are to be rejected; for they destroy or weaken the picturesque directness and strength of the figure. Comp. moreover, Eurip. Med. 588: ἓν γὰρ οὖν κτενεῖ σʼ ἔπος.

καταργεῖν] to overthrow, to annihilate. On account of Rev_19:20, Calovius and Olshausen interpret the verb of a mere rendering inefficient, depriving Antichrist of his influence; but the parallel ἀναλώσει decides against this meaning, and a comparison of the Pauline form of expression with that of the Apocalypse is useless labour.

τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ] by the appearance of His presence. The majestic brightness of the advent is not described by ἐπιφάνεια (Musculus, Hemming, Bullinger, Heinsius, Andrew Osiander, Cornelius a Lapide, Erasmus Schmid, Calixt, Clericus, Bernard a Piconius, Sebastian Schmid, Schoettgen, Turretin, Whitby, Benson, Macknight, Koppe, Krause, Bolten, Heydenreich, Pelt, Schott, Kern, Wieseler, and others); also παρουσία and ἐπιφάνεια are not to be distinguished, as Olshausen strangely thinks, as objective and subjective, i.e. as the actual fact of the appearance of Christ, and the contemplation of it on the part of man, the consciousness of His presence; but the placing the two together has the same design as formerly, τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, namely, vividly to represent the power of Christ, inasmuch as the mere advent of His presence suffices to annihilate His adversaries. Comp. Bengel: apparitio adventus ipso adventu prior est, vel certe prima ipsius adventus emicatio, uti ἐπιφάνεια τῆς ἡμέρας.

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 2:8 . ὅν , κ . τ . λ ., his career is short and tragic. The apparition ( cf. 1Ti 6:14 , etc., Thieme, Die Inschriften von Magnesia , 34 f.) of Jesus heralds his overthrow. ἐπιφανείᾳ = sudden appearance of a deity at some crisis ( cf. Diod., Sicul. , i. 25), as the god in 2Ma 2:21 ; 2Ma 3:24 , etc. “In hieratic inscriptions the appearing of the god in visible form to men is commonly expressed by the same word” (Ramsay, Exp. Ti. , x. 208). This passage, with its fierce messianic anticipation of the adversary’s doom interrupts the description of his mission which is resumed (in 2Th 2:9 ) with an account of the inspiration ( κατὰ ), method ( ἐν ) and results (2Th 2:10 ), of this evil advent. Galen ( de facult. nat. , 1. 2, 4 5) physiologically defines ἐνέργεια as the process of activity whose product is ἔργον . The impulse to ἐνέργεια is δύναμις . The δύναμις of this supernatural delusion is specially manifested in signs and wonders . The power of working miracles in order to deceive people (2Th 2:11 ) was an accepted trait in the Jewish and early Christian ideas of such eschatological opponents of God ( cf. on Rev 13:13 , and Friedländer’s Geschichte d. jüd. Apolog. , 493 f.).

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

That wickedness shall at length be detected by the word of the Lord, and utterly be abolished by Christ’s coming.

Word for word, that lawless fellow: that is to say, he that shall tread God’s law clean underfoot.

Bring to nought.

With his word: for the true Ministers of the word are as a mouth, whereby the Lord breatheth out that mighty and everlasting word, which shall break his enemies in sunder, as it were an iron rod.

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

Translate, "the lawless one"; the embodiment of all the godless "lawlessness" which has been working in "mystery" for ages (Th2 2:7) : "the man of sin" (Th2 2:3).

whom the Lord--Some of the oldest manuscripts read, "the Lord Jesus." How awful that He whose very name means God-Saviour, should appear as the Destroyer; but the salvation of the Church requires the destruction of her foe. As the reign of Israel in Canaan was ushered in by judgments on the nations for apostasy (for the Canaanites were originally worshippers of the true God: thus Melchisedek, king of Salem, was the "priest of the most high God," Gen 14:18 : Ammon and Moab came from righteous Lot), so the Son of David's reign in Zion and over the whole earth, is to be ushered in by judgments on the apostate Christian world.

consume . . . and . . . destroy--So Dan 7:26, "consume and destroy"; Dan 11:45. He shall "consume" him by His mere breath (Isa 11:4; Isa 30:33) : the sentence of judgment being the sharp sword that goeth out of His mouth (Rev 19:15, Rev 19:21). Antichrist's manifestation and destruction are declared in the same breath; at his greatest height he is nearest his fall, like Herod his type (Isa 1:24-27; Act 12:20-23). As the advancing fire, while still at a distance consumes little insects [CHRYSOSTOM] by its mere heat, so Christ's mere approach is enough to consume Antichrist. The mere "appearance of the coming" of the Lord of glory is sufficient to show to Antichrist his perfect nothingness. He is seized and "cast alive into the take of fire" (Rev 19:20). So the world kingdoms, and the kingdom of the beast, give place to that of the Son of man and His saints. The Greek for "destroy" means "abolish" (the same Greek is so translated, Ti2 1:10); that is, cause every vestige of him to disappear. Compare as to Gog attacking Israel and destroyed by Jehovah (Eze. 38:1-39:29), so as not to leave a vestige of him.

with the brightness of his coming--Greek, "the manifestation, (or appearance) of His presence": the first outburst of His advent--the first gleam of His presence--is enough to abolish utterly all traces of Antichrist, as darkness disappears before the dawning day. Next, his adherents are "slain with the sword out of His mouth" (Rev 19:21). BENGEL'S distinction between "the appearance of His coming" and the "coming" itself is not justified by Ti1 6:14; Ti2 1:10; Ti2 4:1, Ti2 4:8; Tit 2:13, where the same Greek for "appearing" (English Version, here "the brightness") plainly refers to the coming itself. The expression, "manifestation (appearing) of His presence," is used in awful contrast to the revelation of the wicked one in the beginning of the verse.

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 8. Whom the Lord shall consume] He shall blast him so, that he shall wither and die away; and this shall be done by the spirit of his mouth-the words of eternal life, the true doctrine of the Gospel of Jesus; this shall be the instrument used to destroy this man of sin: therefore it is evident his death will not be a sudden but a gradual one; because it is by the preaching of the truth that he is to be exposed, overthrown, and finally destroyed.

