Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Thessalonian 2:8

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

8. And then shall that Wicked be revealed ] Then, “in his own season” (2Th 2:6), in contrast with the now of the last clause, the time of his restraint: then shall be revealed the lawless one (R. V.).

It is essential that we keep in mind the identity of the figure depicted from 2Th 2:3 onwards. The variety, of synonyms employed by the A.V. is distracting. This “revealing of the Lawless One” is the unveiling of “the mystery of lawlessness already at work;” he is no other than “the man of lawlessness, the son of perdition” announced in 2Th 2:3. Three times, with persistent emphasis, the word revealed is repeated ( 2Th 2:3 ; 2Th 2:6 ; 2Th 2:8), as of some unearthly and portentous object, that holds the gazer spell-bound. Comp. note on “mystery,” 2Th 2:7.

“The lawless” ( anomos) is a term frequently occurring in the LXX, both in the singular and plural; it denotes the typical “sinner,” or “wicked person” of the O.T.

whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth ] According to the true reading, and better rendering, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth (R. V.).

On the title “Lord Jesus” and its relation to the Second Advent, see note to 1Th 2:19. Jesus, the human Name, could not be wanting here, where the overthrow of “the man of lawlessness” is in question.

The words that follow come from the prophecy of the judgement of the Rod of Jesse, Isa 11:4: “He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked.” Such predictions had not been accomplished in the humble, suffering Messiah, or but in foretaste, by the denunciations of Jesus (Matthew 23. &c.); they remain to be verified in His triumph. The Lawless One, being the ultimate embodiment of the world’s wickedness and defiance of God, must suffer the conclusive fulfilment of the prophet’s words.

Just as the sight of the Lord Jesus will suffice to bring ruin on cruel persecutors (ch. 2Th 1:9), so it will need but the breath of His mouth to lay low the haughty and Titanic Antichrist: “A word shall quickly slay him!”

and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming ] More exactly, and shall bring to nought with the manifestation of his coming (or presence: Greek parousia; see note on this word, 1Th 2:19).

The Greek verb signifies to make inoperative, destroy in effect; it is a favourite word with St Paul: comp. 2Ti 1:10, “having abolished death;” and Gal 3:17, “to make the promise of none effect.” The elect of the manifestation of the Lord Jesus will be to paralyse the Lawless One and strip him of his power. See note on ch. 2Th 1:9, “destruction (coming) from the presence of the Lord.”

The word rendered “manifestation” ( epiphaneia, our Epiphany) is not found in St Paul again till we come to his latest Epistles, where it is applied to the Second, and once to the First Coming: 1Ti 6:14 ; 2Ti 1:10; Tit 2:13. It signifies by usage an extraordinary, commonly a superhuman, divine apperance. Similarly the corresponding adjective, rendered “notable’ in Act 2:20 (from Joe 2:31: Hebrew, “terrible”). Prima ipsius adventus emicatio (Bengel).

In 2Th 2:9-12 we are told (1) of the agency which brings about the coming of the Man of Lawlessness and the means employed for the purpose, (2) of the victims of his ascendancy (2Th 2:10), and (3) of the issue for which in the sovereignty of Divine judgement his power is overruled ( 2Th 2:11-12).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And then shall that Wicked be revealed – ho anomos – the wicked one, referring to the man of sin, and called the wicked one because of the eminent depravity of the system of which he was to be the head; see the notes on 2Th 2:3.

Whom the Lord shall consume – The Lord Jesus; see the notes on Act 1:24. The word consume here – analosei – means to destroy; see Gal 5:15; Luk 9:54. The word would be applicable to any kind of destruction. The methods by which this will be done are immediately specified – and it is of much importance to understand them, if this refers to the papacy. With the spirit of his mouth. What goes out of his mouth, or what he speaks; that is, word, truth, command, or gospel – all of which he may be regarded as speaking. In Rev 1:16; Rev 19:15, Rev 19:21, it is said of the Redeemer that a sharp two-edged sword goeth out of his mouth; that is, his word, doctrine, or command – what he speaks – is like a sharp sword. It will cut deep; will lay open the heart; will destroy his enemies. Compare Isa 11:4, With the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. The reference in the passage before us is to one of the methods which would be employed to destroy the man of sin; and the sense is, that it would be by what is spoken by the Redeemer. This may refer either to what he will say at his coming, or to his truth – already spoken; to what has gone from his lips, by whomsoever uttered; and the meaning then is, that one of the grand agencies for destroying this anti-Christian power is the truth spoken or revealed by the Saviour – that is, his pure gospel.

If this latter is the true interpretation, it may mean that the process for his destruction may have commenced long anterior to the personal appearing of the Redeemer, but that the complete destruction of this power will be accomplished by the splendor of his second coming. It cannot be denied, however, that the most obvious interpretation is that which refers both clauses in the sentence to the same period – that of his second coming. Still, it is not improper to suppose that it may be implied that his power will be weakened and diminished by the influence of the gospel, though it may not be wholly destroyed until the second coming of the Saviour.

And shall destroy – katargesei. Shall bring to nothing; cause to cease; put an end to. This is, in some respects, a stronger word than that which in the former part of the verse is rendered consume. It denotes a more entire destruction than that, though it does not refer so much to any positive agency by which it will be done. In the former word, the attention is directed more to the agency by which the destruction will be effected – to the exertion of some kind of power to do it; in this word the attention is directed rather to the entireness or totality of the destruction. The anti-Christian domination will wholly cease, or be entirely destroyed. The words would naturally harmonize with the idea that there would be a somewhat gradual process under the operation of truth toward the destruction of the man of sin, but that the complete annihilation of his power would be by some more manifest exhibition of the personal glory of the Saviour.

With the brightness of his coming – This is evidently a Hebraism, meaning his splendid or glorious appearing. The Greek word, however, rendered brightness ( epiphaneia – epiphany) – means merely an appearing, or appearance. So it is used in 1Ti 6:4; 2Ti 1:10; 2Ti 4:1, 2Ti 4:8; Tit 2:13, in all which places it is rendered appearing, and refers to the manifestation of the Saviour when he shall come to judge the world. It is used nowhere else in the New Testament. There is no necessary idea of splendor in the word, and the idea is not, as our translation would seem to convey, that there would be such a dazzling light, or such unsufferable brightness that all would be consumed before it, but that he would appear, and that this anti-Christian power would be destroyed by his appearing; that is, by himself when he would return. The agency in doing it would not be his brightness, but himself. It would seem to follow from this, that, however this enormous power of wickedness might be weakened by truth, the final triumph over it would be reserved for the Son of God himself on his second return to our world. Yet, if this be so, it need not lessen our zeal in endeavoring to diminish the power of these corruptions; to establish and spread the truth, or to convert the defenders of these errors to a better faith.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

2Th 2:8

And then shall that wicked be revealed

Antichrist

I.

His title. That lawless one. It is the property of Antichrist to boast himself to be above all laws, in which he resembles Antiochus (Dan 11:36). It cannot, therefore, be hard to find him out, for–

1. Who is that infallible judge that takes upon him to decide all controversies, who judges all things, is judged of none; who destroys with fire and sword those who question his authority, and who releases from their allegiance the subjects of those who dispute his supreme sovereignty?

2. Who is he that takes upon him, with faculties, licences, and pardons to dispense with the law of God, and to allow open and notorious sins?

3. Who is he that by his own writers is said to be freed from all human law, that has a paramount authority to all laws, that he cannot be bound by them? One expressly says that he is above law, against law, and without law; a plain description of the lawless one in the text; and another, not without a spice of blasphemy, God and the Pope have their will for a law.

4. Who is he that has brought into the Church the worship of God by images, and the worship of saints and angels, which is the great lawlessness which is branded by the Christian law as such? If there be no such power extant, then we are yet to seek for Antichrist; but if there be, none so wilfully blind as they that cannot see wood for trees, and know not where to fix this character.

II. His revelation.

1. His appearance in the world. He shall be in the world as soon as a certain hindrance is removed.

(1) The most learned argue that this impediment was the Roman empire: that gone, Antichrist was to be revealed or the prediction proved false.

(2) Things of great moment cannot be removed nor established in a minute. The removing of the Roman empire was not all at once, nor the rising of the pontificate, but by degrees. When Constantine began to remove the imperial throne to Byzantium, though the majesty of the empire continued at Rome, yet this was a step in removing the impediment; it lessened the Emperors authority there and increased that of the Popes.

(3) The progress of Antichristian tyranny is, in short, this: About A.D. 600 their ecclesiastical power began to be raised when the majesty of the empire was weak in Italy. When John of Constantinople had usurped the title of universal bishop, Gregory the Great said, The king of pride is near, and an army of priests is prepared to serve him as their general; and in about six years Phoeos conferred on Pope Boniface the same title. About 688 the Pope obtained the Pantheon, or temple of all devils, and consecrated it to Mary and all saints. The temporal monarchy was long in hatching, but began in that century. Pope Constantine would have his foot kissed like another Diocletian, and openly resisted the Emperor Philippius, and encouraged the treason of Justine and Anastasius. In the eighth century, Gregorys II and III continued the rebellion, and caused all Italy to withdraw their obedience from the Emperor Leo; and later Zachary assisted Pepin to depose Childeric. Afterward Adrian took upon him to translate the empire of the Greeks to the Latins, and ever since the Popes have made broils in kingdoms and assumed the right of deposing kings.

