Awaiting the Rebellion and the Revealing of the Antichrist
The passage concerning “the restrainer” in 2 Thessalonians 2:6 is notably ambiguous and there is significant uncertainty from commentators concerning who “the restrainer” is, even though there have been many proposals. These range from being the authorities of the Roman Empire to God’s holy spirit or the archangel Michael. These are all ideas which are foreign to the passage. So, here, I wish to present an entirely different approach to this passage by asking “What or who is it that the restrainer is holding back?” and then to use the immediate context to seek for the answer.
A fairly traditional rendering of 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 is presented in the NASB as:
“And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming.”
In this passage there are several rendering issues. The first is the position in the sentence of the word “now” and the second is the phrase “until he is taken out of the way.” So, concerning the position of the word “now” the passage reads in one of two ways according to which translation one is reading from:
#1. “And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed” (NASB. Also ESV, NRSV, GW, GNT, HCSB, ISV, LEB).
#2. “And now you know what is restraining him, so that he will be revealed at his proper time” (N.T. Wright. Also, Mounce, Wuest, KJV, NKJV, CEB, CJB, NAB, NIV, and WEB).
This second rendering is closer to the Greek syntax and is therefore the better position in the sentence for the word “now.” This means that it is only immediately “now,” in this passage, that Paul has reminded his readers of the facts concerning the sequence of events that are to occur before the day of the Lord.
In the second issue concerning the traditional translation of the Greek of verse 7 as, “until he is taken out of the way,” the literal translation is, “out of the midst he comes to be.” Although Arndt and Gingrich say that this is simply an idiom, meaning “is removed,” they probably have the traditional interpretation of 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 in mind. However, in taking the Greek literally Kenneth Wuest renders verse 7b as, “out from the midst [of humanity]” and the Disciple’s Literal New Testament renders verse 7b as, “the one restraining right now until he comes out of (Gk genetai) the midst (Gk mesou—also meaning “from among”). Rotherham also notes the literal as well as its being shown in all Gk-Eng interlinears. In fact, the Greek verb genetai used here comes from ginomai which has the root meaning of “to become” and according to Bauer’s Greek-English Lexicon one of the usages of ginomai, according to the context, is to “come into being as an event or phenomenon from a point of origin.” This and other good renderings imply the arrival or appearance of the subject, rather than its removal as is implied in the term “taken.” So the phrase, “until he is taken out of the way” is really a mistranslation.
Lastly, the Greek term katecho which means: restraining, holding back, hindering, or preventing, according to Bauer’s lexicon, is presented in our Greek text as a participle with no compliment i.e. no direct object and so the object must be implied. In fact, we can discover by the context what that implied direct object is. In verse 6 this applies to the “what” and in verse 7 this applies to the “he who.” So what will be the correct implied direct objects in these cases, i.e. what and who is being restrained? Traditional interpretations have assumed that this subject concerns the “restraining” of “the man of lawlessness.” However, the context shows that what is restrained is “the day of the Lord” which involves the coming of Christ and the first resurrection. In fact, “the man of lawlessness” turns out to be the restrainer.
So, in applying these grammatical points and analysing the context the rendering of 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 should be:
“And now you know what is hindering (neuter participle for an event—“what”) [“him” or “it”—implied direct object] for him to be revealed at his appointed time.7 In fact, the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; but only until he who is just now hindering (masculine participle for a person—“he who”) [“him” or “it”—implied direct object] comes out from our midst [i.e. “comes out into the open”]. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and he will annihilate [his works] by the displaying of his arrival.”
Interpretation Applied to the Better Rendering of
2 Thessalonians 2:6-8
2 Thessalonians 2:6-8
Of prime concern to Paul’s anxious Thessalonian readers was when would “the coming (Gk parousia) of our Lord Jesus Christ” (vs. 2) and “the day of the Lord,” occur; rather than concern over the revealing of “the man of lawlessness.” So, Paul only needed to remind the Thessalonians of what he had personally told them previously and to warn them of the falsity of certain reports that they’d heard about the coming of the day of the Lord. He goes on to show them in verses 1-3 that “the day of the Lord” will not come until “the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness...is revealed.” So, the day of the Lord will not come until after the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed. Indeed, the evil work of Satan had not yet reached its climax. So, it was these events that were the restraining forces, rather than some thought of the archangel Michael, Roman authorities, or God’s spirit as being the restrainer.
But what were these two factors, namely, the rebellion and the lawless one actually restraining or hindering? The context indicates that it was “the day of the Lord” and therefore “the coming of our Lord Jesus the Messiah and our being gathered together to him” (vs. 1).
Regarding the implied object in both verse 6 and verse 7, it concerns the “restraining” or hindering of “the day of the Lord” (verse 2) and so the implied direct object will be “it” rather than “he” in both verses
Therefore, this reversal of the traditional interpretations gives us a single significantly contextual interpretation and is presented as:
“And now you know what [i.e., the coming rebellion and the revealing of the lawless one] is hindering it [i.e., the day of the Lord - Christ’s coming], for him [Christ] to be revealed at his appointed time. 7 In fact, the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; but he [the lawless one] who is just now hindering it [the day of the Lord] will do so only until he [the lawless one] comes out from our midst [i.e., “comes out into the open”]. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and he will annihilate his works by the displaying of his arrival.”
Hence, Paul was telling his Christian brothers and sisters that “the day of the Lord” would not arrive until the rebellion and the revealing of the man of lawlessness was happening. Concerning these two factors as being the “what is hindering” in verse 6, Greek scholar A.T. Robertson explains that the use of the neuter singular may appear when an abstract expression is used to sum up a whole mass of ideas or expressions. (A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, p.409.) So here the “whole mass” is the two factors of “the rebellion and the revealing of the man of lawlessness” and Paul uses this idiomatic neuter singular participle, to katechon to “sum up” these two events that are hindering “the day of the Lord.” So, these two factors were the “what is restraining” or hindering “the day of the Lord” from arriving. So, a complete interpretive rendering of this passage would be:
“And now you know that the coming rebellion and the revealing of the lawless one is hindering the day of the Lord for Christ to be revealed at his appointed time. 7 In fact, the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; but the lawless one, who is right now hindering the day of the Lord, will do so only until this lawless one comes out into the open. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and he will annihilate [his works] by the displaying of his arrival.”
This rendering and interpretation of this passage is not the product of speculation, but is arrived at by a searching out of its meaning through the study of its context, and using the normal meanings of the Greek words.
Furthermore, this understanding fits very well with Jesus’ words of, “when you see ‘the sacrilege which causes desolation’ standing where he shouldn’t ... 26“Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with overwhelming power and glory” (Mark 13:15, 26). This is because “the sacrilege which causes desolation” is identified with “the man of lawlessness” i.e., the Antichrist and his appearing in God’s temple which occurs so that he triggers the great tribulation. These are all events prior to “the coming of the Son of Man.” So, Paul adds to this that it is the events of the yet to occur rebellion and the revealing of the man of lawlessness that is hindering the day of the Lord and therefore the return of Messiah Jesus. All of this adds to our understanding that it will be a post-tribulation first resurrection and rapture.
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