The brightness of his coming] This may refer to that full manifestation of the truth which had been obscured and kept under by the exaltation of this man of sin.

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

8 And then will be revealed — that is, when that impediment (τὸ κατέχον) shall be removed; for he does not point out the time of revelation as being when he, who now holds the supremacy, will be taken out of the way, but he has an eye to what he had said before. For he had said that there was some hindrance in the way of Antichrist’s entering upon an open possession of the kingdom. He afterwards added, that he was already hatching a secret work of impiety. In the third place, he has interspersed consolation, on the ground that this tyranny would come to an end. He now again repeats, that he who was as yet hidden, would be revealed in his time; and the repetition is with this view — that believers, being furnished with spiritual armor, may, nevertheless, fight vigorously under Christ, and not allow themselves to be overwhelmed, although the deluge of impiety should thus overspread.

Whom the Lord. He had foretold the destruction of Antichrist’s reign; he now points out the manner of his destruction — that he will be reduced to nothing by the word of the Lord. It is uncertain, however, whether he speaks of the last appearance of Christ, when he will be manifested from heaven as the Judge. The words, indeed, seem to have this meaning, but Paul does not mean that Christ would accomplish this in one moment. Hence we must understand it in this sense — that Antichrist would be wholly and in every respect destroyed, when that final day of the restoration of all things shall arrive. Paul, however, intimates that Christ will in the mean time, by the rays which he will emit previously to his advent, put to flight the darkness in which Antichrist will reign, just as the sun, before he is seen by us, chases away the darkness of the night by the pouring forth of his rays.

This victory of the word, therefore, will shew itself in this world, for the spirit of his mouth simply means the word, as it also does in Isaiah 11:4, to which passage Paul seems to allude. For the Prophet there takes in the same sense the scepter of his mouth, and the breath of his lips, and he also furnishes Christ with these very arms, that he may rout his enemies. This is a signal commendation of true and sound doctrine — that it is represented as sufficient for putting an end to all impiety, and as destined to be invariably victorious, in opposition to all the machinations of Satan; as also when, a little afterwards, the proclamation of it is spoken of as Christ’s coming to us.

When Paul adds, the brightness of his coming, he intimates that the light of Christ’s presence will be such as will swallow up the darkness of Antichrist. In the mean time, he indirectly intimates, that Antichrist will be permitted to reign for a time, when Christ has, in a manner, withdrawn, as usually happens, whenever on his presenting himself we turn our back upon him. And, undoubtedly, that is a sad departure of Christ, when he has taken away his light from men, which has been improperly and unworthily received, in accordance with what follows. In the mean time Paul teaches, that by his presence alone all the elect of God will be abundantly safe, in opposition to all the subtleties of Satan.

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.

(8) And then.—Then at length, when the obstructor is gone, two things shall happen: (1) the Lawless One shall be revealed, and (2) then the Lord will come and destroy him. The purpose with which St. Paul began this chapter was to show relatively the date of our Lord’s Advent; but he is now so engrossed in describing the events which must precede it, that when he does mention the Advent again he does so in a parenthetical relative clause.

That Wicked.—Or, the Lawless One. The English version has again obscured the passage by not keeping the same word as in 2Th_2:7. The general tendency to “lawlessness” or “rebellion” will be brought to a head in the person of “the Lawless One” or “the “Rebel,” just as the “obstruction” is impersonated in “the Obstructor.” The publication of the “secret of rebelliousness” will be effected by the manifesto of the Rebel-in-chief. Of course, this Rebel is the same person with the Man of Sin, the change of title being due to the particularising of his sin by the word “lawlessness” in 2Th_2:7; the specification of the time is the only additional intelligence; all the emphasis of the sentence, therefore, rests on “And then.”

The Lord.—The best text adds the name Jesus, which serves more clearly to contrast Him with His rival. The word “whom” might be more pointedly paraphrased by “and him.”

With the spirit of his mouth.—St. Paul is quoting roughly from Isa_11:4 (comp. Job_4:9; Psa_18:15; Wis_11:20 : “might have fallen down with one blast, . . . scattered abroad through the breath of Thy power”); and therefore we are to understand it to signify the perfect ease with which Christ will destroy Antichrist. Even when the phrase is used of speech (as it may perhaps be here), the absence of labour is the point to be noticed (e.g., Psa_33:6).

With the brightness of his coming.—Rather, with the appearing of His presence. Here, again, it is the mere fact of the true Christ’s showing Himself, which will reduce to nothingness (such is the meaning of the Greek for “destroy”) the false Christ. When they shall stand face to face there will be no possibility of delusion any more.

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

And then shall that wicked be revealed,.... That lawless one, who sets himself above the laws of God and man, and dispenses with them at pleasure, who judges all men, but is judged by no man; as he was in his ecclesiastical power, when Phocas, who murdered the Emperor Mauritius, granted to Boniface III. to be called universal bishop; and in his civil power in succeeding popes, who took upon them the power over kings and emperors, to crown, depose, and excommunicate at pleasure:

whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth: that is, the "Lord Jesus", as the Alexandrian copy, and Vulgate Latin version read; and the Syriac version, "our Lord Jesus": who is Lord of lords, and God over all; and so able to do what he is here said he shall do: and which he will do

with the Spirit of his mouth; meaning either the Holy Spirit, the third person which proceeds from him, as in Psa 33:6, and so the Ethiopic version, "whom the Spirit of our Lord Jesus shall cast out"; Christ will by his Spirit blow a blast upon antichrist and his kingdom, which he shall never recover again, but ever after consume and waste away: or else by his spirit is meant his Gospel; the Scriptures in general are the breath of God, being divinely inspired by him, and are the sword of the Spirit, the twoedged sword of law and Gospel, which proceeds out of Christ's mouth; the Gospel contains the words of Christ, which are spirit and life; these come out of his mouth, and are sharper than any twoedged sword; and as hereby sinners are cut to the heart, hewn and slain, convicted and converted, so by this likewise antichrist will be consumed, and is consuming; for this phrase denotes the beginning of his destruction, which took place at the time of the reformation by the preaching of the Gospel by Luther and others; by which this man of sin received his deadly wound, and has been in a consumption ever since, and is sensibly wasting in his power and glory every day, and will ere long come to utter destruction:

