2 Tessalonicenses 2
Ray Stedman · Citado em PreceptAustin
2 Tessalonicenses 2:1
Stedman - We come to a passage now where we must confront the question of whether the church will go through the great tribulation. Does the Lord come for his church before the great time of trouble that is coming; does he come in the middle of it; or does the church in fact go through the tribulation and Jesus comes at the end. That is a much debated and controversial question. The Scriptures are at times hard to understand concerning these issues; that is why there are differences of opinion among believers regarding them. All evangelicals agree, however, that only these three possibilities exist: a pre, mid, or post tribulational coming. This question should not be confused with a similar sounding issue concerning the millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ. There are also premillennial, postmillennial and amillennial viewpoints, which deal with the question of whether there will be a millennium or not. But we are not dealing with the question of the millennium this morning but with the question which has been a battleground through the centuries: Will the church still be here on earth during the great time of trouble? I have been studying this passage for almost fifty years. I have read all the arguments pro and con, and while I will not try to share all of that information with you I will try to point out, as we go through Verses 1-12 of Chapter 2, why I believe the Scriptures teach that the church will not go through the great tribulation, and why I reject the arguments of the post-tribulationalists. (The Man who Claims to be God - 2Th 2:1-12) As an aside I want to mention one observation I have not heard writers use to defend a pre-tribulation rapture. Recall that in Revelation 2-3 Jesus repeatedly closes His message to the individual churches with the words "'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." (Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29, 3:6, 13, 22). Then in the middle of the description of the Antichrist's reign of terror John writes "If anyone has an ear, let him hear." (Rev 13:9-note) Notice that he does not refer to the church. One would think that if the church were still present in Revelation 6-19 (the time of the tribulation) John would have addressed this passage specifically to the church. It is also worth noting that John uses the word ekklesia 19x in 18v in Revelation 2-3 and not once in Revelation 6-19 until Rev 22:16 which is clearly in the context of heaven! While arguments from silence are far from definitive, they are at least worth pondering! Now (de) - This conjunction functions to shift from discussion of a description of the Day of the Lord to a new subject discussing confusion regarding the timing of the Day of the Lord. In chapter 1 Christ coming would bring judgment to unbelievers and in chapter 2 His coming would bring judgment to the Antichrist.
2 Tessalonicenses 2:2
Stedman adds that literally Paul is saying "Don't be shaken out of your wits by what's happening." Warren Wiersbe suggests that the false teaching caused the saints to begin to question what Paul had previously taught asking "Had God changed His program? Had not Paul promised them deliverance from the Tribulation? (see 1Th 1:10; 5:9). To calm their hearts and stabilize their faith, Paul explained that they were not in the Day of the Lord. The reason was simple: that Day could not arrive till certain other events had taken place. Paul then stated for them the prophetic events that make up God’s timetable." (Ibid) Ray Stedman - One post-tribulational commentator says that what was going on was "wild anticipation of the immediate return of Christ." But the words do not mean that! The phrase literally says, "you were shaken out of your mind." We would say they were driven out of their wits; they were (in the vernacular) "all shook up!"....They were not excited and jazzed about the coming of the Lord. Rather they were scared out of their minds! It was sweaty palms and white knuckles all the way! (Ref) Shaken (agitated) (4531)(saleuo) means to be tossed violently to and fro like a stormy wind (especially of the waves agitated by a storm) (Lk 7:24 = "A reed shaken by the wind?"; "a reed shaken by the wind" = Mt 11:7; "the powers of the heavens will be shaken" = Mt 24:29; when the Spirit cam to the prayer meeting "the place...was shaken" = Acts 4:31; Jews were "agitating...the crowds" = Acts 17:13). Saleuo is a picturesque verb used to describe shaking of the foundations of the prison by an earthquake (Acts 16:26). In secular Greek saleuo conveyed the sense "to move away from," as of a ship at anchor slipping its mooring in the midst of a tempest. "That is what Satan always tries to do-move us away from sound doctrine and get us to drag our anchor. Everything else follows from that." (J. Phillips) Thus saleuo presents a vivid word picture of the Thessalonian saints being tossed about by false teaching regarding the coming of the Day of the Lord. Hiebert observes that "passive voice points to an outside force; they were being shaken by the false eschatological teaching being promulgated there by some false teacher (2Th 2:3)....The aorist tense points to the initial shock of excitement that has shaken them "from your mind," disturbing their mental poise and throwing them off balance. They are not permitting their mind to perform its proper function but are swayed by emotional reactions." (1 & 2 Thessalonians- D. Edmond Hiebert - anything by Hiebert is highly recommended!) The aorist tense of shaken points to their initial shaking and the present tense of disturbed to the continued sense of disturbance. John
2 Tessalonicenses 2:3
Stedman writes - the "Hopelessly Lost One,"… is what the phrase "the son of perdition" means. The Antichrist's characterization as the son of destruction reminds us of Judas who foreshadowed the Antichrist and was called "the son of perdition" (Jn 17:12) where perdition is the same Greek noun (apoleia) as destruction.