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MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS*
Phrase used by the apostle Paul to describe a lawless power or force threatening the world. The expression is found only in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 and must be considered in the light of its context.
Evidently, some members of the church at Thessalonica were convinced that Christ had already returned (2 Thes 2:1-2). In order to counter this belief Paul describes some of the events that must occur before the return of Christ. These events center around the coming of “the man of lawlessness,” an evil figure who takes his seat in the temple of Jerusalem and proclaims himself to be God (vv 3-4). Although the man of lawlessness is presently being restrained, the evil that he will perpetrate is already at work (v 6). Paul calls this evil “the mystery of lawlessness.”
The identity of the man of lawlessness, the restrainer, and the content of the mystery of iniquity have been subject to much debate. Among the suggestions that have been made, the following three predominate:
1. The mystery of lawlessness is the tyranny of the Roman Empire, and the man of lawlessness is a future Roman emperor who is being kept from power by the present Roman ruler. In support of this position it can be said that the Jewish apocalypses of Paul’s day considered Rome to be the quintessence of evil. In addition, approximately 10 years before the writing of 2 Thessalonians, Caligula, the Roman emperor, ordered his statue to be erected and worshiped in the Jerusalem temple (Josephus’s Antiquities 18.8.2-6; War 2.10.1-5).
2. The mystery of lawlessness is the religion of Judaism, and the man of lawlessness is the high priest who is restrained by apostolic preaching. However, it is doubtful that Paul would have considered Judaism in this light (cf. Rom 9:1-5).
3. Dispensational theology identifies the mystery of lawlessness as the whole course of evil, consummated in the figure of the Antichrist (the lawless one) and presently restrained by the Holy Spirit. In such a context, it is difficult to establish a scriptural basis for the Holy Spirit being “taken out of the way” (2 Thes 2:7).
See also Antichrist; Eschatology; Second Coming of Christ; Thessalonians, First Letter to the; Thessalonians, Second Letter to the.