The lawless one, the man of sin and son of perdition, embodies anomia, "without law," and his rise brings the mystery of lawlessness to its height; lawlessness ends in destruction. That mystery began in the Garden of Eden and was already at work in Paul's day. What restrains him is the opposite of lawlessness: God's law and its fixed standards, which have been woven into Western society through the Bible and the churches. As those biblical standards decline, lawlessness grows almost unchecked, strengthening after each revival. Paul's Greek uses neuter terms for the restraint, so it is a force, not a person. In II Thessalonians 2:8-12, Satan orchestrates the lawless one's appearance with power, signs, and lying wonders, and above all with adikias apate, "unrighteous deception," a doubled expression marking the height of deceit. It is aimed at those who have not received the love of the truth. Such deception keeps people from seeing that total lawlessness is self-destructive. God lets the Devil and the lawless one off the leash and sends strong delusion, deepening blindness already present, so that Christ can return and re-establish truth and law. Nearly everyone will be deceived, as Jesus warns in Matthew 24:23-25, but those who love the truth, keep God's law, and stay close to Him through His Spirit can see it coming. Smartphones and social media are already rewiring a generation, making them gullible and easily led toward lawlessness, a step toward this end.

The "Man of Lawlessness" in II Thessalonians 2:3-4 is a rightful rendering, and the KJV's "Man of Sin" says the same thing, because sin is lawlessness. I John 3:4 defines sin as the transgression of the law, so the two titles cannot be separated. Those who object to the NIV's wording show an antinomian, law-hating spirit. One Baptist pastor condemned the NIV for the change and claimed that Christ did away with the law, that the New Testament does not observe the Sabbath or the Feast of Tabernacles, and that the Beast will force law-keeping on believers. That claim reverses the truth. Jude 4 describes the same pattern: ungodly men creep into the Church and pervert God's grace into lawlessness and immorality, thereby denying Jesus Christ. The hatred of God's laws behind this perversion is Satanic. It has erased the Sabbath and Holy Days from mainstream Christianity and has led to laws that legalize abortion and homosexual marriage. Setting grace against law and works is a false dichotomy. Ephesians 2:10 shows that God recreates believers to do good works, so grace does not cancel obedience.