2 Thessalonians 2 (Explanatory Notes)

Finishing up some loose ends. See explanatory notes on 2 Thessalonians 1 here.
______________________
2:1 And I ask you, brothers [and sisters] about the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering to him... 
Here Paul returns to language of the parousia or "arrival" of Jesus back to earth. Our first impression is that we are talking about the second coming, the return of Christ to earth to establish the kingdom of God on earth fully. Our gathering to him could thus either mean the gathering of scattered believers around the world to Jerusalem as the kingdom's center.

It could also refer to our gathering in the air that was mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. As we said there, the meeting in the air is probably not to go off to heaven but a meeting to return to the earth as the judgment commences. The picture is that of going out to the edge of a city in order to re-enter with the king.

2. ... that you not be quickly shaken in mind nor to be alarmed, neither through a spirit or word nor letter as [if it is] through us as [if] the Day of the Lord has come. 3. Do not let someone deceive you in any way.
This is a curious statement. How could one have any questions about whether the Day of the Lord had truly come? The Day of the Lord here seems to be the Day of Judgment. It is a whole world event that commences with the return of Christ from heaven, as mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4.

One possibility is of course a significant lack of knowledge on the part of the Thessalonians. The Thessalonians may not have understood how it was all supposed to happen. At this point some scholars have wondered if 2 Thessalonians were written before 1 Thessalonians, although we have not concluded in that direction.

They are undergoing persecution. 1 Peter 4:17 speaks of judgment beginning with the household of God before it moved on to the world at large. Perhaps they were interpreting their persecution as the beginning of the final judgment.

Paul, Silas, and Timothy mention a "spirit or word or letter" influencing them. This could indicate some varied teaching in the church at the time. Were there false letters circulating, claiming to be from Paul? The time when Paul was at Corinth seems pretty early in the story of the church for that to be happening. Paul hadn't even begun his letter-writing ministry.

As we mentioned in the introduction, this comment is one data point that has led us to wonder whether 2 Thessalonians could have been written not at the beginning but at the end of Paul's ministry or by Silas in the throes of the Jewish War. In the late 60s, Paul's letter-writing ministry was better known, and so it would make more sense for there to be letters incorrectly claiming to represent his voice.

If Paul or Silas were writing apocalyptically, they would be picturing a letter written to the Thessalonians almost twenty years prior. They would be writing about the circumstances of their own day during the Jewish War through the lens of the letter to the Thessalonians several years before.

For [the Day will not come] unless the falling away should come first and the man of lawlessness should be revealed, the son of destruction, 4. the one who opposes and exalts himself above everything called God or an object of worship so that he sits in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.
1. The reference to a "falling away" (apostasia) or "rebellion" is quite ambiguous from where we sit today. It is very common to take it in relation to events that have not yet happened and will happen still in the future. On the one hand, this interpretation makes sense because the ultimate Day of the Lord has not yet happened.

On the other hand, verse 4 pushes us toward thinking Paul or Silas are talking about events prior to the destruction of the temple in AD70. Surely the temple that would come to any first century audience's mind was the temple standing then in Jerusalem. So our first attempt is to find something in Paul's day to which this event might relate. Certainly God will fulfill this Scripture however he wishes. But the text says nothing about a rebuilt temple in some distant future--the New Testament nowhere speaks of such a thing. The most likely referent is the temple about which the Thessalonians or any reader would immediately think.

So was this rebellion to be a falling away within the church, a rebellion within Judaism, or a rebellion against the church or Judaism? Certainly if a Jew set himself up in the temple, that would be a falling away from the faith of Israel. In that scenario, the man of lawlessness would be a Jew that rebelled against true Judaism and set himself in the temple as God. However, we have no evidence of anything of this sort having happened prior to the temple's destruction. It is hard even to imagine. Nevertheless, there is imagery both here and in other places suggesting there were false messiahs during the time of the Jewish War (e.g., Mark 13:5-6).

Was there a falling away within the church? Certainly we have no evidence of a Christian Jew (or otherwise) wanting to set himself up in the temple as God. It is hard for us to imagine a falling way within the church that correlated with someone trying to set themselves up in the temple as God.

The most likely rebellion in view is thus the Jewish War, a Jewish rebellion against the Romans that started in AD66 and more or less ended with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70. We do not have good evidence about how the early Christians viewed this war. In Mark 13:14, Jesus urges his followers to flee Jerusalem before the temple is desecrated, suggesting that most were in that undesirable category of potential collateral damage.

