Then in New Testament Greek, as in English, may mean either “at that time” or “next, immediately after.” The context suggests the second meaning here: “as soon as the restraining power is taken away, the Wicked One will appear.” To show the close connection between the temporal elements in these verses, it may be possible to render then as “only then.” This will reinforce the relation between the removal of the restraining one and the appearance of the Wicked One.

For the Wicked One, see the introductory notes on 2.1-12 and the notes on 2 Thess. 2.3.

The rest of verse 8 has a poetic tone which the translator should try to reproduce, using, of course, the poetic features of the receptor language. There are several poetic features in the original Greek text. To begin with, there is (1) a kind of rhythm and balance of expression: “whom the Lord Jesus will / kill by the breath of his mouth // and / destroy by the appearance of his coming.” (2) This is a modified quotation of Isaiah 11.4 (cf. Psalm 33.6), which is poetic in the original Hebrew. (3) The repetition, both between the two halves of the couplet (kill and destroy) and within the second half (“appearance” and “coming”) is poetic, as is also (4) the pictorial language, “the breath of his mouth.”

Because of the poetic tone of this verse, one should not look for a distinction between kill and destroy. In other contexts, kill can mean “annul, abolish,” as in Hebrews 10.9, and destroy can mean “make inactive,” as in Romans 3.3; but such a distinction does not need to be made in the present case. (Translator’s New Testament, however, has “take away all his power.”) Similarly, “appearance” and “coming” are close in meaning. They are really closer in Greek than in those translations which render “appearance” by such words as “brightness” and “radiance” (King James Version cf. Knox Phillips New English Bible Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). The second edition of Bible de Jérusalem correctly changes “resplendence” to “manifestation.” Barclay, recognizing that parallelism is not a normal feature of English poetry, combines the two lines: “the Lord Jesus will blast him out of existence with the breath of his mouth and with the blinding brilliance of his coming.”

There is a serious problem of temporal sequence in verses 8-9. A literal rendering of verse 8 (“and then will be revealed the Lawless One, whom the Lord Jesus will kill … by the appearance of his coming”) would seem to imply that immediately upon the appearance of the Wicked One the Lord Jesus will destroy him. However, in verse 9 there is a description of what the Wicked One will do when he comes. It may be possible to suggest a time span between the appearance of the Wicked One and the coming of the Lord Jesus by shifting the order of clauses, as Good News Translation does: then the Wicked One will be revealed, but when the Lord Jesus comes, he will kill…. This order suggests a time span during which the events described in verse 9 can take place. In fact, it may be necessary in some languages to begin verse 9 with a temporal conjunction such as “in the meantime.”

When the Lord Jesus comes … with his dazzling presence is literally “by the manifestation of his coming,” but this refers to a single event, not (as, for example in Revised Standard Version) “his appearing and his coming.” The poetic use of repetition emphasizes the solemn nature of the event, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “he will annihilate him by his mere appearing” is rather wide of the mark. The Greek expression translated in Good News Translation as with his dazzling presence is best taken as means rather than simply as a temporal qualification, since it is parallel with the expression with the breath from his mouth. Therefore one may translate this phrase in some languages as “by means of his being present in a dazzling way,” or perhaps “by means of his appearing in a glorious way.”

For a more detailed discussion of presence, see the discussion of when he comes (1 Thess. 2.19).

The breath from his mouth is a rather common biblical expression (e.g. Exodus 15.8; Psalm 33.6) which can sometimes be misunderstood in translation. (1) The Greek word for breath also means “spirit” (cf. King James Version), but there is no reference here to the Holy Spirit. (2) “Breath” does not mean simply “word,” as in Phillips “the words from the mouth of the Lord Jesus.” (3) God’s breath is always thought of as powerful, so the meaning is very different from “a puff of wind will blow him away.” A literal rendering of with the breath from his mouth may involve a number of serious complications. In the place, it is rather redundant to speak of “the breath of his mouth,” since the breath is normally regarded as coming from the mouth. Even to speak of someone being killed by this breath may seem either humorous (as a reference to halitosis or bad breath) or as a suggestion of some kind of disease spread by germs carried on the breath. The concept of breath in this verse may be incorporated in the idea of “kill” in some languages by rendering “he will blow him out of this life,” or “by blowing he will destroy him.” Where it is either misleading or completely unintelligible to speak of “the breath of his mouth,” it may be better to drop this aspect of the figurative language and simply say “the Lord Jesus will kill him.”

Older translations, such as King James Version, followed a text which omitted Jesus and had “consume” instead of kill. Modern editions and translations prefer the text on which Good News Translation is based.

Verses 9-12 raise a general problem of the relation between past, present, and future events, which it is convenient to look at as a whole. If we try to list them according to tense, we reach the not very definite result shown in the diagram|fig:Table_2TH2-8.htm. The distinction is far from clear-cut. Items 1, 2, and 8 are certainly future in meaning, though the verb in 1 is grammatically present. Item 4 is clearly past. Items 3, 5, 6, and 7 may be present, future, or both in meaning.

However, Greek makes a distinction, perhaps more important than that of tense, between events thought of as (1) taking place over a period of time and now complete, (2) those taking place over a period of time but not yet complete, and (3) those taking place at a point in time and therefore (at least by implication) complete. No verbs in group (1) occur in the present verses. “He will deceive” (item 2 in the above list) is not expressed by a verb. Items 1, 3, and 6 fall in group (2), and items 4, 5, 7, and both verbs of 8 fall in group (3).

This distinction, as it has just been applied to these verses, has some interesting though partly tentative implications for the translator. Item 1 does not focus on the event of the coming of the Wicked One, since this has been specified in verse 8. Item 1 focuses rather on the series of events which occur during the period of his coming. Items 3 and 6 overlap present and future: those who are to perish are already beginning to perish. The notes on verse 11 will suggest reasons for the translation “the reason for this is that God is sending….” The other items raise no special problems. Item 4 is clearly marked as occurring at a point in the past. Item 5 focuses on the point of final and complete salvation. The translation of item 7 will be determined by that of item 6, the main verb. The context clearly places item 8 in the future.

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 .