2. Gods discovery of him to the world was also by degrees, in raising up witnesses against the tyranny and usurpation of Rome in every age. Five hundred years before Luther, Peter Bruis began, and Henry, his scholar, succeeded him, and to both succeeded the Waldenses and Albigenses; then Wicliffe, the Bohemians, Savonarola, and lastly Luther and the German and English reformers.

III. His ruin.

1. The manner of his fall.

(1) Consumed. Antichrist is not presently to be destroyed, but to waste away by a lingering consumption; as his rising was by degrees so he will lose his authority.

(a) The reason for this is that God has a use for him as he has for the devil himself, and therefore permits him some limited power to scourge his people for their sins, to try his peoples obedience, to cure their divisions, and to keep up a remembrance of His mercies.

(b) Observe how this consumption is accomplished. The pomp and height was about 1,500 years after Christ, but what a decay has happened since by the revival of religion and learning.

(c) Caution. Antichrist is being consumed, but he is not yet dead. What strength he may recover before his last destruction God knows; but it has re-entered many countries from which it was cast out, and made havoc among the evangelical Churches. What, then, shall we do? Watch and pray (Mat 13:25); reform and repent (Rev 2:5); be fortified and established by knowledge (2Pe 3:17), by grace (Heb 13:9; 1Jn 2:20).

(d) The author and means of this consumption, The Lord with the breath of his mouth, which means either His providential Word (Isa 11:4; Psa 33:6; Heb 1:3; Joh 18:6), or the efficacy of His Gospel (Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12; Rev 2:16). Antichrists destruction is to be by the victorious evidence of truth. It must needs be so, for the tyranny is upheld by darkness which is dispelled by the light of truth; and therefore the Papists cannot endure the Scriptures. Again, his kingdom is carried on by falsehood, and his impostures are discovered by the simplicity of the gospel.

(2) Destroyed. The coming which is to accomplish this final annihilation is most likely the Second Advent (2Th 1:7-8; 2Th 2:1-3). Others conceive some notable manifestation of his presence and power in his Church, but it is certain that at the judgment the beast and false prophet shall be cast into the lake of fire (Rev 19:20).

2. The use to be made of this. Be not discouraged at the survival of Antichrist: his doom is sealed. (T. Manton, D. D.)

The means of the destruction of Antichrist

The gospel–the breath of His mouth. And how admirably adapted is the means to accomplish the end!

1. The man of sin has usurped the place of God in the throne of the Church. What is required to depose the tyrant? The proclamation and reception of the gospel. This shows that St. Peter had no dominion over the consciences of his brethren or the faith of the Church to which he ministered, and consequently that he never transferred such power to others. The gospel shows that God is the only Lord of conscience: and as this is known and appreciated will man fall from the position he has usurped, and God be raised and worshipped.

2. The man of sin has dictated the creed of the Church and declared it to be the merit of human actions and sufferings. And what is necessary to consume this fatal error, but the knowledge of the gospel which declares that the just shall live by faith: that salvation is of grace, through faith, and the gift of God.

3. The man of sin has vended and sold pardons and future rewards, what is necessary to consume this power of the Pope, except the knowledge and belief that God only can forgive sins; that He forgives freely through the merits of Christ, and for His sake confers the kingdom of heaven on those that believe.

4. The man of sin assumes a dominion over the invisible world, and professes to have power to deliver souls from the flames of purgatory, what is necessary to consume this error, but to circulate the Scriptures, which most clearly show that God only has power to reach the inhabitants of the invisible world.

5. The man of sin labours to keep men in ignorance. What is necessary to dispel the darkness of the human mind, and thus to consume this his stronghold, but to send men the light of life. (C. Lee.)

The Christian revelation of life

1. In Modern Painters Ruskin reminds us of the delight we feel in view of a bright distance over a dark horizon. At sunrise, beyond some line of purple hills, we have seen the sky become a great space of light, and though the shadows of night were lingering in the valley we have looked into the dawn.

2. In the Bible we are always looking over a foreground in shadow into a bright distance.

(1) In Old Testament prophecy the waste and tumult of history were seen against the far Messianic glory.

(2) In the New Testament the apostles have learned to see all the wickedness of the world horizoned by the manifestation of the Coming of Christ.

3. In Christian vision, then, two aspects of Christian life and world history should be viewed together.

(1) If we have been compelled to observe the evil of the world we need to look on until we see its darkness beneath the brightness of the Lords presence.

(2) On the other hand, we must not shrink from any knowledge of the evil of the world. The Good Shepherd will seek the lost sheep, and not wait for the coming dawn.

4. Observe how Jesus always seemed to see both aspects. Sin was an ever present fact to Him, but He saw it all set in the holy love of God; and because of this He could at once condemn sin and rejoice over it.

5. A similar juxtaposition characterizes this chapter. We do not know exactly of what Paul was thinking, but it is clear that he saw the darker foreground, and the bright distance, the mystery of iniquity still working, and the manifestation of the coming of Christ.

I. The text discovers the law by which the manifestation of the presence of Christ follows the revelation of the man of sin. The revelation of sin is necessary for its judgment. As soon as the man of sin becomes revealed, then follows his destruction. Things have to grow worse in order that they may become better. We can discover this principle when we survey great historic masses of sin. When Babylons abominations were full, Gods judgment brought all her pomp down to hell. So with pagan and mediaeval Rome. The Goth and Vandals were let loose by Providence when the vices of a decayed civilization had filled the cup of wrath; and the Papal corruption was ripe for destruction when Luther sounded his appeal. What availed the voice of some New England divine to check the growing system of slavery in America? Both North and South were making money by letting it alone. But all the while it was growing up under the law of Gods judgment. Providence lets wheat and tares grow till the harvest. And when at last that man of sin was fully revealed, the compromises which had restrained the full growth and revelation of slavery being taken away, then came the hour of its destruction.

II. There is always, therefore, reason for hope when we see some evil thing coming out of its concealment, and making its power felt with a more shameless impudence. Whether it be intemperance, the power of the saloon, or greed, or lust, or monopoly, or anarchy. This law is a reason for hope and courage in all Christian work. Something may have given you a moments revelation of the mystery of iniquity in your neighbourhood, and discouraged, you are tempted to say What is the use of our feeble endeavour against such powers of evil? Or you may have run against some dead wall of indifference, or custom, or wrong method entrenched in some good institution, and because rebuffed where you expected sympathy you either drop the work or continue with heartlessness. But you have furled to look up until you saw some bit of Gods sky at the end of your way. If we are sure we have seen the wrong and harm, we may be sure that it will be manifest in time, and that in time what hinders its revelation will be removed, and then it shall be consumed in the brightness of the Lords Coming. This is the reason why the men who really have seen evil things, and fought mightily against them, as a rule have been not only the bravest men, the self sacrificing, the martyrs, but also the cheeriest and most hopeful men. It is the indifferent man, he who does not lift a finger to take any burden from mens shoulders, who fears that his country is going to destruction, as it might do for aught he does.

III. The same principle obtains with reference to our individual salvation. Sins one after another come to revelation in our lives, and, as they are revealed will be consumed in some manifestation of Christ. A man goes on in a life that was not satisfactory to his conscience or heart. Something happens to bring that dissatisfaction to revelation. He sees a larger, diviner self rising before his present self, condemning it, and ready to consume it as by the presence of Christ. That is a crisis for any man. And if we disown the man of sin in us, and own the Christ self, we are converted. And every time any sin comes to revelation is Gods opportunity of grace. When it Teaches its full measure it may not prove to be a vehement passion, or devouring beast, but only some little meanness, selfishness, etc. But at last we see it as an evil thing, contrary to God. Then let it be consumed in the presence of Christ. Behold now is the accepted time. And the progress upward is one of ever increasing quickness of perception of evil and power over sin.

IV. Such is the benign law of growth and grace; but its alternative cannot be escaped. If the man of sin in us is revealed, and we will not let him go, what then? The sin must be punished. God cannot hold heaven safe in one hand, and let the sin of the world escape from the other. The man of sin must be destroyed, and if we cling to it how can God separate us from its fate? We must go where sin goes, if our hearts cleave to the sin. That is so in this world, why should it be different in any ether? All dishonesties go straight and sure towards ruin, and eventually carry the defaulters with them. Hence the urgency of the gospel to us now. (Newman Smyth, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 8. Whom the Lord shall consume] He shall blast him so, that he shall wither and die away; and this shall be done by the spirit of his mouth-the words of eternal life, the true doctrine of the Gospel of Jesus; this shall be the instrument used to destroy this man of sin: therefore it is evident his death will not be a sudden but a gradual one; because it is by the preaching of the truth that he is to be exposed, overthrown, and finally destroyed.

