3. μήτιςὑμ. ἐξαπατήσῃ] A general warning leading up to the statement of the following clause. In their margin WH. suggest placing a comma at κυρίου, and thus connecting the words elliptically with what has gone before—‘ (we say this) lest any one should ….’ But the ordinary connexion is simpler, and more in keeping with our Lord’ s saying which may well have been in the writers’ minds: βλέπετεμήτιςὑμᾶςπλανήσῃ· πολλοὶγὰρἐλεύσονταικτλ. (Matthew 24:4 f.). Ἐξαπατάω, a strengthened form of ἀπατάω (1 Timothy 2:14), is confined in the N.T. to the Pauline writings, cf. Romans 16:18, 1 Corinthians 3:18. For the rare use of the prohibitory subj. in the 3rd pers. cf. 1 Corinthians 16:11 (Burton, § 2). κατὰμηδένατρόπον] i.e. not only not in any of the three ways already specified, but ‘ in no way’— evidently a current phrase, cf. P.Amh. 35, 28 (2./b.c.), P.Lond. 111. 951, 4 f. (3./a.d.). Thdt.: πάντακατὰταὐτὸντὰτῆςἀπάτηςἐξέβαλενεἴδη. ὅτιἐὰνμὴἔλθῃκτλ.] an elliptical sentence, the apodosis being lost sight of in view of the length of the protasis, but too clearly implied in what precedes to occasion any difficulty: ‘ because the Parousia of the Lord will not take palace unless there come the Apostasy first.’ It is not so easy, however, to determine in what this Apostasy consists. In late Gk. ἀποστασία is found as an equivalent of ἀπόστασις (Lob. Phryn. p. 528) in the sense of political defection or revolt, e.g. Plut. Galba 1. κάλλιστονἔργονδιαβαλὼντῷμισθῷ, τὰνἀπὸΝέρωνοςἀποστασίανπροδοσίανγενομένην, and the same meaning has been attached to it here, as when it has been referred to the revolt of the Jews from the Romans (Schφttgen Hor. Hebrews 1. p. 840). But the usage of both LXX. and in N.T. is decisive against any such interpretation. Thus in Joshua 22:22 the word is directly applied to rebellion against the Lord (ἐνἀποστασίᾳἐπλημμελήσαμενἔναντιτοῦκυρίου, and in 1Ma 2:15 to the efforts of the officers of Antiochus Epiphanes to compel the people to sacrifice to idols (οἱκαταναγκάζοντεςτὴνἀποστασίαν ... ἵναθυσιάσωσιν), cf. also 2 Chronicles 29:19, Jeremiah 2:19; while in Acts 21:21, the only other passage in the N.T. where it occurs, we read of ἀποστασίαν ... ἀπὸΜωυσέως, with which may be compared the use of the corresponding verb ἀφίσταμαι in 1 Timothy 4:1, Hebrews 3:12; cf. M. Anton. 4:29 ἀπόστημακόσμουὁἀφιστάμενοςκαὶχωρίζωνἑαυτὸντοῦτῆςκοινῆςφύσεωςλόγου. Whatever then the exact nature of the apostasy in the present connexion, it must at least be a religious apostasy, and one moreover, as the use of the def. art. proves, regarding which the Apostles’ readers were already fully informed. In this conclusion we are confirmed when we pass to the next words. καὶἀποκλυφθῇ] ‘ and (so) there be revealed (the man of lawlessness)’— a second historical condition preceding the Lord’ s Parousia, or rather, giving καί its full consecutive force (I. 4:1 note), the sign in which the just-mentioned ἀποστασία finds its consummation. The emphatic ἀποκαλυφθῇ by which the appearance of this sign is described is very significant, not only as marking the ‘ superhuman’ character of the coming spoken of, but as placing it in mocking counterpart to the ἀποκάλυψις of the Lord Jesus Himself, cf. 1:7 and note the repetition of the same verb in vv. 6, 8 of this chapter. For other cxx. of hostile powers assuming the semblance of what they oppose see 2 Corinthians 11:13 ff., Revelation 2:2, and cf. Asc. Isai. 4:18 where it is said of Beliar that he ‘ manifested himself and acted openly in this world.’ ὁἄνθρωποςτ. ἀνομίας] the man, that is, of whom ‘ lawlessness’ is the true and peculiar mark—ἀνομίας being used here, as elsewhere in the N.T., to describe the condition not of one living without law, but of one who acts contrary to law, and thus as practically equivalent to the v. l. ἁμαρτίας (WH. mg.): cf. 1 John 3:4 ἡἁμαρτίαἐστὶνἡἀνομία, and as illustrating the active sense belonging to the word cf. P.Par. 14, 27 f. (2./b.c.) ἀφορήτῳδὲἀνομίᾳἐξενεχθέντες. The lawless one is thus none other than Belial (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:15) in accordance with the Bibl. usage by which αΜΐμιΗςΗμ is rendered by ἀνόμημα (Deuteronomy 15:9), ἀνομία (2 Regn. 22:5), or ἀποστασία (3 Regn. 20. (21.) 13 A), and in keeping with the (erroneous) Rabbinical derivation of the word from αΜΐμι ‘ without’ and ςεΙμ ‘ yoke,’ i.e. one who will not accept the yoke of the law . ‘ Law, in all its manifestations is that which he [the Antichrist] shall rage against, making hideous application of that great truth, that where the Spirit is, there is liberty’ (Trench Hulsean Lectures p. 136; cf. Syn. § 66. p. 227 f.).ὁυἱὸςτ. ἀπωλείας] a second distinguishing epithet: so completely has the lawless one fallen under the power of ‘ perdition’ (cf. John 17:12) that it may be regarded as his ultimate destination, cf. 1 Regn. 20:31 υἱὸςθανάτουοὗτος i.e. ‘ destined to death.’ The thought of final doom is, however, only indirectly present in the description (cf. note on ὄλεθρος 1:9). Here rather, as elsewhere in his Epp. (Romans 9:22, Philippians 1:28; Philippians 3:19, 1 Timothy 6:9), St Paul employs ἀπώλεια in direct antithesis, either stated or implied, to σωτηρία, full and complete blessedness, in harmony with the usage of the word (and its allied terms) in the LXX. and the later writings of the Jews: cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:3 note, and see further Kennedy Last Things p. 119 ff., Volz Jόd. Eschat. p. 282 f.The phrase ‘ sons of perdition’ (= αΜΐπΕιδΗΰΒαΗγΜεΙο) is found in Jubilees 10:3, with reference to those who perished in the Flood.