What is Restraining the Lawless One in II Thessalonians 2?
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. (II Thessalonians 2:1-8 ESV)
I have to share a little story about those verses. Once my church was doing a Bible study on II Thessalonians. We came to these verses, and I asked if anyone knew what it means that “what is restraining him” will be taken out of the way. I turned out that five people in the study had five different Bibles that included interpretive notes. Each person read those notes out loud. Guess what? No two notes were the same. There were five different interpretations! My main conclusion for the Bible study group was simply this: These verses are prophecy, and we will not completely understand them until we or Christians in the future see them being fulfilled.
Having said that, I am going to risk taking a chance by sharing what I understand about those verses, especially verses 6 and 7. I admit I may be wrong, just as at least four out of those five footnotes will prove to be mistaken, but this is an essay. Essay literally means “attempt.”
The English translation in the second part of verse 7 above says, “Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.” This is not a bad translation but there is one problem. There is no subject of the sentence or clause in the original Greek. It is a participial phrase.
New Testament Greek frequently uses participial phrases where in English we would use clauses or sentences. Usually, then, Bible translators do turn the phrase into a clause or a sentence. The problem with doing that here is that there is no subject. We cannot say for sure that the subject is he. It could be it. (Technically in English, it could even be she.) Instead of a who restraining lawlessness, it could be a what. Indeed, this particular translation actually notes that in the previous clause when it says “what is restraining him” (emphasis added).
There is a principle in Bible interpretation which says, let Scripture interpret Scripture. Is there some place in the Scripture, especially in the writings of Paul, that tell us who or what restrains lawlessness?
Yes, not surprisingly, there is.
The Greek verb translated “restrain” in the above verses is katecho (κατεχο). There is another verse which describes something that restrains people:
But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.(Romans 7:6 ESV)
In this translation the verb translated here “held captive” is the same verb, katecho. What is it that holds unbelievers captive or restrains them? The law. And in the context here we understand that all people recognize some kind of law that they adhere to. This is written about Gentiles as well as Jews.
As I write this in 2025, Americans can understand what happens when the law no longer restrains people. A few years ago the state of California passed a law making shoplifting items totaling under $950 a misdemeanor rather than a felony. And then there were certain district attorneys that said they would not bother prosecuting most misdemeanors. What happened? The law there no longer restrained shoplifters! They could enter a store and steal less than $950 worth of goods, and nothing would happen to them!
The purpose of this illustration is simply to give an example, not to get into a political discussion. No matter what country you live in, you can probably come up with examples of lawlessness, where the law no longer restrains certain behaviors. In the case of California, some stores closed because they were losing too much money due to shoplifting. Others put things that used to be self-service behind some kind of locked barrier. The law no longer restrained shoplifters, so shopkeepers either closed or put in some other kind of restraint.
What does this tell us about II Thessalonians 2? Paul said in Romans 7:6 that the law restrains people from misbehaving. They know there are consequences. Remove the law, remove the consequences, and lawlessness is revealed.
This makes sense in the context of II Thessalonians 2:1-9 quoted at the beginning of this essay. Three times the term lawlessness or lawless one is used (verses 3, 7, and 8). That does seem to be the focus here. The Greek has the same root in all three, anomia (ανομια, “without law”). What then, restrains lawlessness? The law. It is that simple. What will the lawless one do? Whoever he is, he will act according to his nature and remove or ignore laws. Isn’t that what lawless ones do?
This still leaves some questions about these prophetic verses that will remain hidden until the lawless one is revealed (verse 3), but this interpretation makes sense both in the context and in what other Scriptures say.
Pray about it. Consider its significance not only in prophecy, but in our own lives. Are there lawless things that we need to repent of? May none of us get caught up in the lawlessness of the last days.