2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first… The most marked Features in this passage are — I. A CARICATURE OF CHRIST; an exact counterpart and mockery of Christ in the man of sin. The latter has, like the former — 1. An apocalypse (ver. 8. cf. 6-8). 2. A solemn coming on the stage of human history (ver. 8). 3. An advent (ver. 9). 4. Power, signs, wonders (ver. 9). 5. Designation (ver. 4). 6. A definitely appointed season of His own (ver. 6). II. A CARICATURE OF CHRISTIANITY. As some of the leading glories of Christ are studiously travestied in the "lawless one," and described in language which forces us to think of Christ; so several of the leading features of the Christian system are powerfully travestied by imitative anti-Christianity. This latter is — 1. A mystery (ver. 7), imitative of the mystery of godliness. 2. Has an energy, an inworking (ver. 7, 11, cf. Ephesians 2:2), imitative of the energy and inworking of the Word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:12; Hebrews 4:12), of God (Philippians 2:18; Galatians 2:8), of the indwelling Spirit (Colossians 1:29). He shall work in them by such an energy as that of the Holy Ghost, who witnesseth in us concerning God; not a mere apprehension, but an inworking of error, a regeneration into the faith of the lie (E. Irving). 3. Has a faith — a solemn making of an act of faith — imitative of the faith of Christians (ver. 11). 4. The words eudokein, eudokia are used of God's good pleasure in His sinless Son, and of His goodwill toward men (Matthew 3:17; Matthew 12:18; Matthew 17:5; Luke 12:32; 1 Corinthians 1:21; Galatians 1:15), or the good will of Christians in holiness and acts of love (1 Thessalonians 2:8, etc.). The imitative good pleasure of anti-Christianity is in unrighteousness (ver. 12). (Bp. Alexander.) Parallel Verses KJV: Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; |
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