He is guX«/3^7 reverently cautious, who comprehends well, and receives in a right spirit, the matter set before him, not with an unseasonable and foolhardy rashness, sachte, scheu, etc. EuXoc- j3s/a is shown in the fact, that Paul does not expressly say : The day of Christ does not come, unless, etc. He speaks mildly (moderately) ; he abstains from words to which the lover of the coming of Christ would not willingly listen. — lac /^, unless) What we read in ver. 3-8 demands a fuller consideration. And, first, we shall look closely into this paragraph by itself; then we shall compare the Apocalypse with it. The former aspect of it comprehends something like the following positions : —
I. The object of Paul is to admonish the Thessalonians not to think the day of Christ nearer than it really is. — The expectation of future events, which is supposed to rest upon Divine testi mony, and which after all is discovered in the end to be false, occasions great offence (raises a great stumblingblock in the way of religion). Such an expectation of the day of Christ might occasion very great offence : wherefore Paul anxiously obviates it. The Thessalonians had been prepared to receive the Lord with joy, ch. i. 11; 1 Thess. i. 10: and indeed a desire of that sort presupposes hope and faith ; but yet this very desire may be out of due order. It is therefore reduced to order.
II. Paul especially teaches, that some great evil will first come.— Paul does not enumerate all the events which were to intervene between that age and the day of Christ; but he points out a certain one thing, especially remarkable, the ex plicit declaration of which was even already at that time season able and salutary to the Thessalonians. He therefore describes the apostasy, the Man of Sin, etc.
III. Not only does the apostle point out the evil, but also the check upon it. — He who hindereth or checketh, 6 •/.ari'^uv, is made mention of, the person who checks or holds back the Man of Sin. That check is in some measure prior to the evil itself, and there fore the announcement of it appertains much (in a great degree) to the design of the apostle, which is, that the time may be defined, though with a proper latitude, when the adversary is to be revealed.
IV. The evil extends itself from the times of Paul, even up to