The Man of Sin

1Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers,

2not to be quickly shaken from your understanding or alarmed by ⁴any spirit or message or by any letter supposedly from us alleging that the day of ⁵Christ has already come.

3Let no one deceive you in any manner, for that day cannot come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of ⁶sin is revealed, the son of destruction.

4He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god and object of worship, so that he sits ⁷as God in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

5Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?

6And you know what is now restraining him so that he will be revealed in his ⁸own time.

7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.

8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord ⁹will destroy with the breath of his mouth and annihilate by the appearance of his coming.

9The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the working of Satan, with all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs, and wonders,

10and with every kind of wicked deception ¹⁰among those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

11For this reason God ¹¹will send them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false,

12so that all who have not believed the truth but have taken pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned.

Chosen for Salvation

13But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you ¹²from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

14He called you to this through our gospel, so that you might obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15So then, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings that were passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by a letter from us.

16Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by his grace,

17comfort ¹³your hearts and establish you in every good ¹⁴word and work.