There is some reason to believe that many in the early church did not think rebellion was the appropriate response to Rome. [1] Certainly the Gospels would indicate this was Jesus' approach (e.g., Matt. 5:41). 1 Peter also, which has overtones of Roman oppression (5:13) still urges submission to the emperor and Roman governors (2:13-14). The "rebellion" could thus imply Christian disapproval of the Jewish rebellion against Rome.

Of course the fulfillment of prophesy is often unexpected. We are not in a position to say whether some future time will see the temple rebuilt again and that these events will play out again. We can say that Christians have no need for a temple, for Jesus has offered the sacrifice to end all sacrifices (Heb. 10:14). The veil to the Most Holy Places has been torn in two (Mark 15:38). There will be no temple in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:22). God would not approve of any rebuilt temple.

2. The mention of the "temple of God" seems an interpretive key. There is no hint of metaphor here, especially since Paul and Silas are writing about world events. 1 Corinthians does use temple in a metaphorical way in reference to a local church assembly (1 Cor. 3:16), but the Day of the Lord has a global scope rather than a local one.

Once again, the most straightforward way to take the temple here is in reference to the actual temple, which stood until AD70. [2] Here is a strong indication that the temple was still standing at the time of writing. Nothing is said about a rebuilt temple in the future. Nothing is even said about the temple's destruction. For these reasons, we can presumably date 2 Thessalonians with some certainty to the time before the temple was destroyed.

There are certainly several instances in the Jewish history of the time where pagans had either defiled the temple or tried to defile it. Antiochus Epiphanes, in 167BC, had ordered the temple's defilement. This is what the abomination of desolation in Daniel 11:31 referred to originally. These are images 2 Thessalonians 2:4 would surely bring to mind.

In 63BC, the Roman general Pompey took advantage of a dispute between two Maccabean brothers and effectively took control of Israel for Rome. He marched right into the Most Holy Place of the temple, defiling it. In AD38, the Roman Caligula ordered a status of himself set up in the temple. He in effect wanted to set himself up in the temple as God. However, he was assassinated before he could enforce the plan.

It is thus possible that the "man of lawlessness" could be someone who would assault the temple of that day. Clearly the Romans come into view. Nero was certainly a man of lawlessness, and he was alive at the beginning of the Jewish War. Since Nero put Paul to death, we have a narrow window when Paul could have been alive to write this letter at the beginning of the war.

If Silas were writing in Paul's name, then we have the possibility that Vespasian or Titus were in view. Vespasian would begin the assault on Jerusalem, and Titus would finish it. It would increasingly become conventional to consider Roman emperors as gods upon their deaths. There are potentially interesting parallels here with the beast from the sea of Revelation 17:8-11. It seems to be modeled on Nero and his at least symbolic return. [3]

5. Do you not remember that, while still being with you, I used to say these things to you?
There is a certain irony for us in this verse. We were not there. We do not know all the things Paul used to say to them. We wish he had repeated more here.

It is a reminder that this letter was not written to us. Indeed, nothing in the Scriptures was written directly to us or anyone alive today. These books were written directly to people who have been dead for thousands of years. As Scripture these books are for us. They are the story of our people. They are the instructions of our people. Sometimes God does re-purpose the words and speak directly to us, but that was not their first meaning.

On the hypothesis that 2 Thessalonians came late in Paul's ministry or that it was written by Silas, we might call this verse a "tell." That is to say, it would hint that more was going on in this letter than meets the eye. If Silas were using the form of 1 Thessalonians to write about current events, then this verse might reflect that, almost twenty years previous, Paul had taught about the Day of the Lord. If Paul had recently passed, Silas would be writing with irony, since Paul would truly no longer be with them.

The cryptic nature of these comments would make sense if the Roman empire stands somehow in the background. What if Paul were in Rome awaiting execution when these comments were written? As we speculated in the introduction, a need to hide the subversive nature of the letter might explain the "apocalyptic use" of a previous letter.

6. And now you know what is restraining so that he might be revealed in his own time. 7. for the mystery of lawlessness is already working. Only the one holding back now until he should become from [your] midst.
The cryptic comments and allusions continue. The fact that the audience "knows" makes it clear that this letter is not deceptive. It is not a forgery. There is code language here that author and audience know but to which we are not privy.

That which is restraining the Day of the Lord from happening is both a what and a he. It is "what" is restraining, and it is "who" is restraining. The Holy Spirit is a "what" and a "who," since the word for spirit is neuter but the Holy Spirit is a person. Perhaps the Holy Spirit is in view. On the other hand, these verses seem to be saying more than that these things will happen when the Spirit wants.

