Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
2 Thessalonians 3:2

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 2 Thessalonians 3:2. Unreasonable and wicked men — The word ατοπων, which we translate unreasonable, signifies rather disorderly, unmanageable; persons out of their place-under no discipline, regardless of law and restraint, and ever acting agreeably to the disorderly and unreasonable impulse of their own minds.

For all men have not faith. — The word πιστις is without doubt, to be taken here for fidelity or trustworthiness, and not for faith; and this is agreeable to the meaning given to it in the very next verse: But the Lord is faithful, πιστος δε εστιν ὁ Κυριος.

There are many, even of those who have received a measure of the Divine light, in whom we cannot confide; they are irregular, disorderly, and cannot be brought under regular discipline: to these we cannot trust either ourselves or any thing that concerns the cause of God. But the Lord is worthy of your whole confidence; doubt him not; he will establish you, and keep you from any evil to which you may be exposed by these or such like persons.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

2:13-3:18 PRESENT NEEDS IN THE CHURCH

Stability amid persecution (2:13-3:5)

From considering the terrible judgment that awaits the wicked, Paul turns to look at the bright future that awaits the Thessalonian believers. God will destroy the man of lawlessness and his followers, but the same God loves the Thessalonian believers. Their salvation is certain because God chose them as his from eternity, called them to himself through the gospel, and will in due course give them a share in Christ’s glory (13-14).
In view of the security that is theirs through the gospel, the Thessalonians need not be frightened by persecution or worried about future events. If they hold firmly to the apostolic teaching given to them, they will find that God strengthens them with courage and hope (15-17).
Paul asks for prayer that his proclamation of the gospel in Corinth will bring the same fruitful results as it did in Thessalonica. He desires also that God will protect both him and the Thessalonians against the attacks of Satan (3:1-3). He is confident that they will continue to stand firm, and that they will obey the important instructions that he is about to give them (4-5).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men; for all have not faith.

Unreasonable and evil men … Moffatt suggested "That the general aim of this passage is to widen the horizon of the Thessalonians, by enlisting their sympathy and interest on the part of others." James Moffatt, The Expositor's Greek Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), Epistles to the Thessalonians, p. 51. They were not the only ones who needed encouragement and the prayers of fellow-Christians. The characters from whom Paul sought deliverance were doubtless those violent and fanatical opponents whom Gallio drove from his judgment seat in Corinth (Acts 18:12-17). Their unreasonableness was apparent in the fact of their beating the ruler of the synagogue, it not being clear whether or not he was a member of their own party!

For all have not faith … Adam Clarke told it like it is with this word ([Greek: pistis]). He said:

The word here is without doubt to be taken for fidelity, or trust worthiness, and not for faith (in the subjective sense); and this is agreeable to the meaning given to it in the very next verse: "But the Lord is faithful." Adam Clarke, op. cit., p. 575.

Furthermore, as George Howard of the University of Georgia affirmed in his treatise published in The Expository Times, April, 1974, "fidelity, or faithfulness is the usual sense of this word in the New Testament." See full discussion of this in my Commentary on Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, under Galatians 2:16. One must deplore the efforts of many modern scholars to edit fidelity out of the meaning of this word, as used in the New Testament, an effort which could have only one design, that being the strengthening of the "faith only" madness which has dominated Christian theology since the days of Luther.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men - That is, from opposition in their endeavors to spread the gospel. Paul encountered such men everywhere, as all do who labor to diffuse the knowledge of the truth, but it is probable that there is particular reference here to the opposition which he encountered when in Corinth. This opposition arose mainly from the Jews; see Acts 18:5-6, Acts 18:12-13. The word “unreasonable” is rendered in the margin as “absurd.” The Greek word (ἀτόπος atopos) means, properly, “out of place;” then “absurd, unusual, strange; then improper, unreasonable, wicked.” It is rendered in Luke 23:41 as “amiss;” in Acts 28:6 as “harm.” It does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. It refers here to people who acted amiss or improperly; people who were not found in the right place, or who did not have the right views of things; and probably does not refer so much to their being positively wicked or malicious, as “to their putting things out of their proper place.”

They gave an undue prominence to certain things, and less importance to others than they deserved. They had a distorted vision of the value of objects, and in tenacious adherence to their own views, and prosecuting their own objects to the exclusion of all others, they presented a constant obstruction to the true gospel. This word would apply, and probably was designed to be applied, to Jewish teachers (see Acts 18:5-6), who gave an undue prominence to the laws of Moses; but it will apply well to all who entertain distorted views of the relative importance of objects, and who put things out of their place. People often have a hobby. They give more importance to some object than it deserves. They, therefore, undervalue other objects; press their own with improper zeal; denounce others who do not feel the same interest in them which they do; withdraw from those who will not go with them in their views; form separate parties, and thus throw themselves in the way of all who are endeavoring to do good in some other method. It was from people who thus put themselves out of place, that the apostle prayed to be delivered.

And wicked men - Men with bad aims and purposes. It is not always true that those who would come under the appellation of what the apostle here calls “unreasonable,” are wicked. They are sometimes well-meaning, but misguided people. But in this case, it seems, they were men of bad character, who were at heart opposed to what was good, as well as inclined to put things out of their place.

For all men have not faith - Of the truth of this, no one can doubt. The only question is, as to its bearing on the case before us. Some suppose it means, “there are few men whom we can safely trust;” others, that it means that they have not that “upright and candid disposition which would engage men to receive the testimony of the apostles” (Doddridge); others, that “all men do not embrace the Christian faith, but many oppose it” (Benson); and others, that “all men do not believe, but the worthy only” - Bloomfield. The connection seems to require us to understand it as meaning that all people are not prepared to embrace the gospel. Hence, they set themselves against it, and from such people Paul prayed that he might be delivered; compare 2 Timothy 3:8. The state of mind in which the apostle was when he wrote this, seems to have been this: He recollected the readiness with which the Thessalonians had embraced the gospel, and the firmness with which they held it, and seems to suppose that they would imagine the same thing must be found true everywhere. But he says all people have not the same faith; all were not prepared cordially and fully to embrace the gospel. There were unreasonable and wicked people whom he had encountered, from whom he prayed that he might be delivered.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

2That we may be delivered. The old interpreter has rendered it, not unhappily, in my opinion — unreasonable ⁽⁶⁹³⁾ Now, by this term, as also by that which immediately follows, (τῶν πονηρῶν,) evil, Paul means wicked and treacherous men, who lurked in the Church, under the name of Christians, or at least Jews, who with a mad zeal for the law furiously persecuted the gospel. He knew, however, how much danger impended over them from both these classes. Chrysostom, however, thinks that those only are meant who maliciously oppose the gospel by base doctrines, ⁽⁶⁹⁴⁾ — not by weapons of violence, as for example, Alexander, Hymeneus, and the like; but for my part, I extend it generally to all kinds of dangers and enemies. He was at that time proceeding towards Jerusalem, and wrote in the midst of his journeyings. Now, he had already been divinely forewarned that imprisonments and persecutions awaited him there. (Acts 20:23.) He means, however, deliverance, so that he may come off victorious, whether by life or by death.

