2 Thessalonians 2:9

οὑ ἐστὶν ἡ παρουσία κατʼ ἐνέργειαν τοῦ Σατανᾶ, whose coming is (or who has his coming) according to Satan’s working. The παρουσία of the Lord Jesus (2 Thessalonians 2:8 b) recalls the παρουσία of His “adversary” and false counterpart (see 2 Thessalonians 2:4 and notes), which is further set forth in its manner (κατά), and accompaniments (ἐν), as “in accordance with (in the way or fashion of) a working of Satan”—being such a παρουσόα as might be expected from such a source—and “in all manner of power and signs and wonders … and in all deceit,” &c. The ἐνέργεια τοῦ Σατανᾶ (in respect of its agent) is an ἐνέργεια πλάνης in respect of its method, 2 Thessalonians 2:11; Antichrist’s παρουσία is, on the part of “the god of this world,” a kind of mocking prelude to Christ’s. This noun and the corresponding verb ἐνεργέω (-έομαι, 1 Thessalonians 2:13 : see note) frequently have God or Divine powers for subject: see 1 Corinthians 12:6; Galatians 2:8; Galatians 3:5; Ephesians 1:11; Ephesians 1:19 f., Ephesians 3:20; Philippians 2:13, &c. As distinguished from δύναμις and ἰσχύς (see note on 2 Thessalonians 2:9), ἐνέργεια means power in operation (“efficacia Satanæ,” Beza). “Satan” holds toward Antichrist a relation analogous, in a shocking sense, to that of God toward Christ; the systematic and, as one might suppose, calculated adoption by Antichrist of the attributes of Christ is the most appalling feature in the whole representation. Even as God ἐνήργηκεν ἐν τῷ χριστῷ (Ephesians 1:20), “by powers and wonders and signs” crowned in His resurrection (Acts 2:22-24), Satan will find his supreme ἀποκάλυψις in the Antichrist (“diabolicam apostasiam in se recapitulans,” Irenæus; “medius inter Satanam et perditos homines,” Bengel), and will furnish him with δύναμις καὶ σημεῖα κ.τ.λ. to match. With ὁ Σατανᾶς we must associate ὁ� of 2 Thessalonians 2:4; see note.

The series of terms in which the counterfeiting of Christ by Antichrist is indicated (see ἀποδεικνύντα ἑαυτὸν ὅτι ἔστιν θεός, ἀποκαλυφθῆναι, μυστήριον, ἐνεργεῖται, παρουσία) concludes ἐν πάσῃ δυνάμει καὶ σημείοις καὶ τέρασι,—the three expressions applied to the miracles of our Lord and His Apostles: see Mark 6:2; Luke 19:37; John 3:2; Acts 2:22; Romans 15:19; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Hebrews 2:4, where they are variously combined. Of the three, σημεῖον is commonest, esp. in St John’s Gospel; occasionally σημεῖα and τέρατα are coupled together, somewhat frequently in Acts—τέρατα is never used in the Gospels of the actual works of Jesus; δύναμις (-εις, rendered in the plur., by R.V., “mighty works”) is most frequent in the Synoptics. Δύναμις names the miracle from its cause, the supernatural force acting in it; σημεῖον from its meaning, its significance; τέρας, portentum, prodigium, miraculum, from its abnormal nature and the astonishment it arouses. It is unfortunate that the “miracles” of Divine revelation have taken their modern name (through the Latin) from the last, which is the rarest and least characteristic of these synonyms; see Trench’s Syn. § 91, also On the Miracles, chap. 1. The three terms might constitute a collective idea, with πάσῃ at the beginning indicating the number and variety of Antichrist’s “signs,” and ψεύδους at the end qualifying them unitedly (Lightfoot); but—since δύναμις is singular, and rarely has this concrete sense except in the plural—we may better render the phrase: in all power—both signs and wonden of falsehood (cf. Romans 15:19, ἐν δυνάμει σημείων καὶ τεράτων; also 2 Thessalonians 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; Romans 1:4; Colossians 1:11; Colossians 1:29, for ἐν δυνάμει). Ψεύδους, the genitive noun of quality, does not (like ψεύδεσιν) stigmative these as “false,” i.e. pretended miracles (with no supernatural δύναμις behind them); but as “of falsehood,” belonging to this realm, to the sphere of him who is ψεύστης καὶ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ (John 8:44), and serving his ends; they are signs attesting and suitable to a ψεῦδος, as our Lord’s miracles attest and are suitable to ἡ�: cf. John 3:2; John 10:32; John 14:10 f., John 20:30 f. These marks of Antichrist’s coming were predicted by Jesus of the ψευδόχριστοι and ψευδοπροφῆται (Matthew 24:24 f.; Mark 13:22),—σημεῖα μεγάλα καὶ τέρατα ὥστε πλανῆσαι, εἰ δυνατόν, καὶ τοὺς ἐκλεκτούς. The Apocalypse ascribes them, in ch. Revelation 13:11-14, to the second Wild Beast with his “lamb-like horns” and his dragon-like speech,—the Dragon aping the Lamb. Miracles are never in Scripture made as such—apart from their moral character and aim—the proof of a Divine mission; see Deuteronomy 13:1-5. This weighty ἐν clause must be attached to ἐστίν, not to ἐνέργειαν, and forms indeed its principal complement.

