What is Restraining?

2 Thessalonians 2:1-2

1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

The Church at Thessalonica had received some bad information. Because of this, some of them were starting to freak-out. They were losing their stability of mind and heart. They had received a message that the Day of Christ had already happened. The message they received had come to them either by a supposed disclosure of the Spirit, or by a word or letter purported to be from the apostles.

Paul now seeks to set the record straight and help the saints at Thessalonica regain their composure.

2 Thessalonians 2:3

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Paul informs these distressed believers that two events must happen first, before the Day of Christ can come. There first must be a falling away, literally, an Apostasy. Also the Man of Sin, the one John refers to as the anti-christ or the Beast of Revelation, must also be revealed. These two events are holding back or restraining the Day of Christ, i.e., until these two prophetic events occur, the Parousia (physical coming) of the Lord and the Gathering Together of the saints, will not happen.

Now that Paul has refreshed their memory about what he had previously told them, he then says,

2 Thessalonians 2:5-6

5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

Paul says, “Now you know what is holding back (the Day of Christ), so that He (the Messiah) might be revealed in His time.”

Typically, many have assumed that the one to be revealed in his time in verse 6, is the man of sin. However, keeping the verse in the context of the passage and in the flow of thought, it should be clear that it is referring to the revealing of Christ, not the anti-christ.

The overriding subject of this passage is not the revelation of the man of sin, but the Parousia of Jesus and our gathering unto Him, i.e., the Day of Christ. If, as Paul says, the Day of Christ will not occur until the apostasy and the man of sin be revealed, then these two events are holding back “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” ( 2 Thess 1:7-8).

Therefore, the apostasy and the revealing of the man of sin are “that which holds back”, so that he, the Lord Jesus, might be revealed, or unveiled, in his own season.

Next, Paul states that the apostasy, or the mystery of iniquity, is already at work.

2 Thessalonians 2:7

7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

If the mystery of iniquity, i.e., the apostasy, was already at work, then that only leaves the revealing of the man of sin, before the Day of Christ can occur. So now, Paul turns his attention to this man of sin.

The second part of this verse, has given rise to many and varied interpretations. Unfortunately, they are mostly based on a rather poor English translation of the Greek.

The above phrase, “only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way” has been viewed in different ways. It gives the impression that something or someone who is restraining, must be taken out of the way. This Restrainer is usually viewed as that which restrains the appearance of the man of sin.

The most popular interpretation of this is that it is the presence of the Church that is holding back the appearance of the man of sin. The idea is that once the Church has been raptured, then the man of sin will be restrained no longer and make his appearance. However, this is in direct contradiction to what Paul stated in the beginning. The coming of the Lord and our gathering together unto Him will not occur until AFTER the appearing of the man of sin.

Again, we must go back to the context of the passage. The subject matter here is not what is holding back or restraining the appearance of the man of sin, but what is holding back the Day of Christ.

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work

This portion of verse 7, in its expanded translation, says, “For the hidden secret of lawlessness is now in active operation.” Like a cancer that begins to develop in the body undetected, so the apostasy, the hidden working of lawlessness, was already present and in operation.


only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

As stated earlier, this portion of the verse is a rather unfortunate translation of the Greek. It is the phrase “until he be taken out of the way” that has led to many different ideas about who or what is restraining (most of which is based upon reading into the text what is not there, i.e., eisegesis). We need to look more closely at this phrase to gain a better understanding.

Taken - The word translated as ‘taken’ in this passage is the Greek word, ginomai (ginomai). This is a verb of being, not of action. Its basic meaning is “to be, to become”. One writer on this passage notes this about the use of the Greek word ‘ginomai’.

The United Bible Societies Greek Dictionary lists a number of possible English translations of this word, among which are:
become, be; happen, take place, arise...; come into being, be born or created; be done (of things), become something (of persons); come, go...; appear. (A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament, London: United Bible Societies, 1971, p.37)   
All of these renderings imply the arrival or appearance of the subject, rather than its removal as is implied in the term taken.

So this taken should be understood more as appears or arises in the context.