and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming; either in a spiritual way, when he shall come in his spiritual kingdom and glory, by the light of his Gospel and the illuminations of his Spirit; when at eventide it shall be light; when he the sun of righteousness shall arise; when latter day light and glory shall appear, and latter day darkness, the gross darkness of Popery, Paganism, and Judaism, which cover the people, shall, be removed, and antichrist in every form shall disappear: or in a personal manner, when he shall come to judge the quick and dead, which will be in flaming fire and great glory; and then will antichrist and his followers, the beast and those that have worshipped him, be cast with the devil and the false prophet into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone; and this will be the last and utter end of him. In this passage there is a manifest reference to Isa 11:4, "with the breath of his mouth shall he slay the wicked": which the Targumist paraphrases,

"with the words of his lips he shall slay , "Armillus the wicked":''

and which the Jews say will be done by the Messiah at his coming;

"for so (i) (say they) that phrase in Deu 22:8 "if a man fall from thence", has respect to Armillus the wicked, who at the coming of our Messiah will be slain, as it is said in Isa 11:4'

This Armillus, the Jews say (k), is the head of all idolatry, the tenth king who shall reign at Rome, the city of Satan; that he shall rise up after Gog and Magog, and shall go up to Jerusalem, and slay Messiah ben Joseph, and shall himself be slain by Messiah the son of David; yea, they say expressly (l), it is the same whom the Gentiles call antichrist: it is the same with Romulus the first king of the Romans, and designs a Roman, the Roman antichrist; and it may be observed, that the Targumist interprets "the breath of his mouth", by his word; and so says another of their writers (m),

"the meaning is by the word of his lips, for the word goes out of the mouth with the vapour and breath:''

such an expression as this is said (n) to be used by Moses, when he was bid by God to answer the angels who objected to his having the law given him;

"I am afraid (says he) they will slay (or burn me), , "with the breath of their mouth":''

much more may this be feared from the breath of Christ's mouth.

(i) Tzeror Hammor, fol. 148. 2. (k) Apud Buxtorf. Lex. Talmud. col. 221, 222, 223. (l) Abkath Rochel, par. 1. sign. 7. p. 52. (m) In Ohel Moed. fol. 19. 1. (n) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 88. 2.

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

8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Ver. 8. And then shall that wicked] Gr. ανομος, that lawless, yokeless, masterless monster to whom in the Council of Lateran, 1516 (one year only before Luther stood up to reform), there was granted plenary power over the whole Church; which was never settled upon him in any former Council. Pope Nicholas I said, that he was above law, because Constantine had styled the pope God. But the very gloss derides him for this inference.

With the spirit of his mouth] i.e. With the evidence of his word in the mouths of his faithful ministers. Vide catalogum testium veritatis. Bellarmine confesseth to his great grief, that ever since the Lutherans have declared the pope to be Antichrist., his kingdom hath not only not increased, but every day more and more decreased and decayed. (Lib. iii. de Papa Rom. cap. 21.) What long hath been the opinion and fear of some not unconsiderable divines, that Antichrist before his abolition, shall once again overflow the whole face of the west, and suppress the true Protestant Churches, I pray God to avert.

With the brightness of his coming] At the last day. The holy city shall they tread underfoot forty and two months, Rev 11:2, that is (as some compute it) till the year of grace 1866. But that is but a conjecture. No more is that other, that Solomon’s temple was finished in the year of the world 3000; and was destroyed, together with the city, by the Romans, in the year of the world exactly 4000, therefore the spiritual temple shall be consummated in 3000, or perhaps in 4000 more. (Lightfoot’s Harm. 206.)

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.

And then shall that Wicked be revealed - ὁ ἄνομος ho anomos - “the wicked one,” referring to the “man of sin,” and called “the wicked one” because of the eminent depravity of the system of which he was to be the head; see the notes on 2Th 2:3.

Whom the Lord shall consume - The Lord Jesus; see the notes on Act 1:24. The word “consume” here - ἀναλώσει analōsei - means “to destroy;” see Gal 5:15; Luk 9:54. The word would be applicable to any kind of destruction. The methods by which this will be done are immediately specified - and it is of much importance to understand them, if this refers to the papacy. “With the spirit of his mouth.” What goes out of his mouth, or what he speaks; that is, word, truth, command, or gospel - all of which he may be regarded as speaking. In Rev 1:16; Rev 19:15, Rev 19:21, it is said of the Redeemer that “a sharp two-edged sword goeth out of his mouth;” that is, his word, doctrine, or command - what he speaks - is like a sharp sword. It will cut deep; will lay open the heart; will destroy his enemies. Compare Isa 11:4, “With the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” The reference in the passage before us is to one of the methods which would be employed to “destroy” the man of sin; and the sense is, that it would be by what is spoken by the Redeemer. This may refer either to what he will say at his coming, or to his truth - already spoken; to what has gone from his lips, by whomsoever uttered; and the meaning then is, that one of the grand agencies for destroying this anti-Christian power is the truth spoken or revealed by the Saviour - that is, his pure gospel.

If this latter is the true interpretation, it may mean that the process for his destruction may have commenced long anterior to the personal appearing of the Redeemer, but that the complete destruction of this power will be accomplished by the splendor of his second coming. It cannot be denied, however, that the most obvious interpretation is that which refers both clauses in the sentence to the same period - that of his second coming. Still, it is not improper to suppose that it may be implied that his power will be weakened and diminished by the influence of the gospel, though it may not be wholly destroyed until the second coming of the Saviour.

