2 THESSALONIANS 2:7 (KJV)
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2 THESSALONIANS 2:7 (RPT)
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already working: only there is he who now restrains, until he comes into being out of the midst.
Note 1: This scripture has caused much controversy concerning the last days. The King James translation is really very poor in this verse. The word translated "iniquity" (KJV), and "lawlessness" (RPT) (Gr. anomia, Gtr. anomia) is made up from two parts, "a" which is a negative, and nomoj (Gtr. nomos) which means "law". It literally means "not law", "no law", or "lawlessness", and refers to things done which are contrary to the law of God, namely, a transgression or a breaking of the law. The word translated "letteth" (KJV) and "restrains" (RPT) is a present participle of the Greek verb katexw (Gtr. katecho) "to hold down", "to hinder", or "to restrain". The KJV "letteth" seems to mean the opposite to this. Most people seem to recognise these errors, and the New King James version translates as follows:
(2 Thessalonians 2:7) "For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way."
However, it is the last part of this verse which causes the problem, because as we can see the New King James agrees with the Old King James, with the translation, "until he is taken out of the way." There are some who say that the restrainer is the Holy Spirit working through the church, and that this scripture proves a rapture of the church before the Antichrist is revealed.
(Gerald B. Stanton KEPT FROM THE HOUR p102)
"Even so, just prior to the Tribulation judgment, the restraining hand of the
Holy Spirit shall be removed from the earth. Then shall the wrath of God be
poured out and the Man of Sin be revealed."
(GBS p106) "He who now restrains and will be taken away before
the manifestation of the Man of Sin is undoubtedly the Holy Spirit."
(GBS p107) "When the Spirit is removed, then the church must
also be snatched away."
(GBS p107) "The removal of the Spirit takes place before the
Wicked One shall be revealed, and this removal sets the time for the rapture of
the church."
This is one of the strongest arguments by the pre-tribulation teachers, but it contradicts the words of Jesus.
(Matthew 28:20) "And lo, I am with you all the days until the completion of the age."
(John 14:16) "And I will ask the father, and he will give you another helper, that he may remain with you for the age.
The spirit of truth ..."
Jesus said that neither he nor the Holy Spirit would leave us until the end of the age, but this age does not end until Jesus comes back for Armageddon and the Antichrist is removed from power. (Revelation 19:11-21). This denies that the Holy Spirit can be removed from the earth as has been stated, as long as there are Christians here.
Now let us examine the scripture, which literally reads like this:
| ewj | ek | mesou | genhtai |
| until | out of | midst | he comes into being |
The Greek word mesou is the Genitive of mesoj (Gtr. mesos) which occurs 61 times in the New Testament, and is variously translated "midst" (41x), "among" (6x), "from among + ek" (5x), "midnight + nuc = night" (2x) etc. Only in this one scripture is it translated "way". If Paul had meant "way" here he had a perfectly good Greek word for it, which is odoj (Gtr. hodos). This word means "a way", "a road", "a path", and occurs 102 times in the New Testament. It is variously translated "way" (83x), "way side" (8x), "journey" (6x), "highway" (3x), etc. The fact is that "hodos" means "way", and "mesos" means "midst", and there is no need to confuse these words as some translators have done. As we can see there is no word for "taken" in the Greek text, and the idea that something is "taken" away here has been inserted by the translators, and has no basis in the original Greek.
Note 2: The Greek word translated "he be taken" (KJV) and "he comes into being" (RPT) is the word genhtai (Gtr. genetai). It is a second aorist, middle, deponent, subjunctive, of the Greek word ginomai (Gtr. ginomai) which has the basic meaning of "to come into existence", "to be created", "to be born", or "to be produced". It occurs 678 times in the New Testament, and is used with great latitude in the KJV. Translations include "be" (255x), "come to pass" (82x), "be made" (69x), "be done" (63x), "come" (52x), "become" (47x), "God forbid + mh" (15x) lit. "may it not come to be", "arise" (13x), "have" (5x), "be fulfilled" (3x) etc. It is mistranslated "being ended" (John 13:2), where a literal translation would be "having come into being", but nowhere does it have the sense of anything being "taken" away. It is translated in the sense of "arise" in the following scriptures:
(Matthew 8:24) "there arose
a great tempest in the sea."
(Matthew 13:21) "when tribulation or persecution arises
because of the word,"
(Mark 4:17) "when affliction or persecution arises
for the word’s sake,"
(Mark 4:37) "And there arose a
great storm of wind,"
(Luke 6:48) "and when the flood arose,"
(Luke 15:14) "there arose a mighty
famine in that land;"
(John 3:25) "Then there arose a question between some
of John’s disciples and the Jews"
(Acts 6:1) "there arose a murmuring
of the Grecians against the Hebrews,"
(Acts 11:19) "the persecution that arose
about Stephen"
(Acts 19:23) "there arose no small
stir about that way."
(Acts 23:7) "there arose a
dissention between the Pharisees and the Sadducees;"
(Acts 23:9) "And there arose a
great cry;"
(Acts 23:10) "And when there arose
a great dissention,"
In every one of these cases the word "arose" could be replaced by "came into being" or "came to pass" without and change of meaning. The word "arises" could be replaced by "comes into being" or "comes to pass" without any change of meaning. There is no thought of anything being "taken away" in any of these scriptures, and the word "ginomai" should never be translated with any idea or though of anything being "taken" away, unless it is clearly specified by other words, which in this case it is not.
Note 3: What then does this scripture (2 Thessalonians 2:7) mean? Look at the context from verse 3.
"Who" and "he" (v4), "he"
(v6), "he" (v7) except for "he who restrains", "whom" (v8), "whose" (v9); all these pronouns refer to the
"man of sin" (v3), also called "that Wicked" (v8).
This is none other than the Antichrist. It is technically possible to translate
"it comes into being" (v7), which could refer to a state of complete
lawlessness, but the context really indicates that "he" is correct, and refers to the Antichrist. Therefore sin and lawlessness are being restrained at
present, and will continue to be restrained until "transgressors have come to the full" (Daniel 8:23), then the Antichrist will be revealed. God will then send
the world a "strong delusion" (2 Thessalonians 2:11) and the unsaved Gentile world will be cut off from salvation.
We have made no plea for any special translation here, but only that which is obvious from the meaning of the words, so we cannot
be accused of twisting the scripture to support our own beliefs. There is absolutely nothing in verse 7 to indicate that either the Holy Spirit or the
church will be taken away before the Antichrist appears. The idea that this verse refers to a pre-tribulation rapture of the church has been thoroughly refuted.
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