2 Thessalonians 2 Study Notes

2:8 The glory of the lawless one will be short-lived. The Davidic Messiah upon whom the Spirit will rest “will strike the land with a scepter from his mouth, and he will kill the wicked with a command from his lips” (Is 11:4).

Parousia means presence or coming. In the sense of presence, it refers to physical proximity. Paul speaks of the obedience of the Philippian church during both his presence and absence (Php 2:12) and of the presence of his fellow laborers (1Co 16:17). Elsewhere, parousia refers to the coming or arrival of men or events. Paul mentions the arrival of Titus (2Co 7:6-7), and he hopes to come again to the Philippians (Php 1:26). Parousia occurs most often in relation to the coming of the Lord Jesus as human history moves to closure. His coming will be preceded by the coming of the “lawless one,” the antichrist (2Th 2:8-9). The glorious coming of Jesus will be accompanied by the destruction of all his enemies, a resurrection of the dead in Christ, and a gathering of the saints still living (1Co 15:23-25; 1Th 4:15-16; 2Th 2:1).

2:9 Miracles, signs, and wonders are not necessarily evidence of God’s acts. Satan has the power to perform deceptive supernatural acts. We must examine the source of the act and the content of the message being promoted in order to avoid deception (see Mt 24:24; Rv 13:13-14; 16:14; 19:20).

2:10-12 Satan’s activities will result in wide-scale deception of the unbelieving world. First, however, Paul pointed out that unbelievers reject the truth that would save them. Therefore God will send them this strong delusion after they have already turned him away. Their condemnation is based on the fact that they did not believe the truth.

2:13-14 Paul expressed confidence that God had chosen them for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit. The sanctification he referred to was not the process by which a Christian grows in Christlikeness, but the initial work of grace in which the Spirit works in a believer and makes him God’s possession.

2:15 The word traditions refers to God’s truths passed on to the Thessalonians by Paul (1Th 4:1-2). What we wrote refers to 1 Thessalonians.

2:16-17 Having exhorted them to “stand firm” (v. 15), Paul prays for God to encourage and strengthen them so that they can do so.