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| 1 And we ask you, brethren, in regard to the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of our gathering together unto him, |
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| 2 that ye be not quickly shaken in mind, nor be troubled, neither through spirit, neither through word, neither through letters as through us, as that the day of Christ hath arrived; |
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| 3 let not any one deceive you in any manner, because if the falling away may not come first, and the man of sin be revealed the son of the destruction, |
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| 4 who is opposing and is raising himself up above all called God or worshipped, so that he in the sanctuary of God as God hath sat down, shewing himself off that he is God [the day doth not come]. |
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, these things I said to you |
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| 6 and now, what is keeping down ye have known, for his being revealed in his own time, |
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| 7 for the secret of the lawlessness doth already work, only he who is keeping down now [will hinder] till he may be out of the way, |
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| 8 and then shall be revealed the Lawless One, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the manifestation of his presence,
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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 [him,] whose presence is according to the working of the Adversary, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders, |
Coming – Parousia, presence. |
| 10 and in all deceitfulness of the unrighteousness in those perishing, because the love of the truth they did not receive for their being saved, |
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| 11 and because of this shall God send to them a working of delusion, for their believing the lie, |
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| 12 that they may be judged all who did not believe the truth, but were well pleased in the unrighteousness. |
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| 13 And we we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, that God did choose you from the beginning to salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth, |
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| 14 to which He did call you through our good news, to the acquiring of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ; |
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| 15 so, then, brethren, stand ye fast, and hold the deliverances that ye were taught, whether through word, whether through our letter; |
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| 16 and may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and our God and Father, who did love us, and did give comfort age-during, and good hope in grace, |
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| 17 comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work. |
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