Untitled - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary - WELS

6. At his second coming, Jesus would completely destroy the Antichrist.
7. The Antichrist would be successful in bringing about the apostasy, because Satan
would support him with miracles to mislead many.
8. Satan would also use his power to lead the Antichrist’s followers to join the man of
sin in denying the truth of salvation.
9. Because of their denial of the truth, God would harden the Antichrist’s followers in
the delusion that they were on the way to salvation when really they were perishing. 23
As some commentators address the words of Paul, many will simply state that this “man
of lawlessness” has not yet arrived but will come at the end, just before Christ comes. Yet some,
after careful study of Paul’s words, came to believe that Paul’s description of the “man of
lawlessness” or the “Antichrist” was fulfilled in their present day. Dr. Martin Luther believed
that the seat of the papacy was the fulfillment of Paul’s description of the “man of lawlessness.”
The Lutheran Confessors after him maintained this belief. The current doctrinal stance of WELS
also follows the belief that the papacy is the “man of lawlessness” which Paul has described.
Through a thorough exegetical study of Paul’s words it the author’s intent to defend the WELS
doctrine regarding that man of lawlessness, the Antichrist. This study will not only serve as a
defense but also as an application of the warning of the dangers of the Antichrist in the present
time. An exegetical study of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 follows.
Paul’s Prayer
The Greek text: 1 Ἐρωτῶμεν δὲ ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί, ὑπὲρ τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ
Χριστοῦ καὶ ἡμῶν ἐπισυναγωγῆς ἐπʼ αὐτὸν 24
Author’s translation: 1) But we ask you, brothers, with reference to the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ and our assembling to him,
It is possible that chapter two begins with a prayer from the pen of the apostle. Paul uses
the verb Ἐρωτῶμεν, which is a present active indicative first person plural form of ἐρωτάω. The
basic meaning of the verb is “to ask or request.” This verb will usually imply and introduce an
underlying question. The verb is used sixty-three times in the New Testament, most of which are
in the gospels, where they are primarily used in dialogue – people asking questions or making
requests. The verb is used in the epistles only a few times (Php 4:3 “I plead”, 1 Th 4:1 “we
23 David P. Kuske, 1,2 Thessalonians (Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1984), 90.
24 The Greek text comes from the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, 27 th Edition.
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