And shall destroy - καταργήσει katargēsei. Shall bring to nothing; cause to cease; put an end to. This is, in some respects, a stronger word than that which in the former part of the verse is rendered “consume.” It denotes a more entire destruction than that, though it does not refer so much to any positive agency by which it will be done. In the former word, the attention is directed more to the agency by which the destruction will be effected - to the exertion of some kind of power to do it; in this word the attention is directed rather to the entireness or totality of the destruction. The anti-Christian domination will wholly cease, or be entirely destroyed. The words would naturally harmonize with the idea that there would be a somewhat gradual process under the operation of truth toward the destruction of the man of sin, but that the complete annihilation of his power would be by some more manifest exhibition of the personal glory of the Saviour.

With the brightness of his coming - This is evidently a Hebraism, meaning his splendid or glorious appearing. The Greek word, however, rendered “brightness” (ἐπιφανεία epiphaneia - epiphany) - means merely “an appearing,” or “appearance.” So it is used in 1Ti 6:4; 2Ti 1:10; 2Ti 4:1, 2Ti 4:8; Tit 2:13, in all which places it is rendered appearing, and refers to the manifestation of the Saviour when he shall come to judge the world. It is used nowhere else in the New Testament. There is no necessary idea of splendor in the word, and the idea is not, as our translation would seem to convey, that there would be such a dazzling light, or such unsufferable brightness that all would be consumed before it, but that he would appear, and that this anti-Christian power would be destroyed by his appearing; that is, by himself when he would return. The agency in doing it would not be his brightness, but himself. It would seem to follow from this, that, however this enormous power of wickedness might be weakened by truth, the final triumph over it would be reserved for the Son of God himself on his second return to our world. Yet, if this be so, it need not lessen our zeal in endeavoring to diminish the power of these corruptions; to establish and spread the truth, or to convert the defenders of these errors to a better faith.

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

Spirit of his mouth, &c. St. Paul make use of this expression, to shew the ease with which God can put down the most powerful from his seat. He does it likewise to give the Thessalonians a right notion of the man of sin. For as he before told them, he would cause himself to be adored, they might have imagined him more upon an equality with the Almighty. These words, however, quite take away that meaning. He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. (Isaias xi. 4. &c.) (Calmet)

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).

8. Then—As soon as the hinderance is withdrawn. The Roman-pagan empire must disappear, before the Roman-papal power can disclose itself. The Roman emperor must cease before the Roman pope can commence supremacy. The great red dragon must be cast down before the beast can rise. One antichristic guise must be dropped before another can be assumed.

That Wicked—That Lawless; who overrules God’s laws and substitutes his own.

Revealed—Clearly alluding to the personal Satan. For as Christ is revealed, being pre-existent, so is this antichrist revealed, being pre-existent.

Consume… destroy—We have now a vivid semi-poetic picture of the double destruction of antichrist. Our apostle, in the glow of inspiration, interrupts his description to hasten to the destruction. He has a moment of old Hebraic rapture, and gives us a splendid specimen of Hebraic parallelism:—

Shall consume with the breath of his mouth,

Destroy with the brightness of his coming.

But the Hebrew parallelism was not always the reiteration of the same thought, but two richly varied phases of the same subject. The subject here, as just noted, is the double destruction of antichrist, first under his beast guise, as in Rev_19:12-21, and the second in his incarnate form, as in Rev_20:7-10.

Consume with the spirit (or breath) of his mouth—An allusion to the beautiful words of Isa_11:4 : “He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” This figure is not to be degraded into a description of a physical or bodily destruction by an uttered word of Christ.

“The rod of his mouth” is the powerful truth that he utters to the world; and “the breath of his lips” is that divine doctrine by which the old man is slain that the new man may be born. This passage is virtually reproduced in Rev_19:15 : “Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations.” As a material image this would be very gross; but as an emblem of all-conquering truth going forth from the lips of Jesus, cutting and smiting down all before it, it is a parable of beauty. And so the entire passage (Rev_19:11-21) is a picture of spiritual conquests and providential overrulings by Jehovah-Christ in behalf of his earthly kingdom. Kings, there, are, as in ancient prophecy, antitheistic dominations and organisms; the beast and false prophets are not so much men as antichristic systems; their overthrow is the emancipation of “the nations” of 2Th_2:15, who are still existing in Rev_20:3; Rev_20:8. This battle and overthrow are not the work of a day, but of an age; and it is the preparation for that predominance of Christ’s kingdom symbolized by the reign with Christ of the imparadised “souls” of the martyrs in the battle, who are enthroned over the world, Satan having been bound.

And—As the previous member of this parallelism describes Rev_19:11-21, so the following corresponds with Rev_20:7-10.

Destroy—Bring to naught. Not “annihilate,” as Alford (apparently following Lunemann’s vernichten) translates it; but, abolish, nullify. To “annihilate” would imply the putting the very elements of his being out of existence.

Brightness of his coming—The επιφανεια της παρουσιας, by the resplendence of his parousia. Very flatly rendered by Alford “annihilated by the appearance of his coming.” It is by the epiphania, and not by the parousia, that antichrist is said to be destroyed. The word in the New Testament uniformly implies either physical or moral resplendence; as an adjective, Act_2:20; as noun, 2Ti_1:10; as verb, Act_27:20; Luk_1:79. In Rev_20:9, antichrist’s armies are “devoured” by “fire out of heaven,” just before the parousia.

This interpretation does, with a slight yet effective variation, ratify the view taken of this parallelism by the best Protestant writers. Thus says Dr.

Gloat: “The spirit or breath of his mouth has been understood to denote the preaching of the pure gospel, the diffusion of the word of God, and the revival of evangelical doctrines, which will undermine popery. By the brightness of his coming is meant… the final destruction of popery by the coming of Christ to judgment.” Substitute antichrist here for popery, embracing our historic-prophetic view of antichrist, and these words express our exposition of this parallelism. And so says Bishop Newton: “If the two clauses relate to two different events, the meaning manifestly is, that the Lord Jesus shall gradually consume him with the free preaching of his gospel, and shall utterly destroy him at his second coming.” The former began to take effect at the Reformation, and the latter will be accomplished in God’s appointed time.