On the Silas hypothesis, these comments could refer to Paul himself. The sense could be that unleashing of the Roman "man of lawlessness" would not take place until after Paul was removed from the scene. In that case the audience would know that Paul was now removed and thus that the events of the Day of the Lord--understood perhaps as the events of the Jewish War--was free to unfold.

8. And then the lawless [one] will be revealed, whom the Lord will destroy by the Spirit of his mouth and will destroy at the appearance of his arrival.
Perhaps we have a blurring here into the end times, as we also see in passages like Mark 13 and Matthew 24. This is the same man of lawlessness as was mentioned in 2:3, but he seems to be linked to the second coming. While we might relate what has come before to events of Paul and Silas' day, we are now hearing about Christ's return, as 2:1 said.

This is not the only place where we have this tension. It is there in Mark 13 where the topic is the destruction of that temple, the one destroyed in AD70, but the line of thought jumps to Christ's return. We might argue that the destruction of Jerusalem was a "type" of the final days. It is for this reason that interpreters like N. T. Wright have been tempted to take the coming of Christ in more metaphorical ways, such as relating the second coming directly to the destruction of Jerusalem. [4]

On the other hand, because of this blurring, we cannot be sure that the dispensational interpretation will not in the end prove to be correct. Though we should always do our best to interpret Scriptures like these in terms of what they are most likely to have meant in their first century context, God is free to fulfill them in whatever way he wishes.

9. The [other] arrival according to the activity of Satan with all power and signs and false wonders...
Interestingly, the word parousia (arrival) is used both for the arrival of Christ and the arrival of another. Is it the man of lawlessness? The performance of signs and wonders does not clearly fit the Roman emperors of the 60s. Some scholars at this point have mentioned the expectation of some that Nero would return from the dead. Nero committed suicide in AD68. The beast from the sea in Revelation 13 seems to be modeled on Nero, like a revived Nero (e.g., 13:3). Revelation also mentions a "beast from the land" (13:11-15) who is also called a false prophet (e.g., 19:20) and performs wonders.

10. ... and with all deceit of unrighteousness for those who are being destroyed because of they did not receive the love of the truth so that they might be saved.
Those who are being destroyed could be Jews who rebelled against the Romans. They would surely oppose a Roman man of lawlessness. We have at least two possibilities. On the one hand, this statement could refer to individuals who wrongly side with the man of lawlessness. However, on the hypothesis we are pursuing, it would refer to those Jews who wrongly rebelled against the Romans and thereby brought on the man of lawlessness.

On this scenario, if they had followed Christ, they would have escaped like the Christians who fled Jerusalem for Pella in the Jewish War. But by pursuing the course of rebellion, they ended up destroyed by the Roman armies. The last hold out at Masada perished around AD73. The Romans spent a year piling up dirt to enter this former palace. Then they broke the doors down, only to find that almost everyone inside had committed suicide rather than be captured.

Whoever they were, the individuals in question did not believe in the real Christ. They did not love the truth of a Christ that would come from heaven to save. On this hypothesis, they tried to take salvation into their own hands and take up arms against the Romans. They brought destruction on themselves. As a result, Jerusalem was destroyed, and they all perished.

We human beings are not particularly lovers of the truth. We tend to believe what we want to believe. We can have truth staring us glaringly in our faces and still explain it away. Those who rebelled against the Romans in the Jewish War no doubt thought they were fighting for God. But it turned out to be a zeal without knowledge (cf. Rom. 10:2). Their misguided zeal ended in devastation.

11. And because of this [fact] God sends on them a working of deception so that they believe in the lie 12. so that all those who did not believe in the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness might be judged.
Again, we can read these verses against at least two possible scenarios. On one scenario, those participating in the rebellion misguidedly support the man of lawlessness. They think he is the one to follow. They think he is the one who will be victorious. He is the great and mighty one. He is the one with spiritual power.

The capacity of even those who call themselves Christians to be deceived by worldly power is sobering. There were certainly Christians within Nazi Germany who thought that Hitler's movement represented what is right. They would have considered any talk of a Holocaust a hoax and justified the internment of Jews and others as the rightful punishment of wicked or evil people. We think of New Testament scholars like Gerhard Kittel or philosophers like Martin Heidegger. Even as seemingly honorable a New Testament scholar as Otto Michel seems to have been sympathetic to this law and order figure.

