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| 1 Now we beg you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, |
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| 2 that ye be not soon shaken in mind, nor troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as if it were by us, as that the day of the Lord is present.
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| 3 Let not any one deceive you in any manner, because it will not be unless the apostasy have first come, and the man of sin have been revealed, the son of perdition; |
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| 4 who opposes and exalts himself on high against all called God, or object of veneration; so that he himself sits down in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. |
He as God sitteth in the temple of God – The Church (nominal, which for most of the Gospel Age contained also the True church.)
Shewing himself that he is God – Consider the following from the book "Letters in the Roman Catholic Controversy" by William Craig Brownlee (1834) – page 44
And hence the titles of the pope, on the pages of these writers, who advocate this doctrine. He is “Deus alter in terra,” “another god on earth;” “the lord our god the pope.” “Idem est dominium Dei ac Papa;” “The dominion of God and the pope are the same!” “The infallible one.” And pope Clement VII. and his cardinals, in their letter to king Charles VI., say, “as there is only one God in heaven, so there cannot, and there ought not, to be but one God on earth!” — meaning himself. See Troisard, tom. 3. p. 147. Mussus, bishop of Bitonto, called the pope, “him who is to us as our God;” and the bishop of Grenada styled him, “a god on earth, not subject to a council.” And in Bellarmine’s noted saying, we have this doctrine, (lib. iv. de Rom. pont. c. 5:) “But if the pope should err by enjoining vice, and forbidding virtues, the church, teneretur credere, &c., would be bound to believe vices to be good, and virtues to be wicked, unles she would be willing to sin against conscience!” Pope Leo X., in his Brief of Nov. 9th, 1512, declared that “as vicar of Christ on earth, he had power to forgive, by virtue of the keys, the guilt and punishment of actual sins, &c.” See Dupin. vol. iv. p. 17.
These sentiments seem so monstrous, that many of my good natured readers, I dare say, actually think that we exaggerate. Hence I shall give a few more quotations from their approved writers in order to exonerate myself. “Estiment papam,” &c. They esteem the pope to be God alone; unicum Deum esse, “who has all power in heaven and in earth.” Gerson and Carron, p. 34; Giannon, Hist. Nap. X. 12. St. Bernard, Oper. 1725, says, — “Prater Deum, &c. — None is like unto the pope in heaven or earth, except God!” Pope Innocent III. avowed “that the pope holds the place of the true God.” — Papa locum Dei tenet in terris. Papa vicem non puri hominis, sed veri Dei gerens in terra.” See Pithou 29; Gilbert vol. ii. p. 9. “Papa et Christus, &c.—The pope and Christ make one consistory: so that, sin excepted, the pope can almost do all things which God can do.” See Jacobatius, De Concilio, Venet, Edit. 1728, Edgar Var. p. 161. |
| 5 Do ye not remember that, being yet with you, I said these things to you? |
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| 6 And now ye know that which restrains, that he should be revealed in his own time. |
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| 7 For the mystery of lawlessness already works; only there is he who restrains now until he be gone, |
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| 8 and then the lawless one shall be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the breath of his mouth, and shall annul by the appearing of his coming; |
Brightness – Ephiphania, bright-shining.
Coming – Parousia, presence.
Adjusting this for English sentence structure, this verse might better be rendered:
"And then shall be revealed the wicked one, whom the Lord will abolish by the spirit of his mouth and render him usless by the brightness of his presence."
Perhaps the most interesting difference between the KJV and the actual Greek is in the word "destroy" (G2673.) Some of the ways it is translated (in the KJV) include: "without effect;" "make void;" "made of none effect;" "bring to naught;" etc. These all carry the thought that this man of sin is to have his influence become useless, of no effect, etc. In other words he remains on the scene but his influence becomes less and less until, eventually, he is completely without influence. |
| 9 whose coming is according to the working of Satan in all power and signs and wonders of falsehood, |
Coming – Parousia, presence. |
| 10 and in all deceit of unrighteousness to them that perish, because they have not received the love of the truth that they might be saved. |
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| 11 And for this reason God sends to them a working of error, that they should believe what is false, |
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| 12 that all might be judged who have not believed the truth, but have found pleasure in unrighteousness. |
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| 13 But we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, that God has chosen you from the beginning to salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: |
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| 14 whereto he has called you by our glad tidings, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. |
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| 15 So then, brethren, stand firm, and hold fast the instructions which ye have been taught, whether by word or by our letter. |
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| 16 But our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us, and given us eternal consolation and good hope by grace, |
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| 17 encourage your hearts, and establish you in every good work and word. |
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