2 Thessalonians 2:6-7-The Identity of the Restrainer and the Timing of the Rapture in Relation to the Seventieth Week of Daniel

2 Thessalonians 2:1 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? 6 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is,the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. (NASB95)

Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:6 reminds the Thessalonian Christian community that each of them possess an accurate comprehensive knowledge of that which is preventing the eschatological day of the Lord from taking place.

That which is preventing the eschatological day of the Lord from taking place is the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit manifesting itself through church age believers who are obedient to His teaching in the Word of God.

Paul then asserts that the purpose of this manifestation of the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit through the church is so that the Antichrist himself will be revealed during his own distinct period of time.

The implication being that if the omnipotence of the Spirit was not performing this function through the church, then the Antichrist would be manifested to the world.

Paul’s statement in 2 Thessalonians 2:6 presents the logical result of his teaching in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 with 2 Thessalonians 2:5 functioning as a parenthetical remark about this teaching.

Therefore, this would indicate that the day of the Lord is not taking place when the Antichrist will be revealed through his rebellion against God as a result of the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit manifesting itself in the lives of individual church age believers, whom He indwells, obeying His teaching in the Word of God.

The verb katechō, “what restrains” pertains to preventing someone from doing something by restraining or hindering.

There is also a tremendous amount of conjecture regarding the referent of this word.

Charles Powell writes “There are many views on the identity of τὸ κατέχον and ὁ κατέχων. Several of these views do not necessarily involve a supernatural force. These include the Jewish state and James, Paul and the preaching of the gospel, the Roman Empire, and human government. Other views may be grouped as hostile supernatural views, which include Satan, a hostile false prophet, a general hostile force in the form of the mystery of lawlessness and human government, and the preincarnate state of the man of lawlessness. In several views ὁ κατέχων is seen as a benevolent supernatural figure rather than a hostile one. Usually an angel, such as Michael, or another type of heavenly being, such as Elijah, or a mythological being, is suggested. The most common supernatural figure suggested, though, is God Himself. The view adopted here is a variation of this last view.”[1]

I believe that the referent of the neuter singular form of this verb katechōis the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, who indwells every church age believer, working through the individual members of the church who are in fellowship with Him through obedience to His teaching in the Word of God.

This interpretation is indicated by several factors.

First, only the omnipotence of God can restrain evil and the manifestation of the Antichrist by Satan.

Secondly, the neuter gender of the participle conjugation of this verb katechō conforms to the gender of the pneuma (πνεῦμα), “Spirit.”

In 2 Thessalonians 2:7, Paul switches from the neuter of this verb to the masculine (ὁ κατέχων), “he who restrains,” which conforms to the personality of the Holy Spirit by ad sensum agreement.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:6, the neuter gender emphasizes the manifestation of the omnipotence of the Spirit through the church while the masculine gender in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 emphasizes the personality of the Holy Spirit.

Thirdly, the gospel is the power of God for salvation and the Spirit speaks to the unregenerate regarding the Father’s will for them to trust in His one and only Son Jesus Christ as Savior in order to be reconciled to Him, who is holy (cf. Rom. 1:16-17).

The fourth reason for this interpretation is that 1 Corinthians 1:18 says that the word of the cross is the power of God and Hebrews 4:12 asserts that the word of God is alive and powerful and Ephesians 6:17 asserts that the word of God is the sword of the Spirit.

Matthew 4:1-11 reveals that Satan is defeated by the application of the word of God, which appropriates the omnipotence of the Spirit.

Thus, the sword of the Spirit was employed by the Lord Jesus to defeat Satan.

The fifth reason is that John 14:17, Romans 8:11, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19 and 1 John 2:20 and 27 teach that the Holy Spirit indwells each church age believer.

The sixth reason is that the removal of the ho katechōn (ὁ κατέχων), “the one who holds back,” which is mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 results in the manifestation of the Antichrist.

The seventh reason is that the rapture will result in the removal of the Holy Spirit manifesting His omnipotence through church age believers because it will remove the church from the earth which again is indwelt by the Spirit.

This seventh reason is supported by the fact that in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 Paul taught the Thessalonians that they were delivered from the wrath to come and in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 he develops this doctrine addressing in this passage the Thessalonians relationship to the eschatological day of the Lord.

He asserts in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 that the Thessalonians were not destined for wrath but rather God appointed them to experience the acquisition of salvation as a permanent possession through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Also, supporting my seventh reason is that the rapture is mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:1.

In fact, a comparison of 2 Thessalonians 2:1 with 2:2 reveals that that Paul, Silvanus and Timothy were concerned that each member of the Thessalonian Christian community would understand completely the relationship between the rapture, i.e. resurrection of the church and the eschatological day of the Lord.

The fact that the church, which is indwelt by the Spirit, is removed along with the Spirit at the rapture would serve as a comfort that the Thessalonians would not experience the eschatological day of the Lord.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 reveals that in relation to the rapture or resurrection of the church, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy were politely requesting that the Thessalonians would not be easily shaken from their composure or alarmed by a spirit or by a message or by a letter allegedly from them, which taught that the day of the Lord was taking place in their day and age.

This request in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 reveals that some or all in the Thessalonian Christian community were shaken from their composure and in a state of being alarmed by being exposed to this false doctrine that the day of the Lord was taking place in their day and age.

This is further supported by Paul’s statements in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-5.

Therefore, the verb katechō, “what restrains” here in 2 Thessalonians 2:6 is expressing the idea that the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit manifesting itself through church age believers, who obey His teaching in the Word of God, is preventing the eschatological day of the Lord from taking place.

This interpretation is indicated by the fact that the word is used in relation to Paul explaining to the Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 what must take place first before the eschatological day of the Lord can take place.

Namely, when the Antichrist is manifesting to the world His rebellion against God during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week of Daniel.

Thus, the implication of Paul’s statements in 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 is that the Thessalonian Christian community will by no means be living on planet earth during the seventieth week of Daniel because they will have already been removed with the Spirit at the rapture or resurrection of the church.

When Paul asserts in these verses that the Spirit will cause Himself to depart planet earth so that the mystery of lawlessness can be revealed to the world and thus the Antichrist’s rebellion against God can be revealed, he is not teaching that the Spirit will no longer be on earth.

But rather, he is teaching that He won’t be localized in a group of people as He is during the church age.

We must remember that He remains omnipresent even though He will no longer be localized in a group of believers as He is today in regard to the church.

In relation to the unregenerate, the Spirit will assume the same ministry He had before Pentecost and during the church age, namely, He will convict or convince them of sin, righteousness and the defeat of Satan by Jesus at the cross (cf. John 16:7-11).

Many Gentiles and Jews will be saved and benefit from the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

They will be regenerated by the Spirit during the seventieth week of Daniel and Second Advent of Jesus Christ, which the Spirit performed as well on behalf of church age believers at their justification.

The Spirit will give insight to the believers at that time in relation to understanding the Word of God (cf. 1 Cor. 2:1-16) just as He did for church age believers.

[1] Powell, C. E. (1997). The Identity of the “Restrainer” in 2 Thessalonians 2:6–7. Bibliotheca Sacra, 154, 328–329.