We must always guard against such self-deception. Mark 13:22 suggests that even the elect can be gullible to false prophets and messiahs. In our second possible interpretation, Paul is warning against putting faith in the militants who rebelled against the Romans. The unrighteousness would then be their violent rebellion, and they all did indeed end up destroyed.

Again, we must marvel in the ability of the fallen human mind to see virtue in unrighteousness. Jesus and the New Testament have shown us the true path of righteousness. It consists in loving our neighbors and enemies (e.g., Matt. 5:43-48). Jesus will come again in judgment, but we cannot force his timing.

Second Thanksgiving
13. But we ourselves ought to give thanks to God always concerning you, brothers [and sisters], beloved by God, because God chose you [to be] the first fruit for salvation by the sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in truth, 14. because of which he called you through our gospel for the possession of the glory of our Lord Jesus.
Another one of the parallels between 1st and 2nd Thessalonians is a second thanksgiving section (cf. 1 Thess. 2:13). None of Paul's other letters has this feature but, then again, the traditional dating puts 2 Thessalonians not long after 1 Thessalonians. By the other reckoning, the similarity could be taken as evidence that 2nd Thessalonians is more than just a letter but that it is meant to evoke 1 Thessalonians as background.

The Thessalonian church was not of course the first congregation that Paul planted, even if it was the first to which we know Paul wrote a letter. If 2 Thessalonians was written near the end of Paul's ministry, then it would make perfect sense to think of the Thessalonians as one of the first fruits of his ministry. Certainly from the standpoint of his letters, the Thessalonian congregation stands out as one of his earliest.

Salvation for Paul, as we have observed, primarily refers to the coming day when those who are in Christ will escape the judgment. They "will be saved from wrath" (Rom. 5:9). How have they been "set apart" or sanctified for that appointment? The Holy Spirit has done it on the basis of their faith.

We have in these two verses a short version of Paul's ordo salutis, his "order of salvation." First, God calls. This is not an "unconditional election" but a calling to all who might believe. However, the called are ultimately those who respond to God's calling with faith in the truth. They came to this faith because Paul, Silas, and Timothy preached the good news or gospel to them, the good news that Jesus is Lord.

On the basis of a person's faith in the truth, they are set apart as belonging to God. They are designated as holy. They are sanctified. They are purified. As a result, they will experience salvation from the judgment of God when Christ returns. They will attain to the glory of God intended for humanity in creation but that all humans currently lack because all have sinned.

15. Therefore, then, brothers [and sisters], stand firm and hold fast the traditions which you were taught, whether through word or through our letter.
The mention of Paul's teaching as traditions may again suggest that this letter comes more at the end of Paul's ministry than at the beginning. We remember the language of the Pastoral letters, which speak of the "deposit" of good teaching that Paul is leaving behind (e.g., 2 Tim. 1:14). Paul, Silas, and Timothy left such teaching for them both in person and in the letter of 1 Thessalonians.

If 2 Thessalonians dates from later in Paul's ministry, the Thessalonians might also be aware of some of the other letters Paul had written. He would also have visited them again by that time. Acts 20 indicates that Paul later returned to the Thessalonian church.

16. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave an eternal encouragement and a good hope in grace 17 encourage and strengthen your hearts for every work and good word.
Although chapter 3 will formally close the letter, Paul ends the teaching part of the letter with a blessing. He prays that both Jesus their Lord and God the Father will encourage them and strengthen them to live the life appropriate to God. Far from resisting the notion of good works, Paul expects them both to live and talk virtuously.

The basis for such a blessing is the fact that both the Lord Jesus and God the Father love us. Though the moment may seem perilous, we have an eternal reason to be encouraged. We have hope because of God's graciousness toward those who love and serve him.

The Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father are one in love and purpose. Jesus is Lord. He is the King of Kings, the one God the Father has sent to rule God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. God the Father is the Father, the originator, the source. God the Father is the one from whom and through whom and for whom are all things (cf. Rom. 11:36).

[1] On the other hand, it is intriguing that the disciple Simon is called "Simon the Zealot" (Luke 6:15). The Zealots as a distinct group probably did not exist until the time of the Jewish War, although there were always "zealots" around.

[2] We might note, as an aside, that 2 Thessalonians 2 does not mention the destruction of the the temple. It only implies its defilement. We find an interesting parallel in Mark 13. While the framing of the chapter refers to the temple's destruction, the rest of the chapter only speaks of its desecration.

[3] See my Explanatory Notes on Revelation.

[4] For example, N. T. Wright, "Hope Deferred? Against the Dogma of Delay," Early Christianity 9 (2018): 37-82.