and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be judged who didn’t believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
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2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, we ask you not to be quickly shaken in your mind, and not be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter as if from us, saying that the day of Christ has already come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction, he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God. Don’t you remember that, when I was still with you, I told you these things? Now you know what is restraining him, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. For the mystery of lawlessness already works. Only there is one who restrains now, until he is taken out of the way. Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his coming; even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be judged who didn’t believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Parallel Translations
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and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie;
that they all might be judged who didn’t believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
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and in all deceavablenes of vnrightewesnes amonge them that perysshe: because they receaved not the (love) of the truth that they myght have bene saved.
And therfore god shall sende them stronge delusion that they shuld beleve lyes:
that all they myght be damned which beleved not the trueth but had pleasure in vnrightewesnes.
Show all 3 translations
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And in al deceiuablenes of vnrighteousnes, among them that perish, because they receiued not the loue of the trueth, that they might be saued.
And therefore God shall send them strong delusion, that they should beleeue lies,
That all they might be damned which beleeued not the trueth, but had pleasure in vnrighteousnes.
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Contradictions (4)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
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Cross-references (63)
- Romans 1:28 (v11) Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
- John 12:39-43 (v11) For this cause they couldn’t believe, for Isaiah said again, “He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, lest they should see…
- 1 Corinthians 1:18 (v10) For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
- 1 Timothy 4:1 (v11) But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of…
- Matthew 24:11 (v11) Many false prophets will arise, and will lead many astray.
Show all 62 cross-references
- Psalms 81:11-12 (v11) But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me. So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they…
- Proverbs 1:7 (v10) The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
- Ezekiel 21:29 (v11) while they see for you false visions, while they divine lies to you, to lay you on the necks of the wicked who are deadly wounded, whose…
- Romans 1:21-25 (v11) Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart…
- 1 Thessalonians 2:3 (v11) For our exhortation is not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in deception.
- Psalms 109:17 (v11) Yes, he loved cursing, and it came to him. He didn’t delight in blessing, and it was far from him.
- Matthew 24:5 (v11) For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray.
- 2 Corinthians 4:2-3 (v10) But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the…
- Ezekiel 14:9 (v11) “ ‘ “If the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, Yahweh, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand on him, and will…
- John 8:45-47 (v10) But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who…
- Romans 1:32 (v12) who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those…
- Romans 16:18 (v10) For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the…
- 2 Peter 2:12 (v10) But these, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which they are…
- Isaiah 66:4 (v11) I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears on them; because when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they didn’t…
- Romans 8:7-8 (v12) because the mind of the flesh is hostile toward God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be. Those who are in the…
- 1 Corinthians 16:22 (v10) If any man doesn’t love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be cursed. Come, Lord!
- 1 Kings 22:18-22 (v11) The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?” Micaiah said,…
- Isaiah 6:9-10 (v11) He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t perceive.’ Make the heart of this…
- Isaiah 29:9-14 (v11) Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For Yahweh…
- Jeremiah 27:10 (v11) for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, so that I would drive you out, and you would perish.
- Mark 16:16 (v12) He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.
- Ephesians 4:14 (v10) that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in…
- 2 Chronicles 18:18-22 (v11) Micaiah said, “Therefore hear Yahweh’s word: I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing on his right hand and…
- Proverbs 8:17 (v10) I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will find me.
- Isaiah 44:20 (v11) He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”
- Romans 2:7-8 (v10) to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life; but to those who are self-seeking,…
- Romans 2:8 (v12) but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation,
- 2 Corinthians 2:17 (v10) For we are not as so many, peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 11:15 (v10) It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
- John 3:19-21 (vv10, 12) This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.…
- Psalms 11:5 (v12) Yahweh examines the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and him who loves violence.
- Proverbs 2:1-6 (v10) My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you, so as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to…
- Proverbs 4:5-6 (v10) Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don’t forget, and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth. Don’t forsake her, and she will preserve you.…
- Hosea 7:3 (v12) They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.
- John 3:17 (v10) For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
- John 3:36 (v12) One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won’t see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
- John 5:34 (v10) But the testimony which I receive is not from man. However, I say these things that you may be saved.
- Romans 10:1 (v10) Brothers, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved.
- 2 Corinthians 2:15 (v10) For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God, in those who are saved and in those who perish:
- 1 Thessalonians 5:9 (v12) For God didn’t appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
- 1 Timothy 2:4 (v10) who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth.
- 2 Peter 2:13-15 (v12) receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and defects, reveling in their deceit…
- Matthew 13:11 (v10) He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.
- Mark 14:11 (v12) They, when they heard it, were glad, and promised to give him money. He sought how he might conveniently deliver him.
- Romans 6:17 (v10) But thanks be to God, that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you…
- Romans 12:9 (v12) Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.
- 2 Corinthians 11:13 (v10) For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles.
- Hebrews 3:13 (v10) but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
- James 1:16-18 (v10) Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with…
- 2 Peter 2:18 (v10) For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping…
- Jude 1:4-5 (v12) For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the…
- Deuteronomy 32:35 (v12) Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides; for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them.”
- Psalms 50:16-21 (v12) But to the wicked God says, “What right do you have to declare my statutes, that you have taken my covenant on your lips, since you hate…
- Psalms 52:3-4 (v12) You love evil more than good, lying rather than speaking the truth. You love all devouring words, you deceitful tongue.
- Micah 3:2 (v12) You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones;
- 1 Thessalonians 2:16 (v10) forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.
- 3 John 1:11 (v12) Beloved, don’t imitate that which is evil, but that which is good. He who does good is of God. He who does evil hasn’t seen God.
62 distinct cross-references across this passage (63 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (22 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv10–12 10 In those that perish. He limits the power…
10 In those that perish. He limits the power of Satan, as not being able to injure the elect of God, just as Christ, also, exempts them from this danger. (Matthew 24:24.) From this it appears, that Antichrist has not so great power otherwise than by his permission. Now, this consolation was necessary. For all the pious, but for this, would of necessity be overpowered with fear, if they saw a yawning gulf pervading the whole path, along which they must pass. Hence Paul, however he may wish them to be in a state of anxiety, that they may be on their guard, lest by excessive carelessness they should fall back, nay, even throw themselves into ruin, does, nevertheless, bid them cherish good hope, inasmuch as Satan’s power is bridled, that he may not be able to involve any but the wicked in ruin.
