Read 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12.

1. What false teaching had the Thessalonians heard? And how does Paul say they should respond (v.2-3)?

    

    a. Have you ever been unsettled by false teaching? And how do we cultivate the capacity not to be easily unsettled or alarmed?

    

    The man of lawlessness is a much-discussed figure in eschatology (the study of ‘the last things’). We’re going to carefully unpack what is said here, so that we don’t rush to conclusions about who he is or is not!

    

2. Summarise what Paul says must happen before Jesus returns (v.3b-8).  

3. Is Paul describing a pattern of opposition to God repeated through history, or a final set of events in the future? Or both? 

4. What is the nature of the man of lawlessness and the purpose of his efforts (v.9-12)?

5. Paul links the man of lawlessness with Satan (v.9). How are they connected—are they one and the same? 

   a. From 2:3-12, who do you think the man of lawlessness might be? 

   b. Do you think the man of lawlessness is at work today? Why, or why not?

   Read 2:9-12 again.

6.  What part do Satan, the man of lawlessness, God and the unbelievers themselves play in their unbelief?

   a. How do these verses help us in our thinking about who becomes a Christian? 

7. Do you ever delight in wickedness? How does 2:9-12 stir us to encourage one another to delight in the truth? 

    

8. How dangerous is false teaching and what would you do if you heard it from the preacher this Sunday?