Matthew Poole Commentary - 2 Thessalonians 2:2 - 2:2

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Matthew Poole Commentary - 2 Thessalonians 2:2 - 2:2


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That ye be not soon shaken in mind; saleuyhnai it is an allusion to the waves of the sea that are tossed with the winds, as false doctrines tend to unsettle the mind, as Eph_4:14 Heb_13:9; and to be established in the truth is often commanded, 1Co_16:13 Phi_4:1 Col_1:23, &c. And by mind here is either meant the faculty itself; and then the apostle beseecheth them to keep company with their understanding, not to be removed from their mind: as false doctrine is said to bewitch men, Gal_3:1, and to make men foolish, 2Th_2:3; as madness is called amentia, or dementia, as that which doth as it were unmind men, and corrupt the mind, and pervert the judgment, 2Ti_3:8,9, as Jannes and Jambres deceived the people by their enchantments, as the apostle there mentions. Or else, the sentence and judgment of the mind; and then he beseecheth them to hold fast the right judgment they had entertained about Christ’s coming, and not to hesitate and waver about it; so the word is taken, 1Co_2:16.



Or be troubled; yroeisyai, alluding to soldiers affrighted with a sudden alarm. We find the word, Mat_24:6 Mar_13:7, used in this allusion. And the opinion of Christ’s coming to be at hand might occasion this trouble in them, either lest they might be surprised by it, and unprepared for it, or by judging themselves mistaken in their former apprehensions about it; and those false teachers that broach this opinion, did also perhaps so represent this coming in such terror as to cause this trouble; as false teachers in general are such as are said to cause trouble, Gal_1:7 5:12; though the coming of Christ is in itself rather the saints’ hope and joy, than ground of trouble, as 1Th_1:10 4:18, &c. And it may be some did pretend for this opinion the Spirit, or some letter from the apostle, either the former Epistle to them, or some letter that was forged, or some word he had spoken, or preached. And those words as from us may refer to all these: the Spirit,



as from us; or word, as from us; or letter, as from us.



Neither by spirit; some extraordinary revelation of the Spirit, which the false teachers pretended to, especially in the primitive times, when they were more ordinary; as in the church of Corinth, 1Co_14:6, and the churches of Galatia, Gal_3:2,5: some would pretend the Spirit that called Jesus accursed, 1Co_12:3, and therefore the apostle bids: Try the spirits, 1Jo_4:1. Simon Magus pretended to it, and had his Helene, Montanus his Paraclete, Mahomet his Dove: and the man of sin pretends to this Spirit, though it is in truth the spirit of antichrist, 1Jo_4:3, and the spirit of Satan, in the next chapter of this Epistle, as was foretold that in the last times there would arise seducing spirits, 1Ti_4:1; as there was in the times of the Old Testament false prophets that pretended to the Spirit, as 1Ki_22:24 Mic_2:11. And the very heathen would pretend to divine oracles, inspirations, and revelations, especially their kings and lawgivers, as Numa Pompilius, Lycurgus, &c.; and still there are enthusiasts who make these pretences.



Nor by word; dea logou, whereby some understand calculation by astrological rules, that the day of Christ was at hand; others render the word reasoning; and so from the declining of the vigour of the earth, and the nearer approach of the sun to it, as Ptolemy observed in his time, or some other natural causes, they reasoned the coming of Christ and the dissolution of the world to be nigh at hand: but rather we understand by it some word from the apostle’s own mouth, which was pretended he had spoken or preached some where, though not written. As the Church of Rome pretends to traditions, besides the written word, upon which they ground many of their superstitions and idolatries, not warranted by Scripture. As the Jews had a second Mishneh, and their Cabbala, collected in part from the sayings of Moses, or some other of their prophets, which they did not write.



Nor by letter; some letter that was sent to them from some other hand, or else by some forged letter as from the apostle himself, or his former Epistle misunderstood.



As that the day of Christ is at hand.



Objection. But is it not said that the day of the Lord, or the coming of the Lord, is at hand, 1Co_10:11 Phi_4:5 Jam_5:7,8 1Pe_4:2?



Answer. The word used in those places differs from this in the text; for it signifies either that which is actually present, or very near it, as Rom_8:38 Gal_1:4; as that which is to be done presently is spoken of as done, Joh_17:4 2Ti_4:7. Or those places mean his coming is at hand, as to God’s account of time, though not as to man’s. And in that sense Christ saith: Behold, I come quickly, Rev_22:7. But the error the apostle warns them of is, as if the coming of Christ would be in the age in which they lived. The apostles all said that the coming of the Lord was at hand, but their right meaning was perverted to a false sense, as seducers usually do.