Because they received not the love. Lest the wicked should complain that they perish innocently, and that they have been appointed to death rather from cruelty on the part of God, than from any fault on their part, Paul shews on what good grounds it is that so severe vengeance from God is to come upon them — because they have not received in the temper of mind with which they ought the truth which was presented to them, nay more, of their own accord refused salvation. And from this appears more clearly what I have already stated — that the gospel required to be preached to the world before God would give Satan so much permission, for he would never have allowed his temple to be so basely profaned, had he not been provoked by extreme ingratitude on the part of men. In short, Paul declares that Antichrist will be the minister of God’s righteous vengeance against those who, being called to salvation, have rejected the gospel, and have preferred to apply their mind to impiety and errors. Hence there is no reason why Papists should now object, that it is at variance with the clemency of Christ to cast off his Church in this manner. For though the domination of Antichrist has been cruel, none have perished but those who were deserving of it, nay more, did of their own accord choose death. (Proverbs 8:36.) And unquestionably, while the voice of the Son of God has sounded forth everywhere, it finds the ears of men deaf, nay obstinate, and while a profession of Christianity is common, there are, nevertheless, few that have truly and heartily given themselves to Christ. Hence it is not to be wondered, if similar vengeance quickly follows such a criminal contempt.
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It is asked whether the punishment of blindness does not fall on any but those who have on set purpose rebelled against the gospel. I answer, that this special judgment by which God has avenged open contumacy, does not stand in the way of his striking down with stupidity, as often as seems good to him, those that have never heard a single word respecting Christ, for Paul does not discourse in a general way as to the reasons why God has from the beginning permitted Satan to go at large with his falsehoods, but as to what a horrible vengeance impends over gross despisers of new and previously unwonted grace.
He uses the expression — receiving the love of the truth, to mean — applying the mind to the love of it. Hence we learn that faith is always conjoined with a sweet and voluntary reverence for God, because we do not properly believe the word of God, unless it is lovely and pleasant to us.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv11–12 A most mighty working to deceive them.
A most mighty working to deceive them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv10–12 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them…
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
Ver. 10. And with all deceiveableness] Popery is nothing else but a great lie, a grand imposture, a farrago of falsities and heresies. It is not without cause that the Centurists say, "That all the old heretics fled, and hid themselves in the Popish clergy." (Cent. x. c. 11.)
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Because they received not the love] This is the great gospel sin, punished by God with strong delusions, vile affections, just damnation. Infatuati seducentur, seducti iudicabuntur. Given up by God they shall be seduced, and being seduced they shall be condemned. It is Austin’s note upon this text.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv10–12 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness; or, deceit of…
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness; or, deceit of unrighteousness, unrighteous deceit, or deceitful unrighteousness. And it is universal, all. It is unrighteousness managed with great subtlety to deceive; and so the same with the mystery of iniquity, mentioned before, or the mystery of unrighteousness, as we may read it. All sin is unrighteousness, whether against God or man, as all virtue is comprehended in righteousness. The apostle here means unrighteousness so cloaked and covered, that men discern it not, but are deceived by it: as the Pharisees, who devoured widows’ houses, and for pretence made long prayers; and so also they tithed mint and cummin as exactly religious, built the sepulchres of the prophets, made broad their phylacteries, would not eat with unwashen hands, &c. The like we find in the Church of Rome, as I mentioned before, where men are ambitious, covetous, cruel, superstitious, &c., and all under a pretence of righteousness, and for honour to Christ and the church: make use of Peter’s keys to open rich men’s coffers; and for a sum of money, to absolve men in this world, or to redeem them out of purgatory in the other worid; which is a mere cheat, &c. Thus comes this man of sin, and by such ways he hath advanced himself.
In them that perish: this shows who they are that are deceived by him. Reprobates are often so described, 2Co 2:15; 4:3; and it is the same as elsewhere signifies damnation. The word signifies men that are lost, so used Mat 18:11, or destroyed, 2Co 4:9. They are such as have not their names written in the book of life, Rev 13:8; and who shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, and the smoke of their torment ascendeth for ever, Rev 14:10,11.
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Because they received not the love of the truth: and the apostle gives the reason why they are thus deceived. He saith not they had not received the truth, but the love of it, and so hold it not fast, but are carried away with the general apostacy. Truth is either natural, which the heathen had, and detained in unrighteousness, Rom 1:18; or supernatural, from Divine revelation. This is meant, for he speaks not of heathens, but Christians; not the world, but the church.
That they might be saved: and the truth here meant is saving truth, as the gospel is called the word of truth, Eph 1:13; Col 1:5; for had they received it in love they might have been saved, but for want of that they perish; so that it is unsound, notional professors that are carried away by the man of sin, and deceived by him. Truth, if it be not received into the heart as well as the head, will not secure against apostacy or popery, nor prevent perishing. And the amiableness that is in gospel truth calls for love, as the certainty of its revelation calls for faith; and had they so received the truth they might have been saved.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv10–11 Here we have a threefold description given of the…
Here we have a threefold description given of the subjects of Antichrist’s kingdom: they are described,
1. By the ways and means how they are drawn into this apostasy and defection, and that is, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness; where, by unrighteousness, understand his false doctrine and wicked laws, which tend to the making his disciples and followers injurious to God, unjust to men, and cruel to themselves; and by deceivableness, is meant all manner of deceits and wiles, tricks and cunning persuasions, to make the world believe his unrighteous errors to be pure and innocent truths.
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Learn, That such as are ringleaders to error, are men of no conscience, but find out all unrighteous ways and means to make their tenets plausible, and pass for truth; they come with all deceivableness of unrighteousness.
Again, 2. They are described by the doom and misery which await them, they are such as perish; that is, such as are in an actual state of perdition, and, without hastening out of it, are undone for ever.
Learn hence, That the subjects of Antichrist’s power and seduction are those that perish.