All have not faith. This might be explained to mean, “Faith is not in all.” This expression, however, were both ambiguous and more obscure. Let us therefore retain Paul’s words, by which he intimates that faith is a gift of God that is too rare to be found in all. God, therefore, calls many who do not come to him by faith. Many pretend to come to him, who have their heart at the farthest distance from him. Farther, he does not speak of all indiscriminately, but merely animadverts upon those that belong to the Church: for the Thessalonians saw that very many held faith in abhorrence; ⁽⁶⁹⁵⁾ nay, they saw how small was the number of believers. Hence it would have been unnecessary to say this as to strangers; but Paul simply says that all that make a profession of faith are not such in reality. Should you take in all Jews, they appeared to have nearness to Christ, for they ought to have recognized him by means of the law and the prophets. Paul, there can be no question specially marks out those with whom he would have to do. Now, it is probable that they were those who, while they had the appearance and honorary title of piety, were nevertheless very far from the reality. From this came the conflict.

With the view of shewing, therefore, that it was not groundlessly, or without good reason, that he dreaded contests with wicked and perverse men, he says that faith is not common to all, because the wicked and reprobate are always mixed with the good, as tares are with the good wheat. (Matthew 13:25.) And this ought to be remembered by us whenever we have annoyance given us by wicked persons, who nevertheless desire to be reckoned as belonging to the society of Christians — that all men have not faith. Nay more, when we hear in some instances that the Church is disturbed by base factions, let this be a shield to us against offenses of this nature; for we shall not merely inflict injury upon pious teachers, if we have doubts as to their fidelity, whenever domestic enemies do them harm, but our faith will from time to time waver, unless we keep in mind that among those who boast of the name of Christians there are many that are treacherous. ⁽⁶⁹⁶⁾

(693) Importunos . Wiclif (1380) renders it noyous. —Ed.

(694) “Fausses et peruerses doctrines;” — “False and perverse doctrines.”

(695) “En horreur et disdain;” — “In horror and disdain.”

(696) “Qu’il y a beaucoup d’infideles, desloyaux, et traistres;” — “That there are many that are unbelieving, disloyal, and traitorous.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 3

Finally, brethren, pray for us ( 2 Thessalonians 3:1 ),

Now again Paul is calling for prayer for him. I think that maybe sometimes we are guilty of not praying for those in spiritual leadership feeling they've got it made. Far from the truth. Those in the position of spiritual leadership really have probably greater trials, greater temptations than the average person. Satan, I think, works harder against spiritual leadership. How many pastors have fallen in the snare of the devil? Because you see, if Satan can snare a pastor then the repercussions go through the whole congregation. Many people are hurt. So the pastor needs prayer.

Pray for us, Paul says. I would say the same to you, pray for me. I need your prayers. For what?

that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you ( 2 Thessalonians 3:1 ):

That God's word might just come forth freely from us. That we would remain faithful to the Word of God and to the truth of God. People often ask me what can I pray for you? And I answer, pray that God will keep me usable.

Paul the apostle said, "I'd beat my body to keep in subjection lest having preached to others I'd be put on the shelf"( 1 Corinthians 9:27 ). If we don't keep our body in subjection, we can be put on the shelf very easily. So many ministers have been destroyed by pride or by greed or by lust. And they let the body get the best of them and they become destroyed, no longer usable. My prayer that I will remained usable. I only have one purpose for living, and one main purpose for living and that is to do the work of the Lord, that which God has called me to do. Pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and he be glorified, through his word, even as you have experienced the power of God's word in your life:

and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith ( 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 ).

And that is one of the problems of the ministry, some of the unreasonable people that you have to deal with. And what happens is that they can waste your time. Totally unreasonable. They really don't want to reason, they just want to throw their trip on you and they become so demanding and so pushy. Paul said pray that God will just deliver me from unreasonable men. For not everybody has the faith.

But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you, and keep you from evil ( 2 Thessalonians 3:3 ).

The Lord is faithful and God will establish your walk and your life, and God will keep you from evil. He is faithful.

And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you [Paul said, what is it?] that you both do and will do the things which we command you ( 2 Thessalonians 3:4 ).

I have this confidence that you are going to obey the instructions and the exhortations in this epistle. I just have this confidence, I know.

And that the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ ( 2 Thessalonians 3:5 ).

Other commentators and translators translate this "and to the patience of Christ", but "that the Lord will direct your hearts in the love of God". How we need God's love to be working in our hearts and lives more and more. For all of our efforts, all our works, all of our sacrifices, all of our gifts, all of our anointings are of no value if the love of God isn't there working through it.

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not love, it is just a meaningless empty sound. Though I can prophesy, I understand all mystery, if I have not love it is worthless. Though I give my body to be burned or I sell everything that I have and bestow on the poor, if I have not love it really profits mean nothing". Oh, may the Lord cause his love to abound in our hearts, direct our hearts into love and into the patience of Christ.

Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ ( 2 Thessalonians 3:6 ),

Now this becomes very serious when you start commanding people in the name of Jesus. That is the way you deal with demons.

That you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walks disorderly, and not after the truths which you have received from us ( 2 Thessalonians 3:6 ).

Now Paul is commanding them that you really separate yourselves from the disorderly brothers.

When Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, he said we are not to have fellowship with those who are drunkards, who are committing fornication, who are living after the flesh, who claim to be brothers in Christ. He said you can't just exclude yourself from mixing with everyone who does these things. In other words, you live in the world, you can't get out of that. But with those that say they are brothers, don't eat with them. Don't fellowship with them if they are walking disorderly. He is saying now the same thing, only commanding them in the name of Jesus that you withdraw from these disorderly people.

For yourselves know how that you ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you ( 2 Thessalonians 3:7 );

And so there were those that were coming in after Paul who were creating divisions and all, and Paul said withdraw from them. These guys are teaching you junky stuff, withdraw from them. They are not following the teachings that we gave to you. Now follow after those things that we taught you, for we taught you the truth through the Holy Spirit. And,

Neither did we eat any man's bread for nothing ( 2 Thessalonians 3:8 );

We set an example for you, and the pastor should be setting an example for the flock, but a good example to be sure.

I heard of this one pastor who, with his deacon, decided to go hunting one day. And so they got in their pickup and they had their guns on the rack in the back and drove for several hours out into the country. And when they got out there, they found the whole area posted closed. And they said, oh, man, what a shame. We've driven all this distance and all, and the whole place is posted closed. The deacon said well, there's only one possibility of hunting today and that would be over on Farmer Brown's property, but I hear that he is the meanest guy in the whole town. He's -- everyone stays clear from him.

The pastor says, well, we've come this far. He said, I'll tell you what, I'll go up to the door and I'll ask him. He can't do anymore than refuse us. So he went up to the door and knocked and the farmer came to the door and he said, "Hi, I'm Pastor Jones and my deacon and I came out this morning, drove all the way out here. Decided we do a little hunting, but we found every place closed." He said, "Do you suppose it would be possible that we could hunt on your property?"

