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2 Thessalonians 2:2-4
New Catholic Bible
2 Thessalonians 2:2-4
New Catholic Bible
2 do not become too easily thrown into confusion or alarmed, either by something spiritual or by a statement or by a letter claiming to come from us, alleging that the Day of the Lord is already here.[a] 3 Let no one deceive you in any way.
The Adversary and the Obstacle.[b] That Day cannot come[c] before the final rebellion occurs and the lawless one is revealed, the son of destruction. 4 He is the adversary who sets himself in opposition to, and exalts himself above, every so-called god or object of worship, and who even seats himself in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 2 Thessalonians 2:2 Is already here: Paul insists that the Day of the Lord has not already come, for the final days have not begun and their completion is not imminent.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Making use of images borrowed from the Prophets and from the authors of apocalypses, Paul brings on stage the forces of evil and the true witnesses of God: they constitute respectively the adversary and the obstacle. The portrait of the adversary gathers together in one personage all the doers of evil who are based on the historical enemies of God’s people in the Old Testament—especially Antiochus IV Epiphanes (see Dan 11:36) who in his supreme folly wanted to make himself a god.
The obstacle, which was doubtlessly well known to the Thessalonians, stands for a more obscure reality for us; it could refer to the ensemble of believers who work to bring about the Kingdom of God (see also note on 2:6 below). Even though their victory is to be awaited, it is no less assured. This victory is based upon the Paschal Mystery with its twofold aspect of Death and Resurrection. Throughout the centuries, the forces of death and the People of God never cease to confront one another in the life of the world, in the heart of each person. - 2 Thessalonians 2:3 That Day cannot come: these words have been supplied in the text in order to bring out more clearly Paul’s meaning; the original sentence is incomplete. The lawless one . . . the son of destruction . . . the adversary: the leader of the rebellion, who will also come to be called “the Antichrist” (1 Jn 2:18; 4:3; 2 Jn 7).