And, 3. They are described by their sin, which is the cause and reason of this doom: Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
Where mark, It is not enough to receive the truth in the light of it, but we must also receive it in the love of it, or it will do us no good; to make truth operative, there is required, besides knowledge, faith and love, there may be knowledge without faith, and there may be faith without love, that is, without any affection to the truth believed; it was therefore a pious prayer of St. Austin, Fac me, Domine, &c. "Lord, make me taste that by love, which I taste by knowledge." As the certainity of truth calls for faith, so the amiableness of truth calls for love: if truth be not received into the heart as well as the head, it will not secure against apostasy, nor prevent perishing.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv10–12 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness,.... Not that he…
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness,.... Not that he deceives, or goes about to deceive, or thinks to deceive by open unrighteousness; but by unrighteousness, under a pretence of righteousness and holiness; as with the doctrines of justification and salvation by a man's own righteousness, with the doctrines of merit and of works of supererogation, which are taking to men, and by which they are deceived, and are no other than unrighteousness with God, and betray ignorance of his righteousness, and a non-submission to it; as also with practices which carry a show of holiness, religion, and devotion, when they are no other than acts of impiety, superstition, and will worship; as their litanies and prayers, their worship of images, angels, and saints departed, their frequent fasts and festivals, their pilgrimages, penance, and various acts of mortification and the like: but then these deceptions only have place
in them that perish; whom the god of this world has blinded, from whom the Gospel is hid, and to whom it is foolishness: all men indeed are in a lost perishing condition, through original and actual sin; but all shall not perish, there are some that God will not have perish, whom Christ is given for that they should not perish, and whom he has redeemed by his blood, and to whom he gives eternal life; but there are others that are vessels of wrath afore ordained to condemnation, reprobate men left to themselves, and given up to their hearts' lusts; and these, and only these, are finally and totally deceived, by the signs and lying wonders, and false appearances of antichrist; see Mat 24:24
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because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved; by the "truth" is meant either Christ the truth of types, the sum of promises, in whom the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are, and by whom grace and truth came; or the Gospel, often called truth, and the word of truth, it coming from the God of truth, has for its subject Christ the truth, is dictated and directed into by the spirit of truth, and contains nothing but truth: and by "the love" of it is meant, either the loveliness of it, for truth is an amiable, lovely thing, in its nature and use; or an affection for it, which there is, where true faith in it is, for faith works by love: there may be a flashy affection for the truths of the Gospel, where there is no true faith in Christ, or the root of the matter is not, as in the stony ground hearers; and there may be an historical faith in the doctrines of the Gospel, where the power of them is denied, and there is no true hearty love for them; and in these persons there is neither faith nor love; the truths of the Gospel are neither believed by them, nor are they affected with them, that so, they might be saved; for where there is true faith in the Gospel of Christ, and in Christ the substance of it, there is salvation; the reason therefore of these men's perishing is not the decree of God, nor even want of the means of grace, the revelation of the Gospel, but their rejection and contempt of it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Because they received not the love of the truth…
Because they received not the love of the truth - Therefore God suffered them to fall into that "strong delusion."
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Verse 10. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness] With…
Verse 10. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness] With every art that cunning can invent and unrighteousness suggest, in order to delude and deceive.
In them that perish] Εν τοις απολλυμενοις· Among them that are destroyed; and they are destroyed and perish because they would not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. So they perish because they obstinately refuse to be saved, and receive a lie in preference to the truth. This has been true of all the Jews from the days of the apostle until now.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v11 2Th 2:11-12. For this cause God shall send them…
2Th 2:11-12. For this cause God shall send them — That is, shall judicially permit to come upon them; strong delusion — The strong working of error in their hearts. From this we learn that, as a punishment of their sins, God suffers wicked men to fall into greater sins; and as the sin of the persons described in this passage consisted in their not loving the truth, what could be more just or proper than to punish them, by suffering them to fall into the belief of the greatest errors and lies? Thus the heathen, mentioned Rom 1:24, were punished by God’s giving them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts; that they should believe a lie — Or, as the words εις το πιστευσαι αυτους τω ψευδει may be translated, so that they will believe a lie. The lie here intended by the Spirit of God, Macknight thinks, “is the monstrous lie of transubstantiation, or of the conversion of the bread and wine in the Lord’s supper into the real identical body and blood of Christ, through the will of the priest accompanying his pronouncing the words of institution; notwithstanding there is no change whatever produced in the accidents or sensible qualities of these substances. This impudent fiction is not only a palpable contradiction to the senses and reason of mankind, but a most pernicious falsehood, being the chief foundation of that fictitious power of pardoning sin, and of saving or damning men according to their own pleasure, which the Romish ecclesiastics have blasphemously arrogated to themselves, and by which they make men utterly negligent of holiness, and of all the ordinary duties of life.” That they all might be damned — Ινα κριθωσι, might be judged, or condemned; that is, the consequence of which will be, that, having filled up the measure of their iniquity, they will at length fall into just condemnation; who believed not the truth — Received not the gospel in faith, love, and obedience; but had pleasure in unrighteousness — In corrupt passions and vicious practices. The original expression, ευδοκησαντες signifies both to take pleasure in a thing, and to approve of it. “From this we learn that it is not the simple ignorance of truth which exposes men to damnation. In many cases this may be no fault in the ignorant. But it is men’s refusing to believe, through their taking pleasure in unrighteousness, which will prove fatal to them; for a disposition of that sort renders the wicked altogether incurable.” Such is the interpretation which Bishop Newton, in his admirable work on the Prophecies, Dr. Macknight, and many other approved commentators, have given of this famous prophecy; an interpretation which applies with great ease to all the facts and circumstances mentioned in it, and is perfectly consistent in all its parts, which no other interpretation invented by learned men can be shown to be. The passage is evidently a prediction, as the above-mentioned divines have fully proved, of the corruptions of Christianity, “which began to be introduced into the church in the apostle’s days, and wrought secretly all the time the heathen magistrates persecuted the Christians, but which showed themselves more openly after the empire received the faith of Christ, A.D. 312, and by a gradual progress ended in the monstrous errors and usurpations of the bishops of Rome, when the restraining power of the emperors was taken out of the way, by the incursions of the barbarous nations, and the breaking of the empire into the ten kingdoms prefigured by the ten horns of Daniel’s fourth beast.” To be convinced of this, the reader need only compare the rise and progress of the Papal tyranny with the descriptions of the man of sin, and of the mystery of iniquity here given, and with the prophecies of Daniel. In the bishops of Rome all the characters and actions ascribed by Daniel to the little horn, and by Paul to the lawless one, are clearly united. “For, according to the strong working of Satan, with all power and signs, and miracles of falsehood, they have opposed Christ, and exalted themselves above all that is called God, or an object of worship; and have long sat in the temple of God as God, showing themselves that they are God; that is, they exercise the power and prerogatives of God. And seeing, in the acquisition and exercise of their spiritual tyranny, they have trampled upon all laws, human and divine, and have encouraged their votaries in the most enormous acts of wickedness, the Spirit of God hath, with the greatest propriety, given them the appellations of the man of sin, the son of perdition, and the lawless one. Further, as it is said that the man of sin was to be revealed in his season, there can be little doubt that the dark ages, in which all learning was overturned by the irruption of the northern barbarians, were the season allotted to the man of sin for revealing himself. Accordingly we know that in these ages the corruptions of Christianity, and the usurpations of the clergy, were carried to the greatest height. In short, the annals of the world cannot produce persons and events, to which the things written in this passage can be applied with so much fitness, as to the bishops of Rome. Why then should we be in any doubt concerning the interpretation and application of this famous prophecy?” — Macknight.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv10–12 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness - There are…
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness - There are two ideas here. The first is, that there would be deceit; and the other is, that it would be for the purpose of promoting unrighteousness or iniquity. The iniquitous system would be maintained by fraudulent methods. No one who has read Pascal’s Provincial Letters can ever doubt that this description is applicable to the system of the Jesuits; and no one familiar with the acts of the papacy, as they have always been practiced, can doubt that the whole system is accurately described by this language. The plausible reasoning by which the advocates of that system have palliated and apologized for sins of various kinds, has been among its most remarkable features.
