1 Brothers and sisters, let us speak about the coming of Christ Jesus, our Lord, and our gathering to meet him.
2 Do not be easily unsettled. Do not be alarmed by what a prophet says or by any re port, or by some letter said to be ours, saying the day of the Lord is at hand.
3 Do not let yourselves be de ceived in any way. Apostasy must come first, when the man of Sin will appear,
4 that instrument of evil who opposes and de files whatever is considered divine and holy, even to the point of sitting in the temple of God and claiming to be God.
5 Do you not remember I spoke of it when I was still with you?
6 But you also know what prevents him from appearing until his due time.
7 The mystery of sin is already at work, but the one who restrains it at present has to be taken away.
8 Then the wicked one will appear, whom the Lord is to sweep away with the breath of his mouth and destroy in the splendor of his coming.
9 This lawless one will appear with the power of Satan, performing miracles and wonderful signs at the ser vice of deception.
10 All the deceits of evil will then be used for the ruin of those who refused to love truth and be saved.
11 This is why God will send them the power of delusion, that they may believe what is false.
12 So all those who chose wickedness instead of believing the truth will be condemned.
Persevere in faith
13 But we have to give thanks for you at all times, dear brothers and sisters in the Lord. For God chose you from the beginning to be saved through true faith and to be made holy by the Spirit.
14 To this end he called you through the gospel we preach, for he willed you to share the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord.
15 Because of that, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold to the traditions that we taught you by word or by letter.
16 May Christ Jesus our Lord who has loved us, may God our Father, who in his mercy gives us everlasting comfort and true hope, strengthen you.
17 May he en courage your hearts and make you steadfast in every good work and word.
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Comments 2 Letter to the Thessalonians, Chapter 2
• 2.1 Do not be alarmed. What happens in Thessalonica is what frequently occurs in a persecuted community: people tend to withdraw from real life. There are rumors that the Lord’s coming is imminent and hope verges on hysteria. This is why Paul reminds them of certain truths, some of which are not new, for the Old Testament had more than once spoken of crises that would precede the Judgment. We cannot take as literally true all that the prophets have said on this subject, for they spoke with images proper to their time. They did agree in announcing difficult times for believers and almost a triumph, to begin with, for God’s enemies. Jesus did not disagree.
The apostasy must come first. Before Christ’s return, there must be a “general apostasy,” or a worldwide religious crisis. An “antichrist” must come. It is true that there are antichrists in all times (see 1 Jn 2:18). Yet, at the end, there will be a more typical antichrist than all the previous ones. Christ will return in glory at the time the Church seems crushed.
You know what prevents him (v. 6). For us, this phrase is obscure. For Paul the apostasy is that of the nations already con verted to the Gospel and the force of evil was already at work within them (v. 7). It is probable that Paul follows the thinking of the “apocalyptic” authors (some of their works are part of the Bible, among others Ezekiel 38–39 and Daniel 2–10). Everything happens at the time fixed by God and every person in history lasts the time needed to carry out the good and the evil that he has within himself.
Therefore, there cannot be apostasy or antichrist as long as two preceding events have not taken place: the Gospel has to be proclaimed to all the nations (Mk 13:10), and judgment passed on the Jewish nation. The fact that these events have not been realized, especially the second (1 Thes 2:16), is perhaps for Paul the reason why the coming of the antichrist is not imminent.
Paul had no idea that the time of the nations mentioned in Luke (21:24) would last for so many centuries; for him, it was a matter of years. Let us keep in mind his way of foreseeing the end of the world. All that is in human history must mature; history will end with a last adventure inspired by diabolical pride; faith or the rejection of the Gospel will be at the heart of the worldwide confrontation.
God will send them the po wer of delusion. Once again we have the Hebrew turn of phrase that should be translated: God will allow the forces of deceit to act. The same people who do not take into account decisive arguments in favor of the faith, later follow doctrines and opinions without foundation.
Paul invites the Church, as he did in 1 Thessalonians, to follow his instructions and rules. He is more severe in insisting that they have an obligation to work: if everybody works, their faith will be more peaceful.
• 13. Note the word traditions used by Paul. The traditions are the customs, rites and teachings that people pass down from one generation to another. They are also the usages and lifestyles which are adopted upon joining a community. Jesus condemned the exaggerated importance the Pharisees gave to their own traditions, to the point that they prevailed over God’s commandments (see Mk 7:5). Yet Jesus himself, while he was with his apos tles, taught them a certain way of praying, of doing, and of living in fellowship. It is in this sense that Paul here speaks of traditions: see Traditions and Tradition in the commentary on Mark 7:1.