ἐπισυν., a term whose verb was already in use for the muster of saints to the messianic reign. σαλ. “get unsettled”. Epictetus uses ἀποσαλεύεσθαι for the unsettling of the mind by sophistries (3:25), and the nearest equivalent for νοῦς here is our “mind”. This mental agitation (aor.) results in θροε... [ Continue Reading ]
ὡς διʼ ἡμῶν, “purporting to come from us,” goes with ἐπιστολῆς alone, for, while λόγος (Lünemann) might be grouped under it, πνεῦμα cannot. A visionary would claim personal, not borrowed, authority for his revelation. If ὡς δ. ἡ. went with the preceding verbs (so Dods, Askwith, 92 f., Wohl. = “we ar... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ἀποκ., the apostasy and the appearance (so of Beliar, _Asc. Isa._, iv. 18) of the personal anti-Christ or pseudo-Christ form a single phenomenon. From the use of ἡ ἀποστασία as a Greek equivalent for Belial (LXX of 1 Kings 21:13, A, and Aquila), this eschatological application of the term would... [ Continue Reading ]
It was no after-thought, on Paul's part (the singular rules out Spitta's idea that Timothy wrote this apocalyptic piece). Nor was it an idiosyncrasy of his teaching. Especially since the days of Antiochus Epiphanes (Daniel 7:11; _cf._ Gunkel's _Schöpfung u. Chaos_, 221 f.), a more or less esoteric a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Well now, you know what restrains him from being manifested_ (coming fully into play and sight) _before his appointed season_. Νῦν probably goes with οἴδατε, not with τὸ κατέχον (as _e.g._, in John 4:18, so Olshausen, Bisping, Wieseler, Zahn, Wrede), and καὶ νῦν is not temporal, but “a mere adverb... [ Continue Reading ]
γὰρ, explaining οἴδατε. The κατέχων is a fact of present experience and observation, which accounts for the ἀνομία being as yet a μυστήριον, operating secretly, and not an ἀποκάλυψις. Paul does not say by whom (the ἄνομος himself?) the restraint is removed. μόνον, the hiatus must be filled up with s... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅν, κ. τ. λ., his career is short and tragic. The apparition (_cf._ 1 Timothy 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... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀγάπη (_cf._ 2 Thessalonians 2:12) here, as Luke 11:42, with obj. gen. _Cf._ _Asc. Isa._, iv. 15, 16: “And He will give rest [above, ch. 2 Thessalonians 1:7] to the godly whom He shall find in the body in this world, and to all who because of their faith in Him have execrated Beliar and his kings”.... [ Continue Reading ]
An echo of the primitive Semitic view (still extant, _cf._ Curtis's _Prim. Sem. Religion To-Day_, pp. 69 f.), that God may deliberately lead men astray, or permit them to be fatally infatuated, as a penal discipline (_cf._ Ps. Sol. 8:15; Test. XII. Patr. Dan. ix.). A modern would view the same pheno... [ Continue Reading ]
Like the prophet John half a century later (John 13:2 f.), Paul distinguishes his anti-Christ or antitheistic hero from the Satan whose campaign he executes; but, unlike John, the apostle has nothing to say about the fate of Satan. The tools and the victims of Satan are destroyed, and they alone. εὐ... [ Continue Reading ]
God has chosen you (εἵλατο, another LXX expression, implying that Christians had now succeeded to the cherished priviliges of God's people) to be saved, instead of visiting you with a deadly delusion (10, 11) which ends in judgment (12); your discipline is of sanctification (contrast 12 _b_) and bel... [ Continue Reading ]
To be saved ultimately (12) is to possess or rather to share the glory of Christ (_cf._ I., 1 Thessalonians 2:12).... [ Continue Reading ]
The divine purpose does not work automatically, but implies the cooperation of Christians in this case, a resolute stedfastness resting on loyalty to the apostolic gospel. In view of passages like 1 Corinthians 11:23; 1 Corinthians 15:5, it is gratuitous to read any second-century passion for oral a... [ Continue Reading ]
αὐτὸς δὲ, perhaps with a slight implicit apposition to the _you_ or _we_ of the previous sentence. ἀγαπήσας καὶ δοὺς, κ. τ. λ., connection as in John 3:16. παράκλησιν for this world, ἐλπίδα for the world to come; all hope is encouragement, but not vice-versa.... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Thessalonians 2:17, in contrast to the disquiet and confusion of 2 Thessalonians 2:2. ἔργῳ as in 2 Thessalonians 1:11 2 Thessalonians 3:4; 2 Thessalonians 3:7 f., λόγῳ as 2 Thessalonians 3:1; 2 Thessalonians 3:15;... [ Continue Reading ]