Paul continued his instruction concerning the events that must precede the beginning of the day of the Lord by stressing the lawlessness of that period. His purpose was to explain more clearly that his readers had not missed the Rapture and had not entered into the tribulations of that day.
2:6 When he was with them Paul had told the Thessalonians what was restraining the unveiling of the man of lawlessness (i.e., Antichrist, v. 3; cf. 1 John 1:18). However, he did not restate the identity of the restrainer here. Nevertheless it seems that the Holy Spirit is the restraining influence in view.41
"To one familiar with the Lord Jesus' Upper Room Discourse, as Paul undoubtedly was, fluctuation between neuter and masculine recalls how the Holy Spirit is spoken of. Either gender is appropriate, depending on whether the speaker (or writer) thinks of natural agreement (masc. because of the Spirit's personality) or grammatical (neuter because of the [neuter] noun pneuma; see John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13, 14) . . ."42
Posttribulationists, and some pretribulationists, have suggested other possibilities. These include the Roman Empire and or emperor,43God,44Antichrist, Satan, and human government.45These do not fit Paul's description.46Marvin Rosenthal, a "pre-wrath rapturist,"believed the restrainer is Michael the archangel.47
The Holy Spirit accomplishes His ministry of restraining lawlessness in the world mainly through the influence of Christians whom He indwells, specifically through gospel preaching.48
"One of the distinctive features of the dispensation of grace in contrast to prior periods is the fact that the Holy Spirit indwells everyone who is regenerated. In the coming period of the kingdom on earth this divine blessing will also be a prominent feature and everyone who is saved will be indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
"There is little evidence that believers will be indwelt by the Spirit during the tribulation. The possibility of a universal indwelling of all believers in the tribulation is opposed by the revelation of 2 Thessalonians 2:7, that the one restraining the world from sin, i.e., the Holy Spirit, will be taken out of the way' during the tribulation. Unrestrained evil characterizes the tribulation, though the lack of restraint is not total (cf. Rev. 7:2; 12:6, 14-16). The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in the saints in itself would contribute to the restraint of sin, and it, therefore, is taken away. The tribulation period, also, seems to revert back to Old Testament conditions in several ways; and in the Old Testament period, saints were never permanently indwelt except in isolated instances, though a number of instances of the filling of the Spirit and of empowerment for service are found. Taking all the factors into consideration, there is no evidence for the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in believers in the tribulation."49
2:7 The "mystery"(truth previously not revealed but now made known) Paul referred to here is the revelation of a future climax of lawlessness that would follow the removal of the restrainer. This lawless movement was already underway in Paul's day, but God was holding it back until His appointed time. Then He will remove the restraining influence. This is probably a reference to the Rapture when God's restraint of evil through His people will end as He removes them from the earth.50God will remove the Holy Spirit from the earth in the sense that God will remove those whom He indwells and He with them. He will not entirely abandon the earth, of course, since God is omnipresent.
Gundry believed the restrainer is the Holy Spirit but that it is His ministry of restraining lawlessness apart from the influence of Christians that is in view here.51His conclusion grows out of belief that the Holy Spirit will permanently indwell all believers since Pentecost. Yet compare 1 Corinthians 12:13 where Paul said the baptizing ministry of the Holy Spirit places believers into the "one body"of Christ. The body of Christ is a term that always describes the church that began on the day of Pentecost and goes to heaven at the Rapture. For the Christian, Spirit indwelling takes place at the same time as Spirit baptism, namely the time of regeneration. Since people whom God will justify during the Tribulation will not experience baptism into the body of Christ, it is unwarranted to assume that the Spirit will also permanently indwell them. The body of Christ will be in heaven rather than on earth then.
"Since the removal of the Restrainer takes place before the manifestation of the lawless one, this identification implies a pretribulational rapture."52
2:8 After the Rapture the lawless one will have greater freedom. He will do things that will eventually result in his being identified as the Antichrist. However the mere breath of the Lord Jesus' mouth will slay him when Christ comes with His saints at the Second Coming (1:10). The Lord's "appearance"(Gr. epiphaneia) is a different and later event in His "coming"(Gr. parousia) than the "gathering"(Gr. episynagoges) event (v. 1). The first event is the Rapture, and the second is the Second Coming.
2:9-10 The lawless one will be Satan's instrument.53Satan will empower him to deceive many people into thinking he is God by doing awe-inspiring, powerful miracles (cf. Rev. 13:2-4; 17:8).
"The use of parousiahere probably suggests a parody of Christ's Parousia (v 8)."54
2:11-12 Thousands of people, but only a small proportion of the entire population, will place their faith in Jesus Christ during the Tribulation (Rev. 6:9-11; 7:4, 9-17; et al.). Some interpreters have concluded from these verses (vv. 11-12) that no one who has heard the gospel and rejected it before the Rapture will be able to be saved during the Tribulation. This view rests on taking the antecedents of "them"and "they"as being "those who perish"(v. 10) and interpreting "those who perish"as those who heard but rejected the gospel before the Rapture. However it seems more likely that verse 10 describes all unbelievers in the Tribulation, not just those who heard and rejected the gospel before the Rapture. Satan's power, signs, wonders, and evil deception (vv. 9-10) will impress all people living on the earth during the Tribulation. Paul could say that those people do not receive "the love of the truth so as to be saved"(v. 10) and they "did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness"(v. 12). He could do so since these phrases describe all unbelievers, not just those who hear the gospel and willfully rejected it before the Rapture (cf. John 3:19, Rom. 1:24-32).55
"By the lie ["what is false"]' is apparently meant the denial of the fundamental truth that God is God; it is the rejection of his self-revelation as Creator and Savior, righteous and merciful Judge of all, which leads to the worship due to him alone being offered to another, such as the man of lawlessness.'"56
If Paul wanted to correct the Thessalonians' erroneous conclusion that they were in the day of the Lord, why did he not just tell them that the Rapture had not yet taken place? Evidently he did not do so because he wanted to reemphasize the order of events resulting in the culmination and destruction of lawlessness in the world. Lawlessness was their concern.
Paul's readers could, therefore, be confident that the day of the Lord had not yet begun. The tribulations they were experiencing were not those of the day of the Lord about which Paul had taught them while he was with them. Furthermore three prerequisite events had not yet taken place. These were the departure from the Word of God by many (v. 3), the removal of the restrainer at the Rapture (v. 7), and the revelation of the man of lawlessness, Antichrist (v. 3).57This is the chronological order of these events.