And this puts into our hands a key for the solution of the most important section of the Apocalypse, Revelation 10-20. It is a tracing the history of the stages of contest between Christ and antichrist from the first to the second coming. The former appears under successive phases of his true Person, as man-child, conquering hero, and final judge; the latter lurks through various guises and exposures as dragon, beast, naked Satan, and incarnate anti-messiah. At the successive time-points the two, Christ and antichrist, meet; at every point Christ is increasingly victorious; until at last his glorious advent consigns the adversary to hell forever.

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

And then; namely, so soon as he that restraineth is taken out of the way. Shall that Wicked; or, that lawless one, in whom the mystery of lawlessness is realized; not different from, but the same with, the "man of sin, the son of perdition." Be revealed; appear unveiled in all his naked deformity. No longer working secretly, but openly, and in an undisguised form; no longer the mystery, but the revelation of lawlessness. The apostle now interrupts his description of the man of sin by announcing his doom.

Whom the Lord; or, as the best attested manuscripts read, whom the Lord Jesus. Shall consume; or rather, shall slay (R.V). With the spirit (or, breath) of his mouth. Various interpretations have been given to this clause. Some refer it to the Word of God, and others to the Holy Spirit, and suppose that the conversion of the world is here predicted; but this is evidently an erroneous interpretation, as the doom of antichrist is here announced. Others refer the term to a cry or word, and think that the sentence of condemnation pronounced by the Lord Jesus on the wicked is intended. But the words are to be taken literally as a description of the power and irresistible might of Christ at his coming that the mere breath of his mouth is sufficient to consume the wicked. (comp. Isa_11:4, "He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked And shall destroy (or, annihilate) with the brightness (or, appearance) of his coming. The two words, epiphany and parousia, which are elsewhere used separately to denote the coming of Christ, are here employed. There is no ground for the assertion that the first is the subjective and the second the objective aspect of Christ"s coming (Olshausen). The brightness of Christ"s coming is not here expressed; but the meaning is that the mere appearance of Christ"s presence will annihilate the wicked.

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

And then - When every prince and power that restrains is taken away. Will that wicked one - Emphatically so called, be revealed. Whom the Lord will soon consume with the spirit of his mouth - His immediate power. And destroy - With the very first appearance of his glory.

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

These words contain both the risk and ruin of Antichrist, his revelation and destruction.

Observe, 1. The title given to him, o Anomos, the lawless one, he that boasts himself to be above all law, and assumes to himself a power to dispense with all the laws of God, as we well know who does.

Observe, 2. His revelation, Then shall that wicked be revealed. God has revealed Antichrist to the world, let none wilfully shut their eyes against him, but let him be shunned and abhorred; if his adherents will not fall off from him, but be partakers with him in his sins, let them expect to be partakers also with him in his plagues; to continue his adherents is dangerous, but to turn his disciples is more dangerous: for that is a downright apostasy, and flat revolt from Christ to Antichrist. How Almighty God may dispense mercifully with errors imbibed in our education we know not, but to turn our back on the truth wherein we have been educated and instructed, makes it more dangerous to our salvation.

Observe, 3. Antichrist’s ruin, Whom the Lord shall consume and destroy.

Here note, That the apostle had no sooner discovered Antichrist’s rise, but he presently declares his ruin: The Lord shall destroy him; that is, the Lord Jesus Christ shall destroy him gradually, he shall waste away by little and little; as his rise was, such shall his ruin be: destroyed and consumed he shall be, but not presently; because God has an use for him, work to do for him, to scourge his people, to try his people, to unite his people.

Observe, 4. How Antichrist’s ruin is accompolished,

(1.) With the spirit of his mouth, or the breath of his mouth: the expression denotes, the facility and easiness of his destruction: it is done with a breath; the breath of God here denotes the preaching of the gospel, and intimates, that Antichrist’s destruction shall be by the ministry of the word, and the victorious evidence of truth; but besides this ministerial word, there will be a providential word, which God will make use of for Antichrist’s destruction: the former means we are to use, the latter God is to make use of.

Again, (2.) The destruction of Antichrist shall be by the brightness of Christ’s coming; at Christ’s coming to judgment, the final ruin and utter destruction of Antichrist shall be accompolished; let not the church then be discouraged, though Antichrist remains, after all endeavours used for his ruin, it is sufficient we are assured that Antichristianism shall be finally destroyed; for the time, leave we that to God; if it be not till the day of judgment, or Christ’s final conquest over all his adversaries, why should not we be contented to tarry for it; seeing infinite wisdom determines the time, as well as the thing itself.

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

And then shall be revealed the lawless one whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of his coming [After the removal of the hinderer, the vague spirit or mystery of lawlessness will become an embodied personality--a Christ-rival. At the mere thought of his thus being revealed, Paul, in his fervent zeal for Christ, at once announces the triumph of the Lord over this adversary, though he has not yet finished describing him. In the next verse we shall find the apostle returning to tell what manner of ruler the antichrist was to be, and the quality and destiny of those who should follow him. Breath , etc., does not mean that Jesus shall slay antichrist by converting, and thus cutting off, his followers; for breath does not signify God's truth or instruction, but the execution of his judgment ( 2Sa_22:16 ; Job_4:9 ; Job_15:30 ; Isa_11:4 ; Isa_30:27-33 ). The manifestation (Greek, epiphany) of his coming is undoubtedly the divine excellency, radiance, glory and sublimity of the revealed Godhead; for the word "epiphany" conveys this idea ( Tit_2:13 ; 1Ti_6:14-16 ; comp. Rev_20:11 ). The destruction of antichrist will be caused by the judgment of God, and be effected by the appearing of God. The manifestation of the real and perfect will stand in awful, consuming contrast to the revelation of the sham and lie];

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.

8. Then shall that Wicked be revealed. After the hindering power is removed. Whom the Lord shall consume. The Wicked power will be destroyed by the Lord's coming, and will continue to exist, possibly, until that event.

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.

