The coming

2nd Thessalonians 2.1,2,8 all talk about the coming of Jesus in one way or another. At the end of first Thessalonians 4 and at the beginning of chapter 5, Paul speaks of Jesus' coming and the Day of the Lord. Perhaps, from this portion of the letter, some people in the Christian group got the idea that Jesus had already come. No one knows exactly how that could have occurred, but one scenario is that the group of Christians, known as the gnostic Christians, took the part about being children of light to mean something spiritual in nature. If one achieved mental spirituality, then something like a physical day on which Jesus would return with vengence would be out of the question. As long as one remained a child of light, then the day of the Lord would not overtake him. Only if he became a child of the dark would the day of the Lord come as a thief in the night.

So, the writer of 2nd Thessalonians takes on the gnostic Christians. He says they are deceived, reckless, very arrogant, and claim to be God actually (that would be achieved spiritually and mentally). However, since they claim to be God in such an abstract state, then Jesus could use something transparent and abstract, His breath, to annihilate them. Gnosticism was pretty much wiped out during the 2nd century AD, so Jesus' breath was all it took. Noteworthy, also is that similar beliefs were expressed in Judaism by the Essene sect. It has even been hypothesized that both Jesus and Paul had contact with this group at Qumran and espoused some of their teachings. The Essenes too disappear during the 2nd century AD.

The only drawback to the above being true is that Jesus has not come again. True, not in a final event for the world. However, at every person's single final event, his or her death, perhaps Jesus comes. At least He comes individually. So the Day of the Lord is personal rather than a cataclysmic end time. If this could be true, then the gnostic threat to Christianity was destroyed just as the author said it would be. These Christians who seemed to think of themselves outside of the law or written code were only enabled by Satan for a short time. Jesus blew his breath against this vapor of time, and the gnostics dried up and blew away.