2 Thessalonians study section
2 Thessalonians word studies
A handful of Greek words carry the theology of 2 Thessalonians. Tap the speaker next to any word to hear it pronounced.
Key words
παρουσία (parousia) — “Coming, Arrival”
Usage: 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 8, 9
Meaning: A coming, arrival, or presence; the technical term for a royal visit, used of Christ’s return.
Theological Significance: The parousia of the Lord Jesus is the certain hope by which the lawless one is destroyed and the persecuted vindicated. Believers are gathered to Christ at His coming, which no false report can hasten or annul (2 Thessalonians 2:1, 8; 1 Thessalonians 4:15).
ἀποστασία (apostasia) — “Rebellion, Falling Away”
Usage: 2 Thessalonians 2:3
Meaning: A rebellion, defection, or falling away — a decisive turning against God.
Theological Significance: A great apostasia must precede the day of the Lord, a final rebellion against God centered in the man of lawlessness. It reminds believers to hold fast to the truth and not be swept away in the coming pressures of unbelief (2 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 Timothy 4:1).
ἀνομία (anomia) — “Lawlessness”
Usage: 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 7-8
Meaning: Lawlessness, contempt for and rebellion against God’s law. “The man of lawlessness.”
Theological Significance: Lawlessness is the essence of the coming enemy, who exalts himself against God and deceives many. Though its “mystery is already at work,” Christ will destroy the lawless one with a mere breath, showing evil’s certain doom (2 Thessalonians 2:8; 1 John 3:4).
θλῖψις (thlipsis) — “Affliction, Tribulation”
Usage: 2 Thessalonians 1:4, 6-7
Meaning: Affliction, tribulation, distress, pressure.
Theological Significance: The church’s thlipsis under persecution is not meaningless: God will repay affliction to the persecutors and grant relief to the afflicted at Christ’s coming. Present suffering is bounded by the certainty of God’s just reckoning (2 Thessalonians 1:6-7; Romans 8:18).
στηρίζω (stērizō) — “To Establish, Strengthen”
Usage: 2 Thessalonians 2:17; 3:3
Meaning: To establish, make firm, strengthen, support.
Theological Significance: God comforts and stērizō — establishes — the hearts of His people amid deception and persecution, and “the Lord is faithful” to strengthen and guard them from the evil one. Their steadfastness rests on God’s faithful keeping (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17; 3:3; 1 Peter 5:10).
My notes
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