The farmer said, "Pastor Jones, what a joy to see you." He said, "I've been listening to you on the radio and have been so blessed by your ministry." He said, "Honey! Pastor Jones is here. Can you believe that?" He said, "Hey, it would be a privilege for me to have you hunt on my property. It would be a blessing." He said, "Would you do me a favor? The horse out there in the coral, the vet just went away and said I've got to kill him." He said, "Would you mind shooting the horse for me before you go." The pastor said, "No problem, I'll be glad to do that."

As he went back to the truck he decided to play a trick on his deacon, sort of tease him a bit. And he said to the deacon, "Boy, you know the stories we've heard about that guy are true. That has to be the meanest, orneriest fella I've ever met in my life. In fact, the things he said to me have me boiling so inside that I've got to do something. I've got to get rid of this pressure, or I'm just going to explode." He said, "Give me my gun." And he took his gun, aimed at the horse and shot it. And the horse fell over. And he turned around to see the shocked expression of his deacon when he heard, "bang! POW!" And the deacon says, "I got two of his cows, preacher, now let's get out of here".

Now Paul says, "Be followers of me", but that's to a point. Paul said, "I didn't eat any man's bread for naught;" In other words, I didn't sponge off of any of you. I didn't come in and eat you bread. I didn't come in and inflict myself upon you and say "all right, now take care of me and feed me". I didn't come in and tell you that God was broke and going out of business if you don't send your tithes and offerings in this week. "We didn't eat any man's bread for naught",

but worked with labor and travail night and day, that we would not be chargeable to any of you [that we wouldn't be dependent upon any of you.] Not because we do not have the power to make ourselves an example unto you to follow us ( 2 Thessalonians 3:8-9 )

In other words, as an apostle, as bringing you the Word of God, They that uh -- the ox that treads out the corn is not to be muzzled. Paul wrote to the Galatians to communicate to those who taught them in the Word in every good thing. But Paul said I wasn't chargeable to you, not that I didn't have the power, but I just wanted to set an example for you. I wanted to set this kind of an example of working to provide for my own needs that it might be an example to you that you might follow us.

For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness you go to work, and you eat your own bread. But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing ( 2 Thessalonians 3:10-13 ).

Again, in another place, Paul said, "Be not weary in well doing for in due season you will reap if you faint not" ( Galatians 6:9 ).

It is easy sometimes to become weary in doing good, especially if you don't see any effect or any results and fruit from it.

And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man [mark that man], and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet don't count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Now the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all. The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token of every epistle: so I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen ( 2 Thessalonians 3:14-18 ).

So Paul signifies that this, his signature attested to the veracity, the truth of this letter being from him. Follow it, obey it, and the teaching that he had given. A great epistle. We'll get next into first Timothy. So you can go ahead and read first Timothy the first couple chapters. You might as well read the whole book, but we'll take probably the first three chapters in our next lesson.

Now may the Lord be with you and cause you to abound in all things in Christ. That the love of God might increase in your heart and in your life as God establishes you in your faith and in your walk with Him. God be with you and God bless and keep you during the time that we are absent from one another. May God enrich you through His Spirit in all things in Christ Jesus. "

Contending for the Faith

And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.

And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: The phrase "may be delivered" (ruomai) means "to draw to one’s self, to rescue, to deliver" (Thayer 564-1-4506).

Paul desires that Christians pray to God on their behalf that they would be delivered from individuals who protest against the name of Christ. The apostle’s primary intention in this request is not to escape physical persecution. He is more concerned about the actions of wicked men who would hinder the furtherance of the gospel. This teaching reminds us of the model prayer when Jesus was teaching his disciples how to pray; He taught them among other things to pray requesting God to "...Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil..." (Luke 11:2-4).

The word "unreasonable" (atopos) means "out of place; not befitting, unbecoming" (Thayer 83-2-824). The word "wicked" (poneeros) means "bad, of a bad nature or condition" (Thayer 530-2-4191).

Paul could have been thinking of the wicked, fanatical Jews in the city of Corinth, who stood in the way of the gospel there (Acts 18:15-17). When Gallio’s judgment removed this hindrance, the gospel had free course; and Christianity spread rapidly in Corinth. Four years later, Paul writes from the city of Ephesus, "A great and effectual door is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries" (1 Corinthians 16:9). Surely no man apart from Jesus Christ had more deadly enemies than did the Apostle Paul. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-33 he describes some of the perils he endured. No doubt the apostle, when he writes this letter, has ;the heathen priests and philosophers in mind as well as the unbelieving Jewish zealots. Yet seeing the latter were so exceedingly enraged against him for preaching salvation to the Gentiles, without requiring them to obey the law of Moses, that they followed him from place to place and raised a furious storm of persecution against him; it is not improbable that they were particularly pointed at in this passage, especially as they had lately made an insurrection at Corinth, with an intention to have the apostle put to death (MacKnight 433).

for all men have not faith: The word "faith" (pistis) "in reference to Christ, denotes a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God" (Thayer 513-1-41023).

Faith in this passage does not signify the actual belief of the gospel, but such a desire to know and to do the will of God, as will dispose a person to believe the gospel when fairly proposed to him (MacKnight 433).

Thomas Sheldon Green says:

Paul was known as "the man who turned the world upside down." Everywhere he went, one of two things happened quickly—revival or riot! He was hated with vehement hatred; and had not God protected him, he would have been martyred long before the day when he finally did seal his testimony with his blood (292).

Paul probably uses the expression "for all men have not faith" to describe those men in the first part of the verse who are "unreasonable and wicked men."

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. Prayer for the missionaries 3:1-2

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

A. Reciprocal prayer 3:1-5

Paul requested the prayers of his readers and assured them of his prayers for them to strengthen their mutual bonds in Christ and in the gospel.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

V. EXHORTATIONS FOR FUTURE GROWTH 3:1-15

Paul requested the Thessalonians’ prayers for him and assured them that he was praying for them. He also encouraged them to deal with problems that needed correction in their assembly. Obedience in these matters would result in continued growth toward maturity for these believers.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Also Paul desired that God would grant him and his colleagues deliverance from unreasonable and harmful unbelievers who sought to limit the spread of the gospel. This is the negative side of the former positive request. To oppose the spread of the gospel is unreasonable behavior since the gospel brings spiritual life to those who are dead in sin. These men were probably unbelieving Jews who were opposing Paul in Corinth (cf. Acts 18:5-6; Acts 18:12-13).

"There is something deeply moving in the thought of this giant among men asking for the prayers of the Thessalonians who so well recognized their own weakness. Nowhere is Paul’s humility more clear to see. And the fact that he, as it were, threw himself on their hearts, must have done much to bind even his opponents to him, because it is very difficult to dislike a man who asks you to pray for him." [Note: Barclay, p. 250.]

Barclay's Daily Study Bible

Chapter 3

A FINAL WORD ( 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 )

3:1-5 Finally, brothers, keep on praying for us, that the word of God may run its race and receive its crown of glory--as it does in your case--and that we may be saved from these wicked and evil men, for the faith is not for everyone. You can rely on the Lord who will make you steady and who will guard you from the evil one. We have confidence in the Lord that you both do and will do what we command you to do. May the Lord direct your hearts so that you may feel the love of God and display the endurance which Christ can give.