The brightness of his coming] This may refer to that full manifestation of the truth which had been obscured and kept under by the exaltation of this man of sin.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

And then shall that Wicked be revealed: this revealing I think differs from that mentioned before, 2Th 2:3; he is first revealed, as I said: quoad existentiam, when he comes forth into being, and then quoad apparentiam, when he comes to be discovered. And this I suppose is meant here, because his destruction is mentioned as following upon it; for the discovering of him is the first step to his ruin, and here is called by another name. At his first rising he is a man of sin; but after he hath violated the laws of God and the laws of Christ by setting up his own, he is well called , that lawless one; and now he that pretended so highly for Christ is discovered to be antichrist. The mystery of iniquity that before lay hid comes to be revealed, God enlightening the eyes of many learned ministers and princes, yea, and of multitudes of people herein; the Scriptures, before shut up in an unknown tongue, being now translated to the understanding of the common people; those that were made drunk with the wine of her fornication, Rev 17:2, now put away their wine from them, as Eli said to Hannah; and the kings and kingdoms that gave their power to the beast, now come to hate the whore, & c., the time being come for the fulfilling the words of God herein, Rev 17:17. And this revelation is signified and foretold when the angel said to John, I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, Rev 17:7. There is need of a Divine revelation to know the mystery of iniquity, as well as the mystery of godliness. And the woman is the same with the man of sin mentioned before, once the spouse of Christ, but now by her idolatry become a whore, and divorced from him; said to be also that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth, Rev 17:18. By the understanding these thngs this wicked one comes to be revealed.

Whom the Lord shall consume; which is not done all at once; his consumption goes before his destruction. As Jezebel, the prophetess who seduced the servants of God to commit fornication, is said to be cast into a bed of languishing, Rev 2:20,22; as he rose up by degrees, so shall he be consumed gradually. His power declines by degrees, both civil and ecclesiastical, and the authority he had got both in and over the consciences of men. The seven vials are the seven last plagues, which do gradually consume him. And this is said to be done by the Lord himself, which is the Lord Jesus. He that made war with the Lamb is overcome by the Lamb, Rev 17:14; though many instruments may be employed herein; for he is said to have those with him who are called chosen and faithful; and it belongs to him, as all power of heaven and earth is given to him, to save his people, and to destroy his adversaries; as it is said of him, Psa 97:3; A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about. As he is a refreshing, directing light to his people, so a consuming fire to his adversaries. The stone cut out of the mountain without hands, Dan 2:34, smites the image in the time of the fourth monarchy, when Christ came into the world, and in the latter end of it, under the antichristian state, it is broken in pieces.

With the spirit of his mouth; as was prophesied of him, Isa 11:4; With the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked, even this wicked one here in the text, Rev 18:8; 19:15. And this, as some interpret, he shall do with ease, as by a word speaking; or by a word of command, saying: Let it be done, and it shall be done. Or, as we may read it, with the spirit of his lips, because of the power or spirit that goes along with his word. But this breath of Christs mouth Cajetane and others understand of the word of the gospel, which is the breath of Christs mouth in the mouths of his ministers, called the everlasting gospel, Rev 14:6, which an angel flying through the midst of heaven is said to have, to preach to them that dwell upon the earth; and then followed by another angel, saying: Babylon is fallen, is fallen, 2Th 2:8. The mystery of iniquity will be unveiled by the clear preaching of the word; and the primitive pure institutions of Christ, and doctrines of the gospel: will be vindicated from the antichristian corruptions and innovations. And the spirit of Christ going forth with the gospel, will make it effectual hereunto. These are the rod of his strength, whereby he rules in the midst of his enemies, Psa 110:2, and whereby he shall consume this man of sin. Nations and people will fall off from him as they come to understand the truth by the word preached.

And shall destroy; after is consuming follows his destruction, , the word destroy here signifies to abolish, enervate, to make of no force; and so used often in the New Testament: sometimes applied to the law, Rom 3:31, sometimes to the body of sin, Rom 6:6, sometimes to persons to whom Christ will not be effectual, Gal 5:4; here to the man of sin: so that whatever remains there may be of him in the world, they shall be without any efficacy or power: his jurisdiction shall be abolished, his keys shall not be able to open or shut, the edge of both his swords shall be quite blunted, his triple crown shall fall off his head, his purgatory fire shall be put out, his images shall lose their veneration; the spell of the cross shall be detected, the intercession of saints shall be found to be a fiction, infallibility shall be fonnd to be a deceit, supremacy of the church shall fall to the ground; the rivers of his large revenues shall be dried up, &c., and the beast that was, and is not, and yet is, Rev 17:8, shall now utterly cease to be.

With the brightness of his coming: the breath of his mouth wasted him, and the brightness of his coming destroys him. Some interpret this of Christs personal coming to judgment, which will be with great brightness, as Mat 24:27; As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of man be; coming in the glory of heaven, and every eye shall see him; and of his coming he spake 1Th 4:1-18, and in this chapter also, as that which was not so near at hand as some imagined. And without question his coming will destroy him, if not destroyed before, as well as the rest of the wicked, 2Th 1:9; but whether judgment may not first proceed against the antichristian state, and those that have sinned under the gospel, is a question. It is sometimes mentioned particularly with respect to them: as in the parable of the tares and wheat, Mat 13:1-30, of the ten virgins, and the talents, Mat 25:1-46. And the beast and false prophet are cast into the lake of fire, Rev 19:20, before the general judgment, mentioned Rev 20:12. So that at Christs personal coming his judgment will, as some conceive, begin here, and then proceed to the rest of the world; whereupon many assign some great length of time to Christs stay upon earth, and judging the world. Others take

the brightness of his coming in a spiritual sense, for a clearer manifestation of Christ in the world. As the kingdom of antichrist, or of this man of sin, is founded in darkness, so the brightness of this coming will dispel and destroy it. With respect to his eternal generation, Christ is said to be

the brightness of his Fathers glory, Heb 1:2; but this is a brightness with respect to men. And though he hath come in his Spirit to enlighten his church from the beginning of the world, and more eminently after his ascension, yet this will exceed all the former, and is peculiarly styled

the brightness of his coming. And so they expect this destruction of this man of sin before Christs coming to judgment; for if it be the same with the fall of Babylon, mentioned in the Revelation, many things are to be done here upon earth after that, before Christs last coming, and they mention the calling of the Jews, the destruction of those enemies called Gog and Magog, the coming down of the new Jerusalem from heaven, which is some glorious state of the ctmrch here upon earth. However, the apostle here mentions nothing of a destruction by the material sword; what princes may do of different religions upon a civil account, I do not know, but as this man of sin rose out of the apostacy of the church, so he will not be consumed and destroyed but by a return from it, which is done by the breath of Christs mouth, and the brightness of his coming. But yet, by some instruments or other, God will avenge the blood of his servants upon this man of sin in the time and way appointed of him.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

8. Translate, “the lawlessone”; the embodiment of all the godless “lawlessness”which has been working in “mystery” for ages (2Th2:7): “the man of sin” (2Th2:3).

whom the LordSome ofthe oldest manuscripts read, “the Lord Jesus.” Howawful that He whose very name means God-Saviour, should appearas the Destroyer; but the salvation of the Church requires thedestruction of her foe. As the reign of Israel in Canaan was usheredin by judgments on the nations for apostasy (for theCanaanites were originally worshippers of the true God: thusMelchisedek, king of Salem, was the “priest of the most highGod,” Ge 14:18: Ammon andMoab came from righteous Lot), so the Son of David’s reign in Zionand over the whole earth, is to be ushered in by judgments on theapostate Christian world.

consume . . . and . . .destroySo Da 7:26,”consume and destroy”; Da11:45. He shall “consume” him by His mere breath(Isa 11:4; Isa 30:33):the sentence of judgment being the sharp sword that goeth out of Hismouth (Rev 19:15; Rev 19:21).Antichrist’s manifestation and destruction are declared in the samebreath; at his greatest height he is nearest his fall, like Herod histype (Isa 1:24-27; Act 12:20-23).As the advancing fire, while still at a distance consumes littleinsects [CHRYSOSTOM] byits mere heat, so Christ’s mere approach is enough to consumeAntichrist. The mere “appearance of the coming” of the Lordof glory is sufficient to show to Antichrist his perfect nothingness.He is seized and “cast alive into the take of fire” (Re19:20). So the world kingdoms, and the kingdom of the beast, giveplace to that of the Son of man and His saints. The Greek for”destroy” means “abolish” (the same Greekis so translated, 2Ti 1:10);that is, cause every vestige of him to disappear. Compare as to Gogattacking Israel and destroyed by Jehovah (Eze38:1-39:29), so as not to leave a vestige of him.

