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former idea is that the “now” goes together with a word following it in the sentence. One option
is to take it with the verb οἴδατε, so as to carry the sense that the readers “now (already) know”
the thing restraining. Another option presented is to take it with the participle τὸ κατέχον, thus
implying that they know the thing that is “now (currently) restraining” him. This is a moot point
since there is not a definite answer. The focus is simply this: because of Paul’s ministry among
them they knew this force. Paul spends no further time describing it to them. Keeping in mind
that he wrote this letter to give them comfort and assurance, Paul simply asks them to recall what
they already knew and use it to support his words here.
From the restraining force
After Paul directs their attention to what he had told them while he was with them, he
encourages them to recall what they had learned from him. He uses οἴδατε, the perfect active
indicative form of the verb οἶδα, which in its simplest definition means “to know, to have
information about something.” One must assume that Paul’s original readers had been told
previously by Paul because no further description is given in the letter. It was this knowledge of
the direct object, the articularized accusative participle, τὸ κατέχον, that he brought to the
forefront of their minds. τὸ κατέχον is from κατέχω, meaning “to prevent, hinder, or restrain.”
This force is the thing that is preventing this “man of lawlessness” from being revealed. The
participle is here found in the neuter gender, yet Paul uses the masculine gender in the following
verse to describe the same force. Wanamaker in his commentary comes to the conclusion that
“Timothy, as the bearer of the letter, would have explained anything not fully understood when
he brought the letter to Thessalonica.” 62
While the Thessalonians would have had the oral training and teaching in regard to this
matter, present-day readers have nothing more than Paul’s letters, which give no additional
description of this restraining force. D.G. Barnhouse interprets “temple of God” in verse four as
the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and says: “The believer’s body is the temple of the Spirit of God.
Put all believers together then, with the Holy Spirit indwelling each of us, and you have a
formidable restraining force. Now, it’s true, the church of Jesus Christ could be more bold in its
62 Charles A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians: A Commentary on the Greek Text (Grand
Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990), 250.
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