Then the lawless one will be revealed

This can be stated in active form. AT: "Then God will allow the lawless one to show himself" (See: Active or Passive)

with the breath of his mouth

Here "breath" represents the power of God. AT: "by the power of his spoken word" (See: Metonymy)

bring him to nothing by the revelation of his coming

When Jesus returns to earth and shows himself, he will defeat the lawless one.

with all power, signs, and false wonders

"with all kinds of power, signs, and false wonders"

with all deceit of unrighteousness

This person will use every sort of evil to deceive people to believe in him instead of God.

These things will be for those who are perishing

This man who is given power by Satan will deceive everyone who did not believe in Jesus.

who are perishing

Here "perishing" has the concept of everlasting or eternal destruction.

translationWords

lawful

reveal

lord

Jesus

Satan

power

miracle

deceive

righteous

perish

love

true

save

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

8. Ιησους, after ο κυριος, is wanting in B and the Syrian witnesses, followed by the T.R. WH query the word, despite the almost unanimous support of the pre-Syrian witnesses (including the versions), to which other editors defer. WH rely on the authority of B, and on the preferability, high in the case of the names of Christ, of the brevior lectio. The O.T. complexion of the passage favours the bare κυριος; see Expos. Note. Moreover the frequency of ο κυριος Ιησους in 1 and 2 Thess. would prompt insertion on the part of copyists; cf. second note on 1Th 5:9 above. The Fathers quote this sentence somewhat loosely: “Christ,” “the Lord Christ,” “the Lord Jesus Christ,” but oftenest “the Lord Jesus.”

ανελει in ABP and some minn.; αναλοι, א* Or (probably); ανελοι, D*G 17 67**—latt and vg, however, have interficiet, which points to ανελει; αναλωσει in DcKL &c.; the cop and syrr indicate αναλοι or -λωσει. On the whole, αναλοι commends itself as the mother reading, from which αναλωσει sprang by way of grammatical emendation, and ανελει partly by itacism, or paraphrase, and partly by correction after Isa 11:4. See Expository Note.

8. καὶ τότε ἀποκαλυφθήσεται ὁ ἄνομος. And then (not before) shall be revealed the Lawless One: this sentence resumes 2Th 2:3-4, in the light of 2Th 2:7 b. Καὶ τότε,—by contrast with the foregoing νῦν, ἤδη, ἄρτι, as in 1Co 4:5 (note also the previous ἕως), 1Co 13:12; with νῦν following, Rom 6:21, Gal 4:8 f., Gal 4:29. Ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας (2Th 2:3), the principle of whose existence operated in τὸ μυστήριον τῆς ἀνομίας (2Th 2:7), is briefly designated ὁ ἄνομος, just as the heathen, generically, are οἱ ἄνομοί (Act 2:23; 1Co 9:21, &c.). For ἀποκαλυφθήσεται, see notes on 2Th 2:3; 2Th 2:6; and in its relation to μυστήριον, 2Th 2:7. Thrice, with persistent emphasis, ἀποκαλύπτεσθαι is asserted of ὁ ἄνομος, as of some portentous, unearthly object holding the gazer spell-bound. His manifestation will be signal, and unmistakable in its import to those whose eyes are not closed by “the deceit of unrighteousness” (2Th 2:10); “the mystery of lawlessness” will now stand “revealed.”

ὂν ὁ κύριος [Ἰησοῦς] ἀνελεῖ (or ἀναλοῖ) τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, whom the Lord [Jesus] will slay (or consume) by the breath of His mouth. So that ὁ ἄνομος has scarcely appeared in his full Satanic character and pretensions, when he is swept away by the Redeemer’s advent. The sentence is a reminiscence of Isa 11:4, where it is said of the “shoot from the stock of Jesse,” πατάξει γῆν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ (Heb. בְּשֵׁבֶט פִּיו, “by the rod of His mouth”) καὶ ἐν πνεύματι διὰ χειλέων ἀνελεῖ ἀσεβῆ (LXX)—the ἀσεβής of that passage becomes the ἄνομος of this: cf. Job 4:9, ἀπὸ πνεύματος ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ ἀφανισθήσονται; also Isa 30:33, נִשְׁמַת יהוה כְּנַחַל גָּפְרִית (“the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone”), Psa 18:8; Psa 21:9, for theophanies of fiery destructiveness. Later Jewish teaching identified the ἀσεβής of Isa 11:4 with Armillus (or Armalgus), the Anti-messiah; see Appendix, pp. 218 f. The terrible metaphor is in keeping with the language of 2Th 1:7 f. above, ἀποκάλυψις … ἐν πυρὶ φλογός. Τὸ πνεῦμα (synon. with λόγος of Isa 11:4) τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ is not conceived as a physical agent: “the word” or “breath”—the judicial sentence—issuing “from the mouth” of the Lord, has an annihilating effect on the power of the ἄνομος, even as the O.T. λόγος Κυρίου, or πνεῦμα τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ (Psa 32:6, LXX; cf. Ps. 103:30), operated creatively in the making of the world. As the sight of the Lord Jesus brings punishment on the cruel persecutors of His saints (2Th 1:9), so the breath of His mouth suffices to lay low the Titanic Antichrist; “a word shall quickly slay him.”

καὶ καταργήσει τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ, and will abolish by the apparition of His coming. Ἐπιφάνεια denotes a signal, often a sudden appearance, the coming into sight of that which was previously, or commonly, hidden. The word recurs in the Pastoral Epp., applied once to the First Advent, 2Ti 1:10; and four times to the Second (in place of παρουσία), 1Ti 6:14, Tit 2:13, 2Ti 4:1; 2Ti 4:8. Ἐπιφανής, in Act 2:20 (from the LXX, Joe 2:31), is rendered “notable”; the verb ἐπιφαίνομαι occurs in Tit 2:11; Tit 3:4, in like connexion. Bengel paraphrases the expression, “prima ipsius adventus emicatio,”—“the first dawn of the advent.” This noun belongs to later Greek: it is used of the “dawning of day” (Polybius), of the starting into sight of an enemy, of the apparition of gods to their worshippers, &c.; “dictum de Imperatoris, quasi dei apparitione, accessione ad regnum” (Herwerden, Lexicon Græcum suppletorium); much employed by the Greek Fathers in application to the various appearances of Christ. The Latin translators see in ἐπιφάνεια the brightness of the Advent (cf. ἐν πυρὶ φλογός, 2Th 2:7): “illustratione adventus sui” (Vulg.), “illuminatione præsentiæ suæ” (Augustine); similarly Erasmus, “ut accipias claritate Christi advenientis obscuratum iri Antichristum.” For παρουσία, see note on 1Th 2:19.