with the brightness of hiscomingGreek, “the manifestation, (orappearance) of His presence“: the first outburstof His adventthe first gleam of His presenceis enough toabolish utterly all traces of Antichrist, as darknessdisappears before the dawning day. Next, his adherents are “slainwith the sword out of His mouth” (Re19:21). BENGEL’Sdistinction between “the appearance of His coming” and the”coming” itself is not justified by 1Ti 6:14;2Ti 1:10; 2Ti 4:1;2Ti 4:8; Tit 2:13,where the same Greek for “appearing” (EnglishVersion, here “the brightness”) plainly refers to thecoming itself. The expression, “manifestation(appearing) of His presence,” is used in awful contrast to therevelation of the wicked one in the beginning of the verse.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And then shall that wicked be revealed,…. That lawless one, who sets himself above the laws of God and man, and dispenses with them at pleasure, who judges all men, but is judged by no man; as he was in his ecclesiastical power, when Phocas, who murdered the Emperor Mauritius, granted to Boniface III. to be called universal bishop; and in his civil power in succeeding popes, who took upon them the power over kings and emperors, to crown, depose, and excommunicate at pleasure:

whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth: that is, the “Lord Jesus”, as the Alexandrian copy, and Vulgate Latin version read; and the Syriac version, “our Lord Jesus”: who is Lord of lords, and God over all; and so able to do what he is here said he shall do: and which he will do

with the Spirit of his mouth; meaning either the Holy Spirit, the third person which proceeds from him, as in Ps 33:6, and so the Ethiopic version, “whom the Spirit of our Lord Jesus shall cast out”; Christ will by his Spirit blow a blast upon antichrist and his kingdom, which he shall never recover again, but ever after consume and waste away: or else by his spirit is meant his Gospel; the Scriptures in general are the breath of God, being divinely inspired by him, and are the sword of the Spirit, the twoedged sword of law and Gospel, which proceeds out of Christ’s mouth; the Gospel contains the words of Christ, which are spirit and life; these come out of his mouth, and are sharper than any twoedged sword; and as hereby sinners are cut to the heart, hewn and slain, convicted and converted, so by this likewise antichrist will be consumed, and is consuming; for this phrase denotes the beginning of his destruction, which took place at the time of the reformation by the preaching of the Gospel by Luther and others; by which this man of sin received his deadly wound, and has been in a consumption ever since, and is sensibly wasting in his power and glory every day, and will ere long come to utter destruction:

and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming; either in a spiritual way, when he shall come in his spiritual kingdom and glory, by the light of his Gospel and the illuminations of his Spirit; when at eventide it shall be light; when he the sun of righteousness shall arise; when latter day light and glory shall appear, and latter day darkness, the gross darkness of Popery, Paganism, and Judaism, which cover the people, shall, be removed, and antichrist in every form shall disappear: or in a personal manner, when he shall come to judge the quick and dead, which will be in flaming fire and great glory; and then will antichrist and his followers, the beast and those that have worshipped him, be cast with the devil and the false prophet into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone; and this will be the last and utter end of him. In this passage there is a manifest reference to Isa 11:4, “with the breath of his mouth shall he slay the wicked”: which the Targumist paraphrases,

“with the words of his lips he shall slay , “Armillus the wicked”:”

and which the Jews say will be done by the Messiah at his coming;

“for so i (say they) that phrase in De 22:8 “if a man fall from thence”, has respect to Armillus the wicked, who at the coming of our Messiah will be slain, as it is said in Isa 11:4‘

This Armillus, the Jews say k, is the head of all idolatry, the tenth king who shall reign at Rome, the city of Satan; that he shall rise up after Gog and Magog, and shall go up to Jerusalem, and slay Messiah ben Joseph, and shall himself be slain by Messiah the son of David; yea, they say expressly l, it is the same whom the Gentiles call antichrist: it is the same with Romulus the first king of the Romans, and designs a Roman, the Roman antichrist; and it may be observed, that the Targumist interprets “the breath of his mouth”, by his word; and so says another of their writers m,

“the meaning is by the word of his lips, for the word goes out of the mouth with the vapour and breath:”

such an expression as this is said n to be used by Moses, when he was bid by God to answer the angels who objected to his having the law given him;

“I am afraid (says he) they will slay (or burn me),

, “with the breath of their mouth”:”

much more may this be feared from the breath of Christ’s mouth.

i Tzeror Hammor, fol. 148. 2. k Apud Buxtorf. Lex. Talmud. col. 221, 222, 223. l Abkath Rochel, par. 1. sign. 7. p. 52. m In Ohel Moed. fol. 19. 1. n T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 88. 2.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

And then ( ). Emphatic note of time,

then when the restraining one ( ) is taken out of the way, then w ( ), the man of sin, the man of perdition, will be revealed.

Whom the Lord [Jesus] shall slay ( [] ). Whether Jesus is genuine or not, he is meant by Lord. is a late future from , in place of . Paul uses Isa 11:4 (combining

by the word of his mouth with

in breath through lips ) to picture the triumph of Christ over this adversary. It is a powerful picture how the mere breath of the Lord will destroy this arch-enemy (Milligan).

And bring to naught by the manifestation of his coming ( ). This verb (, ) to render useless, rare in ancient Greek, appears 25 times in Paul and has a variety of renderings. In the papyri it has a weakened sense of hinder. It will be a grand fiasco, this advent of the man of sin. Paul here uses both (, elsewhere in N.T. in the Pastorals, familiar to the Greek mind for a visit of a god) and (more familiar to the Jewish mind, but common in the papyri) of the second coming of Christ. “The apparition of Jesus heralds his doom” (Moffatt). The mere appearance of Christ destroys the adversary (Vincent).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Consume [] . Better, slay, as Mt 2:16; Luk 22:2; Act 5:33.

Spirit [] . Better, breath. Pneuma, almost always translated spirit, is from pnein to breathe or blow. Frequent in class. in this sense. Comp. Joh 3:8; Heb 1:7. LXX, Psa 147:7; Ep. of Jer. 61. Philo says “the spirit of God signifies, in one sense, the air, the third element; and it is used in this sense in the beginning of Genesis… for air, being light, is born up, and uses water as its basis. In the other sense it is the pure wisdom in which every wise man participates” (De Gigantibus, 5). See on Rom 8:4.

Shall destroy [] . See on cumbereth, Luk 13:7 and make without effect, Rom 3:3.

With the brightness [ ] . See on 1Ti 6:14. Rev., correctly, manifestation. See LXX, Est 5:1; Amo 5:22; 2 Macc. 2 21; 3 Macc. 2 9. In class. (but late) of deities appearing to a worshipper (Plut. Themistocles, 30) : of the sudden appearance of an enemy (Polyb. 1 54, 2) : of a manifestation of Providence (Diod. Sic 1:15) : of the heathen gods assuming shape and appearing in order to work mischief (Just. Mart. Apol. 1 5). In N. T. of the parousia. See 1Ti 6:14; 2Ti 1:10; 2Ti 4:1, 8; Tit 2:13. In 2Ti 1:10, of Christ ‘s historical manifestation. So ejpifainw, Tit 2:11; Tit 3:4. Only here in Paul.

Coming [] . Or presence, which is the original meaning. In N. T. with a few exceptions, of the second coming of Christ. The combination manifestation of his presence (only here) appears to emphasize the resistless power of the Son of man, not (as Lightfoot) his splendor and glory. The mere appearing of his presence suffices to destroy his adversary.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “And then shall that wicked be revealed” (kai tote) and then, at that point”, (apokaluphthesetai) “will be revealed, unveiled, or come to light”, (ho nomos) “who the lawless one (really is)”, or the one who is lawless, referred to as “man of sin”, 2Th 2:3, who requires self-worship, 2Th 2:4.

2) “Whom the Lord shall consume” (hon ho kurios)

whom the Lord, or master (of the situation)”, (anelei) will destroy”, bring to defeat, subjection, or great ruin,” Dan 7:10-11; Dan 7:25-27; Rev 19:19-20.

3) “With the spirit of his mouth” (to pneumati tou stomatos autou) “by (means of) the spirit of his mouth”; Isa 11:4; Rev 19:15; Rev 19:20-21.

4) “And shall destroy” (kai katarzesel) and bring to nothing”, his claim of right to worship and deity, 2Th 2:4. Dan 11:45. When he takes over God’s tabernacle as his own, requires self worship, as Nebuchadnezzar did, his down-hill slide is at hand, Dan 3:1-14.