10a. Already cumulative, the predicate is further extended by καὶ ἐν πάσῃ� (this clause belongs to 2 Thessalonians 2:9), and in all deceit of unrighteousness for the perishing,—words describing the subjective effect, as ἐν πάσῃ δυνάμει κ.τ.λ. describes the objective nature, of Satan’s working in the Antichrist. Πάσῃ indicates a manifoldness of deception corresponding to the manifold forms of the deceiving agency, πάσῃ δυνάμει κ.τ.λ. Ἀπάτη�, construed similarly to εὐδοκία� in 2 Thessalonians 1:11 (see note), means such “deceit” as belongs to “unrighteousness,” as it is wont to employ—subjective genitive, not unlike σημεῖα … ψεύδους above. Ἀπάτη is the active and concrete “deceit,” not “deceivableness” (A.V.), nor “deceitfulness” (elsewhere in A.V.): see Matthew 13:22; Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 2:8; Hebrews 3:13. On ἀδικία, the comprehensive term for wrong, wrong-doing, as between persons—synon. with ἀνομία (2 Thessalonians 2:8), which is wrong as committed against sovereign law—see further 2 Thessalonians 2:12; it is connected with ψεῦδος, as violation of conscience with perversion of intellect, and opposed to ἀλήθεια here, much as in Romans 1:18; Romans 2:8; 1 Corinthians 13:6.

Τοῖς� is the dative to ἀπάτῃ, of the persons concerned; cf., for the construction, 1 Corinthians 1:18, τοῖς�. For the sense of ἀπόλλυμαι, cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:8 f.; also 1 Corinthians 15:18; 2 Corinthians 4:3 f. (ἐν οἶς ὁ θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ἐτύφλωσεν τὰ νοήματα τῶν�); Philippians 3:19. Οἱ� (see εἰς τὸ σωθῆναι following), the opposite of οἱ σωζόμενοι (1 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 2:15); the present participle connotes their perdition as commenced and going on, in the loss of the sense for truth and right and of receptiveness for God: cf. Romans 1:18 ff., Romans 1:28 ff.; Ephesians 4:18 ff.; 1 Timothy 6:5; 2 Timothy 3:8; Titus 1:15 f.; Hebrews 10:26 f.; Jude 1:10-13. They follow the guidance of ὁ υἱὸς τῆς� (2 Thessalonians 2:3), and share his ruin. Satan’s devices are deceit for the perishing, for men without the life of God, whose spiritual perceptions are destroyed through sin; while the children of God escape the deception, knowing how to “prove all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:21): cf., as to this contrast, 1 Thessalonians 5:4 f.; 2 Corinthians 4:2-6; 1 John 4:1-6.

10b. ἄνθʼ ὧν τὴν�, because they did not receive the love of the truth to the end they might be saved; or “in requital of their refusal to entertain the love of the truth,” &c. For ἀνθʼ ὧν (pro eo quod, Calvin), see Luke 1:20; Luke 12:3; Luke 19:44; Acts 12:23 (also 3 Kingd. 11:11, Joel 3:5, in LXX; Xenophon); for ἀντί of correspondence (‘tit for tat’), cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:15, &c. The dupes of Antichrist are treated after their kind; as they would not love truth, they shall not have truth, lies must be their portion: cf. the lex talionis in 2 Thessalonians 1:6 f.; also Psalms 18:26; Psalms 109:17 ff.; Revelation 16:6, and Matthew 25:29. For δέχομαι, implying welcome, the opening of the heart to what is offered, cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 2:13, describing the opposite conduct of the Thessalonian readers.

Ἡ� is not the moral quality, “truth” as sincerity in the person, but the objective reality—“the truth” coming from God in Christ, viz. the Gospel, &c.: see 2 Thessalonians 2:12 f.; Romans 1:18; Romans 1:25; Romans 2:8; 2 Corinthians 4:2; Galatians 5:7; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 1:5; 1 Timothy 3:15; John 8:32, &c. Ἡ� is the bent of the mind toward the truth, the setting of the heart upon it (cf. Proverbs 2:2 ff; Proverbs 4:6; Proverbs 4:13, &c.); this affection those condemned οὐκ ἐδέξαντο, inasmuch as they refused to entertain it,—they had no predilection for truth; “they loved the darkness rather than the light” (John 3:19). Ἀγάπη in this connexion is synonymous with εὐδοκία (2 Thessalonians 1:12 : cf. εὐδοκήσαντες τῇ�, 2 Thessalonians 2:12 below), but denotes the principle of affection, the radical disposition of the mind, while εὐδοκία signifies its consent and expressed inclination; cf. Romans 1:32. For εἰς τό κ.τ.λ., see notes on 2 Thessalonians 2:6 and on 1 Thessalonians 2:12 : “that they should be saved” (see note on σωτηρία, 1 Thessalonians 5:9) is the result of that embracing of “the truth” offered in the Gospel, which these men refused to give; and such refusal marks them out as οἱ�.

2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 draw out the consequence of the criminal unbelief described in ἀνθʼ ὧν κ.τ.λ., affirming the terrible delusion above described to be a visitation on God’s part, and a δίκαιον παρὰ θεῷ (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:6)—in fact a judicial infatuation. And since this fatal and wide-spread deception is effected by the παρουσία of Antichrist, that coming, while it is the consummate manifestation of human sin and Satanic power, is brought within the scope of the Divine counsels; it proves to be an instrument in God’s sovereign hand. Cf. the conclusion of Romans 9-11, setting forth the judicial πώρωσις of Israel: Ὦ βάθος πλούτου καὶ σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως θεοῦ· ὡς�.