Once again Paul comes to the end of a letter with the request that his people should pray for him (compare 1 Thessalonians 5:25; Romans 15:30 ff.; Philemon 1:22). There is something deeply moving in the thought of this giant among men asking for the prayers of the Thessalonians who so well recognized their own weakness. Nowhere is Paul's humility more clear to see. And the fact that he, as it were, threw himself on their hearts must have done much to bind even his opponents to him, because it is very difficult to dislike a man who asks you to pray for him.

But in spite of his love for and trust in men Paul was a realist. The faith, he said, is not for everyone. We can be certain that he said it not cynically but sorrowfully. Once again we see the tremendous responsibility of free-will. We can use it to open our hearts and we can use it to shut them. Faith's appeal is not selective, it goes out to every man; but the heart of man can refuse to respond.

In the last verse of this passage we see what we might call the inward and the outward characteristics of the Christian. The inward characteristic is the awareness of the love of God, the deep awareness that we cannot drift beyond his care, the sense that the everlasting arms are underneath us. One of the basic needs of life is security and we find that need met in the consciousness of the unchanging love of God. The outward characteristic is the endurance which Christ can give. We live in a world where there are more nervous breakdowns than at any time in history. It is a sign that more and more people have the feeling that they cannot cope with life. The outward characteristic of the Christian is that when others break he stands erect and when others collapse he shoulders his burden and goes on. With the love of God in his heart and the strength of Christ in his life a man can face anything.

DISCIPLINE IN BROTHERLY LOVE ( 2 Thessalonians 3:6-18 )

3:6-18 Brothers, we command you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, keep yourselves from every brother who behaves like a truant from duty and who does not conduct himself in accordance with the teaching which they received from us, for you yourselves know that you must imitate us because we never played the truant from work when we were among you nor did we eat bread which we had received from you without paying for it, but in labour and toil we kept on working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you. It is not that we had not the right to claim support from you, but we kept at work that we might give ourselves to you as an example for you to imitate, for when we were with you we used to give you this order, "If a man refuses to work, neither let him eat." For we hear that there are some amongst you whose behaviour is that of truants from work, who are busy in nothing except in being busybodies. To such we give orders and exhort them in the Lord Jesus Christ that they should quietly go on working and so eat their bread. Brothers, don't grow tired of doing the fine thing. If anyone does not obey the word we send to you through this letter, mark him; don't associate with him that he may be shamed. Don't reckon him as an enemy, but give him advice as a brother.

Here Paul is dealing, as he had to deal in the previous letter, with the situation produced by those who took the wrong attitude to the Second Coming. There were those in Thessalonica who had given up their work and had abandoned the routine claims of every day to wait about in excited idleness for Christ to come. Paul uses a vivid word to describe them. Twice he uses the adverb ataktos ( G813) and once the verb ataktein ( G812) . The word means to play truant. It occurs, for instance, in the papyri, in an apprentice's contract in which the father agrees that his son must make good any days on which he plays truant. The Thessalonians in their excited idleness were truants from work.

To bring them to their senses Paul quotes his own example. All his life he was a man who worked with his hands. The Jew glorified work. "He who does not teach his son a trade," they said, "teaches him to steal." Paul was a trained Rabbi; but the Jewish law laid it down that a Rabbi must take no pay for teaching. He must have a trade and must satisfy his daily needs with the work of his hands. So we find Rabbis who were bakers, barbers, carpenters, masons and who followed all kinds of trades. The Jews believed in the dignity of honest toil; and they were sure that a scholar lost something when he became so academic and so withdrawn from life that he forgot how to work with his hands. Paul quotes a saying, "If a man refuses to work, neither let him eat." It is the refusal to work that is important. This has nothing to do with the unfortunate man who, through no fault of his own, can find no work to do. This has been called "the golden rule of work." Deissmann has the happy thought that, when Paul said this, "he was probably borrowing a bit of good old workshop morality, a maxim coined perhaps by some industrious workman as he forbade his lazy apprentice to sit down to dinner."

In this we have the example of Jesus himself. He was the carpenter of Nazareth and legend has it that he made the best ox-yokes in all Palestine and that men came from all over the country to buy them. A tree is known by its fruits and a man is known by his work. Once a man was negotiating to buy a house and bought it without even seeing it. He was asked why he took such a risk; his answer was, "I know the man who built that house and he builds his Christianity in with the bricks." The Christian should be a more conscientious workman than anyone else.

Paul disliked the busybody intensely. There may be greater sins than gossip but there is none which does more damage in the Church. A man who is doing his own work with his whole strength will have enough to do without being maliciously interested in the affairs of others.

Paul commands that those who disregard his instructions must be dealt with by the community. But they are to be dealt with not as enemies but as brothers. The discipline given by a man who contemptuously looks down upon the sinner and speaks to hurt may terrify and wound but it seldom amends. It is more likely to produce resentment than reformation. When Christian discipline is necessary it is to be given as by a brother to a brother, not in anger, still less in contempt but always in love.

At the end Paul adds his autograph to authenticate his letter. "Look," he says, "this is what my handwriting is like. Mark it, so that you will know it again." And then, with the truth expounded, with praise and rebuke lovingly intermingled, he commends the Thessalonian Church to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

FURTHER READINGS

Thessalonians

J. E. Frame, Thessalonians (ICC; G)

G. Milligan, St. Paul's Epistles to the Thessalonians (MmC; G)

W. Neil, The Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians (MC; E)

Abbreviations

CGT: Cambridge Greek Testament

ICC: International Critical Commentary

MC: Moffatt Commentary

MmC: Macmillan Commentary

TC: Tyndale Commentary

E: English Text

G: Greek Text

-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

Gann's Commentary on the Bible

2 Thessalonians 3:2

Delivered -- Awakens the Thessalonians that they are not the only ones who need encouragement and prayers. Paul seems to be referring to his particular problem he was meeting at Corinth, Acts 18:12-13.

Unreasonable and wicked -- Undoubted his refers to the violent and fanatical opponents whom Gallio drove from hs judgment seat in Corinth Acts 18:12-17. The Thessalonians themselves knew about this kind of men, Acts 17:5-9. Describes men who are corrupt in their principles and practices. "

The word [Greek word] which we translate unreasonable, signifies rather disorderly, unmanageable; persons out of their place - under no discipline, regardless of law and restraint, and ever acting agreeably to the disorderly and unreasonable impulse of their own minds." Adam Clark.