5) “With the brightness of his coming” (to epipheneia tes parousias autou) “by means or reason of his outshining or dazzling body presence appearing”, though his final destruction is to come when or after the Lord comes to the earth, with his saints, and the church, to execute judgment, in ending the battle or Armageddon, and setting up His Davidic Kingdom, Jud 1:14-15; Zec 14:5-9; 2Th 1:7-10.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

8 And then will be revealed — that is, when that impediment ( τὸ κατέχον) shall be removed; for he does not point out the time of revelation as being when he, who now holds the supremacy, will be taken out of the way, but he has an eye to what he had said before. For he had said that there was some hindrance in the way of Antichrist’s entering upon an open possession of the kingdom. He afterwards added, that he was already hatching a secret work of impiety. In the third place, he has interspersed consolation, on the ground that this tyranny would come to an end. (661) He now again repeats, that he (662) who was as yet hidden, would be revealed in his time; and the repetition is with this view — that believers, being furnished with spiritual armor, may, nevertheless, fight vigorously under Christ, (663) and not allow themselves to be overwhelmed, although the deluge of impiety should thus overspread. (664)

Whom the Lord. He had foretold the destruction of Antichrist’s reign; he now points out the manner of his destruction — that he will be reduced to nothing by the word of the Lord. It is uncertain, however, whether he speaks of the last appearance of Christ, when he will be manifested from heaven as the Judge. The words, indeed, seem to have this meaning, but Paul does not mean that Christ would accomplish this (665) in one moment. Hence we must understand it in this sense — that Antichrist would be wholly and in every respect destroyed, (666) when that final day of the restoration of all things shall arrive. Paul, however, intimates that Christ will in the mean time, by the rays which he will emit previously to his advent, put to flight the darkness in which Antichrist will reign, just as the sun, before he is seen by us, chases away the darkness of the night by the pouring forth of his rays. (667)

This victory of the word, therefore, will shew itself in this world, for the spirit of his mouth simply means the word, as it also does in Isa 11:4, to which passage Paul seems to allude. For the Prophet there takes in the same sense the scepter of his mouth, and the breath of his lips, and he also furnishes Christ with these very arms, that he may rout his enemies. This is a signal commendation of true and sound doctrine — that it is represented as sufficient for putting an end to all impiety, and as destined to be invariably victorious, in opposition to all the machinations of Satan; as also when, a little afterwards, the proclamation of it is spoken of as Christ’s coming to us.

When Paul adds, the brightness of his coming, he intimates that the light of Christ’s presence will be such as will swallow up the darkness of Antichrist. In the mean time, he indirectly intimates, that Antichrist will be permitted to reign for a time, when Christ has, in a manner, withdrawn, as usually happens, whenever on his presenting himself we turn our back upon him. And, undoubtedly, that is a sad departure (668) of Christ, when he has taken away his light from men, which has been improperly and unworthily received, (669) in accordance with what follows. In the mean time Paul teaches, that by his presence alone all the elect of God will be abundantly safe, in opposition to all the subtleties of Satan.

(661) “ Que sa tyrannie deuoit prendre fin quelque fois;” — “That his tyranny must at some time have an end.”

(662) “ Ce fils de perdition;” — “This son of perdition.”

(663) “ Sous l’enseigne de Christ;” — “Under Christ’s banner.”

(664) “ Si outrageusement;” — “So outrageously.”

(665) “ Cela tout;” — “All this.”

(666) “ Descomfit;” — “Defeated.”

(667) “ Estendant la vertu de ses rayons tout a l’enuiron;” — “Diffusing the virtue of his rays all around.”

(668) “ Vn triste et pitoyable department;” — “A sad and lamentable departure.”

(669) “ Laquelle ils auoyent reiettee ou receué irreueremment, et autrement qu’il n’appartenoit;” — “Which they had rejected or received irreverently, and otherwise than was befitting.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

Text (2Th. 2:8)

8 And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of his coming;

Translation and Paraphrase

8.

And then the lawless one shall be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall take away by the spirit (or blast) of his mouth, and do away with by the (shining) appearance of his coming.

Notes (2Th. 2:8)

1.

The man of sin will suffer a complete ruin at the coming of the Lord. With all the evil and false religion that there is in this world, Christians would be very disheartened if it were not for their confidence in the Lords return.

2.

The Wicked one (or man of sin) was to be revealed when the one that had been hindering his appearance was taken out of the way. See the notes on 2Th. 2:6-7.

3.

The Lord Jesus will destroy the Wicked one with the spirit of his mouth. The expression, spirit (or breath, or blast) of his mouth, refers to the power of the presence of Jesus. It does not mean that Jesus shall destroy the man of sin by converting his followers. The word breath does not signify Gods truth or instruction, but the execution of his judgment. (See Special Study VI, question 3.)

Numerous references in the Bible contain the expression, breath of his mouth, or similar phrases. Isa. 11:4 : With the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. See also Job. 4:9; 2Sa. 22:16; Isa. 30:27-28; Isa. 30:33. They all describe the execution of Gods judgment.

4.

The word Jesus in our translation of 2Th. 2:8 is included on quite strong evidence in the ancient manuscripts. Nestles Greek and numerous English versions include it.

5.

Apparently the Wicked one will continue to exist until the Lord comes, for the Lord shall destroy him with the brightness of his coming, Chapter eighteen of Revelation tells how the great city Babylon (or Rome) will be destroyed, While we do not long to see men perish, nor do we long for vengeance on anyone, we do long to see Gods truth be victorious.

6.

This verse speaks of the brightness of his (the Lords) coming, Rotherham translates this phrase, the forthshining of his Presence.

Certainly, since the Lord is going to be revealed from heaven in flaming fire (2Th. 1:7-8), and in great glory (Mat. 24:30), His coming will be bright and overpowering.

The same word which is translated brightness here (epiphaneia), is translated glorious appearing in Tit. 2:13; looking for the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, See also 1Ti. 6:14.

7.

Again in this verse we have the word parousia. (See notes on 1Th. 2:19, par. 7 for its meaning.) Here the Lords parousia (presence or coming) is connected with the destruction of the man of sin. In 1Th. 4:15 the parousia is connected with the resurrection and taking up of the saints.

All of this leads us to repeat once more that the Thessalonian epistles rule out the idea that Christ is coming one time to take his church out of the world, and then will come again (a third time) with his church to punish sinners, and set up His kingdom. There is only one parousia of the Lord, and at the parousia the saints will be resurrected and caught up and the man of sin will be destroyed.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(8) And then.Then at length, when the obstructor is gone, two things shall happen: (1) the Lawless One shall be revealed, and (2) then the Lord will come and destroy him. The purpose with which St. Paul began this chapter was to show relatively the date of our Lords Advent; but he is now so engrossed in describing the events which must precede it, that when he does mention the Advent again he does so in a parenthetical relative clause.

That Wicked.Or, the Lawless One. The English version has again obscured the passage by not keeping the same word as in 2Th. 2:7. The general tendency to lawlessness or rebellion will be brought to a head in the person of the Lawless One or the Rebel, just as the obstruction is impersonated in the Obstructor. The publication of the secret of rebelliousness will be effected by the manifesto of the Rebel-in-chief. Of course, this Rebel is the same person with the Man of Sin, the change of title being due to the particularising of his sin by the word lawlessness in 2Th. 2:7; the specification of the time is the only additional intelligence; all the emphasis of the sentence, therefore, rests on And then.

The Lord.The best text adds the name Jesus, which serves more clearly to contrast Him with His rival. The word whom might be more pointedly paraphrased by and him.

With the spirit of his mouth.St. Paul is quoting roughly from Isa. 11:4 (comp. Job. 4:9; Psa. 18:15; Wis. 11:20 : might have fallen down with one blast, . . . scattered abroad through the breath of Thy power); and therefore we are to understand it to signify the perfect ease with which Christ will destroy Antichrist. Even when the phrase is used of speech (as it may perhaps be here), the absence of labour is the point to be noticed (e.g., Psa. 33:6).

With the brightness of his coming.Rather, with the appearing of His presence. Here, again, it is the mere fact of the true Christs showing Himself, which will reduce to nothingness (such is the meaning of the Greek for destroy) the false Christ. When they shall stand face to face there will be no possibility of delusion any more.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

8. Then As soon as the hinderance is withdrawn. The Roman-pagan empire must disappear, before the Roman-papal power can disclose itself. The Roman emperor must cease before the Roman pope can commence supremacy. The great red dragon must be cast down before the beast can rise. One antichristic guise must be dropped before another can be assumed.

That Wicked That Lawless; who overrules God’s laws and substitutes his own.

Revealed Clearly alluding to the personal Satan. For as Christ is revealed, being pre-existent, so is this antichrist revealed, being pre-existent.

Consume destroy We have now a vivid semi-poetic picture of the double destruction of antichrist. Our apostle, in the glow of inspiration, interrupts his description to hasten to the destruction. He has a moment of old Hebraic rapture, and gives us a splendid specimen of Hebraic parallelism:

Shall consume with the breath of his mouth,

Destroy with the brightness of his coming.

But the Hebrew parallelism was not always the reiteration of the same thought, but two richly varied phases of the same subject. The subject here, as just noted, is the double destruction of antichrist, first under his beast guise, as in Rev 19:12-21, and the second in his incarnate form, as in Rev 20:7-10.

Consume with the spirit (or breath) of his mouth An allusion to the beautiful words of Isa 11:4: “He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” This figure is not to be degraded into a description of a physical or bodily destruction by an uttered word of Christ.