Out of the way - This phrase is a translation of two Greek words, εκ μεσου. The Greek word εκ means out of, denoting point of origin. The other Greek word, mesos (μέσος), means the midst or middle.

So putting these two together, we have the phrase, out of the midst, or out of the middle.
This second part of verse 7 should be translated, until he appears ( or arises) out of the midst.

Making Sense of What Restrains.

Much has been made of the two different uses of the Greek word κατέχω, that which restrains or withholds. In one verse it appears in the neuter gender and another it is used with the masculine. When understood in the context, there really is no mystery.

The Neuter - In verse 6, Paul uses the neuter form of the word, το κατεχον. This neuter form points to what he has been speaking of, that is holding back the Parousia of the Lord and our gathering together unto Him, i.e., the Day of Christ. What is holding back or restraining the Day of Christ? The Apostasy and the appearing of the man of sin are restraining these events of the Day of Christ. When he says, “Now you know what restrains . . .”, he is referring to these two events. The apostasy and the revealing of the man of sin is viewed as a single subject, therefore he uses the neuter, single participle.

This is very typical Greek, to refer to a collection of events as a single topic, in the singular neuter. A.T. Robertson notes that the participle is what he calls a verbal-noun. This means that is takes characteristics of both the verb and the noun.

There is a use of the participle, in its noun nature, called the Idiomatic. He says, “On the other hand the singular appears where one would naturally look for a plural. A neuter singular as an abstract expression may sum up the whole mass.”

This means that a participle, in the neuter gender and in the singular person, may be used to designate or “sum up the whole mass” of several ideas or subjects.

So the neuter use of το κατεχον (that which holds back) is in keeping with normal Greek usage and points to the two events, the Apostasy and the revealing of the man of sin, as a singular subject.

The Masculine - It has been perplexing to many, why Paul switches from a neuter gender to the masculine, with the word κατεχον. If one follows the flow of the context, it really is quite simple.

When Paul uses the neuter gender of the word, as stated above, he is referring to the two events that must occur before the Day of Christ, as a single topic. Then Paul says this in verse 7a, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work.” This is a reference to the Apostasy, the falling away from God’s Will and Word. He is stating that he can see the Apostasy is already at work, so that only leaves the appearance of the man of sin.

Now he switches from dealing with two topics to one, the man of sin, hence the switch to the use of the masculine gender. If the Apostasy was already at work, then that leaves only the revealing of the man of sin as what is holding the Day of Christ back.

An Expanded Translation

The following is an expanded translation of this passage, taking into account all that we have uncovered above.

1. Moreover brothers, we intreat you regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto Him,
2. That you not so quickly waver in your mind or be frightened, neither through a (communication of) spirit, nor by an utterance, nor by a letter as though (any of these was) from us, that the Day of Christ is present.
3. Don't let any one deceive you by any means or manner: for (the Day of Christ will not come) except first there come a falling away and that man of sin, the son of destruction, be revealed.
4. Who (will reveal himself by) opposing and exalting himself above all that is called divine or that is worshipped as divine; so that he as divine sits in the Temple of God, demonstrating that he is divine.
5. Don't you remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things?
6. So now you know what is holding back (the Day of Christ), so that He (Jesus Christ) might be revealed in his (own) season.
7. For the hidden rebellion is already active: only he who now is holding back (the Day of Christ will continue to do so), until he arises out of the midst.
8. Even so shall that Wicked One be revealed, whom the Lord shall utterly consume with the breath of His mouth and shall render useless (and utterly destroyed) by the manifestation of His coming.
9. (This wicked one), whose coming is according to the energy of Satan in all power and miracles and lying wonders,
10. And with all (the) deceitfulness of unrighteousness in them that are being destroyed, because they received not the love of the Truth, so that they might be saved.
11. And for this cause (because they received not the love of the Truth), God shall thrust (upon) them a strong and effective delusion.
12. So that they might all be judged who believed not the Truth, but (instead) had pleasure in unrighteousness.


Continue on With The Day of Christ . . .