2 Thessalonians 2:3-4

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4

[3] no  man  deceive  by  any  means:  for  there come  a falling away  first,  and  that man  be revealed,  the son  of perdition;  [4] Who  opposeth  and  exalteth  himself above  all  that is called  God,  or  that is worshipped;  so  that he  God  sitteth  in  the temple  of God,  shewing  himself  that  God. 

What does 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Paul explained that three events had to take place before the judgments of the day of the Lord began (i.e, the judgments of the Tribulation). These were the apostasy ( 2 Thessalonians 2:3), the unveiling of the man of lawlessness ( 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; 2 Thessalonians 2:8), and the removal of the restraint of lawlessness ( 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7). The apostle presented these in logical rather than chronological order in this passage. The word "first" refers to the fact that the apostasy will occur at the very beginning of the day of the Lord, and before the revelation of the man of sin. [1]
One major event is the "apostasy" ( 2 Thessalonians 2:3, lit. the falling away). The English word "apostasy" is a transliteration of the Greek word apostasia. By definition an apostasy is a departure, an abandoning of a position formerly held (cf. Joshua 22:22 LXX Acts 21:21).
"In classical Greek the word apostasia denoted a political or military rebellion; but in the Greek Old Testament we find it used of rebellion against God (e.g. Jos. xxii22), and this becomes the accepted Biblical usage. Paul"s thought is that in the last times there will be an outstanding manifestation of the powers of evil arrayed against God." [2]
It seems that Paul referred here to the departure from the Christian faith of professing (not genuine) Christians soon after the Rapture, at the beginning of the day of the Lord. This was not the same apostasy he and other apostles spoke of elsewhere when they warned of departure from the faith before the Rapture ( 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 4:3-4; James 5:1-8; 2 Peter 2; 2 Peter 3:3-6; Jude).
"It is not so much forsaking one"s first love and drifting into apathy that is meant, as setting oneself in opposition to God." [3]
". . . it seems likely that the apostasy Paul had in mind expanded on Jewish apocalyptic expectations and envisioned a dramatic and climactic falling away from the worship of the true God (by both Jews and some portion of the Christian church) as a part of the complex of events at the end of the age." [4]
The portion of the Christian church in Paul"s view would be the non-genuine Christians who compose Christendom. "Christendom" refers to all professing Christians, genuine and non-genuine. Such a departure had begun in Paul"s day ( 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 4:3-4; James 5:1-8; 2 Peter 2; 2 Peter 3:3-6; Jude). However it had not yet reached the proportions predicted to characterize "the apostasy" about which Paul had instructed his readers when he was with them (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:5). When the Rapture takes place and all true Christians leave the earth, this apostasy will overwhelm the human race.
"This worldwide anti-God movement will be so universal as to earn for itself a special designation: "the apostasy"-i.e, the climax of the increasing apostate tendencies evident before the rapture of the church." [5]
"It appears more probable from the context that a general abandonment of the basis of civil order is envisaged. This is not only rebellion against the law of Moses; it is a large-scale revolt against public order, and since public order is maintained by the "governing authorities" who "have been instituted by God," any assault on it is an assault on a divine ordinance ( Romans 13:1-2). It Isaiah , in fact, the whole concept of divine authority over the world that is set at defiance in "the rebellion" par excellence." [6]
Some pretribulationists take a different view. They believe this "apostasy" is a reference to the Rapture, and some of them find support for their view in Paul"s reference to the Rapture ( 2 Thessalonians 2:1). [6]
"Nowhere else does the Scripture speak of the rapture as "the departure." A departure denotes an act on the part of the individual or company departing. But the rapture is not an act of departure on the part of the saints. In the rapture the church is passive, not active. At the rapture the church is "caught up" or "snatched away," an event wherein the Lord acts to transport believers from earth into His presence ( 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Everything that takes place with the believers at the rapture is initiated by the Lord and done by Him. Paul has just referred to the rapture as "our gathering together unto him" ( 2 Thessalonians 2:1); why then should he now use this unlikely term to mean the same thing?" [8]
Another major event, in addition to "the apostasy," is the unveiling of "the man of lawlessness" ( 2 Thessalonians 2:3). This is a person yet to appear who will be completely lawless and whom God will doom to everlasting destruction. The prophet Daniel spoke of such a person. He will make a covenant with the Jews but then break it after three and a half years ( Daniel 9:27). The breaking of that covenant seems to be the event that unmasks this individual for who he Isaiah , the opponent of Christ. He will eventually seek to make everyone worship himself and will claim to be God (cf. Revelation 13:5-8). The reference to him taking his seat in the temple of God ( 2 Thessalonians 2:4) may be figurative representing him as taking the highest position possible. More likely it is literal in which case the material temple of God that will stand in Jerusalem during the second half, at least, of the Tribulation is in view (cf. Daniel 11:36). [1]7 Amillennialists, who do not believe in a future reign of Christ on the present earth, take this temple as the one that stood in Jerusalem when Paul wrote this epistle. [1]9 This person, the Antichrist, had not yet appeared when Paul wrote, nor has he appeared yet (cf. 1 John 2:18). [11]
"In A.D40 , only a few years before Paul wrote this letter, Gaius Caesar (Caligula), who had declared his own divinity, attempted to have his image set up in the holy of holies in Jerusalem." [12]
"All attempts to equate the Man of Lawlessness with historical personages break down on the fact that Paul was speaking of someone who would appear only at the end of the age." [13]