2 Thessalonians 2 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~AD 51 to 52, within a year of Paul's founding visit to Thessalonica
Location
Written from Corinth to the church in Thessalonica in Roman Macedonia
Audience
Thessalonian believers, many of them recent converts from Greek and Roman religion, unsettled about the timing of Jesus' return
Situation
A report, possibly a forged letter carrying Paul's name, had convinced some that the day of the Lord had already come. Paul tells them not to panic, and explains that a great rebellion and the appearing of a lawless figure who exalts himself in God's temple must happen first, while something is currently holding that figure back.
Key Background
Letters in the first century were dictated to a scribe and carried by hand, so forgery was a genuine risk, which is why Paul later signs off in his own handwriting as a security mark. Rulers claiming divine status were a familiar horror to Jewish readers, most notoriously the Greek king Antiochus the Fourth, who desecrated the Jerusalem temple in the second century BC, and the emperor Caligula, who tried to install his own statue there within living memory. Paul writes in shorthand because he had already taught this material in person, which is why the restraining force is unnamed and has been debated ever since.
Now, brothers and sisters, about the of our Lord Jesus, The and our being to — we need to talk about something.
Please don't let yourselves get quickly or alarmed — not by some not by some message, and not by a letter that's supposedly from us — claiming that the of the has already come.
Don't let anyone deceive you in any way. That day won't come until the great happens first and the of is revealed — the one for
He will and exalt himself above every so-called god and every object of worship, going so far as to sit in God's and declare himself to be God.
Don't you remember? I told you about all this when I was still with you.
And you know what's currently so that he'll be revealed only when his time comes.
Because the of is already at work. But the one who is currently holding it back will keep doing so until he's removed from the scene.
And then the lawless one will be revealed — and the Lord Jesus will destroy him with the of and wipe him out by the of
The of this lawless one will be Satan's doing, with all kinds of and
and every kind of aimed at those who are headed for destruction — because they refused to love the truth and be by it.
Because of this, God sends them a so that they end up believing the lie,
so that all who refused to believe the truth and instead in will be
But we always have to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because from the very beginning God chose you to be through the of you and through your in the truth.
He you to this through the we shared with you, so that you could share in the of our Lord Jesus, The
So then, brothers and sisters, and hold on to the we on to you, whether we told you in person or wrote them in a letter.
And may our Lord Jesus, The One, himself, and God our Father — who loved us and through his gave us an and a —
your hearts and you in every good thing you do and say.