For some time, I have wondered if “the man of lawlessness” (2 Thess. 2:3) is not akin to “the spirit of the antichrist” (1 John 4:3). Wilbur Fields, in Thinking Through Thessalonians (College Press © 1971), believes both have been present with us for a long time. The Living Bible translates the Thessalonian text “the man of rebellion.” Rebellion has been with us since Adam and Eve rebelled in the Garden of Eden. Oswald Chambers said, “Sin is red-handed rebellion against God.” We are seeing it played out 24-7 on TV newscasts.
We are living among the lawless. God told Ezekiel, “Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people” (Ezek. 12:2). Man, oh man, so are we! Isaiah said of his generation, “Oh, what a sinful nation they are . . . who have forsaken the LORD, who have despised the Holy One of Israel” (Isa. 1:4 NLT). The writers of the Old Testament say those generations were “hostile to God” (Psa. 2:1), “obstinate” (Isa. 65:2) “vile” (Psa. 14:1), even “violent” (Prov. 4:17). They rejoiced in the sufferings of godly people (Psa. 35:1), constantly plotted evil (Psa. 36:4) and were always speaking lies (Isa. 59:2). Shakespeare said, “Lawless are they that make their wills their law.”
Jesus had to deal with a lawless generation in His time on earth. He spoke of a “sinful generation” (Mark 8:38), a “wicked generation” (Matt. 12:39), and an “unbelieving and perverse generation” (Matt. 17:17). He even called some people “children of the devil” (Matt. 13:38) and “sons of hell” (Matt. 23:15). If His generation was that bad, what about today’s generation? Things are going to get much worse, according to our Lord. He warned, “More and more people everywhere will be doing very bad things. Because of this, many people will no longer love each other in the way they did before” (Matt. 24:14 EASY).
The apostle Peter called his generation “corrupt” (Acts 2:40), and Paul called them “a crooked and depraved generation” (Phil. 2:15). He declared that there would be “terrible times” in the last days and that evil men would go from bad to worse (2 Tim. 3:1, 13). We are seeing this fulfilled before our eyes today. Bob Russell recently wrote, “Scripture teaches that government exists to restrain evil and maintain order” (“When Chaos Masquerades as Justice” 1/11/2026). Many citizens, some of them claiming to be Christians, are brazenly rebelling against God’s appointed authorities (Rom. 13:1-5), creating chaos in our cities.
The writers of the New Testament say that generations in their era were “arrogant” (2 Pet. 2:10), “godless” (Jude 1:4), “enemies of God” (Rom. 5:10), and “enemies of everything that is right” (Acts 13:10). They were “haters of God” (Rom. 1:30), “hated the light” (1 John 1:5), and were “hostile to God and man” (Rom. 8:7). They “opposed truth” (2 Thess. 2:10), “gloried in their shame” (Phil. 3:19), and, as a result were “objects of [God’] wrath” (Rom. 9:8; Eph. 2:3). We must gently correct them in the hope that perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth so that they will come to their senses (2 Tim. 3:25).
God’s laws were written for rebels. “We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent” (1 Tim. 1:9 HCSB). We know the laws of God are perfect (Psa. 19:7), righteous and eternal (Psa. 119:160), and the delight of the believer (Psa. 1:2). Bountiful blessings await the believer who “looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it” (James 1:25 MEV).
The church of God should be a haven of rest for the weary believer in times like these. We all need a safe place to go as a welcome retreat from the lawless mobs around us. We also need spiritual leaders who will act as shepherds, feeding and protecting the flock that the Holy Spirit has entrusted into their care – the church which God purchased with the blood of His Son (Acts 20:28). However, the following verses were a “red alert” to the church then and are to the church today! “For I know that after my departure savage wolves will enter among you, not sparing the flock. Even from among you men will arise speaking perverse things, to draw the disciples away after them” (vv. 29-30). The NIV says, “distort the truth.” What a terrible thing to do! The Holy Spirit Himself said that in the last times “some will depart from the faith . . . speaking lies in hypocrisy” (1 Tim. 4:1-2). What an awful thing to do! Paul also warned that a time would come when people would not endure sound teaching but would gather to themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires (2 Tim. 4:3). What a selfish thing to do!
All this to say that living among the lawless includes being careful about lawlessness and lax teaching in the church today. May the church of the living God always be “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).