“The rod of his mouth” is the powerful truth that he utters to the world; and “the breath of his lips” is that divine doctrine by which the old man is slain that the new man may be born. This passage is virtually reproduced in Rev 19:15: “Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations.” As a material image this would be very gross; but as an emblem of all-conquering truth going forth from the lips of Jesus, cutting and smiting down all before it, it is a parable of beauty. And so the entire passage (Rev 19:11-21) is a picture of spiritual conquests and providential overrulings by Jehovah-Christ in behalf of his earthly kingdom. Kings, there, are, as in ancient prophecy, antitheistic dominations and organisms; the beast and false prophets are not so much men as antichristic systems; their overthrow is the emancipation of “the nations” of 2Th 2:15, who are still existing in Rev 20:3; Rev 20:8. This battle and overthrow are not the work of a day, but of an age; and it is the preparation for that predominance of Christ’s kingdom symbolized by the reign with Christ of the imparadised “souls” of the martyrs in the battle, who are enthroned over the world, Satan having been bound.

And As the previous member of this parallelism describes Rev 19:11-21, so the following corresponds with Rev 20:7-10.

Destroy Bring to naught. Not “annihilate,” as Alford (apparently following Lunemann’s vernichten) translates it; but, abolish, nullify. To “annihilate” would imply the putting the very elements of his being out of existence.

Brightness of his coming The , by the resplendence of his parousia. Very flatly rendered by Alford “annihilated by the appearance of his coming.” It is by the epiphania, and not by the parousia, that antichrist is said to be destroyed. The word in the New Testament uniformly implies either physical or moral resplendence; as an adjective, Act 2:20; as noun, 2Ti 1:10; as verb, Act 27:20; Luk 1:79. In Rev 20:9, antichrist’s armies are “devoured” by “fire out of heaven,” just before the parousia.

This interpretation does, with a slight yet effective variation, ratify the view taken of this parallelism by the best Protestant writers. Thus says Dr.

Gloat: “The spirit or breath of his mouth has been understood to denote the preaching of the pure gospel, the diffusion of the word of God, and the revival of evangelical doctrines, which will undermine popery. By the brightness of his coming is meant the final destruction of popery by the coming of Christ to judgment.” Substitute antichrist here for popery, embracing our historic-prophetic view of antichrist, and these words express our exposition of this parallelism. And so says Bishop Newton: “If the two clauses relate to two different events, the meaning manifestly is, that the Lord Jesus shall gradually consume him with the free preaching of his gospel, and shall utterly destroy him at his second coming.” The former began to take effect at the Reformation, and the latter will be accomplished in God’s appointed time.

And this puts into our hands a key for the solution of the most important section of the Apocalypse, Revelation 10-20. It is a tracing the history of the stages of contest between Christ and antichrist from the first to the second coming. The former appears under successive phases of his true Person, as man-child, conquering hero, and final judge; the latter lurks through various guises and exposures as dragon, beast, naked Satan, and incarnate anti-messiah. At the successive time-points the two, Christ and antichrist, meet; at every point Christ is increasingly victorious; until at last his glorious advent consigns the adversary to hell forever.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And then will be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nothing by the manifestation of his coming.’

Note the continued emphasis on lawlessness. ‘The man of lawlessness — the mystery of lawlessness (his hidden teaching now revealed and contrary to the Law) — the lawless one.’ Here is one who is completely opposed to the Law of God. All restraint will be cast off. Note also the emphasis on his being ‘revealed’ (2Th 2:5, 2Th 2:6, 2Th 2:8). He will be for a time hidden but will then be revealed, as the sphere in which he operates, his world, wherever it is, acknowledges him. So for a time he will develop his power, with the world unaware of his presence, and gradually he will build up his authority and control. Perhaps as a leading figure in the United Nations. Perhaps as an Arab dictator supported by the Arab nations. Perhaps as an influential leader in Europe. Who knows? But wielding great influence for evil. And then finally becoming a superhero, and probably a leading religious figure, receiving worship for himself in one sphere or another. That he will affect world issues is clear. But the world he controls will be his own ‘world’, not necessarily the world at large (‘world’ in Scripture denotes the world in which the writer lives, not the whole world). Parts of the world may well only be indirectly affected by him.

‘Whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nothing by the manifestation of his coming.’ The end of the man of sin is brought about by the manifestation of the coming of Christ. For Jesus Himself will come, not only to take His own, but to manifest Himself to the world in authority, brightness and glory. Then this powerful ‘man of sin’ will be ‘brought to nothing’, rendered powerless and emasculated, because his lawlessness will be shown for what it is by the coming of the Judge, Who will pass judgment on him and those who followed him by ‘the breath of His mouth’ (compare Rev 19:15 also Isa 11:4). The ‘breath of His mouth’ once acted powerfully in creation (Psa 33:6), now it will act equally powerfully in destruction.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Comments – The Antichrist of the Tribulation Period – 1Th 2:8-11 describes the Tribulation Period. It begins with the Rapture of the Church and the revealing of the Wicked One and ends with the Second Coming of Jesus, who will destroy the antichrist with the sword of His mouth (1Th 2:8). In 1Th 2:9-10 we have a description of how the beast of the antichrist will perform lying signs and wonders to make those who have not repented to marvel and to gain their allegiance. We find a parallel passage in Rev 13:1-14.

Rev 13:11-14, “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”

God will bring these strong delusions to those whose heart has been too hardened to repent in the midst of the Tribulation period. We see references to these unrepentant souls in Rev 9:20-21; Rev 16:9-11.

Rev 9:20-21, “And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”

Rev 16:9-11, “And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

2Th 2:8. Then shall that Wicked be revealed, &c. When the obstacle mentioned in the preceding verse should be removed, then shall that Wicked, &c. Nothing can be plainer than that the lawless ( ), as the Greek signifies,the wicked one here mentioned, and the man of sin, must be one and the same person. The apostle was speaking before of what hindered that he should be revealed, and would continue to hinder, till it was taken away; “and then shall that wicked one, &c.” Not that he should be consumed immediately after he was revealed; but the apostle, to comfort the Thessalonians, no sooner mentions his revelation, than he foretels also his destruction, even before he describes his other qualifications. His other qualifications should have been described first in order of time; but the apostle hastens to what was first and warmest in his thoughts and wishes, “Whom the Lord shall consume, &c.” If these two clauses refer to two distinct and different events, the meaning manifestly is, That the Lord Jesus shall gradually consume him with the free preaching and publication of his word; and shall utterly destroy him at his second coming in the glory of his Father, with all his holy angels. If these two clauses relate to one and the same event, it is a pleonasm very usual in the sacred, as well as other Oriental writings; and the purport plainly is, that the Lord Jesus shall destroy him with the greatest facility, when he shall be revealed from heaven; as the apostle has expressed it in the preceding chapter, 2Th 2:7-8. But I prefer the former interpretation.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

2Th 2:8 . What was left to the readers themselves to supply to , 2Th 2:7 , from the conclusion of 2Th 2:6 , is now, in its essence, although in an altered form, expressly indicated by .

] and then , namely, as soon as the is taken out of the way. The emphasis is on , not on (Grotius), nor on .

] the lawless one , is not a different person from (Grotius), but identical with him. For points back to , 2Th 2:7 , and by this to , 2Th 2:6 . The expression , just used, afforded the easily explained occasion for calling Antichrist .

With the relative sentence (which is incorrectly enclosed in a parenthesis by Benson, Moldenhauer, Schott, and Kern) the apostle immediately adds the ultimate fate which Antichrist has to expect. That Paul so directly passes over to this, although he has it yet in view to speak of the working of Antichrist before his destruction (comp. 2Th 2:9-10 ), is an involuntary impulse of his Christian heart which causes him immediately to resolve the horror which the announcement of such an event as the has into comfort and consolation, as a discord into harmony, comp. 2Th 2:3-4 .

In a soaring and poetical form of expression, the members of which have their Hebrew parallels, Paul describes the fate of Antichrist. Not improbably Isa 11:4 was present to his mind, where it is declared of the promised Deliverer of the seed of Jesse: , .

] to consume, to destroy .

] describes the power and irresistible might of the reappearing Christ, the breath of whose mouth suffices to bring His opponents to nothing. More definite interpretations, as the sentence of condemnation (Vatablus, Cornelius a Lapide), or a command or address (Theodoret: ; Theodore Mopsuestia, ed. Fritzsche, p. 148: , , ), are to be rejected; for they destroy or weaken the picturesque directness and strength of the figure. Comp. moreover, Eurip. Med. 588: .

] to overthrow, to annihilate . On account of Rev 19:20 , Calovius and Olshausen interpret the verb of a mere “rendering inefficient,” depriving Antichrist of his influence; but the parallel decides against this meaning, and a comparison of the Pauline form of expression with that of the Apocalypse is useless labour.

] by the appearance of His presence . The majestic brightness of the advent is not described by (Musculus, Hemming, Bullinger, Heinsius, Andrew Osiander, Cornelius a Lapide, Erasmus Schmid, Calixt, Clericus, Bernard a Piconius, Sebastian Schmid, Schoettgen, Turretin, Whitby, Benson, Macknight, Koppe, Krause, Bolten, Heydenreich, Pelt, Schott, Kern, Wieseler, and others); also and are not to be distinguished, as Olshausen strangely thinks, as objective and subjective, i.e. as “the actual fact of the appearance of Christ,” and “the contemplation of it on the part of man, the consciousness of His presence;” but the placing the two together has the same design as formerly, , namely, vividly to represent the power of Christ, inasmuch as the mere advent of His presence suffices to annihilate His adversaries. Comp. Bengel: “ apparitio adventus ipso adventu prior est, vel certe prima ipsius adventus emicatio, uti .”