καταργέω, a favourite word of St Paul’s—found once in Euripides, then in Polybius, four times in 2 Esdras (LXX)—signifies by etymology to make idle (ἀργός, ἀ-εργός), inoperative, so to bring to nought, destroy, a thing or person in respect of power and efficacy, to make void, annul: cf., besides instances above, Luk 13:7; Heb 2:14; 1Co 15:24; Gal 5:11. Severianus aptly says, recalling Col 3:4, ζωῆς οὐρανόθεν φανερουμένης, ἀδύνατον μὴ καταργηθῆναι τὸν τοῦ θανάτου πρόξενον. For the whole verse, cf. the description of Christ in Rev 1:16 f.: ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ ῥομφαία δίστομος ὀξεῖα ἐκπορευομένη, καὶ ἡ ὄψις αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ήλιος φαίνει ἐν τῇ δυνάμει αὐτοῦ· καὶ ὅτε εἶδον αὐτὸν ἔπεσα … ὡς νεκρός; for the former part of it, Rev 19:15. St Paul may be thinking here, as in 2Th 1:7 f. (see note), of the sudden light and arresting voice by which the Lord Jesus was revealed to himself (Act 9:3; Act 22:6). Theodore paraphrases the verse in a striking fashion: ἐξαίφνης ἀπʼ οὐρανῶν φανεὶς ὁ χριστὸς καὶ μόνον ἐπιβοήσας παύσει τῆς ἐργασίας, ὅλον αὐτὸν ἀναλώσας (cf. ἀναλοῖ in text above).

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.

8.] and then (when he that hinders shall have been removed: the emphasis is on τότε) shall be revealed the lawless one (the same as the αὐτόν of ver. 6: viz. the ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἁμαρτίας), whom (by this relative clause is introduced his ultimate fate at the coming of the Lord. To this the Apostle is carried on by the fervency of his spirit, and has to return again below to describe the working of Antichrist previously) the Lord Jesus will destroy by the breath of His mouth (from Isa 11:4,—πατάξει γῆν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, κ. ἐν πνεύματι διὰ χειλέων ἀνελεῖ ἀσεβῆ. It is better to keep the expression in its simple majesty, than to interpret it, as Thdrt.,—φθέγξεται μόνον, κ. πανωλεθρίᾳ παραδώσει τὸν ἀλιτήριον.—Thdr-mops,—μόνον ἐπιβοήσας. Chrys. on this is fine: καθάπερ γὰρ πῦρ ἐπελθὸν ἁπλῶς τὰ μικρὰ ζωΰφια καὶ πρὸ τῆς παρουσίας αὐτῆς πόῤῥωθεν ὄντα ναρκᾶν ποιεῖ κ. ἀναλίσκει· οὕτω καὶ ὁ χριστὸς τῷ ἐπιτάγματι μόνον (but see above) κ. τῇ παρουσίᾳ τὸν ἀντίχριστον ἀναλώσει. ἀρκεῖ παρεῖναι αὐτόν, καὶ ταῦτα πάντα ἀπόλωλε) and annihilate (not, as Olsh., ‘deprive of his influence,’ nor can Rev 19:19 be brought to bear here) by the appearance of His coming (not ‘the brightness of his coming,’ as very many Commentators, and E. V.; but as Beng.: ‘apparitio adventus ipso adventu prior est, vel certe prima ipsius adventus emicatio, uti ἐπιφάνεια τῆς ἡμέρας:’ the mere outburst of His presence shall bring the adversary to nought. Cf. the sublime expression of Milton,—‘far off His coming shone’):

9,

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

8. καὶ τότ … ὁ ἄνομο With καὶ τότ (cf. 1Co 4:5, Mar 13:21, Mar 13:26 f.) balancing καὶ νῦ (v. 6), Paul turns from the present (vv. 6-7) to the future, to the fulfilment of the condition stated in vv. 3-4. The words “and then will be revealed the Anomos” (note ὁ ἄνομο = the Hebraistic ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομία v. 3) close the argument of vv. 6-7 and open the way for two important points, the description of the destruction of the Anomos introduced by ὅ (v. 8b, c) and the estimate of the significance of the advent of the Anomos introduced by the parallel ου (vv. 9-12). In passing directly from the revelation to the destruction of the Anomos without pausing to describe the Parousia of the Lord Jesus, Paul creates the impression that he is interested not in external details (e. g. the description of the advent of Christ, of the conflict apparently involved in the destruction of the Anomos, and of the action of the Anomos intimated in ὥστε κτλ v. 4) but in spiritual values, the triumph of apocalyptic faith in the victory of the good over evil.

ὃν κύριος ἀνελεῖ κτλ. The description of the destruction moves in synonymous parallelism. The first member may be an allusion to Isa 11:4: καὶ πατάξει γῆν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν πνεύματι διὰ χειλέων ἀνελεῖ ἀσεβη Paul’s phrase, however, τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ οτόματος αὐτου, unique in the N. T., is probably an unconscious reminiscence of Psa 32:6 where the same phrase balances the creative word of God (τῷ λόγῳ τοῦκυρίο). The second member is synonymous but not quite identical with the first, for instead of “breath of his mouth” we have “manifestation of his Parousia.” The words ἐπιφάνει and παρουσί are ultimately synonymous, the former being the Hellenistic technical term for the appearance of a god, and the latter (see I 2:19), the Christian technical term for the expected coming of Christ. If any distinction between the terms is intended, the former will emphasise the presence, the latter, the arrival. The point is that the manifest presence itself is sufficient to destroy the Anomos; cf. Chrys. ἀρκεῖ παρεῖναι αὐτό

