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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - 2 Thessalonians 2:7 - 2:7
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Mystery of iniquity (μυστήριον τῆς ἀνομίας)
Better, of lawlessness. The phrase is unique in N.T. and olxx. Mystery is found in various combinations, as mystery of the kingdom of heaven, Mat 13:11 : of God, 1Co 2:1 : of his will, Eph 1:9 : of Christ, Eph 3:4 : of the gospel, Eph 6:19 : of faith, 1Ti 3:9 : of godliness, 1Ti 3:16 : of the seven stars Rev 1:20 : of the woman, Rev 17:7. A mystery does not lie in the obscurity of a thing, but in its secrecy. It is not in the thing, but envelops it. Applied to a truth, it signifies a truth once hidden but now revealed or to be revealed; a truth which without special revelation would be unknown. It is almost universally found in connection with words signifying publication or revelation. See on Mat 13:11. The mystery of lawlessness is the mass of lawlessness yet hidden, but which is to reveal itself in the person and power of Antichrist. The position of the word is emphatic, emphasizing the concealed character of the evil power.
Only (μόνον)
The sentence is elliptical: “only we must wait,” or “only it must work in secret, until he that letteth,” etc. For a similar instance see Gal 2:10. The collocation of A.V. is wrong.
Letteth (κατέχων)
The same word as restraineth, 2Th 2:6. Let is old English for hinder, prevent. Often in Chaucer.
“May I him lette of that?” (prevent him from it).
Troil. and Cress. ii. 732.
“And bothe in love y-like sore they brente (burned)
That noon or alle hir (their) frendes might hit lette.”
Legend of Good Women, 731.
So Shakespeare:
“What lets but one may enter?”
Two Gentlemen of Verona, iii. 1.
“I'll make a ghost of him that lets me.”
Hamlet i. 4.
“The flesh resisteth the work of the Holy Ghost in our hearts, and lets it.” - Latimer, Serm.