SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:2
que no os movis fcilmente de vuestro sentimiento, ni os conturbis ni por espíritu, ni por palabra, ni por carta como nuestra, como si el día del Seor estuviera cerca.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 2 Thessalonians 2:2
Verse 2. Be not soon shaken in mind] apo tou noov? From the mind; i.e. that they should retain the persuasion they had of the truths which he had before delivered to them; that they should still hold the same opinions, and hold fast the doctrines which they had been taught. Neither by spirit] Any pretended revelation.
Nor by word] Any thing which any person may profess to have heard the apostle speak.
Nor by letter] Either the former one which he had sent, some passages of which have been misconceived and misconstrued; or by any other letter, as from us - pretending to have been written by us, the apostles, containing predictions of this kind. There is a diversity of opinion among critics concerning this last clause, some supposing that it refers simply to the first epistle; others supposing that a forged epistle is intended. I have joined the two senses. The word saleuqhnai, to be shaken, signifies to be agitated as a ship at sea in a storm, and strongly marks the confusion and distress which the Thessalonians had felt in their false apprehension of this coming of Christ.
As that the day of Christ is at hand.] In the preface to this epistle I have given a general view of the meaning of the phrase the coming of Christ.
Now the question is: Whether does the apostle mean, the coming of Christ to execute judgment upon the Jews, and destroy their polity, or his coming at the end of time, to judge the world? There are certainly many expressions in the following verses that may be applied indifferently to either, and some seem to apply to the one, and not to the other; and yet the whole can scarcely be so interpreted as to suit any one of these comings exclusively. This is precisely the case with the predictions of our Lord relative to these great events; one is used to point out and illustrate the other. On this ground I am led to think that the apostle, in the following confessedly obscure words, has both these in view, speaking of none of them exclusively; for it is the custom of the inspired penmen, or rather of that Spirit by which they spoke, to point out as many certain events by one prediction as it was possible to do, and to choose the figures, metaphors, and similes accordingly; and thus, from the beginning, God has pointed out the things that were not by the things that then existed, making the one the types or significations of the other. As the apostle spoke by the same Spirit, he most probably followed the same plan; and thus the following prophecy is to be interpreted and understood.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 2. That ye be not soon shaken in mind , &c.] Or from your mind or sense, as the Vulgate Latin version; or from the solidity of sense, as the Arabic version; that is, from what they had received in their minds, and was their sense and judgment, and which they had embraced as articles of faith; that they would not be like a wave of the sea, tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine; or be moved from the hope of the Gospel, from any fundamental article of it, and from that which respects the second coming of Christ particularly; and especially, that they would not be quickly and easily moved from it; (see Galatians 1:6) or be troubled ; thrown into consternation and surprise, for though the coming of Christ will not be terrible to saints, as it will be to sinners; yet there is something in it that is awful and solemn, and fills with concern; and to be told of it as at that instant might be surprising and shocking: the several ways in which their minds might be troubled and distressed with such an account are enumerated by the apostle, that they might guard against them, and not be imposed upon by them: neither by spirit ; by a prophetic spirit, by pretensions to a revelation from the Spirit, fixing the precise time of Christ's coming, which should not be heeded or attended to; since his coming will be as a thief in the night: nor by word : by reason and a show of it, by arguments drawn from it, which may carry in them a show of probability; by enticing words of man's wisdom; by arithmetical or astronomical calculations; or by pretensions to a word, a tradition of Christ or his apostles, as if they had received it viva voce, by word of mouth from any of them: nor by letter, as from us ; by forging a letter and counterfeiting their hands, for such practices began to be used very early; spurious epistles of the Apostle Paul were carried about, which obliged him to take a method whereby his genuine letters might be known; (see 2 Thessalonians 3:17,18) or he may have respect in this clause to his former epistle, wherein he had said some things concerning the Coming of Christ, which had been either wrongly represented, or not understood; and as if his sense was, that it would be while he and others then living were alive and on the spot: wherefore he would not have them neither give heed to any enthusiastic spirits, nor to any plausible reasonings of men, or unwritten traditions; nor to any letters in his name, or in the name of any of the apostles; nor even to his former letter to them, as though it contained any such thing in it, as that the day of Christ is at hand ; or is at this instant just now coming on; as if it would be within that year, in some certain month, and on some certain day in it; which notion the apostle would have them by no means give into, for these reasons, because should Christ not come, as there was no reason to believe he would in so short a time, they would be tempted to disbelieve his coming at all, at least be very indifferent about it; and since if it did not prove true, they might be led to conclude there was nothing true in the Christian doctrine and religion; and besides, such a notion of the speedy coming of Christ would tend to indulge the idle and disorderly persons among them in their sloth and negligence: and now for these, and for the weighty reasons he gives in the next verse, he dissuades them from imbibing such a tenet; for though the coming of Christ is sometimes said to be drawing nigh, and to be quickly, yet so it might be, and not at that instant; besides, such expressions are used with respect to God, with whom a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years; and because the Gospel times, or times of the Messiah, are the last days, there will be no other dispensation of things until the second coming of Christ; and chiefly they are used to keep up the faith, and awaken the hope and expectation of the saints with respect to it. The Alexandrian copy, and some others, read, the day of the Lord; and so the Vulgate Latin version; and accordingly the Syriac and Ethiopic versions, the day of our Lord.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-4 - If errors arise among Christians, we should set them right; and goo men will be careful to suppress errors which rise from mistaking their words and actions. We have a cunning adversary, who watches to d mischief, and will promote errors, even by the words of Scripture Whatever uncertainty we are in, or whatever mistakes may arise abou the time of Christ's coming, that coming itself is certain. This ha been the faith and hope of all Christians, in all ages of the church it was the faith and hope of the Old Testament saints. All believer shall be gathered together to Christ, to be with him, and to be happ in his presence for ever. We should firmly believe the second coming of Christ; but there was danger lest the Thessalonians, being mistaken a to the time, should question the truth or certainty of the thin itself. False doctrines are like the winds that toss the water to an from; and they unsettle the minds of men, which are as unstable a water. It is enough for us to know that our Lord will come, and wil gather all his saints unto him. A reason why they should not expect the coming of Christ, as at hand, is given. There would be a genera falling away first, such as would occasion the rise of antichrist, tha man of sin. There have been great disputes who or what is intended by this man of sin and son of perdition. The man of sin not only practise wickedness, but also promotes and commands sin and wickedness i others; and is the son of perdition, because he is devoted to certai destruction, and is the instrument to destroy many others, both in sou and body. As God was in the temple of old, and worshipped there, and is in and with his church now; so the antichrist here mentioned, is usurper of God's authority in the Christian church, who claims Divin honours.