Faith -- trustworthy, "fidelity, or faithfulness is the usual sense of this word in the NT" (George Howard).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men,.... Either from the unbelieving Jews, see Romans 15:30 who were the avowed enemies of the Gospel, and did all they could to hinder the spread of it; and who were the implacable and constant adversaries of the apostle; who often lay in wait for him, and opposed him, and gave him trouble in all places, stirring up the people against him: or from the false teachers, and those of their party, who are the false brethren by whom he often was in perils; who were enemies of the cross of Christ, and great hindrances to the spread of the Gospel; being men of absurd principles, and of wicked lives and conversations, whereby they perverted the Gospel of Christ, brought a reproach upon it, stumbled some, and overthrew the faith of others; and from these the apostle desires to be delivered:

for all men have not faith: no man has faith of himself, it is the gift of God, and the operation of his Spirit; and it is only given to the elect of God, who are ordained unto eternal life, and therefore it is called the faith of God's elect; all mankind have it not, none but Christ's sheep; and the reason why others have it not is, because they are not of his sheep. This is a truth; but rather the true sense of the words is, that all that are professors of religion, and members of churches, and even all that are preachers of the word, have not faith. They may have an historical and temporary faith and the faith of miracles, and even all faith but the true faith; they may profess to believe, and yet not believe, as Simon Magus, and his followers seem to be intended here; for this is given as a reason why the apostle desired to be delivered from the above men. The Jews say o, that

"he that studies not in the law, לאו ביה מהימנותא, "there is no faith in him"--and it is forbidden to come near him, or to trade with him, or to walk with him, "because there is no faith in him".''

The apostle seems to allude to this custom.

o Zohar in Lev. fol. 33. 2.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:   2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.   3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.   4 And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you.   5 And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

      In these words observe,

      I. The apostle desires the prayers of his friends: Finally, brethren, pray for us,2 Thessalonians 3:1; 2 Thessalonians 3:1. He always remembered them in his prayers, and would not have them forget him and his fellow-labourers, but bear them on their hearts at the throne of grace. Note, 1. This is one way by which the communion of saints is kept us, not only by their praying together, or with one another, but by their praying for one another when they are absent one from another. And thus those who are at great distance may meet together at the throne of grace; and thus those who are not capable of doing or receiving any other kindness may yet this way do and receive real and very great kindness. 2. It is the duty of people to pray for their ministers; and not only for their own pastors, but also for all good and faithful ministers. And, 3. Ministers need, and therefore should desire, the prayers of their people. How remarkable is the humility, and how engaging the example, of this great apostle, who was so mighty in prayer himself, and yet despised not the prayers of the meanest Christian, but desired an interest in them. Observe, further, what they are desired and directed to pray for; namely, (1.) For the success of the gospel ministry: That the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified,2 Thessalonians 3:1; 2 Thessalonians 3:1. This was the great thing that Paul was most solicitous about. He was more solicitous that God's name might be sanctified, his kingdom advanced, and his will done, than he was about his own daily bread. He desired that the word of the Lord might run (so it is in the original), that it might get ground, that the interest of religion in the world might go forward and not backward, and not only go forward, but go apace. All the forces of hell were then, and still are, more or less, raised and mustered to oppose the word of the Lord, to hinder its publication and success. We should pray, therefore, that oppositions may be removed, that so the gospel, may have free course to the ears, the hearts, and the consciences of men, that it may be glorified in the conviction and conversion of sinners, the confutation, of gainsayers, and the holy conversation of the saints. God, who magnified the law, and made it honourable, will glorify the gospel, and make that honourable, and so will glorify his own name; and good ministers and good Christians may very well be contented to be little, to be any thing, to be nothing, if Christ be magnified and his gospel be glorified. Paul was now at Athens, or, as some think, at Corinth, and would have the Thessalonians pray that he might have as good success there as he had at Thessalonica, that it might be as well with others even as it was with them. Note, If ministers have been successful in one place, they should desire to be successful in every place where they may preach the gospel. (2.) For the safety of gospel ministers. He asks their prayers, nor for preferment, but for preservation: That we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men,2 Thessalonians 3:2; 2 Thessalonians 3:2. Note, Those who are enemies to the preaching of the gospel, and persecutors of the faithful preachers of it, are unreasonable and wicked men. They act against all the rules and laws of reason and religion, and are guilty of the greatest absurdity and impiety. Not only in the principles of atheism and infidelity, but also in the practice of the vice and immorality, and especially in persecution, there is the greatest absurdity in the world, as well as impiety. There is need of the spiritual protection, as well as the assistance, of godly and faithful ministers, for these are as the standard-bearers, who are most struck at; and therefore all who wish well to the interest of Christ in the world should pray for them. For all men have not faith; that is, many do not believe the gospel; they will not embrace it themselves, and no wonder if such are restless and malicious in their endeavours to oppose the gospel, decry the ministry, and disgrace the ministers of the word; and too many have not common faith or honesty; there is no confidence that we can safely put in them, and we should pray to be delivered from those who have no conscience nor honour, who never regard what they say or do. We may sometimes be in as much or more danger from false and pretended friends as from open and avowed enemies.

      II. He encourages them to trust in God. We should not only pray to God for his grace, but also place our trust and confidence in his grace, and humbly expect what we pray for. Observe,

      1. What the good is which we may expect from the grace of God-establishment, and preservation from evil; and the best Christians stand in need of these benefits. (1.) That God would establish them. This the apostle had prayed for on their behalf ( 2 Thessalonians 2:17; 2 Thessalonians 2:17), and now he encourages them to expect this favour. We stand no longer than God holds us up; unless he hold up our goings in his paths, our feet will slide, and we shall fall. (2.) That God will keep them from evil. We have as much need of the grace of God for our perseverance to the end as for the beginning of the good work. The evil of sin is the greatest evil, but there are other evils which God will also preserve his saints from--the evil that is in the world, yea, from all evil, to his heavenly kingdom.

      2. What encouragement we have to depend upon the grace of God: The Lord is faithful. He is faithful to his promises, and is the Lord who cannot lie, who will not alter the thing that has gone out of his mouth. When once the promise therefore is made, performance is sure and certain. He is faithful to his relation, a faithful God and a faithful friend; we may depend upon his filling up all the relations he stands in to his people. Let it be our care to be true and faithful in our promises, and to the relations we stand in to this faithful God. He adds,

      3. A further ground of hope that God would do this for them, seeing they did and would do the things they were commanded, 2 Thessalonians 3:4; 2 Thessalonians 3:4. The apostle had this confidence in them, and this was founded upon his confidence in God; for there is otherwise no confidence in man. Their obedience is described by doing what he and his fellow-labourers had commanded them, which was no other thing than the commandments of the Lord; for the apostles themselves had no further commission than to teach men to observe and to do what the Lord had commanded,Matthew 28:20. And as the experience the apostle had of their obedience for the time past was one ground of his confidence that they would do the things commanded them for the time to come, so this is one ground to hope that whatsoever we ask of God we shall receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight, 1 John 3:22.

