Do not let anyone deceive you in any way is equally emphatic in Greek and English. These words sum up the content of verse 2 and make it clear that Paul is thinking, not (or not primarily) that the Christians at Thessalonica might misunderstand something, but that someone might deliberately deceive them. An equivalent of do not let anyone deceive you in any way may be “do not permit anyone to fool you in the least.” In some instances an equivalent may be “do not believe at all the wrong words that people are telling you about this.”
For the Day will not come until makes explicit, as do virtually all translations from King James Version onwards, an idea which is implicit in the Greek, and which Paul would have expressed if he had not broken off his sentence at the end of verse 2. The key clause in verse 3 is literally “unless the apostasy comes first.”
The conjunction for would suggest a causal relation between not being deceived by the claims of the Day of the Lord having already come and the certainty of the future event for the Day of the Lord. Therefore it may be essential in some instances to translate “do not let anyone deceive you in any way, for you may be sure that the Day will not come….” It may also be important to render the Day as “that special Day.”
In some languages there is a problem involved in speaking about “a day coming.” Objects may come, but not time. However, in most instances one may speak of “a day happening” or say “it will be that day.”
From this point until at least verse 10, the translator has the difficult but necessary task of distinguishing between the meaning of the language Paul uses and the theological or other realities to which they are intended to refer. The latter aspect is the task of the biblical theologian. For example, general commentaries and many special studies try to answer the question: who is the one who holds it back in verse 7? (cf. v. 6). The translator should be aware of this and similar problems, but he should avoid any attempt to present a particular solution in his translation.
Final Rebellion translates a single word (cf. Revised Standard Version “rebellion”) which in secular Greek mean “desertion,” often associated with treason and rebellion against a lawful ruler. In the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonical books (or Apocrypha), the word is used to describe unfaithfulness to God or the denial of God. This is the meaning of the closely related English word “apostasy.” Acts 21.21, the only other place in the New Testament where this term is used, speaks of those who “abandon the Law of Moses” (Good News Bible). The element of rebellion is perhaps implied, and is certainly present in later verses of the present chapter, but the central meaning is that of being unfaithful to, abandoning, or denying something or someone. A previous relationship with the person or belief denied is strongly presupposed. The translation should not, however, specify a denial of faith in Christ, since the context does not refer only to people who have been Christians. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “first must many fall away from God.” As Good News Translation makes clear, “first” means “before the day of the Lord.” Paul is not beginning to number a series of points, and the translation should not leave the reader expecting a later sentence beginning “second” or “next.”
In many languages Rebellion can only be expressed as a verb, with some type of indication of those who participate in the rebellion. Until the final Rebellion takes place must thus be rendered in some languages as “until the time when so many people rebel against God,” “… turn against God,” or “… refuse to have anything to do with God.”
Appears is literally “is revealed” (Revised Standard Version). Passive verbs often indicate the activity of God, but this seems rather far-fetched here. “Reveal” in this verse does not have a technical theological meaning; it simply means that someone who had been hidden now comes out into the open, so the translation appears is satisfactory.
The Wicked One is literally “the man of lawlessness,” according to the most likely reading of the Greek, though some manuscripts, followed by King James Version, have “man of sin.”
In 1 Corinthians 9.21, a related form of the word translated here Wicked is used, not with a bad meaning, but to refer to non-Jews who do not know the law of Moses. Almost always, however, this and related words refer to those who actively disobey a law which they do know. Verse 4 shows that Paul is not thinking only of those within the Jewish and Christian tradition.
Good News Translation‘s the Wicked One, even with the capitals, is perhaps not quite as strong as the original. Bijbel in Gewone Taal‘s tempting “the one … who is lawlessness in person,” on the other hand, is a slight overtranslation. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch strikes a balance with “the enemy of God,” anticipating verse 4, and adds a glossary note. In a number of languages the Wicked One is rendered as “the one who completely opposes God,” or “the one who is against everything that God has ever said.”
Who is destined to hell is literally “the son of perdition.” There is no doubt that this is the same person as the Wicked One, who is described in more detail in verse 4. The literal translation “son of perdition” is unnatural in English. It reflects a Hebrew idiom which describes, first, character (e.g. Acts 4.36 “son of encouragement,” Good News Translation “ ‘One who Encourages’ ”), and second, the group to which one belongs (e.g. Mt. 13.38 “sons of the kingdom,” Good News Translation “the people who belong to the Kingdom”). In the present verse, “son of perdition” almost certainly means neither “the perverter” nor “the corrupter” (Bijbel in Gewone Taal); not “the product of all that leads to death” (Phillips, a literal misunderstanding of the Hebrew idiom), but “the one who is to be destroyed” (“by God” [implied], therefore “in hell”). In verse 10 he will appear as the leader of others who are also to be destroyed.
In order to make certain that the relative clause who is destined to hell is a nonrestrictive attributive and qualifier of the Wicked One, it may be necessary in some languages to employ a new sentence, for example, “He is the one whom God will destroy” or “… destroy in hell.” It may be even useful in some cases to indicate the certainly of the destruction by saying “whom God will surely destroy in hell.” Destruction should be rendered, not merely as “killing” or “causing to suffer,” but by some such expression as “cause to come to an end” or “utterly ruin.”
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 .