In the phrase “with the breath of his mouth” (cf. Isa 27:8 Sap. 11:19 f. Job 4:9), the means of destruction is not the word (cf. Eth. En. 62:2 Ps. Sol. 17:27; also Eth. En. 14:2, 84:1) but the breath itself. Dibelius sees in the phrase traces of the primitive conception of the magical power of the breath and refers to a passage in Lucian (The Liar, 12) where the Babylonian magician gathered together all the snakes from an estate and blew upon them (ἐνεφύσης), “and straightway every one of them was burnt up by the breathing” (κατεκαύθη ὑπὸ τῷ φυσήματ).—Against the majority of witnesses (אAD*G, et al., the versions and most of the fathers), BDcK, et al., omit Ἰησοῦ after κύριο (so Weiss (84) who thinks Ἰησοῦ is added to explain κύριο; cf. B in 1Co 5:5, 1Co 11:23).—The reading ἀνελει (BAP) is, according to Dob., supported by ἀνέλο (DGF), an impossible word from which arose ἀναλοῖ (א* and Orig. in three-fourths of the quotations). Thereupon this present (derived from ἀναλό = ἀναλίσκ), in view of the future καταργήσε, became ἀναλώσε (DcEKL, et al.). Weiss (40) thinks that א knew the emendation ἀναλώσε, and formed ἀναλοι to approximate to the original ἀνελει Zim observes that ἀνέλο points not to ἀνελει, for the interchange of ο and ε is without parallel, but either to ἀναλοι or to a fusion of ἀναλοι and ἀνελει; and he concludes that the present ἀναλοι, the harder reading, is original (so Lft., Find.). On ἀναιρεῖ (Lxx and Lk. Acts) = “remove,” “slay,” a word only here in Paul (if ἀνελει is read), see Plummer, ICC on Luk 22:2. On ἀναλόω = ἀναλίσκ, “consume,” which is rarer in Gk. Bib. than ἀναιρεῖ, cf. Gal 5:15, Luk 9:54.—καταργεῖ, a favourite word of Paul, occurs rarely elsewhere in Gk. Bib. (2Ti 1:10, Luk 13:7, Heb 2:14; cf. Barn. 2:6, 5:6, 9:4, 15:5 (καταργήσει τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ ἀνόμο) 16:2; Ign. Eph. 13:2 where it is parallel with καθαιρεῖ and λύει); it denotes in Paul “annul,” “abolish” (e.g. νόμο), “destroy,” etc., (1Co 15:24, 1Co 15:26 of the evil powers including death; cf. 2Ti 1:10 Barn. 5:6).—In the N. T. ἐπιφάνει appears elsewhere only in the Pastorals, where the Christian παρουσί is supplanted by the Hellenistic ἐπιφάνεια; in the Lxx (mainly 2, 3 Mac.), it is used of the manifestation of God from the sky; e. g. ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπιφάνει (2 Mac. 15:27 Ven.); cf. ὁ ἐπιφανὴς κύριο (2 Mac. 15:34), and ὁ ἐπιφανὴς θεό (3 Mac. 5:35; cf. also Driver’s Daniel, 191 f. for coins inscribed “of King Antiochus, god manifest”). Mill. (151) remarks: “ἐπιφάνει draws attention to the ‘presence’ as the result of a sublime manifestation of the power and love of God, coming to his people’s help.” Deissmann (Light, 374, 378) notes a third-century (b.c.) inscription which records a cure at the temple of Asclepius at Epidaurus: τάν τε παρουσίαν τὰν αὐτοῦ παρενεφάνιξε ὁ Ἀσκλάπιο, “and Asclepius manifested his Parousia.” In view of the equivalence of ἐπιφάνει and παρουσί, the former does not mean “brightness,” illustratio (Vulg.); cf. Bengel: “Sometimes the apparitio is spoken of, sometimes, and in the same sense, adventus (v. 1); but here the apparitio adventus is prior to the coming itself, or at least is the first gleam of the advent, as ἐπιφάνεια τῆς ἡμέρα” (quoted by Lillie who renders our phrase, “with the appearing of his coming or presence”).

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

Consume [ανελει] . Better, slay, as Mt 2:16; Luk 22:2; Act 5:33.

Spirit [πνευματι] . Better, breath. Pneuma, almost always translated spirit, is from pnein to breathe or blow. Frequent in class. in this sense. Comp. Joh 3:8; Heb 1:7. LXX, Psa 147:7; Ep. of Jer. 61. Philo says "the spirit of God signifies, in one sense, the air, the third element; and it is used in this sense in the beginning of Genesis... for air, being light, is born up, and uses water as its basis. In the other sense it is the pure wisdom in which every wise man participates" (De Gigantibus, 5). See on Rom 8:4.

Shall destroy [καταργησει] . See on cumbereth, Luk 13:7 and make without effect, Rom 3:3.

With the brightness [τη επιφανεια] . See on 1Ti 6:14. Rev., correctly, manifestation. See LXX, Est 5:1; Amo 5:22; 2 Macc. 2 21; 3 Macc. 2 9. In class. (but late) of deities appearing to a worshipper (Plut. Themistocles, 30) : of the sudden appearance of an enemy (Polyb. 1 54, 2) : of a manifestation of Providence (Diod. Sic 1:15) : of the heathen gods assuming shape and appearing in order to work mischief (Just. Mart. Apol. 1 5). In N. T. of the parousia. See 1Ti 6:14; 2Ti 1:10; 2Ti 4:1, 8; Tit 2:13. In 2Ti 1:10, of Christ 's historical manifestation. So ejpifainw, Tit 2:11; Tit 3:4. Only here in Paul.

Coming [παρουσιας] . Or presence, which is the original meaning. In N. T. with a few exceptions, of the second coming of Christ. The combination manifestation of his presence (only here) appears to emphasize the resistless power of the Son of man, not (as Lightfoot) his splendor and glory. The mere appearing of his presence suffices to destroy his adversary.

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