II THESSALONIANS: TWO QUESTIONS

II Thessalonians 2:5-7: Doesn't this teach that Holy Spirit is the restraining force that is now holding back evil; He will be removed from the earth at the rapture of the Church?

That idea is given nowhere else in the Bible, and nowhere is restraint of evil stated as a role for the Holy Spirit. Wanamaker (The Epistles to the Thessalonians, pp. 249-254) says that “these verses are among the most problematic texts in the whole Pauline corpus.” Any survey of standard commentaries will give at least 4-8 possible views on this subject. Some do not even mention the possibility that the Holy Spirit is the restraining factor, Hendricksen rejects it out of hand, and others such as John Stott (The Gospel and the End of Time) and Peter Cousins (The International Bible Commentary, F.F. Bruce, ed.) mention it only to reject it in favor of another explanation. Even modern Premillennialists reject this idea and now say that the Holy Spirit will continue to be active on the earth during the tribulation (Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, p. 565).

II Thessalonians 2:11 Doesn't the Greek phrase “The Lie” appear only four times in the Bible, always with the meaning “Satan?”

There are only two other occurrences (John 8:44 and Romans 1:25) in the NT. I consulted nine commentaries each for the Thessalonians and Romans references. None even hinted that this was a valid interpretation (neither did two standard Greek word study books). And John 8:44 says that Satan speaks the lie; therefore he cannot be the lie in that verse.