      III. He makes a short prayer for them, 2 Thessalonians 3:5; 2 Thessalonians 3:5. It is a prayer for spiritual blessings. Two things of the greatest importance the apostle prays for:-- 1. That their hearts may be brought into the love of God, to be in love with God as the most excellent and amiable Being, the best of all beings; and this is not only most reasonable and necessary in order to our happiness, but is our happiness itself; it is a great part of the happiness of heaven itself, where this love shall be made perfect. We can never attain to this unless God by his grace direct our hearts aright, for our love is apt to go astray after other things. Note, We sustain a great deal of damage by misplacing our affections; it is our sin and our misery that we place our affections upon wrong objects. If God directs our love aright upon himself, the rest of the affections will thereby be rectified. 2. That a patient waiting for Christ may be joined with this love of God. There is no true love of God without faith in Jesus Christ. We must wait for Christ, which supposes our faith in him, that we believe he came once in flesh and will come again in glory: and we must expect this second coming of Christ, and be careful to get ready for it; there must be a patient waiting, enduring with courage and constancy all that we may meet with in the mean time: and we have need of patience, and need of divine grace to exercise Christian patience, the patience of Christ (as some read the word), patience for Christ's sake and after Christ's example.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

The second epistle takes up another difficulty. It was written in view of another abuse of the truth of the Lord's coming a danger that threatened the saints. As the first epistle was intended to guard the saints from an error about the dead, the second epistle was more particularly meant to correct them about the living. They were distressed at finding that some of their brethren died before the Lord came. So filled were they with the constant expectation of Christ from heaven, that it never occurred to them that a single Christian might depart from the world before His return, How they must have realized, in their habitual waiting, the nearness of that blessed hope! They now learnt that they need not sorrow on such a score; for the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then we, the living at His coming, shall be caught up with them to join the Lord together. But the second epistle grew out of another and more serious error. We have seen that they were greatly alarmed and agitated. The apostle was really uneasy about them lest the tempter should tempt them, and his labour come to nought lest, moved by their sore affliction, they should fall into fear about the awful day of the Lord, which the enemy knows well how to use.

Everybody who has read Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the lesser prophets knows what they tell us of the horrors for men when the day of Jehovah comes upon the earth, that it will be. a day of dismay and darkness, when all earthly things are utterly confused, and the people of God seem about to be swallowed up by their enemies. False doctrine ever sets one truth against another; and it was not wanting among the Thessalonians at this time. For some sought to persuade them that the day of the Lord was even then arrived. They probably argued that their troubles were part of the circumstances of that day. Certainly they sought to shake them by pretending that the day of the Lord was actually there. There was such fearful persecution and trouble among them, that this might be plausibly enough mixed up as supporting the idea that the day of the Lord was begun. For this false rumour seems to imply that they must have given some sort of figurative colour to "that day" (as it was certainly so used in Old Testament prophecy). At any rate, they must have supposed that "the day of the Lord" did not necessarily require the presence of the Lord Himself. In other words, they might think, is many Christians since have imagined, that a dreadful time of trouble must befall the world before the Lord comes to receive His own to himself above.

This second epistle was written to disabuse the minds of the Thessalonian saints; and indeed it directly tends to set all Christians free from any anxiety of the kind, though, of course, there may be persecution again, as there was then, and repeatedly afterwards, especially from Pagan and from Papal Rome. But this is wholly different from the dread which the enemy sought to infuse among the Thessalonians. The apostle accordingly sets himself to this task. First of all he comforts them.

"Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; so that we ourselves glory in you." It may be noticed that he leaves out "the patience of hope." How comes this? It was exactly the hope that was no longer bright in their hearts. So far the enemy had succeeded. They had been comforted, but they had lost somewhat of the light and joy of the hope. They were moved more or less by their tribulation; not perhaps so much by the outward pressure as by the insinuation of Satan through false teaching, which is a far more dangerous thing for the child of God. It is plain that the apostle merely mentions their faith growing, and their love He no longer praises nor names their patience of hope, but rather prays for them in2 Thessalonians 3:1-18; 2 Thessalonians 3:1-18 in such a way as to show there was a lack in this respect. That is, he takes up two of the qualities mentioned in the first epistle, and not the third. This, which was bound up with the whole structure of the first epistle, is left out of the second. There was too good reason for it. For the time they had let it slip, as I have just explained. It is true that the apostle tells them, "we glory in you in the churches of God for your patience, and faith" (he does not speak of their "patience of hope") "in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure." They were holding on, and not giving up Christ but their souls had not the former spring through Christ their hope. We shall have the evidence of this more fully soon.

There was "a manifest token," says he, "of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer." So far it was well. "Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." Observe the reason why he brings in "that day." It was a false doctrine about the day, which draws out an explanation of its nature and its relation to the coming of the Lord. When that day comes, it will not fall with its troubles on the children of God. In truth the Lord will then execute judgment on their enemies I do not mean on the dead till the close, but on the quick or living. It will be no more in some figurative and preparatory sense of exceeding affliction, or of natural overthrow; but its description here is the Lord Jesus revealed from heaven in flaming fire. There will be no doubt about its nature or effects. Every eye shall see Him.

That is, even2 Thessalonians 1:1-12; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 plainly prepares us for the complete discomfiture of the illusory and alarming dreams which these false teachers had been foisting in under false colours among the Thessalonian saints. But he pursues the matter farther. He will take vengeance on two classes on those that know not God, and those that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These seem the Gentiles and the Jews respectively; but why do not we find here some allusion to the third class His relation to the church of God? Because those who compose the church are no longer here.

Thus it is shown that the Lord will deal with all on earth, not merged in one, but discriminated; for He executes judgment, and hence does not confound those who differ in a common class. There is thus a definite distinction drawn; but this so much the more precisely leaves out the Christian. Its force is more understood the more it is weighed. The apostle does not declare all at once, but prepares the way with much circumspection. When he says "them that know not God," he means the idolatrous Gentiles. Then he adds with another article, "and those that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (not, as we have it in English here, "and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus;" as if all were one and the same class). There are two classes, and therefore accuracy would seem to call on us to make the sense more definite "and on them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." At all events, whatever mode of rendering may be preferred, I have no hesitation in saying that such is the sense of the Greek, and nothing else. They are the Gentiles, who knew not God, (or, as Bengel has it, "qui in ethnica ignorantia de Deo versantur,") and the Jews, who might know God after a sort and to a certain point beyond Gentiles, but who did not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. ("Judaeis maxime, quibus evangelium de Christo praedicatum fuerat.") For unbelief is always convicted by the test that God employs; and the day of the Lord will deal with every form. The Gentiles that know not God will be punished, and the Jews that abuse the forms of Old Testament revelation to disobey the gospel will not escape, still less nominal and apostate Christendom.

The reason why no notice is taken of Christians as then on earth we shall see assigned a little lower down: I merely now remark that he could not put himself in either of those two classes. It is evident that on whomsoever that day is to fall it has no bearing on such. If therefore the Christians were troubled now, it was in no way the same character of trouble as that which shall be in the day of the Lord. The teaching of those who had spread this impression was utterly false; and if they claimed the highest sanction for it, they were worse than mistaken they were the guilty tools of Satan. But as to both the classes we have seen described by the apostle, they "shall be punished with everlasting destruction," both "from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believed:" for this is the full force of it.

