2 Thessalonians 2:7 (YLT)

Passage

for the secret of the lawlessness doth already work, only he who is keeping down now <FI>will hinder<Fi> --till he may be out of the way,

Nearby Context

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

2 Thessalonians 2:6 and now, what is keeping down ye have known, for his being revealed in his own time,

2 Thessalonians 2:7 for the secret of the lawlessness doth already work, only he who is keeping down now <FI>will hinder<Fi> --till he may be out of the way,

2 Thessalonians 2:8 and then shall be revealed the Lawless One, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the manifestation of his presence,

2 Thessalonians 2:9 <FI> him,<Fi> whose presence is according to the working of the Adversary, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "secret", "lawlessness", "doth", "already", "only", "keeping", "down", and "hinder". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "secret" 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 what is keeping down ye..." into verse 8's "and then shall be revealed the Lawless...", so "secret" 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 "secret" and "lawlessness" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.