Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Thessalonians 2:9

"[even he], whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders," — 2 Thessalonians 2:9 (ASV)

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan. This is from the Greek, kat energeian tou Satana, meaning "according to the energy of Satan"—that is, the energetic or efficient operation of Satan.

The word translated after, as anyone familiar with Greek will recognize, does not refer to time. Instead, it is a preposition meaning according to or in conformity with. This signifies that the manner of his appearing would be accompanied by works demonstrating Satan's agency, works that only Satan could produce.

It does not mean that the coming of the Lord Jesus would be after Satan had worked in this manner. Rather, it means that the manifestation of that wicked one would be with such demonstrations of power and wonder as only Satan could bring about. The system over which he presides is originated by Satan and sustained by those things which he alone can perform. Regarding the word Satan, see Barnes on Job 1:6.

The idea is that this coming would be under the direction and control of the great enemy of God, and that the things on which this system would rely for support could be traced to Satan's agency. In all the pretended miracles to which it would appeal, there would be nothing that Satan could not accomplish.

With all power. This means with all the power that Satan can exhibit, signifying also that a great exertion of power would be involved. It would not be a weak and powerless dominion. The dominion of the Papacy has been one of the most powerful on earth. There has been no dominion more dreaded by the nations of the earth—and there have been times when nations trembled, and kings turned pale on their thrones, at the frown of the pope.

And signs. This word frequently denotes real miracles, but not exclusively so. It can be applied to pretended miracles as well as real ones, and it is undoubtedly used in that sense here, as it is connected with lying wonders, and as it is said that the thing accomplished would be after the working of Satan. There is undoubtedly a reference to such signs and wonders as the Savior mentions in Matthew 24:24. (See Barnes on Matthew 24:24).

It is hardly necessary to point out that the Papacy has always relied for support on its pretended miracles. Even in our own age, the wonders supposedly performed by Prince Hohenlohe, and by the pretended seamless garment of the Savior, have been proclaimed as true miracles and as furnishing undeniable evidence of the truth of the Roman Catholic system.

The dissolving of the blood of St. Januarius, the removal of Pilate's stairs to Rome, and the transportation to Italy of the "house of our Lady" are among the miracles to which there is constant reference in the Papal communion.

In addition to these and all similar pretensions, there is the power claimed of performing a miracle at the priest's discretion by the change of bread and wine into the "body and blood, the soul and divinity" of the Lord Jesus.

In 1756, a book was published in London titled, "The miraculous power of the church of Christ, asserted through each successive century, from the apostles down to the present time." Indeed, the power of working miracles has been one of the standing claims of the Papacy.

And lying wonders. These are false or pretended miracles. They would be claimed as miracles and would excite wonder, yet they would be false and deceptive. Surely, no Protestant needs to be convinced that this is precisely the character of the pretended miracles of the Papacy. It would be impossible for language to describe them more clearly, as all Protestants understand it, than the apostle Paul’s language does.