In the new age people will be blessed abundantly, but the blessing of the millennium does not exactly take the shape of belief. They shall behold the glory of the Lord. Such is their form as assigned by scripture. The earth shall be filled with the knowledge not with the faith, but with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea. It will be in countless cases the fruit of true divine teaching; but knowledge describes it better than faith; and we may easily understand the difference. They will behold the glory, they will look upon the Lord, no longer hidden but displayed. The blessed spoken of in our chapter are clearly those that have already believed. So indeed the apostle states: "Wherefore we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of the calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power; that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Next (2 Thessalonians 2:1-17) he comes to the special error in question. "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . . that ye be not soon shaken in mind nor troubled, neither in spirit nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of the Lord is present." It is well known that "of the Lord" (not of Christ) is unquestionably required by the best manuscripts, and other ancient witnesses.

Ἐνέστηκε does not mean "at hand," but actually come. I do not enter into any long proof of this just now, having already done so elsewhere. Suffice it to say, that the word occurs in half a dozen places in the New Testament, and nowhere can bear any sense but the one alleged. Nor does it ever convey any such meaning as "at hand" in any correct Greek author. It has been so thought; but it is a mistake. It always means present, in contrast with future ever so imminent. So in two instances of the New Testament it stands over against future things; as when it is expressly said (in Romans 8:1-39 and 1 Corinthians 3:1-23), "things present and things to come." The latter might be "at hand," but not the former. The things to come are in pointed opposition to those actually arrived. Again, we have (Galatians 1:4) "this present evil world." This is now only. The age to come is not evil but good. It is in contrast with the present. And so as to "for the time then present," (Hebrews 9:1-28) and "for the present necessity." (1 Corinthians 7:1-40) It is not a question of the future, but solely of the present; a necessity now, and at no other time. In short, it is the regular word for "present." If a Greek meant to say "present" in contrast with the future, there was no more emphatic word to use. What, then, can be conceived more calculated to destroy the right understanding of this epistle than the common mistranslation? Such is the true sense of the word, I am bold to say.

But clearly this gives an immense help to the understanding of the passage. The apostle appeals to the saints. It is not a question of teaching in this verse, but the apostle beseeches them by a certain powerful motive, which was still in their souls. He does not mean, "We beseech you concerning," as some conceive, but as our English version says, "by." It is a legitimate meaning of the preposition with words of entreaty. He uses the hope of being gathered to Christ at His coming as a motive why they should not listen to those misleading the saints. Now mark the character of this false teaching. It was not the excitement of hope, but of terror produced on the spirit. It caused them to shake, hindering them from a settled, holy, hearty waiting for Christ. The error occupied them with the terrors of some intervening trouble. The pretence was that all the afflictions they had been enduring were parts or signs of the well-known day of trouble, the day of the Lord. Not at all, says the apostle: the trouble of that day will befall the enemies, not the friends, of the Lord. As they knew that every believer loved His name, the notion propagated was wholly astray. It was morally false, as ignoring in the first place His unfailing and perfect love for them.

Therefore he could say, "We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, nor troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as by us, as that the day of the Lord is present." Do you not know that Christ is coming for you, and that the first aim and effect of His coming will be your gathering together to meet Him in the air? Why, therefore, be uneasy at such a rumour about His day, with all its awful associations? You have been taught that from God; why be disturbed by this effort of the enemy, who falsely pretends to the Spirit and word, and an alleged letter of mine? That day will fall on the world. Indeed, the apostle had implied in the opening of this epistle, as well as in the latter part of his first, that the day of the Lord does not concern the saints, who were sons of light and of day. They would come accordingly with that day, instead of its overtaking them as a thief by night, because so it comes on whom it may. It comes from the Lord in His execution of judgment on a guilty world; and the very fact of their being sons of light ought to have proved that it cannot surprise such, because they belonged to the region whence it comes.

With striking pithiness he briefly points to the ways of deceit and darkness which accompanied the notion, and betrayed its real source. Truth refuses an admixture of falsehood; and the pretence that any had a spiritual intimation to themselves, or a word for others, that the day of the Lord was really come, was manifestly of the serpent, not of God. Such and so rapid are the steps of evil, one wrong leading to another. But the allegation that they had the apostle's own authority for the delusion gave him a direct opportunity to contradict the error. "Let no man deceive you by any means: for lit shall not come] unless there shall come the apostasy first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." These are two different things. The apostle affirms that the day cannot be before both. Christendom will have abandoned the faith, and the man of sin must be revealed. What a prospect! Do the children of God believe it? We know the world has wholly opposite expectations. Those who allow themselves with so little seriousness to bear the excellent name of the Lord will openly fall away from the confession of the gospel; and then a suited leader into the gulf of perdition will soon appear for the apostates.

I am perfectly persuaded that some of the most important parts of Satan's means of bringing about the apostasy are now actively at work. God has been graciously filling many hearts with joy and comfort of the truth. He has given not a few to believe these words, the moral signs of which are becoming daily more and more manifest. The apostasy again must come, and, in contrast with the man of righteousness, the man of sin be revealed, even the final Judas, "the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above every one called God, or an object of veneration; so that he sitteth down in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." How sharply in contrast with the Lord Jesus, who, though really God, in love became man, in order to accomplish the glorious counsels of God and man's salvation by grace! This one is the son of perdition to the ruin of those who trust him. Although he be but a man, and the man of sin, he takes the place of being the true God here on earth, and this too, not in the world, but in the temple of God of that time. Thus he not merely takes the place of God here below, but actually as such enters His temple. I do not doubt that the temple will then be in Jerusalem; so that as Christendom began at Jerusalem, the holy city will be its last scene of sinful pride and of divine judgment, though not its only place of judgment. Jerusalem! Rome! they are two names of most solemn import as to the subject to which I am briefly alluding. "Remember ye not that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time." It is no absolute restraint, but provision only; for he must be revealed in his own season.

The reference to previous teaching left the matter in comparative obscurity, and has given rise to a great deal of discussion. I think the true answer neither difficult nor uncertain. It is evident that what withholds or restrains must be a power superior to man or Satan, and of a nature totally opposite to the man of sin. As this is the embodiment, or rather head, of evil, so that which restrains his revelation would naturally be the power of good which suppresses as long as God pleases the full manifestation of the lawless one. There seems to be a good reason why the matter is put in this general, if not vague, manner. What withholds is presented as a principle or power in an abstract way, and not as a person only. It might, I suppose, assume a different shape at different times.

Thus we find ourselves within narrow limits in order to fix the restraint and the. restrainer. The Thessalonians, who were but young in truth, already knew what restrains, "that he might be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of iniquity" [or "lawlessness," which is the true force of the word] "doth already work: only there is one who restraineth now until he be taken away; and then shall the lawless one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the breath of his mouth, and shall destroy with the appearing of his coming" or presence. Evidently, then, we find here a power that hinders the manifestation of the lawless one a power which is also a person. Where do we find one that effectually checks the plans of Satan, a person no less than a power? We need not consider long, but answer, without hesitation, the Spirit of God.

