Standing firm: the day of the Lord, the man of lawlessness and honest work

Second Thessalonians is a short letter to the same church as 1 Thessalonians, sent by Paul, Silvanus and Timothy (1:1), probably from Corinth soon after the first letter, perhaps within a few months (about AD 51). It addresses a church whose persecution had not eased (1:4-5) and which had been unsettled by a claim that the day of the Lord had already come (2:2). Paul also deals again with those who would not work (3:6-12), a problem touched on in 1 Thessalonians 4:11 and 5:14.

Pauline authorship is traditional and widely held, but it has been questioned since the early nineteenth century, and a substantial minority of critical scholars regard the letter as written by a follower of Paul. The reasons given are the close verbal parallels to 1 Thessalonians, a more formal tone, and what seems a different picture of the end: 1 Thessalonians says the day comes suddenly like a thief, while 2 Thessalonians 2 lists events that precede it. Defenders reply that the parallels reflect one author writing soon afterward to one church, that the two emphases answer different problems, and that Paul's own warning about forged letters (2:2; 3:17) fits a real crisis in which his name was being misused. A few scholars have proposed that 2 Thessalonians was written first, but the order of the canon is generally followed. This class treats the letter as Paul's and notes that its content stands in the context of Pauline teaching either way.

The situation is that some in Thessalonica were saying, perhaps by prophecy, a report, or a letter claimed to come from Paul, that the day of the Lord had arrived. If they thought the end had come in their afflictions, they would be shaken. Paul replies to correct, comfort and instruct.

Second Thessalonians contains one of the most disputed passages in the New Testament, 2:1-12, and care is needed. Paul writes in apocalyptic idiom, using images from Daniel 7 to 12, Isaiah 11:4 and Ezekiel 28, and he is reminding the readers of oral teaching he gave them (he asks in 2:5 whether they remember that he told them these things). We do not have that teaching, so some of what he says is allusive, and parts of the passage are obscure to us. The honest approach is to separate what is clear from what is uncertain.

What is clear: the day of the Lord has not come; a rebellion and the revealing of a figure of lawlessness are to come first; this figure will exalt himself against God; he is already anticipated by a mystery of lawlessness at work; and the Lord Jesus will destroy him by his coming. Paul's purpose is pastoral: to comfort believers whose faith was shaken. What is uncertain: the identity of the lawless one and the nature of the restraint.

The letter's other sections are more straightforward. The thanksgiving and prayer sections give the letter its frame, and the instruction on idleness in chapter 3 is practical. Paul's strong language on judgment (1:6-10) affirms God's justice in the Old Testament sense: God will set right what is wrong, and believers do not take vengeance themselves.

1:1-12. Paul gives thanks that their faith is growing and their love abounding, and he boasts of their steadfastness in persecutions to other churches. Their endurance is evidence of God's righteous judgment, that they will be counted worthy of the kingdom for which they are suffering. It is just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict them, and to give relief to the afflicted when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire. He will inflict vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel; they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord. This will happen on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy ones and marvelled at among all who have believed. The language draws on Isaiah 66:15 and Isaiah 2:10-21. 'Eternal destruction' has been read as ruin without end, and others, notably annihilationists such as some evangelicals, read it as final loss of life; the Greek word for destruction (olethros) and the phrase 'away from the presence' do not by themselves settle that question. Paul prays that God will count them worthy of his calling and fulfil every resolve for good, so that the name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified in them.

2:1-4. Paul urges them not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, whether by a spirit, a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from him, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. That day will not come unless the rebellion (apostasia) comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. The Greek apostasia means rebellion or revolt; whether it means a falling away within the church or a rebellion in the wider world is debated. The 'temple of God' is read as the Jerusalem temple (which stood until AD 70), as the church (compare 1 Corinthians 3:16), or as a symbol of a counterfeit claim to divinity.

2:5-12. He reminds them he told them this. They know what restrains him now, so that he may be revealed in his time. The mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the appearance of his coming (compare Isaiah 11:4). The coming of the lawless one is by the work of Satan with power, signs and wonders that serve falsehood, and with every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refused to love the truth that would save them. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they believe what is false, and all who did not believe the truth but delighted in wickedness will be condemned.

2:13-17. In contrast, Paul gives thanks that God chose them as the first fruits (some manuscripts read 'from the beginning') for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. God called them through the gospel so that they might obtain the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. So they should stand firm and hold to the traditions they were taught, by word or by letter. He prays that the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father, who loved us and gave eternal comfort and good hope by grace, would comfort their hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

3:1-5. He asks for prayer that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honoured and that they may be delivered from perverse and evil people. The Lord is faithful and will establish and guard them from the evil one.

3:6-15. Paul commands them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness (ataktōs, disorderly, like a soldier out of rank), not in accord with the tradition they received. He recalls that he and his companions worked night and day so as not to burden anyone, though they had the right to support, in order to give an example. His rule is plain: whoever is unwilling to work should not eat. He hears that some are walking in idleness, busybodies and not busy at work, and he urges them to work quietly and earn their own living. They are not to grow weary in doing good. Anyone who does not obey is to be noted and not associated with, that he may be ashamed, but not treated as an enemy; he is to be admonished as a brother. The letter closes with a prayer for peace and the mark of Paul's own signature.

The letter teaches the justice of God. Persecuted believers are told that God will set the account right at the revealing of Christ. This does not remove suffering but puts it in a longer frame. The same justice applies to the lawless one and those who refuse truth. The doctrine of final judgment, taught also by Jesus (Matthew 25:31-46), is here a source of comfort to the afflicted.

It teaches also that evil is real, personal and limited. The mystery of lawlessness is already at work, Satan empowers the lawless one, and yet there is a limit set by God, and the Lord Jesus overcomes the enemy with the breath of his mouth. Whatever the details, the answer to evil is the coming of Christ. The Old Testament background is the pattern of arrogant rulers brought low, such as the king of Babylon (Isaiah 14) and the prince of Tyre (Ezekiel 28), and Daniel's little horn (Daniel 7:25; 11:36). The New Testament carries this on in the beast of Revelation 13 and the antichrists of 1 John 2:18.

The passage also teaches the Christian duty of work. Idleness is disorder, and work is an act of love for the community. Election appears again (2:13), as a reason for gratitude and a ground for standing firm. God's call comes through the gospel and its end is the glory of the Lord Jesus.

The Lord Jesus is the revealed judge and Saviour. He is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, a picture that takes the Old Testament theophany, the appearing of God, and gives it to Jesus (compare Isaiah 66:15). He is to be glorified in his holy ones and marvelled at among believers, and Paul takes Old Testament language about the name of the Lord and applies it to the name of the Lord Jesus (1:12; compare Isaiah 66:5). The letter names God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ together in its greeting and prayers (1:1-2; 2:16), and the Lord Jesus is the one who establishes hearts (2:16-17; 3:5).

The defeat of the lawless one rests on Christ's word: he will kill him with the breath of his mouth. This echoes Isaiah 11:4, where the shoot from Jesse's stump strikes the earth with the rod of his mouth and slays the wicked with the breath of his lips. The New Testament's use of this text for the Messiah is part of a wider pattern, and Paul's application to the coming of Christ is a clear case of Old Testament promise fulfilled in him. The Lord who destroys evil is also the Lord who loved us and gave eternal comfort (2:16), and Paul closes with the wish that the Lord of peace himself give peace at all times and in every way (3:16).