Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Thessalonians 2:7

"For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only [there is] one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way." — 2 Thessalonians 2:7 (ASV)

For — Logically, the word "for" connects to the clause "he that withholds." The meaning is: "For, although the mystery is already at work, the wicked one will not be revealed until he that now withholds disappears."

The mystery of iniquity is already at work — Both "mystery" and "iniquity" have the article in the Greek, perhaps (as in 2 Thessalonians 2:3) because the phrase was well known to the Thessalonians. Lawlessness is a more literal rendering than "iniquity"; the same word in 1 John 3:4 is rendered the transgression of the law. The word "mystery" in Greek does not necessarily involve any notion of mysteriousness in our modern sense. It means a secret (which may be, in its own nature, quite simple) known to the initiated, but incapable of being known until it is divulged.

Here the whole emphasis is thrown, by a very peculiar order of the Greek words, upon the word "mystery." It may be paraphrased as follows: "For as a secret, into which the world is not yet initiated, that lawlessness is already at work." Thus the word "mystery" stands in sharp contrast with the word "revealed" in 2 Thessalonians 2:6 and 2 Thessalonians 2:8: the time for publishing, for openly avowing, the secret has not yet come.

To whom, then, is the mystery of that lawlessness now known? It is not known to all those who are contributing to its ultimate manifestation, for most of them are deceived by it (2 Thessalonians 2:10) and, while sharers in the Apostasy, still believe themselves members of the Church. The mystery is known to God, and also to:

1. enlightened Christians like St. Paul;
2. Satan and a few Satanic men who avow to themselves their real object in joining the movement.

Though the mystery is said to work (the verb expresses an inward activity, for example, in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 and Romans 7:5, like that of leaven on the lump), it is not a personal thing. It is not (like "Man of Sin" or "that which withholds") a covert description of any person or set of persons; it is solely the unavowed design that is gradually gaining influence over people's hearts. It is the same movement as the "falling away" of 2 Thessalonians 2:3. In several places (for example, 2 Peter 2:1 and following; Jude 1:18 and following) the coarser side of the "falling away" is spoken of, but here the "lawlessness" seems not so much to mean ordinary antinomianism as insubordination to God—rebellion.

Only he... — More correctly, Only [it cannot be revealed] until he that now withholds disappears from the midst. The English version has obscured the meaning by using "letteth," although the word is precisely the same as in 2 Thessalonians 2:6—the only difference being that there it was neuter, "the thing which withholds," while here it is masculine, "he." Evidently, to St. Paul's mind there was a great obstructive power, which was gathered up in, and wielded by, the person so described: "he that withholds." How this potentate would "disappear from our midst" St. Paul gives no hint, but obviously not by death, for unless the power itself was to disappear with him, his successor would equally be "he that now withholds." We may therefore say that the prophecy would be satisfied if "he that withholds" proved to be a whole succession of persons; we have hardly the same right to say so of the "Lawless One."