In them that perish - Among those who will perish; that is, among the abandoned and wicked. The reference is to men of corrupt minds and lives, over whom this system would have power; countenancing them in their depravity, and fitting them still farther for destruction. The idea is, that these acts would have special reference to men who would be lost at any rate, and who would be sustained in their wickedness by this false and delusive system.
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Because they received not the love of the truth - They prefer this system of error and delusion to the simple and pure gospel, by which they might have been saved.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv10, 12 God shall send them the operation of error.[9] That…
God shall send them the operation of error.[9] That is, says St. John Chrysostom and St. Cyril, he will permit them to be led away with illusions, by signs, and lying prodigies, which the devil shall work by antichrist, &c. (Witham) --- God shall suffer them to be deceived by lying wonders, and false miracles, in punishment of their not entertaining the love of truth. (Challoner) --- The end God proposes is the judgment and condemnation of such as reject the proffered light. This is the march of sin, according to St. Thomas Aquinas on this place. In the first place a man, in consequence of his first sin, is deprived of grace, he then falls into further sins, and ends with being eternally punished. Hence it happens that his new sins are a punishment of his former transgressions; because God will permit the devil to do these things. Deus mittet, quia Deus Diabolum facere ista permittet. (St. Augustine, lib. xx. de Civ. Dei. chap. 19.)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Mittet illis Deus operationem erroris, Greek: pempsei, &c. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Cat. 5. Greek: sunchorei ginesthai. See also St. John Chrysostom, Greek: log. d. p. 236.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv10–12 deceivableness--rather as Greek, "deceit of (to promote) unrighteousness" (Th2…
deceivableness--rather as Greek, "deceit of (to promote) unrighteousness" (Th2 2:12).
in--The oldest manuscripts and versions omit "in." Translate, "unto them that are perishing" (Co2 2:15-16; Co2 4:3): the victims of him whose very name describes his perishing nature, "the son of perdition"; in contrast to you whom (Th2 2:13) "God hath from the beginning chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth."
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because--literally, "in requital for"; in just retribution for their having no love for the truth which was within their reach (on account of its putting a check on their bad passions), and for their having "pleasure in unrighteousness" (Th2 2:12; Rom 1:18); they are lost because they loved not, but rejected, the truth which would have saved them.
received not--Greek, "welcomed not"; admitted it not cordially.
love of the truth--not merely love of truth, but love of THE truth (and of, Jesus who is the Truth, in opposition to Satan's "lie," Th2 2:9, Th2 2:11; Joh 8:42-44), can save (Eph 4:21). We are required not merely to assent to, but to love the truth (Psa 119:97). The Jews rejected Him who came in His divine Father's name; they will receive Antichrist coming in his own name (Joh 5:43). Their pleasant sin shall prove their terrible scourge.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv10–12 10. Deceivableness—Rather, deceivingness, actively taken; referring to the deceiving…
10. Deceivableness—Rather, deceivingness, actively taken; referring to the deceiving operations of the man of sin.
Of unrighteousness—The deceptiveness of his iniquity.
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In them that perish—The objects of the unrighteous deception; literally, towards or upon them who are the perishing: namely, those who receive, and become partisans of, the iniquity of antichrist. They are now sinking to perdition.
Because—Reason why they are the perishing; first, they loved not the truth; secondly, they consequently believed not the truth; thirdly, they incurred from God these strong delusions to the belief of the deception of the man of sin, that they might be (not damned) but judged.
Received not the love of the truth— Back of their disbelief of truth was their hatred of the truth. And this hatred was voluntary and not necessary, for they received not—they rejected the possible predisposition towards the truth. Back of all was a free responsible will. For these followers of antichrist had, or might have had, knowledge of the true Christ. They were in the Church, as he was seated in the Church, 2Th_2:4; and they were guilty of a falling away, 2Th_2:3, an apostasy.
That they might be saved—The result which would have followed their choosing the love of truth.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–12 10. and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them…
10. and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish] Both reading and rendering need to be amended; it is rather, and in all deceit of unrighteousness for the perishing—the opposite of “them that are being saved,” or “the subjects of salvation” (1Co_1:18; 2Co_2:15). They follow, alas, the guidance of “the son of perdition,” and share his ruin (2Th_2:3).
“Deceit of unrighteousness” is a phrase compounded similarly to “good pleasure of goodness,” ch. 2Th_1:11; it signifies such deceit as belongs to unrighteousness, that which it is wont to employ. These devices are “deceit for the perishing,” for men without the lie of God, whose spiritual perception is destroyed by sin and who therefore fall a prey to deceit. The children of God are not imposed upon by these means; they know how to “prove all things” (1Th_5:21). Read carefully 1Jn_4:1-6, and compare with this context.
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because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved] Placing himself amid the scenes of the triumph of Antichrist and viewing the sad fate of his victims, St Paul explains their ruin. They had no “love of the truth.” This sentiment they never “entertained.” And so—in compensation for this—they believe wicked lies, to their undoing: in return for their refusal to entertain the love of the truth. On receive, see note to 1Th_2:13 (second “received”); there is implied a want of heart to receive.
