2 Thessalonians 2:7. For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work. The wickedness which is finally to culminate in an individual, and in an open undisguised manner, already works in a hidden, mysterious way. In Paul's own day there were shadows and forebodings, earnests, and operating elements, of that which was one day to come in its fulness. Just as the types of Christ went before Christ, so the shadows of Antichrist precede him. In truth, every event of this world is a type of those that follow, history proceeding forward as a circle ever enlarging' (Newman, Discussions, p. 49). Similarly the Apostle John says (1 John 2:18; 1 John 4:3), ‘Even new are there many antichrists;' ‘This is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.'

Only he who now withholdeth will withhold. The latent iniquity would quickly appear in a fully developed form were it not for this restraining influence, here ascribed to a person, or at least personified.

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Old Testament