II Thessalonians 2 · The Lantern

Now we beg you, brothers, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together to him,

Now I am aware that your teachers, sirs, admit the whole of the words of this passage to refer to Christ; and I am likewise aware that they maintain He has not yet come; or if they say that He has come, they assert that it is not known who He is; but when He shall become manifest and glorious, then it shall be known who He is.

Now it is right and necessary, as in all divine Scripture, so here, faithfully to explain the time of which the apostle wrote, and the person and the point. This is so that the reader will not from ignorance miss either these or any similar particular and thus miss the true sense of the text.

The Apostle taught what will happen in the future regarding the punishments of the wicked and the rewards of the good. Here he announces what will happen in the future as regards the dangers to the church that will arise during the time of the Antichrist.

That you not be quickly shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

He begs them not to lightly and easily receive the opinion of the impending arrival of the Lord, as if it were certain; and he gives such commands, that even if someone were to speak as if inspired by the Spirit, they should not be believed; nor should assent be given if something were written in a treatise or letter, perhaps written in the name of the apostles.

Therefore, not to know the times is something different from moral decay and the love of vice. For when the apostle Paul said, "Don't be easily shaken in your mind nor be frightened, neither by word nor by epistle as sent from us, as if the day of the Lord were at hand," he obviously did not want them to believe those who thought the coming of the Lord was already at hand.

But of what is he trying to persuade them? "That you be not easily moved from your sense." It is one thing to be moved and another to be terrified. Now the one who is moved from his sense loses what he had previously held fast. The Apostle says, in effect, "do not easily let go my teaching." "Who easily believes is light of heart" (Sir 19:4).

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except the rebellion comes first, and that man of lawlessness be revealed, the son of destruction;

For in the last days false prophets and corrupters shall be multiplied, and the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall be turned into hate; for when lawlessness increaseth, they shall hate and persecute and betray one another, and then shall appear the world-deceiver as Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders, and the earth shall be delivered into his hands, and h…

For in the last days false prophets shall be multiplied, and such as corrupt the word; and the sheep shall be changed into wolves, and love into hatred: for through the abounding of iniquity the love of many shall wax cold. For men shall hate, and persecute, and betray one another.

Then when he says "let no man deceive you by any means", he says the same thing more generally. "Beware lest you be deceived" (Luke 21:8); "do not be deceived" (1 Cor 15:33). Now the reason why the Apostle forestalls this, namely this error concerning the Lord's coming, is that no prelate should desire that any good be achieved by a lie.

Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

And the Apostle Paul also, saying, "For though ye have served them which are no gods; ye now know God, or rather, are known of God," has made a separation between those that were not [gods] and Him who is God.

Paul therefore, in speaking of Antichrist, would not have passed over these things if they had been profitable. Let us not therefore enquire into these things.

Then when he says, "who opposes", he explains what he said before. And first, he shows how he will be the man of sin; second, how he will be the son of perdition, at "and then that wicked one shall be revealed." And first, he foretells his wrongdoing; second, he gives the cause for it, at "and now." And first, he describes the wrongdoing; second, he says that he is not announci…

Remember you not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

"Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things?" Seest thou that it is necessary continually to say the same things, and to enlarge upon them in the same words? For behold, they heard him saying these things when present, and again they had need to be reminded of them.

From this it is clear that the apostle transmitted great mysteries to the Thessalonians, and not in writing. Do you see that it is necessary to constantly speak about the same thing, to persistently repeat the same words? Here they heard the apostle speaking about this when he was among them, and yet again they had need of confirmation.

Then when he says, "do you not remember", he shows that he is writing nothing new, as though to say: when I was with you long ago, I said this. "I do not write a new command for you, but an old command, which you have had from the beginning" (2 John 5); "as we are in word by epistles when absent, such also we will be indeed when present" (2 Cor 10:11).

And now you know what is restraining him so that he may be revealed in his time.

There is also another, even greater, obligation for us to pray for the emperors; yes, even for the continuance of the empire in general and for Roman interests. We realize that the tremendous force which is hanging over the whole world, and the very end of the world with its threat of dreadful afflictions, is arrested for a time by the continued existence of the Roman Empire.

Then as for the words, "And now ye know what withholdeth," i.e., ye know what hindrance or cause of delay there is, "that he might be revealed in his own time;" they show that he was unwilling to make an explicit statement, because he said that they knew.

Above, the Apostle foretold the coming and the wrongdoing of the Antichrist; here he explains the reason for its delay. And first, he shows that they know this cause; second, he sets out this cause in an obscure manner, at "for the mystery." He says, therefore: I say that the man of sin must be revealed. "And now you know what withholds", i.e., what is the cause of his delay.

For the mystery of lawlessness does already work: only he who now restrains will do so, until he is taken out of the way.

"And the beast which ascendeth from the abyss." After many plagues completed in the world, in the end he says that a beast ascended from the abyss.

But others think that the words, "Ye know what withholdeth," and "The mystery of iniquity worketh," refer only to the wicked and the hypocrites who are in the Church, until they reach a number so great as to furnish Antichrist with a great people, and that this is the mystery of iniquity, because it seems hidden; also that the apostle is exhorting the faithful tenaciously to ho…

Then when he says, "for the mystery", he sets out the reason for the delay. And this text has been explained in many ways, because the word "mystery" can be either in the nominative case or in the accusative case.

And then shall the lawless one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the appearance of his coming:

Of whom also the Apostle Paul again, speaking in the second [Epistle] to the Thessalonians, and at the same time proclaiming the cause of his advent, thus says: "And then shall the wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy by the presence of His coming; whose coming [i.e., the wicked one's] is after the working of Satan, in…

"And then," he says, "shall be revealed the lawless one." And what after this? The consolation is at hand. "Whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of His mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of His coming, even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan." For as fire merely coming on even before its arrival makes torpid and consumes the little anima…

Then when he says, "and then", the wicked man's coming is set out, and his punishment. First, his appearance, and second, his punishment.