It is not “the truth” simply, but “the love of the truth” that these unhappy men repudiate. Their unbelief is not of the reason so much as of the heart. Those of whom the Apostle speaks resist “the truth” with an instinctive, invincible prejudice; for they have no desire to “be saved” from the sins it condemns. Christ found in this moral prepossession the reason why so many rejected His word. “Every one that doeth evil,” He said, “hateth the light” (Joh_3:20; comp. Joh_10:26; &c.). So St Paul writes in 2Co_4:3-4, “Our gospel is a veiled thing amongst them that perish. The god of this world has blinded their minds … that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ may not shine upon them.” It is a just, but mournful result, that rejecters of Christ’s miracles become believers in Satan’s, and that atheism should be avenged by superstition. So it has been, and will be.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–12 (10) And with all deceivableness.—“Deceivableness” does not mean “readiness…
(10) And with all deceivableness.—“Deceivableness” does not mean “readiness to be deceived,” but, according to old English usage, has an active meaning; the words include and expand the list just given “in all sham power and signs and wonders, and, in fact, in every iniquitous fraud.”
In them that perish.—Rather, for them. These are not the persons who exercise the fraud, but the objects of it. The word depends not only on “deceivableness,” but on the whole sentence:” his coming (for them) is,” &c. St. Paul adds the words as a consolation to “them that are saved”: it will not be possible to seduce the elect (Mar_13:22). “They that perish” (1Co_1:18; 2Co_2:15; 2Co_4:3; comp. also Act_2:47) is a phrase which contains no reference whatever to the doctrine of predestination, but merely describes the class; the men who let themselves be thus duped are, as a plain matter of fact, in course of perishing.
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Because.—Here does come in the question of God’s decree. The phrase rendered “because” means “in requital of the fact that,” which at once implies that their being duped by Antichrist’s coming is a judicial visitation. (See next verse.) “They did not receive,” i.e., it was offered them, and they refused it; not, as Calvinism would teach, because it was not given them. The grace of love of the truth is offered us along with every new presentment of truth; if we are too indolent to examine whether it be truth, we are rejecting the love of the truth. This is a worse thing than not accepting the truth itself: if they had only aspired to know what was the truth they would have been saved, even if, in fact, they had been in error.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv10–12 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness; or rather, with…
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness; or rather, with all deceit of unrighteousness (R.V); either with all deceit leading to unrighteousness or with all deceit which is unrighteousness. The man of sin works by deceit and falsehood; and by means of imposture and wonders and high pretensions he will succeed in imposing on the world. The energetic power of the man of sin is, however, by no means irresistible; only they who perish will succumb to it. In them. In the best manuscripts the preposition "in" is wanting; therefore the words are to be translated for them or to them. That perish (comp.; (2Co_2:15) because they received not the love of the truth. Not only did they not receive the truth when it was offered them, but, what was worse, they were destitute even of a love of the truth. By the truth here is meant, not Christ himself, as some expositors think, but primarily the Christian truth, and secondarily the truth generally. There was in them a want of susceptibility for the truth, and thus not only were they prevented embracing the gospel, but they were led astray by numerous errors and delusions. That they might be saved. The result which naturally would arise from the reception of the truth.
Vers. 10-12.
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The love of the truth.
The reason for the doom of those who are to be destroyed at the second coming of Christ here given, is that they do not receive the love of the truth.
I GOD EXPECTS US TO RECEIVE THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH.
1. Truth is good in itself. Truth is to the soul what light is to the body. It is natural for men to love the day, unnatural for them to shun it. In a right and healthy state we should love truth simply as truth, whatever else it be.
2. Christian truth is peculiarly attractive. Scientific truth is beautiful, philosophic truth is valuable; but the truth of the gospel has far deeper attractions, because it contains revelation of the love and fatherhood of God, of the grace and goodness of Christ, of the redemption of the world, of the way of salvation, of the heavenly rest, etc.
3. Truth should be welcomed with love. We cannot accept it to any advantage until we love it; for
(1) love opens our eyes to a sympathetic understanding of it, and
(2) love saves us from a cold, barren acceptance of it, and helps us to receive it profitably.
II IT IS AN EVIL HEART THAT PREVENTS MEN FROM RECEIVING THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH. St. Paul traces back the bad condition of those who reject the love of the truth to the fact that they "had pleasure in unrighteousness." The pleasures of sin cannot exist side by side with the love of the truth. Evil hates the light. (Joh_3:19) Moralcorruption has no sympathy for the lofty thirst for truth of a pure soul. Hence it may be concluded that indifference to truth is a sign of moral evil. The corrupt life is a false life, and its departure from truth reveals the baseness of the character beneath. This is why the rejection of the truth is culpable. Intellectual doubt is of quite a different character. Indeed, it often arises from genuine love of truth, while self-satisfied orthodoxy is often quite indifferent to verifiable facts, preferring respectable error to painful truth.
III THE PENALTY OF REJECTING THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH IS INCAPACITY TO KNOW TRUTH FROM ERROR. God punishes men in this condition by sending "them a working of error, that they should believe a lie." This is an awful fate. Truth is too precious a pearl to be cast before swine. They who do not love it shall not have it. Liars become incapable of knowing truth. The habit of indifference to truth so grows upon some people that the whole idea of truth becomes obscure and meaningless to them, and they ask with Pilate, half bewildered, half scornful, "What is truth?" Is not this a veritable destruction the spiritual eye blinded and burnt out by the fires of falsehood and unrighteousness; the highest intellectual faculty, that of grasping truth, killed by corruption and falsehood? God save us all from this hideous doom! W.F. A,
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv11–12 And for this cause God shall send them a…
2Th_2:11-12
And for this cause God shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie
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Judicial infatuation
follows upon wilful perversity and obstinate unbelief.
God sends, not shall send (Authorised Version), still less permits to be sent. It has the full force of the vivid prophetic present, a working of error, i.e., a working in them which issues in the increasing destructive power of error; the hardening of Pharaohs heart is the parallel which suggests itself. It lies in the nature of Gods moral government and in the moral constitution of man, that sin, indulged, weakens the strength of resistance, and so invites and prepares the way for the more frequent and violent assaults of temptation. Thus yielding to sin receives at last its punishment in the slavery of sin. The working of error has its aim in this that they should believe the lie, as opposed to the truth just indicated. Man must believe something--if not the truth, with all the blessings which its reception brings, then the lie of the devil with the doom pronounced upon it. Unlike the Thessalonian believers who had every desire of goodness, who had their pleasure in goodness, and their desires ever reaching forth towards its increase (2Th_1:11), these unbelievers have their pleasure in evil. They have said to it, evil be thou my good. Hence with the son of perdition, whose adherents they are, their end is destruction. (J. Hutchison, D. D.)