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Ver. 8. And then shall that wicked ] Gr. , that lawless, yokeless, masterless monster to whom in the Council of Lateran, 1516 (one year only before Luther stood up to reform), there was granted plenary power over the whole Church; which was never settled upon him in any former Council. Pope Nicholas I said, that he was above law, because Constantine had styled the pope God. But the very gloss derides him for this inference.

With the spirit of his mouth ] i.e. With the evidence of his word in the mouths of his faithful ministers. Vide catalogum testium veritatis. Bellarmine confesseth to his great grief, that ever since the Lutherans have declared the pope to be Antichrist., his kingdom hath not only not increased, but every day more and more decreased and decayed. (Lib. iii. de Papa Rom. cap. 21.) What long hath been the opinion and fear of some not unconsiderable divines, that Antichrist before his abolition, shall once again overflow the whole face of the west, and suppress the true Protestant Churches, I pray God to avert.

With the brightness of his coming ] At the last day. The holy city shall they tread underfoot forty and two months,Rev 11:2Rev 11:2 , that is (as some compute it) till the year of grace 1866. But that is but a conjecture. No more is that other, that Solomon’s temple was finished in the year of the world 3000; and was destroyed, together with the city, by the Romans, in the year of the world exactly 4000, therefore the spiritual temple shall be consummated in 3000, or perhaps in 4000 more. (Lightfoot’s Harm. 206.)

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

8 .] and then (when he that hinders shall have been removed: the emphasis is on ) shall be revealed the lawless one (the same as the of 2Th 2:6 ; viz. the ), whom (by this relative clause is introduced his ultimate fate at the coming of the Lord. To this the Apostle is carried on by the fervency of his spirit, and has to return again below to describe the working of Antichrist previously) the Lord Jesus will destroy by the breath of His mouth (from Isa 11:4 , , . . It is better to keep the expression in its simple majesty, than to interpret it, as Thdrt., , . . Thdr-mops, . Chrys. on this is fine: . (but see above) . . , ) and annihilate (not, as Olsh., ‘ deprive of his influence ,’ nor can Rev 19:19 be brought to bear here) by the appearance of His coming (not ‘the brightness of his coming,’ as very many Commentators, and E. V.; but as Beng.: ‘apparitio adventus ipso adventu prior est, vel certe prima ipsius adventus emicatio, uti :’ the mere outburst of His presence shall bring the adversary to nought. Cf. the sublime expression of Milton, ‘far off His coming shone’):

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

2Th 2:8 . , . . ., his career is short and tragic. The apparition ( cf. 1Ti 6:14 , etc., Thieme, Die Inschriften von Magnesia , 34 f.) of Jesus heralds his overthrow. = sudden appearance of a deity at some crisis ( cf. Diod., Sicul. , i. 25), as the god in 2Ma 2:21 ; 2Ma 3:24 , etc. “In hieratic inscriptions the appearing of the god in visible form to men is commonly expressed by the same word” (Ramsay, Exp. Ti. , x. 208). This passage, with its fierce messianic anticipation of the adversary’s doom interrupts the description of his mission which is resumed (in 2Th 2:9 ) with an account of the inspiration ( ), method ( ) and results (2Th 2:10 ), of this evil advent. Galen ( de facult. nat. , 1. 2, 4 5) physiologically defines as the process of activity whose product is . The impulse to is . The of this supernatural delusion is specially manifested in signs and wonders . The power of working miracles in order to deceive people (2Th 2:11 ) was an accepted trait in the Jewish and early Christian ideas of such eschatological opponents of God ( cf. on Rev 13:13 , and Friedlnder’s Geschichte d. jd. Apolog. , 493 f.).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

that wicked = the lawless one. App-128.

consume. Greek. analisko. See Gal 1:5, Gal 1:15.

spirit = breath. App-101. Compare Isa 11:4; Isa 30:27, Isa 30:30, Isa 30:33.

destroy = bring to nought. Greek. katargeo. See Rom 3:3.

brightness. App-106.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

8.] and then (when he that hinders shall have been removed: the emphasis is on ) shall be revealed the lawless one (the same as the of 2Th 2:6; viz. the ), whom (by this relative clause is introduced his ultimate fate at the coming of the Lord. To this the Apostle is carried on by the fervency of his spirit, and has to return again below to describe the working of Antichrist previously) the Lord Jesus will destroy by the breath of His mouth (from Isa 11:4,- , . . It is better to keep the expression in its simple majesty, than to interpret it, as Thdrt.,- , . .-Thdr-mops,- . Chrys. on this is fine: . (but see above) . . , ) and annihilate (not, as Olsh., deprive of his influence, nor can Rev 19:19 be brought to bear here) by the appearance of His coming (not the brightness of his coming, as very many Commentators, and E. V.; but as Beng.: apparitio adventus ipso adventu prior est, vel certe prima ipsius adventus emicatio, uti : the mere outburst of His presence shall bring the adversary to nought. Cf. the sublime expression of Milton,-far off His coming shone):

Fuente: The Greek Testament

2Th 2:8. , then) immediately.- ) This is the last and most weighty appellation, comprehending the force of the preceding ones. That unjust, iniquitous, lawless one, and (by a more nervous term used by Plautus and Nonius, illex) the outlaw. , LXX., , ungodly, Isa 11:4 : He shall smite the earth with the word (rod) of His mouth ( ), and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the ungodly ( – ).-, whom) after having long enough acted the part of a man of violence.- ,[18] the Lord) the Lord of lords, Rev 19:16.- , by the breath [or rather, the Spirit] of His mouth) There also proceeds out of this mouth a sword (), Ib. Rev 19:15; Rev 19:21.- , with the appearance of His coming [But Engl. Vers., with the brightness of His coming]) In some places appearance, in others coming [], is mentioned, the latter in 2Th 2:1, both being used in the same sense; but here the appearance of His coming is before the coming itself, or at least (it expresses) the first dawn of the brightness of His actual coming, as [expresses the appearance or dawning of day].

[18] The 2d Ed. prefers the fuller reading ; and the Germ. Vers. follows it.-E. B.

Tisch., with B (judging from silence), Rec. Text, Orig. 1, 668d, reads . But Lachm. better, with AD() corrected, Gfg Vulg., Orig. 4, 321b, Iren. 182, 323, Hilary, reads . Orig. 1, 424e has .-ED.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

2Th 2:8

And then shall be revealed the lawless one,-When Paul should be taken out of the way then this spirit of lawlessness would run riotously and carry the great body of Christians and churches into apostasy.

whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth,-The breath of his mouth means his word. All this power to legislate, make, repeal, change the laws, add to the institutions that God has appointed is of the man of sin. Taking the Roman Catholic hierarchy as the development of the man of sin, as I am sure it is, it will be seen that this mystery of lawlessness developed into the man of sin only after several hundred years’ growth. But the principle was at work in the days of Paul and developed into activity soon after he was taken out of the way and grew into the great Romish hierarchy. Can we find the first developments of the man of sin? What it was in its childhood? We should understand this, lest we unconsciously nurse an infant of the same brood into life and vigor.

and bring to nought by the manifestation of his coming;-[That is, as soon as his coming shall be made manifest. The very sight of the advancing King shall carry terror to the heart of his adversary and bring to utter ruin. The vision of him from afar shall be, as it were, instant destruction of his foes.]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

that: 2Th 2:3, Mat 13:19, Mat 13:38, 1Jo 2:13, 1Jo 3:12, 1Jo 5:18

whom: Dan 7:10, Dan 7:11, Dan 7:26, Rev 18:8-10, Rev 19:20, Rev 20:10

the spirit: Job 4:9, Psa 18:15, Isa 11:4, Hos 6:5, Rev 1:16, Rev 2:16, Rev 19:15, Rev 19:20, Rev 19:21

with the brightness: 2Th 1:8, 2Th 1:9, Heb 10:27

Reciprocal: Exo 15:8 – blast 2Sa 23:7 – and they shall 2Ki 18:29 – Let not 2Ch 24:7 – that wicked Est 7:6 – this wicked Psa 97:10 – delivereth Pro 11:9 – An hypocrite Pro 19:9 – and Pro 22:12 – he Ecc 9:18 – sinner Isa 30:27 – burning Isa 30:28 – his breath Isa 59:19 – the Spirit Dan 7:22 – the Ancient Dan 11:45 – he shall come Mic 2:11 – a man Zec 14:5 – the Lord Mat 13:39 – enemy Mar 13:22 – if it Luk 6:26 – when Luk 17:24 – in Act 3:20 – General 2Co 1:21 – stablisheth 2Co 10:5 – and every 2Co 11:15 – whose Phi 3:19 – end 2Th 2:6 – revealed 1Ti 1:9 – the lawless 1Ti 6:5 – men 2Ti 2:16 – for 1Jo 4:3 – and this Rev 11:7 – the beast Rev 18:1 – and the