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

But whichsoever of the two it is, I want to know why he comes "in all power, and with lying signs and wonders? " "Because," he says, "they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved; for which cause God shall send them an instinct of delusion (to believe a lie), that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Thus it is that what is obscure in the words of the apostle has given rise to various conjectures. Yet, of one thing there is no doubt, namely, that Paul meant Christ will not come to judge the living and the dead until after his adversary, Antichrist, has come to seduce the souls of the dead.

Then when he says "him, whose coming", he foretells the Antichrist's power. And concerning this he does two things, for first, he sets out his power to deceive; second, he shows how this power has its cause in God's justice, at "because they do not receive." And the first of these is in three parts, for first, he sets out the one who stands behind this power; second, how he wil…

And with all wicked deception in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

Inasmuch, then, as in this world some persons betake themselves to the light, and by faith unite themselves with God, but others shun the light, and separate themselves from God, the Word of God comes preparing a fit habitation for both.

To them he says that the deception of iniquity of his wonders is advancing, who are about to perish; because they have rejected the charity of truth, through which they could have been saved, as the apostles preached, they are delivered to the devil; for they do not want to be saved, they are abandoned by God.

Then he sets out those who will be deceived, when he says "to those who perish", i.e., among those who God foreknows will perish. "None of them was lost save the son of perdition" (John 17:12). And this is because "my sheep hear my voice" (John 10:27).

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

"But," say they, "God hardened the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants." Those, then, who allege such difficulties, do not read in the Gospel that passage where the Lord replied to the disciples, when they asked Him, "Why speakest Thou unto them in parables?"-"Because it is given unto you to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven; but to them I speak in parables, that seein…

One should know that the Antichrist must come. Antichrist, to be sure, is everyone who does not confess that the Son of God came in the flesh, is perfect God and became perfect man while at the same time he was God. In a peculiar and special sense, however, he who is to come at the consummation of the world is called Antichrist.

But their sin and punishment is their deception; hence he says "God shall send them", i.e., permit to come to them, "the operation of error." "God has mingled in their midst a spirit of confusion" (Isa 19:14). "I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets" (1 Kgs 22:22). And this is why he says "to believe lying", i.e., the false teaching of the Antichrist.

That they all might be condemned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

At this place, the foreknowledge of God resounds, because He knows the minds of all before their birth; and He is not unaware of those who will believe.

Yet we must always give thanks to God for you We should note that he had said this at the beginning of the epistle. brothers, beloved of God as if he should say, his unspeakable and immeasurable gifts. But not that those who he said to be about to be loved by God cannot in any way be mistaken.

But the punishment only is eternal damnation; hence he adds "that all may be judged", namely with the judgment of condemnation. "And those who have done wickedly shall go forth to the resurrection of judgment" (John 5:29). "Who have not believed the truth." "He who does not believe is already judged" (John 3:18).

But we must give thanks always to God for you, brothers beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

And the apostle also teaches that the Holy Spirit sanctifies. For he speaks thus, "We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brothers dearly beloved of the Lord; because God chose you as first fruits for salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth." So, then, the Father sanctifies, the Son also sanctifies, and the Holy Spirit sanctifies; but the…

With these words they show that they were converted to faith by his teaching. The purpose was for the acquisition of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. As if he should say, "Therefore you were drawn to the faith by our teaching, so that you might obtain for yourselves the glory of the Lord."

Then when he says "but we ought", he shows why Christ's faithful will be freed. And first he gives thanks for them; second, he recalls the divine favors by which they are freed from such things. He speaks therefore like this: those men will be deceived, but "we ought to give thanks." "First indeed I give thanks to my God always for you through the Lord" (Rom 1:8).

To which he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of this Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus; and after him, in the third place from the apostles, Clement was allotted the bishopric.

We must turn to tradition, for everything cannot be received from the divine Scriptures. That is why the holy Apostles handed down certain things in writings but others by traditions.

Then when he says "to which he has also called you by our Gospel", he sets out the second divine favor, which is the temporal calling of Christ, which follows on God's choice. "Those whom he called, these he also justified" (Rom 8:30). And concerning this calling, note the parable about the man who made a great dinner (Luke 14:16).

Therefore, brothers, stand firm, and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word, or our letter.

Since therefore we have such proofs, it is not necessary to seek the truth among others which it is easy to obtain from the Church; since the apostles, like a rich man [depositing his money] in a bank, lodged in her hands most copiously all things pertaining to the truth: so that every man, whosoever will, can draw from her the water of life.

Not by letters alone did Paul instruct his disciple in his duty, but before by words also which he shows, both in many other passages, as where he says, "whether by word or our Epistle," and especially here. Let us not therefore suppose that anything relating to doctrine was spoken imperfectly. For many things he delivered to him without writing.

Then when he says, "therefore, brethren", he admonishes them to hold fast the truth. And first he sets out his admonition; second, a prayer, at "now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself." And he does the first because our works depend on free will; but he adds the second because they need the help of grace.

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which has loved us, and has given us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,

"Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father, which loved us, and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish them in every good work and word." Again a prayer after an admonition. For this is truly to benefit.

After the exhortation follows prayer, for in this truly consists the help given to others. The apostle speaks as if to say: I said, stand firm; but all things are from God. Where then are those who demean the Son because in baptism He is named after the Father? Behold, here it is the opposite: the apostle named the Son first.

Then he sets out his prayer, at "now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself", as though to say: I have admonished you in this fashion, but it will avail nothing without God's help. And so he sets out first two favors from God.

Comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work.

II Thessalonians2