Ill-disposed affections naturally and penally the cause of darkness and error
Of all the fatal effects of sin none is so dreadful as that every sin disposes for another and a worse. By gradations sin arrives at maturity; it is the only perpetual motion, and needs nothing but a beginning to keep it going.
I. How the mind of man can believe a lie. There is such a suitableness between truth and the understanding that the latter of itself can no more believe a lie than a correct taste can pronounce bitter to sweet. If a lie is believed it can be only as it carries the appearance of truth. Before there can be an appearance there must be an object and a faculty, and from one of these must spring all falsehood. But the object cannot cause a false appearance of itself, and therefore the difference must rest in the perception. Objects are merely passive. Truth shows itself to be truth, and falsehood falsehood, whether men apprehend them so or no. What, then, are the causes on the believers part which make any object to appear what it is not.
1. An undue distance between the faculty and its object. Approximation is necessary to perception. Distance in space hinders corporeal perception; moral distance hinders spiritual perception of God and His worship.
2. The indisposition of the intellectual faculty which follows from sin. Where the soul has deviated from the eternal rules of right, reason, and morality, it is in darkness, and while in darkness it must necessarily pass false judgments upon most things that come before it. The understanding, like some bodily eyes, is disabled from exact discernment, both by natural weakness and supervening soreness.
II. What is it to receive the love of the truth.
1. To esteem and value it. Truth must first be enthroned in the judgment before it can reign in the desires.
2. To choose it as a thing transcendently good. To esteem is an act of the understanding; to choose of the will. This is the proper and finishing act of love. The great effect of love is to unite us to the thing we love, and the will is the uniting faculty, and choice the uniting act. Till we have made religion our fixed choice it only floats in the imagination; but it is the heart which must appropriate the great truths of Christianity. Then what was before only an opinion passes into reality and experience.
3. This will help us to understand what is rejecting the truth. Not because men think it false, but because it crosses their inclination. The thief hates the day; not but that he loves the light as well as other men, but he dreads that which he knows is the likeliest means of his discovery. The great condemnation that rests upon the world is that men see the light but love darkness, because their deeds are evil.
III. How the not receiving the truth into the will and affections disposes the understanding to delusion.
1. By drawing off the understanding from fixing its contemplation upon an offensive truth. For though it is not in the power of the will when the understanding apprehends a truth to countermand its assent, yet it is able to hinder it from taking that truth into full consideration. If a man has affections averse to the purity of the truth they will not suffer his thoughts to dwell upon it, but will divert them to some object that he is more enamoured with; and so the mind lies open to the treacherous inroads of imposture.
2. By prejudicing the understanding against the truth--the understanding in that case being like the eye which views a white thing through a red glass. This was how the Jews rejected the Saviour. They saw His miracles and heard His words through the medium of, Is not this the carpenter? Can any good come out of Nazareth?
3. By darkening the mind, which is the peculiar malignity of every vice. When wise men become vicious their wisdom leaves them. The ferment of a vicious inclination lodged in the affections is like an intoxicating liquor received into the stomach, from whence it will be continually sending thick clouds and noisome steams up to the brain.
IV. How God can be properly said to send men delusions. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all; and what is not in Him cannot proceed from Him. But God may be said to send delusions.
1. By withdrawing His enlightening influence from the understanding. The soul is not otherwise able to exert its intellectual acts than by a light flowing in upon it from the fountain of light. How reasonable, then, that God, provoked by gross sins, should deliver the soul to infatuation by a suspension of this light.
2. By commissioning the spirit of falsehood to seduce the sinner (1Ki_22:22; 2Co_4:4). How dreadfully did God consign over the heathen world to a perpetual slavery to His deceits! And the truth is where men under the gospel will grow heathens in practice, it is but just with God to suffer them to grow heathens in their delusions.
3. By a providential disposing of men into such circumstances as have an efficacy to delude. He may place them under an heterodox ministry or in atheistical company, throw pestilent books in their way, all which, falling in with an ill-inclined judgment, and worse ordered morals, will recommend the worst of errors. And, therefore, as we find it expressed of him who kills a man unwittingly, that God delivers that man into his hands (Exo_21:13), so when a man, by such ways as these, is drawn into false belief, it may be affirmed that God sends that man a delusion (2Sa_17:11-12; 2Sa_17:14; Eze_14:9).
4. By His permission of lying wonders. Thus when Pharoah hardened his heart against the will of God, God permitted him to be confirmed in his delusion by the enchantments of the magicians. And so with the lying wonders of the Church of Rome, which confirm the legends imposed for truth upon her deluded members.
V. Wherein the greatness of this judgment consists.
1. In itself.
(1) That it is spiritual, and so directly affects the soul. The judgments affecting the body are insignificant in comparison.
(2) It blasts the peculiar perfection of mans nature, his understanding; for ignorance and delusion are the disease of the mind, and the utmost dishonour of reason; there being no sort of reproach which a man resents with so just an indignation as the charge of folly. If slavery be that which all noble spirits abhor, and to lose the choicest of natures freeholds, the reason, be the worst of slaveries, surely the most inglorious condition that can befall a rational creature is to be governed by a delusion (Joh_8:32). And, besides this, it has a peculiar malignity to bind the shackles faster on it by a strange unaccountable love, for no man entertains an error but he is enamoured of it.
2. In its effects.
(1) It renders the conscience useless. A blind watchman is a nuisance and an impertinence, and a deluded conscience is a counsellor who cannot advise, and a guide who cannot direct (Mat_6:23).
(2) It ends in total destruction. Every error is in its tendency destructive. Hell is a deep place, and there are many steps of descent to it; but as surely as the first gloom of evening tends to and ends in the thickest darkness, so every delusion persisted in will lodge the sinner in the blackest regions of damnation.
VI. What deductions may be made from the whole.
1. That since the belief of a lie is a sin it is not inconsistent with Divine holiness to punish one sin with another (Rom_1:24; Rom_1:26), and no punishment is comparable to this.
