2 Thessalonians 3:3

But the Lord is faithful (pisto de estin o kurio). But faithful is the Lord (correct rendition), with a play (paronomasia) on pisti by pisto as in Romans 3:3 we have a word-play on apistew and apistia. The Lord can be counted on, however perverse men may be. From the evil one (apo tou ponhrou). Apparently a reminiscence of the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:13 rusai hma apo tou ponhrou. But here as there it is not certain whether tou ponhrou is neuter (evil) like to ponhron in Romans 12:9 or masculine (the evil one). But we have o ponhro (the evil one) in 1 John 5:18 and tou ponhrou is clearly masculine in Ephesians 6:16 . If masculine here, as is probable, is it "the Evil One" (Ellicott) or merely the evil man like those mentioned in verse Ephesians 2 ? Perhaps Paul has in mind the representative of Satan, the man of sin, pictured in Ephesians 2:1-12 , by the phrase here without trying to be too definite.