2 Thessalonians 2:7 (DBY)

Passage

For the mystery of lawlessness already works; only [there is] he who restrains now until he be gone,

Nearby Context

2 Thessalonians 2:5 Do ye not remember that, being yet with you, I said these things to you?

2 Thessalonians 2:6 And now ye know that which restrains, that he should be revealed in his own time.

2 Thessalonians 2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness already works; only [there is] he who restrains now until he be gone,

2 Thessalonians 2:8 and then the lawless one shall be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the breath of his mouth, and shall annul by the appearing of his coming;

2 Thessalonians 2:9 whose coming is according to the working of Satan in all power and signs and wonders of falsehood,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "mystery", "lawlessness", "already", "works", "only", "restrains", "until", and "gone". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "mystery" and "lawlessness", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "And now ye know that which restrains..." into verse 8's "and then the lawless one shall be...", so "mystery" and "lawlessness" belong inside that flow. In 2 Thessalonians context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "mystery" and "lawlessness" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.