2. That the best way to confirm our faith in the truths of religion is to love and acknowledge them.
3. That hereby we may be able to find out the true cause of--
(1) Atheism.
(2) Fanaticism. (R. South, D. D.)
God and error
Sceptics never tire in quoting this text, to prove, if they can, that God sends delusions to deceive mankind, and that men are doomed to everlasting perdition for what they could not avoid, simply because the Almighty so willed it. But the infidels interpretation of the passage has been read into it by himself. Its real teaching is eternally true. There are four points in it to be considered by us.
I. The class of men referred to.
1. They believed not the truth. There is a rejection of the truth which arises from ignorance, and some excuse is to be made for it. But there is also a wilful rejection of the truth. Men close there eyes to the light, and grope in the darkness by their own free choice. Reason is made blind to give eyes to prejudice and passion, and excuses are invented, not so much to justify their conduct to others, as to salve their own consciences. In this way they smother the truth, until they come thoroughly to reject it.
2. They had pleasure in unrighteousness; or, better rendered, were well pleased in the unrighteousness. They not only practised unrighteous acts, but they took pleasure in doing them. Regardless of the law of God, which is the standard of righteousness and the basis of morality, they revelled in sinful delights.
II. The delusion to which they were subject. The Greek term translated delusion is literally the inworking of error. The expression is a very important one, and shows the source and mode of operation of the error. The whole thing is internal, and is opposed to the inworking of the Holy Spirit. Men pursue an evil course until they come to believe it to be right. Look at that fine boy who is just leaving his home for the workshop or the college. He has been brought up in a pure family, surrounded by all that is good and pious. But the first day in his new surroundings words fall on his ears which horrify him; these, or similar, he will hear again and again, until they cease to affect him. Then, and at a later stage, he will himself indulge in coarseness and profanity with the rest, and perhaps become the very blackest of all that black company. The inworking of sin and error will destroy conscience, and that most fearful of all states be reached in which no remorse be experienced, but rather pride in sin. Man very largely moulds his own character, and with it his beliefs; and very often, alas if he comes to believe a lie, and his doing so is entirely his own fault.
III. This delusion, or inworking of error, is sent by God. Does error, then, come from God? No; but He abandons men to it when they have wilfully and persistently broken the law of righteousness, just as they fall into disease of body when a natural law has been violated.
IV. The purpose of the inworking of error. That they might be damned. This seems a most terrible doctrine, and hundreds have cavilled at it to the danger of their own souls. Condemned is certainly a milder word, but with very much the same meaning. - He that believeth not is condemned already. But the original word is better rendered in the Revised Version--judged. The Judge of all the earth will do right; but that very right may involve most fearful consequences. If the inworking of error goes on till the judgment comes, it will be an awful calamity to that man in whom it occurs. When the Divine judgment is passed there can be no dissentient voice, no sympathizers with the condemned, and even the heart of the criminal himself will bear testimony to the righteousness of the sentence. (G. Sexton, LL. D.)
Gods logic of sin
1. Every one who takes pleasure in unrighteousness is under a strong delusion.
2. Every one who is under a strong delusion believes a lie.
3. Every one who believes a lie has rejected the truth.
4. Every one who rejects the truth will be judged by God.
5. Every one who shall be judged by God shall be damned.
6. Therefore every one who receives the truth as it is in Jesus shall be saved (2Th_2:13). (J. T. Wightman.)
The infatuation of the followers of Antichrist
I. The author. God is not and cannot be the cause of evil. The avenger of sin cannot be the author of it. With sin as sin God has nothing to do, but with sin as a punishment of sin God has to do.
1. To understand this concurrence we must not say--
(1) Too much, lest we leave a stain on the Divine glory. He infuses no sin, and conveys no deceit; these belong not to God but to man or Satan.
(2) Nor too little as that Gods judgments of blindness of mind (Joh_12:39-40), and hardness of heart (Exo_4:21), are simply said to be so because foreseen, or inevitable, or barely permitted. Besides all this there is a judicial sentence which is seconded by an active providence.
2. Gods concurrence may be thus stated.
(1) His withdrawal of the light and direction of His Spirit (Deu_29:4). A greyhound held in by a slip runneth violently after the hare when it is in sight; as soon as the slip is taken away the restraint is gone, and his unbred disposition carries him. So men that are greedy of worldly things are powerfully drawn into errors countenanced by the world, when God takes off the restraint of His grace. In this God is not to be blamed. Voluntary blindness brings penal blindness; and because men will not see they shall not.
(2) His delivering them up to the power of Satan (2Co_4:4) as the executioner of His curse (1Ch_21:1, cf. 2Sa_24:1). Temptations come from the devil, but they are governed by God for holy ends (1Ki_22:22).
(3) His raising up such instruments and objects as meeting with a naughty heart do blind it.
(a) Instruments (Job_12:16; Eze_14:9). For mans ingratitude God raises up false prophets to seduce them that delight in lies rather than in the truths of God.
(b) Objects (Jer_6:21). If we will find the sin, God will find the occasion. If Judas will sell his Master, he shall not want chapmen to bargain with him.
II. The degree or kind of punishment. Strong delusion, the prevalency of which is seen in--
1. The absurdity of the errors.
(1) Adoration of images (Psa_115:8; Isa_44:9-20).
(2) The invocation of saints, a thing against reason, because they are out of the reach of our commerce, and against Scripture which always directs us to God by one Mediator, Christ.
(3) Works of supererogation (Luk_17:10).
2. The obstinacy wherewith they cleave to them. In spite of Scripture, reason, and evidence of truth, they still cry the opinion of the Church and their forefathers; like the Jews, who denied the clearest matter of fact (Joh_8:33; Jer_44:16-19).
3. The efficacy of the causes.
(1) The withholding of Scripture.
(2) Gain and ambition (Act_16:19-21; Act_16:25).
(3) Pride and prejudice which will not disavow a welcome error or acknowledge an unwelcome truth.
III. The effect. The belief of a lie.
1. The object: a lie, that is either--
(1) False doctrines (1Ti_4:2).
(2) False miracles in their legends.
(3) False calumnies against Protestants.
2. The act: given up to believe a lie. Some are doubtful, some almost persuaded, some espouse the common prevailing opinions, some adhere to them with much false zeal and superstition.