Greek Textus Receptus
εις 1519 το 3588 μη 3361 ταχεως 5030 σαλευθηναι 4531 5683 υμας 5209 απο 575 του 3588 νοος 3563 μητε 3383 θροεισθαι 2360 5745 μητε 3383 δια 1223 πνευματος 4151 μητε 3383 δια 1223 λογου 3056 μητε 3383 δι 1223 επιστολης 1992 ως 5613 δι 1223 ημων 2257 ως 5613 οτι 3754 ενεστηκεν 1764 5758 η 3588 ημερα 2250 του 3588 χριστου 5547
Vincent's NT Word Studies
2. Shaken (saleuqhnai). From salov the tossing or swell of the sea. See Luke xxi. 25. Comp. Matt. xi. 7; xxiv. 29; Acts iv. 31; Heb. xii. 26. In mind (apo tou noov). More correctly, from your mind. Nouv signifies the judgment, sober sense. Comp. 1 Cor. xiv. 15, and see on Romans vii. 23. They are to "keep their heads" under the temptation to fanatical extravagances concerning the Lord's appearing.
Be troubled (qreisqai). From qroov clamor, tumult. The meaning is be unsettled or thrown into confusion.
By spirit (dia pneumatov). By prophetic utterances of individuals in Christian assemblies, claiming the authority of divine revelations.
By word (dia logou). Oral expressions falsely imputed to Paul.
By letter as from us (di epistolhv wv di hmwn). Const. as from us with word and letter. The reference is to a letter or letters forged in Paul's name; not to the first Thessalonian Epistle, as misunderstood by the readers.
As that (wv oti). Indicating the contents of such communications.
Is at hand (enesthken). Better than Rev. is now present. Lightfoot, happily, is imminent.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
2:2 {To the end that} (eis to). One of Paul's favorite idioms for purpose, eis to and the infinitive. {Ye be not quickly shaken} (me tacews saleuqenai humas). First aorist passive infinitive of saleuw, old verb to agitate, to cause to totter like a reed (#Mt 11:7), the earth (#Heb 12:26). Usual negative me and accusative of general reference humas with the infinitive. {From your mind} (apo tou noos). Ablative case of nous, mind, reason, sober sense, "from your witte" (Wyclif), to "keep their heads." {Nor yet be troubled} (mede qroeisqai). Old verb qroew, to cry aloud (from qroos, clamor, tumult), to be in a state of nervous excitement (present passive infinitive, as if it were going on), "a continued state of agitation following the definite shock received (saleuqenai)" (Milligan). {Either by spirit} (mete dia pneumatos). By ecstatic utterance (#1Th 5:10). The nervous fear that the coming was to be at once prohibited by mede Paul divides into three sources by mete, mete, mete. No individual claim to divine revelation (the gift of prophecy) can justify the statement. {Or by word} (mete dia logou). Oral statement of a conversation with Paul (Lightfoot) to this effect {as from us}. An easy way to set aside Paul's first epistle by report of a private remark from Paul. {Or by epistle as from us} (mete di' epistoles hws di' hemwn). In #1Th 4:13-5:3 Paul had plainly said that Jesus would come as a thief in the night and had shown that the dead would not be left out in the rapture. But evidently some one claimed to have a private epistle from Paul which supported the view that Jesus was coming at once, {as that the day of the Lord is now present} (hws hoti enesteken he hemera tou kuriou). Perfect active indicative of enistemi, old verb, to place in, but intransitive in this tense to stand in or at or near. So "is imminent" (Lightfoot). The verb is common in the papyri. In #1Co 3:22; Ro 8:38 we have a contrast between ta enestwta, the things present, and ta mellonta, the things future (to come). The use of hws hoti may be disparaging here, though that is not true in #2Co 5:19. In the _Koin_ it comes in the vernacular to mean simply "that" (Moulton, _Proleg_., p. 212), but that hardly seems the case in the N.T. (Robertson, _Grammar_, p. 1033). Here it means "to wit that," though "as that" or "as if" does not miss it much. Certainly it flatly denies that by conversation or by letter he had stated that the second coming was immediately at hand. "It is this misleading assertion that accounts both for the increased discouragement of the faint-hearted to encourage whom Paul writes #1:3-2:17, and for the increased meddlesomeness of the idle brethren to warn whom Paul writes #3:1-18" (Frame). It is enough to give one pause to note Paul's indignation over this use of his name by one of the over-zealous advocates of the view that Christ was coming at once. It is true that Paul was still alive, but, if such a "pious fraud" was so common and easily condoned as some today argue, it is difficult to explain Paul's evident anger. Moreover, Paul's words should make us hesitate to affirm that Paul definitely proclaimed the early return of Jesus. He hoped for it undoubtedly, but he did not specifically proclaim it as so many today assert and accuse him of misleading the early Christians with a false presentation.
