Who is this lawless person? (3)

Anytime a document from antiquity is read by someone in the modern world, certain oddities stand out. It is true with any ancient document. Peculiarities about Beowulf stand out from the Old English language; strangeness is noticed in Ulysses in Latin; some unique features surface in the Greek of the Odyssey. The further back one goes in time, usually the stranger certain features appear to the modern eye. So, when features of a passage from 2nd Thessalonians 2 suddenly appear to have some odd features to the modern reader, then understanding the historical, literary, and linguistic context goes a long way in clearing up the oddity. In particular, a term appears that seems to carry a little more weight than other words in the passage–the lawless man.

A third possibility is what many an ancient piece of literature contains–the use of figurative language, in this case personification. Personification is giving human traits to inanimate objects. Sometimes, the inanimate object is merely an idea. Personification then becomes humanizing an idea. The idea is that wickedness exists. If given a human face, people could visualize it better. Paul had told the Thessalonian christians when he was with them that people would be protesting the story of Jesus (a rebellion). Paul was even railroaded out of town because people protested the message so much. These lawless people would be given a collective face, the lawless man. They would not accept God and, in fact, they would know no God but themselves. These people were reckless Romans who hindered Paul at Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, and Corinth. They were deluded by Satan, exposed by the message of Jesus as accepting wickedness as goodness and would be destroyed when Jesus comes. The idea that Jesus had already come is what triggered the discussion about lawless people in the first place. But the christians are assured that God would sentence these lawless Romans. The christians are reminded that they have, in contrast, been selected by God as the first fruits of this revolutionary message about Jesus.

Other intepretations for this important term will appear later this week.