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

2Th 2:8. Then means when the pagan religion is replaced by the profession of the Christian, which finally resulted in the union of church and state. That wicked be revealed refers to the bishop who was to succeed over all the others in obtaining supremacy at the head of the church, and who later took the title of Pope of Rome. He was revealed or came out in the open after the hindrance of the pagan or idolatrous religion had been removed. Consume and destroy mean virtually the same if either of them is used alone. When both are used in one sentence, the former means a gradual using-up of something, and the latter denotes the final result of that consuming, namely, the complete canceling out of the thing spoken of. Spirit of his mouth is a figurative term for the truth spoken by the Lord through the apostles and others who were proclaimers of the inspired word. Brightness of his coming is the same as saying “the appearance of his presence.” This does not mean that Christ was to appear in person, but would be present in the world or represented by the teach ers of divine truth, which was finally to counteract the power of the pope, by breaking up the union of church and state. This great event was accomplished by the Reformation, when the Bible (the spirit of his mouth) was given to the people in their own languages.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

2Th 2:8. And then. As soon as the restraining influence is removed.

The lawless one. That is, the Man of Sin above spoken of.

Whom the Lord Jesus shall destroy. Before describing his appearance, the apostle, as it were by way of consolation to the Church, anticipates his destruction (Jowett).

With the breath of his month. An expression denoting the ease with which omnipotence accomplishes its object. In Psa 33:6 it is used of creative power, the hosts of heaven were made by the breath of His mouth. Comp. also Isa 11:4, With the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked.

With the manifestation of his coming. The word translated in the Authorised Version brightness means simply manifestation or appearance, as of an enemys fleet coming in sight, or of gods making themselves visible to their worshippers, and points here therefore to the visible coming of Christ: His mere appearing will be sufficient to destroy His enemies.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

These words contain both the risk and ruin of Antichrist, his revelation and destruction.

Observe, 1. The title given to him, o Anomos, the lawless one, he that boasts himself to be above all law, and assumes to himself a power to dispense with all the laws of God, as we well know who does.

Observe, 2. His revelation, Then shall that wicked be revealed. God has revealed Antichrist to the world, let none wilfully shut their eyes against him, but let him be shunned and abhorred; if his adherents will not fall off from him, but be partakers with him in his sins, let them expect to be partakers also with him in his plagues; to continue his adherents is dangerous, but to turn his disciples is more dangerous: for that is a downright apostasy, and flat revolt from Christ to Antichrist. How Almighty God may dispense mercifully with errors imbibed in our education we know not, but to turn our back on the truth wherein we have been educated and instructed, makes it more dangerous to our salvation.

Observe, 3. Antichrist’s ruin, Whom the Lord shall consume and destroy.

Here note, That the apostle had no sooner discovered Antichrist’s rise, but he presently declares his ruin: The Lord shall destroy him; that is, the Lord Jesus Christ shall destroy him gradually, he shall waste away by little and little; as his rise was, such shall his ruin be: destroyed and consumed he shall be, but not presently; because God has an use for him, work to do for him, to scourge his people, to try his people, to unite his people.

Observe, 4. How Antichrist’s ruin is accompolished,

(1.) With the spirit of his mouth, or the breath of his mouth: the expression denotes, the facility and easiness of his destruction: it is done with a breath; the breath of God here denotes the preaching of the gospel, and intimates, that Antichrist’s destruction shall be by the ministry of the word, and the victorious evidence of truth; but besides this ministerial word, there will be a providential word, which God will make use of for Antichrist’s destruction: the former means we are to use, the latter God is to make use of.

Again, (2.) The destruction of Antichrist shall be by the brightness of Christ’s coming; at Christ’s coming to judgment, the final ruin and utter destruction of Antichrist shall be accompolished; let not the church then be discouraged, though Antichrist remains, after all endeavours used for his ruin, it is sufficient we are assured that Antichristianism shall be finally destroyed; for the time, leave we that to God; if it be not till the day of judgment, or Christ’s final conquest over all his adversaries, why should not we be contented to tarry for it; seeing infinite wisdom determines the time, as well as the thing itself.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

2Th 2:8. And then When every prince and power that restrains is taken away; that wicked , that lawless one, who boasts himself to be above all laws, and the infallible judge, dispensing with, and interpreting the laws of God, according to his pleasure. Nothing can be more plain than that this wicked or lawless one, and the man of sin, must be one and the same person: shall be revealed This revelation must mean that he would then no longer work secretly, but would openly show himself, possessing the character, and performing the actions ascribed to the man of sin. Whom the Lord shall consume The apostle does not mean that he should be consumed immediately after he was revealed; but, to comfort the Thessalonians, he no sooner mentions his revelation, than he foretels also his destruction, even before he describes his other qualifications; which qualifications should have been described first in order of time, but the apostle hastens to what was first and warmest in his thoughts and wishes. The word , here rendered to consume, Chandler observes, is used to denote a lingering, gradual consumption; being applied to the waste of time, to the dissipation of an estate, and the slow death of being eaten up of worms. He supposes it has the same meaning here, importing that the man of sin is to be gradually destroyed by the spirit Or breath rather, as it seems should have been here translated; of Christs mouth By which expression the preaching of true doctrine, and its efficacy in destroying the man of sin, are predicted. For the mouth being the instrument by which speech is formed of breath, or air from the lungs, the breath of his mouth is a proper figurative expression to denote the speaking or preaching of true doctrine. Accordingly, the preaching of the gospel is termed, (Rev 19:15,) a sharp sword proceeding out of the mouth of Christ; and (Hos 6:5) God says, I have hewed them by the prophets, I have slain them by the word of my mouth. See also Isa 11:4. Or, the expression may include both the preaching of the gospel and the power of the Spirit accompanying it; and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming By clear, convincing reasons and arguments contained in the doctrine of those that shall speak or write by the Spirit of Christ, or by Gods manifest judgments against him in the pouring out of the several vials, Revelation 16. The original expression, , is, literally, the bright shining of his coming, and means that, as darkness is dispelled by the rising of the sun, so the mystery of iniquity shall be destroyed by the lustre with which Christ will cause the true doctrine of the gospel to shine. If, says Dr. Benson, St. John and St. Paul have prophesied of the same corruptions, it should seem that the head of the apostacy will be destroyed by some signal judgment, after its influence or dominion hath, in a gradual manner, been destroyed by the force of truth. According to Daniel, (Dan 7:27,) after the little horn is consumed and destroyed, the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; a prediction which undoubtedly signifies the general conversion of both Gentiles and Jews to the Christian faith, and the universal reign of righteousness and peace through all the earth.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And then shall be revealed the lawless one whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of his coming [After the removal of the hinderer, the vague spirit or mystery of lawlessness will become an embodied personality–a Christ-rival. At the mere thought of his thus being revealed, Paul, in his fervent zeal for Christ, at once announces the triumph of the Lord over this adversary, though he has not yet finished describing him. In the next verse we shall find the apostle returning to tell what manner of ruler the antichrist was to be, and the quality and destiny of those who should follow him. Breath, etc., does not mean that Jesus shall slay antichrist by converting, and thus cutting off, his followers; for breath does not signify God’s truth or instruction, but the execution of his judgment (2Sa 22:16; Job 4:9; Job 15:30; Isa 11:4; Isa 30:27-33). The manifestation (Greek, epiphany) of his coming is undoubtedly the divine excellency, radiance, glory and sublimity of the revealed Godhead; for the word “epiphany” conveys this idea (Tit 2:13; 1Ti 6:14-16; comp. Rev 20:11). The destruction of antichrist will be caused by the judgment of God, and be effected by the appearing of God. The manifestation of the real and perfect will stand in awful, consuming contrast to the revelation of the sham and lie];

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Verse 8

That Wicked; the influence designated above as “the man of sin.”

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

2:8 {8} And then shall {i} that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall {k} consume with the {l} spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

(8) That wickedness will at length be detected by the word of the Lord, and will utterly be abolished by Christ’s coming.

(i) Literally, “that lawless fellow”, that is to say, he that will completely tread upon God’s law.

(k) Bring to nothing.

(l) With his word, for the true ministers of the word are as a mouth, by which the Lord breathes out that mighty and everlasting word, which will break his enemies apart, as though the word were an iron rod.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

After the Rapture the lawless one will have greater freedom. He will do things that will eventually result in his being identified as the Antichrist. However the mere breath of the Lord Jesus’ mouth will slay him when Christ comes with His saints at the Second Coming (2Th 1:10). The Lord’s "appearance" (Gr. epiphaneia) is a different and later event in His "coming" (Gr. parousia) than the "gathering" (Gr. episynagoges) event (2Th 2:1). The first event is the Rapture, and the second is the Second Coming.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)