Undeniably He is both a power and a person; and save in Him it will be far from easy, if possible, to find an answer that combines these two distinct intimations, as well as both the character and the extent of the power involved. It can hardly be said to be the Spirit of God dwelling in the church, except in the most general way. We must recollect that the Holy Spirit not only dwells there, but also acts providentially in the government of the world. I am far from meaning that, when the church is gone, He will restrain the powers of the world much longer. There are men of the world who have no confidence in its stability; though it exercises no salutary fear over their souls, and they cling to it all the same. I am sure that no Christian man should trust it for a moment. They are not called to promise fair things to that which cast out and slew the Lord of glory. They know that its doom is coming quickly, but not till they have formally rejected the truth, and accepted the man of sin. But no matter what the wicked will of man and the wiles of Satan may be, they will not be able absolutely to extinguish divinely-controlled government among men as soon as they desire. There is One that still restrains, who could always indeed, but who will cease only when, according to God, the time for the final outburst arrives. It does not, I think, terminate at once, even when the Lord shall have come and taken up His saints, both those that sleep and all those alive and waiting for Him. I say "all," for, you must remember, it is invariably assumed in scripture that every saint waits for Christ. The notion that a person may be a saint, and not looking for His coming, does not enter into the mind of the Holy Spirit. One may fall, of course, into a wrong state from bad teaching or careless ways; but if Christ is my life and righteousness, I shall surely love Him; and if so, I must want to see and be with Him in the condition of glory, where alone such life and righteousness, and the love that gave them, have their just display and results. Hence it is always assumed that every Christian is, in the knowledge of His love, waiting for Christ to come and receive us to Himself, that we may be with Him in the Father's house before He executes judgment on the world. Till then the Spirit of God acts as a cheek on the designs of Satan; and even after the church is gone (as I think) He will restrain for a short space.

From the Apocalypse we learn that for a little while God carries out certain agencies of blessing. Not only does He not immediately cease to deal with souls, but we do not at once see either the apostasy or the man of sin. This is a consideration that bears on the question; for undoubtedly it is not the will of man that either sheds blessing on souls or restrains the proudest effort of Satan. After the church is taken up, then the Spirit of God works; and this doubly. He will bring souls into the knowledge of the testimony that God will then raise up to meet the existing circumstances, for His own glory as well as in His pitiful mercy to man. But, besides, He will even then restrain the powers that be from falling instantaneously into the devices of the devil. At a certain given moment, which the Revelation clearly defines, Satan will be cast down from heaven, and will then bring forward his long-meditated plan. The empire that has disappeared from among men for so long, that the wise men of the world think its resurrection impossible the Roman empire will come forward clothed with a diabolical energy. This is the moment when the Spirit ceases to restrain.

Accordingly the Western empire will use all its might, and Satan will help it, to establish a politico-religious power in Jerusalem, who will be the head of the Jews, and at the same time the religious chief of the West. Such is the issue of idolatrous Christ-rejecting Judaism and of apostate Christendom. The man of sin will sit and be worshipped as God, in His temple at Jerusalem. This will enable the Roman empire still to carry on its political game of opposition to the Eastern powers. The West, I say, will support and be supported by the Antichrist, and consequently must share in the awful destruction that the Lord will Himself execute when He appears. Angels will do their part, and the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone; for they will be caught red-handed in their opposition to the Lamb, little knowing that He is Lord of lords and King of kings. As for the civil and religious leaders, the beast and the false prophet, they will be consigned to everlasting destruction, without even the form of trial. Nothing less awaits these last and seemingly greatest leaders of the world's false glory. But, remember, the flower of the West (of these lands that boast of religion, and civilization, and progress) shall perish in this destruction of the revived imperial power and its Jewish ally.

I dare not prophesy smooth things to our own country and race. I believe that all these kingdoms of the West, now so confident in their resources and power, will fall helplessly into the hands of Satan at last. At Jerusalem the man of sin, as at Rome, the civil head of empire, with his confederate but subject kings, will be the two beasts of Revelation 13:1-18. It is not the time to enter into further details now; but I may state ray conviction, that the man of sin, whom 2 Thess. shows enthroned in God's temple, will be the accepted Messiah of the deceived Jews in Jerusalem, as the first beast is the imperial head at Rome; for the civil power will then be separate from the religious, and we all know how ardently men desire this now. But its accomplishment will have results far different from what most look for.

I confess I am struck by the solemn fact, that one cannot speak of these subjects, even at short intervals of time, without perceiving new features which, in principle, bring us more and more up to the brink of the precipice. I do then, from every point of view, warn all those who are looking for bright hopes on the earth, and promising improvement to men. It is serious to observe that the lawless one here described and reserved for such a destiny is related very nearly to the mystery of lawlessness which was then at work, as the apostle let us know, and which has gone on increasing, and is immensely increased now. It is true that the lawless one will not be revealed until the restraint of the Spirit of God over the world is removed. This appears to me to be the unforced deduction from the apostle's statement, compared with the light thrown on the subject by other Scriptures, which, by common consent, treat of the same time and point. It is the Spirit of God ceasing to restrain in the world as well as in the church, since He will for a brief space both act on souls and restrain Satan in the world, after the church has been caught up to heaven.

This I consider a comprehensive and correct view of what, is revealed. It is put generally here both as "he who withholds" and as "that which withholds." The particular from of withholding power might differ according to varying circumstances. The Christians of old used to think the Roman empire withheld them. Nor was their idea far from the mark; because the empire was assuredly among the powers ordained of God, as I do not doubt emperors, kings, presidents, etc., are still. But the hour hastens when the powers that be will cease to derive their authority from God; when the West above all will openly renounce the true God, and the beast will rise up from the abyss. Our chapter adds a true picture of the extent to which the man of sin will be allowed to go in diabolical imitation of what God wrought by Christ when here below. It is the hour of retribution, when the proud apostates who refused the truth accept and perish in the lie of the enemy. How blessed the lot of the saints which the apostle contrasts with this! (Verses 13-17.)

The next chapter (2 Thessalonians 3:1-18) closes the epistle with divers desires, and a prayer for them that the Lord would direct their hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ. The key-note is thus maintained from first to last. As Christ waits to come, so should we, that we may meet Him then. But the apostle would not have this hope nor the Lord Himself dishonoured by the reproach of disorderly ways. And thus he nowhere more enjoins the duty of honourable industry, appealing to his own example, than in the epistles which most insist on Christ's coming as the proximate and constant hope of the Christian. If any would pervert such a truth, or any other, to idleness and disorder, he was to be marked as unworthy of Christian companionship, not of course counted an enemy (like the wicked or heretics), but admonished as a brother. Idleness is fruitful of disorder and the foe of peace, which the apostle desired for them from the Lord of peace Himself always and in every way.

May we seriously heed the truth, and its immediate application to our consciences and ways! May God give us quiet energy without restlessness or excitement, but so much the more calmly, because of the realized nearness of the Lord's return, and the solemn consequences for all mankind! Oh for an earnest, burning zeal; for self-denying love; for hearts devoted to Christ, which might warn men of their impending destruction, that, if they have not been won by His love, they may at least tremble at the hopeless inextricable ruin in which their unbelief will soon leave them for ever.