IV. The uses.
1. Information.
(1) To show us the reason why so many learned men are captivated by Antichrist--the delusions of Satan. Four causes may be given.
(a) Self-confidence. God will show the folly of those who depend on the strength of their own wit (Pro_3:5-6; 1Co_1:19).
(b) Prejudice. The priests and scribes could readily tell that Christ was to be born in Bethlehem (Mat_2:4-6), yet who more obstinate against Him who was born there?
(c) Pride. Many Jews believed on Christ, but would not profess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue (Joh_12:42-43).
(d) The judgment of God. (Luk_19:41-42).
(2) To show us that the prevalency of this wicked one is no blemish to providence; for permission of Him is one of Gods dreadful dispensations. Hereby God would show us--
(a) That there are deceits and errors as well as truth in the world, much of choice, not chance.
(b) That although it is a great evil to be deceivers, it will not excuse us if we are deceived (Mat_15:14).
(c) What need there is to pray not to be led into temptation.
(d) To fear to slight the grace offered (Deu_28:28).
2. Of caution to take heed of spiritual infatuation that this judgment fall not on us. Take heed--
(1) Of sinning against the light (Jam_4:17).
(2) Of hypocrisy in the profession of the truth (Pro_26:26).
(3) Of pride and carnal self-sufficiency (2Ch_32:31).
(4) Of following the rabble (Joh_4:20; Pro_24:13-14). (T. Manton, D. D.)
Choice influences belief
This believing a lie does not necessarily denote intellectual, or what are called speculative errors, but perhaps refers more particularly to moral questions. And yet intellectual belief is not to be excluded. The inworking of error is potent here also. Much nonsense is talked in these days about irresponsibility for opinions. A man always believes according to evidence, it is said. So he may, and yet it may be his own fault that more evidence was not obtained. In one of the numerous debates that I have held with leading sceptics, my opponent said that God could not be just if He punished him for his opinions, because he had used every means in his power to arrive at the truth. Then said I, You are the first man in this world who ever did. I am sure no man can say before God that he has let no opportunity go by for learning the truth; that he has left no available evidence unexamined; that he has allowed no chance to escape him which might have been used to profit. Belief is largely influenced by the will. Dont let us forget that. Man very largely moulds his own character, and with it his beliefs. Every man has a free will, and by his voluntary choice he makes habits which become permanent. These constitute his character. In the end he comes to believe a lie, and his doing so is entirely his own fault. (G. Sexton.)
Natural law in the spiritual world
God shall send, or more correctly rendered, God sendeth--that is, He is ever sending. Spiritual laws are as certain in their operation as those which regulate material things. Indeed, material things and the laws of matter are but symbols of the deeper and more abiding spiritual realities. Does error come from God? No, but He abandons men to it when they have wilfully and persistently broken the law of righteousness, just as they fall into disease of body when a natural law has been violated. There is no help for this. It is in accordance with the eternal truth and righteousness of God. Why do our bodies suffer, if we commit acts of excess? Not because God wills that we should so suffer, but because the suffering is a necessary consequence of the violation of His laws. It is His means of directing us aright, and, if we fail to obey Him, the consequences must fall upon our own heads. The laws of nature are inexorable, and cannot be broken with impunity. Let a man ruin his constitution by dissipation, and, although God may forgive him for the sin, he will carry his diseased and enfeebled body to a premature grave. The pardon does not undo the consequences of the wrongdoing. The inworking of error necessarily carries with it its own penalty--a penalty stamped on it by God. Thus God does not directly send the delusion, but the inworking of error is as much one of His laws as gravitation. A man may close his eyes to the natural light, or live for years in darkness, and the result in the end will be blindness. Does God send the blindness? Directly, no. Indirectly, yes; for it is the violation of His law that caused it. So if we close our eyes to the spiritual light, we shall become spiritually blind, and live in darkness, mistaking the spiritual things that surround us; in other words, we shall be deluded. God sends this delusion, that is, it follows the evil course of doing what He has prohibited, and not doing what He has commanded. (G. Sexton.)
Punishment according to law
I have a clock, as very many have, which was made to meet certain exigencies of the future. It has a calendar which points out the day of the month, the hand moving one figure each day. If the month has 31 days, it moves from that to the 1 for the next month; but if the month has but 30 days, the hand jumps over the 31, and on February it moves from 28 over the 29, 30, and 31 to the 1 of March. But once in four years it stops at February 29, and then moves over two figures to the 1. Now, we do not have to run to the maker when these changes are needed, and ask him to come and move the hands. He knew the exigences would arise, and arranged for doing the work at the time he made the machinery. So the Lord has arranged His laws of the earth in such a way that they punish certain sins. The punishment is from the Lord, but He need work no miracle to bring it. Men defy the laws of health and cleanliness, and a pestilence breaks out, or contagious diseases rage. Men oppress their workmen, or kings rule with hard and selfish power, and rebellions and insurrections break out, and the oppressors lose far more than they seemed to gain. (H. W. Beecher.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv10–12 10. Deceivableness of unrighteousness. Unrighteous delusions which will be…
10. Deceivableness of unrighteousness. Unrighteous delusions which will be accepted by its votaries, them that perish. Those that perish, receive not the love of the truth. They have a disinclination to receive it.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv10–12 and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that…
and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved . [Antichrist comes with lies, to those who love not the truth as to right and wrong, etc., that they may be saved by it; but sentence themselves to perish by preferring that deception leading to unrighteousness--which makes unrighteousness appear the better course.]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v10 (See Scofield "Rom 1:16").
saved
(See Scofield "Rom 1:16").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v11 For this reason
For this reason
"Because the people do not love the truth"
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God is sending them a work of error so that they would believe a lie
Paul is speaking of God allowing something to happen to people as if he is sending them something. AT: "God is allowing the man of lawlessness to deceive them" (See: Metaphor)
they will all be judged
This can be stated in active form. AT: "God will judge all of them" (See: Active or Passive)
those who did not believe the truth but instead took pleasure in unrighteousness
"those who took pleasure in unrighteousness because they did not believe the truth"
translationWords
God
believe
judge
true
righteous
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11–12 2:11 As seen elsewhere in Scripture (Exod 9:12; 2…
2:11 As seen elsewhere in Scripture (Exod 9:12; 2 Chr 18:22), God sometimes hands people over to the power of the sin or deception they have desired in place of the truth (Rom 1:24, 26, 28; 11:8).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.