The Holy Spirit Will NOT “Be Removed”

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I know this will be contentious, especially with those who trust in a pre-trib Rapture, but we owe it to ourselves to believe what the Word of God says, not base our hopes on anything else. So I beg you to read this with an open mind.

The passage I will refer to is found in Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, chapter two.

The Restrainer

(3) Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition… (6) And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.

Christians are divided almost equally about the identity of the Restrainer. Many believe this refers to the Holy Spirit who restrains evil, and others believe it to be the Church. There are other minority views worth considering. Some believe Paul was speaking of the situation in his day, when the Roman Government was seen as putting a brake on rampant evil. Others, reading the book of Daniel, say the Restrainer is the Archangel Michael.

The word ‘he’ is both male, referring to a person, and neutral referring to a force = that which restrains.

Removed, Taken – or Not?

But now we come to the crux of the matter. No matter who or what the Restrainer is, the Greek text of this letter shows that he, or it, will NOT “be removed” or “be taken” despite what the translators have chosen to say.

In researching this, I looked into many old and new translations, including the large book I have on my bookshelf here, The Greek Interlinear Bible.

I will post my findings shortly, but in searching for the ways different people have translated the Greek of this passage I have discovered something strange: The Greek words have been mistranslated by many. I have to assume it was in order to convey an opinion, rather than the exact biblical truth as Paul explained it. In my mind that is inexcusable.

One online discussion made this point: the translators rendered this passage into what they thought and believed it SHOULD say, rather than what it actually said!! And then many, almost all, later translations just copied them.

I’m no Greek scholar, but I do wonder if the confusion has arisen over the word “he” and knowing to whom it applied, because if it’s applied to the Restrainer then it would be logical that HE would be taken aside, moved, removed or whatever before the full evil of the end begins. Thus, to make it more logical (in their view) after the words “out of the midst he became”, they add ‘gone‘ to make it work.

If you look online at Greek renderings, they usually add words in brackets after the word GENETAI, to change the meaning, such as this image found online…. the word “gone” DOES NOT EXIST in what Paul wrote, and they should not be added! This is a serious matter, adding to what the bible says.

The Greek of This Passage

So what does the Greek actually say? For the sentence in question scroll down to the Greek on this page below and see what words are actually used (not the English so called translation of them!!) it does not say “taken out” or “removed” at any point. But the words used say EK (from) MESOU (the midst) GENETAI (it appears/comes/arrives)

https://www.abarim-publications.com/Interlinear-New-Testament/2-Thessalonians/2-Thessalonians-2-parsed.html

The important verb “ginomai” means “to be, begin to be, or come about”. In the English language it appears in such words as gene, generation and to generate.

This verb (ginomai) is used in the sense of to be born (John 8:58), or to descend from (Rom 1:3), the production of fruits and plants (Matt 21:19), the coming about of natural phenomena (Matt 8:24), or of day or night (Matt 14:15, Acts 27:27).

It means, in essence, to come about, arise, become, and that is how the bible translates it in EVERY instance except one. It appears 677 times in the bible, and only ONCE (in Thessalonians) is it translated as “taken away”.

See the Full Concordance: https://www.abarim-publications.com/Concordance/II/c-1096-1.html

To Appear, not be Taken

As you will see from the page quoted above, GIMOMAI means “become, comes, came to be” and so forth. Look for yourselves!! Look down the list of instances – do you see any that have the meaning “taken away, or removed”? NO.

The 2 Thessalonians passage should therefore say: “Sin and lawlessness is already here, but it’s being restrained, and that will continue until HE (the Man of Sin) arrives!!! (comes out of the midst)

Greek: Until EK (out of) MESOU (the midst) GENETAI (he comes, arises, arrives, is born)

What could be plainer than that? Some translations DO render it as this, and here’s the result from my own Greek Interlinear book:

The Conclusion

So what does this mean for Christians? It means we can no longer depend on this verse in Thessalonians to supposedly “prove” the Rapture, in any way whatsoever, because nothing and nobody is being removed before the arrival of the Man of Sin. Sorry, but that is not what the bible says and personally, I would prefer to accept the bible than to try to read something into it because of my own prejudices, as many translators did. Then the error was simply passed down the ages to today.

There are now some newer translations that show it accurately:

• LITV translation: For the mystery of lawlessness already is working, only he is holding back now, until it comes out of the midst. (Green’s Literal Translation by Jay P. Green, Sr., 1985)
• MKJV translation: For the mystery of lawlessness is already working, only he is now holding back until it comes out of the midst. (Modern King James Version 1962 and 1998)
• ABP translation: For the mystery already operates of lawlessness, only the one constraining just now until out of midst he should be. (Apostolic Bible Polyglot 2003 English translation with Greek interlinear and concordance.)
• EMTV translation: For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains until comes out of the midst. (English Majority Text Version 2014)

The scenario Paul presents is straightforward. The “day of the Lord” will not occur until the “apostasy” begins and the “man of lawlessness” is “revealed.” At present, the “mystery of lawlessness” is preparing for this unveiling when he comes “out of the midst.” And his “revelation” is the same as his “arrival” or ‘Parousia.’ Afterward, Jesus will appear and destroy the “Lawless One” at HIS ‘Parousia.’ Put another way, the “arrival” of the “Lawless One” is the counterpart to the “arrival” of Jesus in glory. From: https://www.endtime-insights.org/2022/01/until-revealed.html

See Also:

• https://docest.com/what-did-paul-really-say-in-2-thessalonians-2-7
• https://www.spiritandtruth.org/teaching/Book_of_2nd_Thessalonians/04_2Thess_2_6-7/2Thess_2_6-7_Notes.htm?x=x
• https://christswords.com/main/content/ginomai
• https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1096/nasb20/tr/0-1/