Paul continues to express himself in very concentrated language, and it will often be necessary in translation to spell out in more detail some elements of meaning which are only implicit in the text. Moreover, the division between the Greek sentences, which comes at the end of verse 7, does not correspond to the major division in the thought, which comes after already at work. Up to that point, Paul is mainly concerned with present events. From the beginning of verse 8, he is concerned with the future. Verse 7b is transitional, referring backward to the one who holds … back, but is more closely related to the future events which form the subject of verses 8-9. This can be seen more clearly if Paul’s statements are separated from one another and compared with a literal translation:
(1) The Mysterious Wickedness is already at work (v. 7a).
(2) At present someone is holding (the Wicked One) back (v. 7b).
(3) This person will be removed (v. 7b).
(4) His removal is all that is necessary for the Wicked One to appear (v. 8a).
(5) So the Wicked One will then appear (v. 8a).
Literal translation:
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work (1): only the restrainer now until he becomes out of the way (2,3,4). And then will be revealed the lawless one (5)….
As already mentioned, verses 6-7 contain a good deal of repetition. In verse 6, Paul was saying that the restraining power was stopping the Wicked One from appearing before the right time. Verses 7-8a say the converse; that is, when the restrainer is taken away, the Wicked One will appear. Paul insists in verse 7, more strongly than before, on what is happening already and “now.” (Good News Translation omits this second “now,” cf. Revised Standard Version “he who now restrains it.” Unlike the word for now used in verse 6, this word must refer to time.) The Day of the Lord is not yet here, as some think, but events are already taking place which are connected with the end.
The close link between verses 6 and 7-8a is marked by “for” at the beginning of verse 7; but Good News Translation, following current English usage, leaves “for” to be implied. In a sense the relation between the first sentence of verse 7 and the immediately preceding sentence is a contrast in time, and this may be indicated in some languages by the conjunction “but.” It may then be useful to transpose the position of the adverb already, for example, “but already the Mysterious Wickedness is at work.”
The Mysterious Wickedness is literally “the mystery of lawlessness.” Like the “restraining power,” “lawlessness” is sometimes referred to as an abstract power and sometimes as a person. The distinction was probably not absolute for Paul, but he appears to think of the forces of evil as taking on a more personal form as they show themselves more openly in the final struggle. The term “mystery” is almost always used in the New Testament in speaking of truths which are hidden to people generally but which are made known to Christians. The translator should avoid expressions which suggest either (1) something which no one can understand, or (2) a puzzle to which there is a solution which anyone can understand. A mystery, for New Testament writers and for Paul in particular, is an open secret which anyone who becomes a Christian can come to understand, but which no one can understand apart from faith. Good News Translation does not fully convey the difficult idea of the “open secret,” which may need to be explained in a glossary note. The relation between “mystery” and “wickedness” is probably “the mystery which consists of wickedness.” Good News Bible show that it is the wickedness, not directly the mystery, which is … at work, producing the effects to be mentioned in verse 11-12.
The Mysterious Wickedness is already at work may be difficult to translate into some languages, particularly those in which one cannot speak of an abstraction such as wickedness “doing” anything. The closest equivalent in meaning to Wickedness is already at work may be “many people are already doing what is wicked” or “… what is evil.” If Wickedness is to be related to the concept of “lawlessness” in the sense of opposition to what God has established as right, one may say “but already many people are doing what is against what God has said.” This, however, leaves out of the picture the difficult attributive Mysterious. It would be incorrect to translate this as “and no one can understand this,” or to assume that it simply means that “wickedness works in a hidden manner.” In a number of languages the closest equivalent of Mysterious would have to be a complete clause, for example, “and we can only understand this because of what God has revealed to us.”
Is … at work is the translation most commonly chosen, but some commentators prefer “is … set to work” (Best, cf. Rigaux). The Greek verb used here always speaks of the activity of supernatural powers. If the translation “is … set to work” is chosen, it will be necessary in some languages to state who sets the Mysterious Wickedness to work. The possibilities are (1) Satan, as in verse 9, (2) God, as in verse 11, and (3) the “restraining power,” which is the least likely of the three. In verses 9 and 11, the noun which Good News Translation translates power is related to the verb is … at work (or “is … set to work”). It seems most natural to think of the Mysterious Wickedness being set to work by Satan.
The notes on verse 7 suggested reason for taking the first words of verse 8 with what has gone before. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes 8a a separate sentence: “When that has happened, God’s Enemy will come forward.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch also makes a new section of verses 8-17. However, although verses 8-12 contain some important new developments, they have more in common with verses 1-7 than with verses 13-17, and Good News Translation‘s arrangement of the sections is to be preferred.
The general expression what is going to happen may need to be made more specific and so may be rendered “what I said was going to happen.” This will tie the statement to what has already been described in verses 3 and 4. The one who holds it back may be rendered as “the one who prevents it from happening,” or “the one who causes it not to happen.”
The passive expression is taken out of the way must be made active in some languages, and this would probably require the introduction of an agent. New Testament scholars normally agree that the agent in this instance would be God himself, who arranges events at the proper time. Therefore one may translate until … is taken out of the way as “until God takes out of the way the one who is preventing all this from happening.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .