Chapter 2

 

            Deception is the business of Satan. Since Satan has become the ruler of this world he has discovered that his genius is only good for deception. Satan has two basic systems of deception. One is religion and the other is revolution. Religion is designed to neutralise doctrine in the angelic conflict; revolution is designed to neutralise the laws of divine establishment in the angelic conflict. In the first part of this chapter it is Bible doctrine which is under attack. There were a lot of religious people in the ancient world and some of them got to the Thessalonians. False prophets are always in the midst and for that reason there is a great deal of eschatology in the Bible. Technically we do not need all of the eschatology that we have in order to glorify God, but we do need it from the standpoint of understanding His plan only as it relates to us in the future. And what relates to us in the future relates to us now because Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy. The Thessalonians were under a special attack in this field. The attack is still going on today. There are claims that the Church goes through the Tribulation, there are several claims that the Rapture will take place in the middle of the Tribulation and that the Rapture occurs at the end of the Tribulation. These are false doctrines and are an attack upon the whole concept of dispensations.

            Verse 1 — “Now we beseech.” In view of the fact that the object is to glorify God, in view of the fact that Jesus Christ is glorified by supergrace living, he says “We beseech.” It is the present active indicative of the verb e)rwtaw. The word “beseech” would be parakalew but it is not found here. E)rwtaw means to request, to ask. However this is a dramatic present and it means therefore an urgent request. In the Attic Greek this verb was used for interrogation. In the Koine Greek in the dramatic present it is an urgent request. Why does Paul make an urgent request instead of giving a command? Because everyone must decide for himself in the priesthood what he is going to do about doctrine after salvation. In salvation the issue is “what think ye of Christ”? After salvation the issue is “what think ye of doctrine”? In order that this issue might be thoroughly understood Psalm 138:2 says, He has magnified His Word above His name. Christ does not become an issue again until one reaches supergrace or is very close to it with the fourth floor of the ECS where the believer has capacity to love , category #1. At the same time from the launching pad comes love for Jesus Christ. Then when the person reaches supergrace or very close to it he is occupied with the person of Jesus Christ. He fulfills 1 John 4:19 — “we love him because he first loved us.” In that area God begins to pour. And as God the Father can pour, because the cup is there is supergrace, Jesus Christ is glorified. He is glorified before the whole realm of demons. With this in mind Christ is never an issue until supergrace is reached. There is no such thing as love at first sight, love must have capacity. The capacity comes with spiritual maturity, the point at which the priesthood functions. There is a hindrance to reaching supergrace and this is the problem with the Thessalonian believers. They are anticipating going through the Tribulation.

            The active voice: the apostle says “we” but he is speaking for himself and the right pastor of the Thessalonian church at that time. In other words, he takes the position of the pastor as an apostle. The indicative mood is the reality of being hung-up and therefore not moving forward to supergrace.

            “by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” — we have the preposition u(per which should be translated “under the coming.” U(per is a preposition of authority, it means to be under the authority of. These people need to be under the authority of the true doctrine of the Rapture and of the second advent. They need to be under the doctrine; “the coming” is parousia, used for both the second advent and the Rapture; here it is used for the Rapture. We know because of “and our gathering together to him.” That is the Rapture. It is the genitive of description of e)pisunagwgh — e)pi means upon, with escort; it means an escort or a guard of honour. We are not only the bride of Christ at the point of the Rapture but we are the guard of honour. We escort Him, as it were.

            “unto him” is the preposition e)pi plus the accusative and it means “upon him” or “around him.”

            Verse 2 — “That” introduces a purpose clause. The purpose clause is not introduced in the usual manner by a conjunction, this is a prepositional phrase, e)ij plus the infinitive, an aorist passive infinitive of saleuw and it is the object of the preposition e)ij. We have an ingressive aorist. The passive voice means to receive instability. The word saleuw means to be disturbed, and therefore in the disturbed state to be agitated. It can means, as translated, to be shaken. But they received the disturbance under conditions where they were looking for disturbance — the reactors: discouragement, boredom, disillusion, self-pity and loneliness, frustration, jealousy and bitterness. When you are hypersensitive to false doctrine is when experience has become the criterion.

            “that ye be not shaken” — the word “soon” is also a part of this phrase, it is the adverb taxewj which means quickly.

            “in mind” — we have a prepositional phrase, a)po meaning “from the source of,” plus the ablative of nouj. Nouj is the left lobe. When you have emotional revolt, the frantic search for happiness which is the reaction (which always triggers the emotional revolt), you actually have a reversal of GAP. The misuse of this information brings it over to the nouj. The nouj is the source of objective information but the nouj is also the waste basket for what you do not use. If it stays in the right lobe it has to be your criterion. Really this is the mechanics as to why when the vacuum opens up it sucks false concepts into the right lobe where the doctrine is no longer. This is why in Hebrews chapter six you have to relearn doctrine because it is no longer there.

            “or be troubled” — being troubled means that once you are out from under doctrine in your right lobe as a priest you are not troubled, this means to scream. It is the present passive infinitive of qroew. It has with it a noun, qrooj, which means to be so nervous that you could scream. Qroew means to be nervous and scream. In other words, to blow your cork. Once you have had doctrine and you turn your back on doctrine, and you make your experience or what is happening to you your criterion, it is like nervousness that is built up in people because they go without something they enjoy, something that is pleasant to them. Nervousness is built up for a lot of reasons. When doctrine isn’t your life you are nervous and irritable. That is what has happened to these people.

            There are three sources by which they could be attacked:

            “by spirit” — dia plus the genitive of pneuma. Pneuma here refers to demons. This, of course, is the last stage; “through a spirit,” literally, refers to the demons teaching you. The demons teach you when you drink of the cup of demons. You can’t drink of the cup of the Lord [supergrace] and the cup of demons at the same time. Supergrace precludes demon influence. But when the vacuum opens up and attacks the right lobe you have demon teaching. This is the last state being worse than the first. The first is a frantic search for happiness, the last stage is to be under demon influence, to drink of the cup of demons. No one drinks of the cup of demons without eventually dying the sin unto death. Whichever way you go with this is your attitude toward doctrine.

            There is another way in which all of this can be accomplished: through verbal teaching — “nor by word.” This is what happens in the early stages when you are on that cycle of frantic search for happiness, emotional revolt, intensification of reactors. Dia plus the genitive of logoj refers here to oral teaching of false doctrine. Logoj can be true of false doctrine, depending upon the context. Here it is the teaching of false doctrine. In this case we have false teachers communicating, it is a case of right believer priest, wrong pastor.

            The third way is “nor by letter” — dia plus e)pistolh, and that today would mean setting up a false criterion in writing. Today the epistles are all in the canon. Once the canonicity issue is settled it just simply means to read books that have false teaching and accept it.

            “as from us” — dia plus the genitive plural of e)gw, and it should be “through us,” which indicates they claimed that Paul had written this.

            “as that the day of Christ is at hand” — the great tragedy here is the phrase “day of Christ.” “Day of Christ” is the Rapture, but we have here h( h(mera tou kouriou — “the day of the Lord.” The day of the Lord is the second advent. It is translated here in the KJV “the day of Christ” but there is no Xristoj here. This forged epistle claimed that the second advent, the day of the Lord, is at hand.

            “is at hand” — the perfect active indicative of e)nisthmi. The intensive perfect means that it is drawing to a close with the result that it is almost here. In other words, you are in the Tribulation is what this says. This false epistle said that they day of the Lord is almost here; the perfect tense means just about here. In other words it says they are in the closing part of the Tribulation. But maximum suffering does not mean that the Tribulation has occurred.

            Verse 3 — “Let no man deceive you” is the aorist active subjunctive of the verb e)capataw. A)pataw means to deceive; with an e)c in front of it it means to deceive someone with something so that they are completely led astray. We can translate it “deceive thoroughly.” The believers in Thessalonica are thoroughly deceived and led astray with false doctrine, specifically the mid-Tribulational or post-Tribulational Rapture. The principle applies to any false doctrine. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist, that is a series of things have occurred with the result that we have at the culminative point a complete and thorough deception. The believers are completely confused.

            What is strong delusion? The average fundamentalist will say it is something an unbeliever has from rejecting the gospel so many times, but strong delusion is synonymous with e)capataw which means to be thoroughly deceived.

            Here in effect is a command, but a command that cannot be obeyed apart from many, many acts of GAPing it. Therefore the imperative mood is not used, the subjunctive mood is used. The subjunctive mood often carries the strength of the imperative mood, especially with the negative. So we have the aorist active subjunctive and this is called the prohibitive subjunctive. The subjunctive plus the negative has exactly the same strength as an imperative. The prohibitive subjunctive is different from the imperative in that it recognises many free will acts of positive volition are going to be necessary to avoid this deception.

            Then the active voice: the believer himself must be free from deception. There is only one way that you can be free from deception: “Ye shall know the truth [doctrine] and doctrine shall make you free.” “Stand fast, therefore, in the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free… and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage.” The yoke of bondage is false doctrine, demon influence, Satanic doctrine entering the right lobe of the believer. So we have the concept of deception and the only way to avoid it is to have doctrine in your own soul. So “Let no man deceive you” really means to be deceived with something to the point of being led astray, and in this case it is reversionistic revolution, revolt against God.

            The next phrase is kata mhdena tropon, a prepositional phrase. We have kata plus the accusative. The masculine accusative singular of mhdena is mhdeij. Kata plus the accusative is an idiom which connotes according to anyone’s norm or standard, no one by no one means, literally. Mhdiej is masculine in gender, so it has to be “no one.” For neuter it would be “no thing.” So, “according to the norm or standard of no one means,” and it is translated wrongly in the KJV “by any means.” It means that no one should have the means of superimposing their standards on you. This is the meaning of the Greek idiom. So the point is, don’t let anyone deceive you by their norms and standards. “Let no one deceive you with their norms and standards.” The norms and standards of this world are the norms and standards of Satan. Satan has his pseudo cup. It is a real cup, and this is where we must learn to distinguish between demon possession and demon influence because the cup is the opening of the vacuum into the right lobe by scar tissue, by negative volition toward doctrine, where by the doctrine of demons — 1 Timothy 4:1 — actually hits the right lobe, the frame of reference, enters into the memory centre. You get a new vocabulary: love everyone, be nice to your enemies, try to lead the way to world peace by disarmament, etc. These vocabularies lead to categories — let’s purify the air, etc. Then you get new norms and standards, Satanic type, so that in the launching pad you are full of brotherly love, the greater good for the greater number, and all of the Satanic doctrines. All of these things are designed by Satan to capture the soul of the believer and make the believer work for him. The only protection is doctrine.

            You have to remember that fallen angels or demons are the most frustrated creatures in the universe. There was a time in Genesis 6 when they could have a little fun with the daughters of men, but God chopped that off by the flood. The only thing demons can do now is to occupy the body of an unbeliever, male or female. So it switches over to demon possession. But there is still a point of frustration. What can demons do to believers? The body of the believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The only thing demons can do is influence. But demon influence often takes on all the characteristics of possession. Demon influence is a greater power than demon possession, so the greatest power of Satanic influence is on the believer. It comes with demon influence. We have three means of deception, verse 2 — “by spirit” refers to doctrine of demons; “by word” is the oral communication of false teachers; “by letter” refers to forged documents. The Thessalonians had received such a forged document, a letter allegedly from the apostle Paul but written by a faker.

            “except” is a negative third class condition which means undetermined with a prospect of being determined. The Tribulation is not here but it will occur in the future after the Rapture of the Church.

            “there come first” — aorist active subjunctive of e)rxomai. This is a gnomic aorist for an absolute principle. The active voice: the subject produces the action and the subject of going to be the great apostasy. The subjunctive mood indicates that at this point the great apostasy is merely potential, which would give the Thessalonians a clear idea that the Rapture was not going to occur during their lifetime. It will occur, but not in the apostolic generation. The word “first” means first chronologically. The Rapture must occur before the Tribulation. The man of sin belongs to the Tribulation, not to the Church Age, therefore the man of sin cannot be manifest until the Rapture has occurred, and the Rapture isn’t going to occur until first of all there is a great apostasy.

            “falling away” — a)postasia plus the definite article refers to the Rapture of the Church. A)postasia is generally transliterated as apostasy; it is erroneously translated here “falling away.” A)postasia means the departure, so this is not the passage where we can have any great apostasy before the Rapture occurs. “There must first come the departure [the Rapture of the Church].” The aorist tense of e)rxomai. This is a constantive aorist, along with the gnomic concept. The Rapture is an absolute but it is going to take, under the constantive view, all believers of the Church Age and move them out. They are going to depart; the whole body of Christ is removed from the earth. It isn’t an apostasy, it is a departure. This is a gnomic aorist in the sense that the Rapture is an absolute that terminates the Church Age; it is a constantive aorist in the sense that everyone involved is going to be removed at one time. Again the subjunctive mood: the Rapture is always a potential, it has not yet occurred. It can occur at any time and until it occurs historically it is always a potentiality. So first there comes “the departure.”

            Sometimes this is translated “falling away” and this word is preceded by a definite article. The definite article also removes any concept of falling away, it gives the idea of departure because the purpose of the definite article is to define the noun. The absence of the definite article gives quality. The removal of the definite article would simply talk about the quality of the Rapture but when you have the definite article with the noun it defines the noun. Therefore apostasy is totally out. Both the verb a)fisthmi and its cognate a)postasia should be translated “depart.” A)pistasia occurs only twice: in this context where it means departure, and in Acts 21:21 where it is translated “forsake” and should be translated “depart.” The verb on which it is based, a)fisthmi, occurs only fifteen times, and almost every time it is correctly translated. For example, Luke 2:37, “departed not from the temple”; 4:13, “the devil departed from him”; 8:13, “in time of temptation fall away” should have been translated “depart”; 13:27, “depart from me ye workers of iniquity”; Acts 5:37, “drew away much people after him” should be translated “caused many people to depart after him”; 5:38, “refrain from these men” should be “depart from these men”; 12:10, “the angels departed from him”; 15:38, “who departed from them”; 2 Corinthians 12:8, “I besought the Lord that it might depart from me”; 1 Timothy 4:1, “some shall depart from the faith”; 6:5, “from such withdraw thyself” should be “from such ones depart”; 2 Timothy 2:19, “depart from iniquity”; Hebrews 3:12, “in departing from the living God.” There is a departure and the departure is the Rapture.

            “Stop letting anyone deceive you according to their means: for except there come a departure first.” There must be the Rapture before the man of sin can be revealed.

            “man of sin” — o( a)nqrwpoj thj a)nomiaj, “the man of the lawlessness.” Probably here the lawlessness means the revolution. This is Satan’s man to lead a revolution against God in the last seven years of the Age of Israel. This man is the dictator of the revived Roman empire in the Tribulation. He is called the man of the lawlessness because Satan twice in history will make an offer. He offered Christ the kingdoms of the world. As the ruler of the world Satan made a bona fide offer. Jesus Christ said no. Satan will make the same offer the dictator of the Roman empire of the Tribulation and this man will says yes. The only problem is that Satan isn’t able to give all that he promises.

            The man of the lawlessness is identified in seven different passages by different names, according to what is being emphasised in the passage. For example, in Revelation 13:1-10 he is the beast out of the sea. Beastliness has to do with the fact that he is Satan’s man and under the control of Satan he sets aside the laws of divine establishment and becomes unreasonable like an animal. When you walk away from the laws of establishment all you have left is the world “animal.” All it takes is one old sin nature and one antiestablishment conscience and you have an animal. Secondly, he is called the little horn in Daniel 7:8,9, 19-26. In Daniel 9:26,27 he is the prince that shall come. He is called the abomination of desolation in Matthew 24:15. This particular title emphasises his religious activity. Abomination of desolation connotes a statue. The historical abomination of desolation was a statue of Antiochus Epiphanes in the temple at Jerusalem, but the prophetical abomination of desolation is a statue set up in Rome. One is historical and deals with the Jewish wars, and one is prophetical dealing with the Tribulation. He is called the prince of Tyrus [the Latin for Tyre] in Ezekiel 28:1-10, and in the same passage you have a description of Satan as the one who is behind this famous personality in the Tribulation. He is called the feet of the image in Daniel 2:31-45. This has to do with the rise of the Roman empire in the Tribulation. He is also called simply the beast on which the woman rides in Revelation 17. In other words, ecumenical religion must use political power to gain ascendancy. He is called the beast because he is the political power that brings ecumenical religion into its highest peak of power, verses 8-13.

            Here her is called the man of lawlessness. He is antiestablishment, he is Satan’s man. It doesn’t means that he is against law, it means he is against the laws of divine establishment, that he is going to be on Satan’s side with regard to all kinds of legislation.

            “be revealed” is the aorist passive subjunctive of a)pokaluptw. Again, we have a problem with the aorist tense. Here it is an ingressive aorist because this is the beginning of his revelation. We are talking about the departure of the Church from the earth. When the Church departs then — ingressive aorist — this dictator begins to be revealed. Until the Rapture takes place he isn’t even begun to be revealed. It should be “after the departure he begins to be revealed.” He is alive before the Rapture but is not revealed as the man of lawlessness until after the Rapture. The passive voice means the subject receives the action of the verb: he receives revealing. Historically he is unknown until after the Rapture. The subjunctive mood means that his revelation, therefore, is totally a matter of potential. You are told about him but you cannot identify him, says the subjunctive mood.

            “the son of perdition” — the Greek a)pwleia is the word for “perdition.” This word is used for only two people: Judas Iscariot and the beast. Both of these people live in the Age of Israel, Judas just before the interruption of the Age of Israel by the Church Age, and then the man of destruction after the departure. They are not the same. Judas Iscariot in John 17:12 is called the son of perdition; this man is called the son of perdition in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. Because the title occurs only in these two verses in the Bible it has led people to erroneously conclude that it is the same person, and that Satan is going to bring Judas back for the Tribulation. What they’re missing is the fact that Satan himself in all of human history has only indwelt two men. Satan indwelt Judas, not a demon; and Satan will indwell the man of sin. These are the only two cases of Satan possession.  

            In the angelic conflict God has provided in eternity past four different categories of grace. Two categories depend upon volition, non-meritorious, and two do not depend upon volition. First of all there is phase one grace which is eternal salvation, everything that God did and planned for us to possess eternal life. Phase one grace is a matter of volition and is therefore directly related to the angelic conflict. We appropriate phase one grace by faith. Also, in phase two, there is a type of grace where our volition is not involved: the grace by which God keeps us alive in phase two. Also in phase two is supergrace and this is a matter of volition. This is a matter of GAP. Supergrace blessing glorifies God and is the tactical victory. The strategical victory is the cross, the tactical victory is when the believer reaches supergrace. Then there is phase three grace which is called in Ephesians 2:7 surpassing grace. This is the wonderful blessing that we will have throughout all eternity. So there are four different types of grace which are open and it is the man of sin who opposes all four types of grace. He will, for example, oppose salvation grace and will seek to obscure the gospel. This will explain some of the strong delusion of the Tribulation. Also, in spite of all the efforts of the man of sin, there will be those in the Tribulation who will survive it and there will be those who will GAP it all the way to supergrace, which indicates something of the tactical victory involved in the Tribulation. Then, beyond the Tribulation there is phase three with its surpassing grace. The man of sin opposes all of these things. Right now the man of sin is not revealed because we are still in the Church Age.

            The Church Age is the intensification of the angelic conflict. Once the Rapture occurs there is no longer an intensification of the angelic conflict, for just as Satan could not stop the cross or the resurrection or the ascension or the session, so Satan cannot stop the Church, the body, being converted into the bride through the Rapture, through resurrection. Therefore the Tribulation is not the period of intensification it is the period of Satan’s vindictiveness. It is the Church Age which is the intensified age.

            Verse 4 — “Who” is a relative pronoun which refers to the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction.

            “opposeth” — present active participle from a)ntikeimi. A)nti can mean instead of or against, keimai means to lie down or to rest, and when you put this together it means to occupy a opposition. It means to be the enemy of, to be opposed, to be hostile. This is a static present which means in effect that this is the status of the man of sin from his rise to his fall through the Armageddon campaign and the second advent of Jesus Christ. He is in a state of total opposition to anything related to the Lord and the Lord’s plan. He is Satan possessed and he accepts the Satanic proposition rejected by Jesus Christ in the great temptation of Matthew chapter four. The offer of the kingdoms of the world will be made once more to the dictator of the revived Roman empire, the man of lawlessness in this passage. He will accept but, because of his inability to rule the kingdoms of the world under Satan, Satan will personally possess him. As a result the man of lawlessness becomes Satan’s chief agent in the world during the Tribulation. As long as the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit operates during the Church Age the man of lawlessness cannot exist and cannot be revealed. In other words, during the intensified stage of the angelic conflict God the Holy Spirit restrains Satan from ever making this offer to anyone else. So this is an offer that Satan cannot make until the Church is removed from the earth. Then the offer will be made at that time. So after the Rapture this restraint will be removed and the man of lawlessness will be revealed.

            He is opposed to any form of the divine institutions. For example, he is opposed to marriage and he will have a system of so-called freedom in sex. He is opposed to nationalism and will seek to have a strong international organisation. He is opposed to human freedom and will use the military, which is the basis for protecting human freedom, in order to destroy the freedom of those who oppose him. This is why we have the Armageddon campaign and why the man of lawlessness is involved. But here we see his opposition in a more personal way, his opposition to those who are born again in the Tribulation, the Tribulational saints. In opposing the Tribulational saints he is following the pattern of Satan and he exalts himself.

            “exalteth himself” — the present middle participle from u(perairw. This is a static present. The word means to lift one’s self up above everyone else and so it is the quintessence of arrogance and haughtiness. We not only have a reflexive pronoun but we have the middle voice of the participle to indicate again and to strengthen the idea, he is doing this for himself. Satan possession is very much like demon possession, it is designed to exalt the individual or someone connected with the demon possession. The man of lawlessness as the head of the ecumenical religious system manifests this particular pride. If you want to clinch your organisation what you have to do to destroy human freedom is to combine with your military conquests a very strong religion. Remember that religion belongs to the devil. This man does exactly that. He combines the states of western Europe into one organisation — the kingdom of the west, the revived Roman empire. But to consolidate this and to bring others under his sphere of influence he uses religion. So, “he exalts himself above all that is called God” is the religious activity of that day.

            In the Tribulation there will be an unusual combination, both of which we have had historically but never together. Historically we have had the military power of the Roman empire. Later on we have had the holy Roman empire which was a confederation of states in western Europe held together by the Roman Catholic church, and held together by religion. This holy Roman empire was finally broken up to some extent by the Reformation. In the Tribulation and in seven short years the two of these, religious and military, will be combined; and in the combining of these two you have a most unusual type of power and the enslavement of millions of people, for this is a terrible system of aggrandisement.    

            “that is called” is a present passive participle. The word legw here means designated or related to God; “or that is worshipped” — we now have a noun, sebasma, which means the object of worship. It is a reference to all religious systems in the world.

            “so that” introduces a result clause; “as God” is not found in the original; “he sits in the temple of God” — “He” refers to the man of lawlessness, but it doesn’t refer to him alone, it refers to his image. This is why he is called the abomination of desolation. The word “sits” is an aorist active infinitive of kaqizw. The concept here is first of all this: Jesus Christ as a man is seated at the right hand of the Father, so the devil has put a man at his own right hand. This is an attempt to duplicate, a pseudo duplication of the glorification of Christ. Satan seeks to glorify this man, as it were, so he sets him up in the temple. Of course, you can’t have a man sitting there all the time so an image is substituted. The Tribulational temple in Jerusalem suddenly has an image there because it is the objective of Satan to neutralise and destroy Israel since God must fulfill promises to them at the end of the Tribulation. Also, this dictator is in Rome and therefore his image is set up to remind not only those in Israel but the world that just as God has at His right hand Jesus Christ — who many people worship because of the evangelism of the Tribulation — so Satan has set up a man at his right hand. The image in the temple represents this principle. So what we have is a culminative aorist which gathers up into one entirety Satan’s religion, his system in the Tribulation. The objective is to set up something similar to the glorification of Christ. Satan by his own power seeks to set up the man of lawlessness, the dictator of the revived Roman empire, in the same way that the plan of God the Father set up Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father.

            “sitteth in the temple of God” refers to the Tribulational temple in Jerusalem, and this is similar to the abomination of desolation of Matthew 24:15. In the infinitive of “sitting” the active voice indicates that the action is produced by the dictator of the revived Roman empire and it expresses his purpose to seek to duplicate the glorification of Christ at the right hand of the Father.

            “shewing himself” — this is the participle of a)podeiknumi. “To proclaim himself” is the best translation. The present tense, however, is a dramatic present. This is not simply linear aktionsart but is a dramatic present tense, an idiom in the Greek to put great emphasis on what he is doing.

            “that he is God” — this is a trend of ecumenicalism in the Tribulation and takes us back to the old Roman empire when the emperor was declared to be God. The same trend will exist in the revived Roman empire of the Tribulation. The active voice indicates that the dictator of the revived Roman empire produces this action. The indicative mood is the reality of the revival of the emperor cult of the old Roman empire.

            Verse 5 — at this point none of these things have happened. Paul has taught very clearly to the Thessalonians believers that the Church will not go through the Tribulation. They have been deceived by a false letter as coming from Paul. They were told that because they were having trouble that this was the Tribulation. Yet this isn’t the Tribulation, there has been no revival of the Roman empire, there has been no such dictator, there has been no activity like this in Jerusalem. So we have verse 5. In other words, here is where Paul reminds them of the fact that they need to have these things again and again because they did not remember them.

            “Remember” — the present active indicative of mnhmoneuw plus the negative. The problem with the Thessalonian believers was reaction leading to a frantic search for happiness and emotional revolt which shuts down the valves of the right lobe, because mnhmoneuw means to remember something that you previously understood and had the ability to recall. Paul is calling for these things to be moved again once more into their memory centre. What has kept these things from the memory centre is the reaction followed by the emotional revolt followed by the intensification of reactors causing them to have negative volition, causing an attack upon their frame of reference from Satanic or demon doctrine, causing them to fail to recall and to lose the ability to recall. This means, in effect that they are going to have to relearn these things. But at this point he is reminding them that their failure is a category #3 breakdown in the function of GAP. The present tense is tendencial, it means it is time to start GAPing it. The active voice: they will have to start GAPing it back. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that they are in the early stages of reversionism.

            “when I was with you” — the present active participle of e)imi indicates that Paul was there not only to help the church but to teach, teach, teach, teach; “with you” is the preposition proj plus the personal pronoun su in the accusative case and should be translated “face to face with you.” That means a teaching situation.

            “I told you these things” — the imperfect active indicative of legw here means to communicate. The imperfect tense is linear aktionsart, past time. In the past he had communicated consistently these things to them. The active voice: Paul did the teaching. The indicative mood is the reality of apostolic teaching; “these things” are the doctrines pertinent to what we have been studying in this passage — the Church Age, the Rapture, the Tribulation, and so on.

            Verse 6 — the restraint upon the man of sin. “And now” — kai nun indicates the result of this reminder, it brings us down to the present moment. Kai is adjunctive, nun means right now; “ye know” — the perfect o)ida used as a present tense for the fact that there is doctrine still resident in the right lobe, in the frame of reference, but there is a breakdown between the frame of reference and its utilisation in the memory centre because these people are now being influenced by doctrine of demons, they are in the first stage of reversionism. Under doctrine of demons they are assuming that they are in the Tribulation because they are having difficulties. And they have been taught with regard to the restraint in the Church Age. While the Church Age is the intensified stage of the angelic conflict there is a specific restraint upon Satan. Satan has to stay within the rules which God has ordained, and one of those rules is that there will be no man of sin until the Age of Israel is resumed. The Church Age is the interruption of the Age of Israel.

            “what” — there is no “what” in the original, it is simply “you know who withholds” — the present active participle from katexw. Kat means a norm or standard; kata also means down; the verb e)xw means to hold. So here we have to hold down or to restrain, to suppress, to hold back, to keep in check. This same verb is used in Romans 1:18 where it is translated “hold.” The Holy Spirit keeps in check, restrains, the rise of the man of sin until the body of Christ is removed from the earth.

            “that” introduces a purpose clause, i(na plus the infinitive; “he might be revealed” — the aorist passive infinitive of a)pokaluptw. There is no way that there will be a revived Roman empire until the Church is removed. The aorist is a culminative aorist in that it shows at the end of the Church Age. When the Church is removed one of the results will be the removal of the Spirit’s restraint upon the Roman empire as a Satanic device. The passive voice: the man of lawlessness receives disclosure through the working of Satan, but his plan will not go into effect until the Church is removed. The infinitive expresses purpose, it is God’s purpose to restrain the revival of the Roman empire until the Church Age is completed. The principle that comes out of this: Jesus Christ controls history.

            “in his time” — kairoj means an epoch of time in contrast to xronoj which can be a moment of time. The epoch is the continuation of the Age of Israel or the Tribulation. That is a dispensation or an epoch, so that xairoj is a synonym for dispensation and the man of sin belongs to another dispensation, he does not belong to the Church Age.  

            Lawlessness means that Satan is utilising two counter attacks in areas where he is defeated. Satan is defeated by doctrine and he is defeated by the laws of divine establishment. Satan uses religion to counter attack doctrine and he uses revolution to counter attack the laws of divine establishment. The mystery of lawlessness deals with these two attacks, whereas the actual lawlessness of the Tribulation deals with the same attacks which were revealed in the Old Testament and was well-known and understood in relationship to the Tribulation or Daniel’s seventieth week.

            In the devil’s world there are two kinds of people, those who are born again and those who are unbelievers. We have seen the mystery of lawlessness, the attack of religion and revolution in reversionism on the believer. But there is also an attack upon the unbeliever, and it is the attack upon the unbeliever which is brought out in this passage.

            Unbeliever reversionism is represented in 2 Peter 2:18ff. We see an unbeliever who is inculcated with the laws of divine establishment from his home, from his family, and from his education. His parents taught him patriotism, that the only system of freedom for any national entity is through military victory and we must always have a strong military. His parents taught him the principle of free enterprise, the principles of law, all the concepts that are related to the laws of divine establishment. He understood these things. In 2 Peter 2 this unbeliever has a friend who is hooked on false doctrine which is contrary to everything that he has ever learned. After hearing it he goes absolutely negative to toward this false teaching, its propaganda, it was totally repulsive to him. Now this same person has another friend who takes him to hear a good evangelist who brought out all the principles of reconciliation and propitiation. And while it was a very clear presentation in the ministry of the Spirit he said negative to it. The moment that he says negative to the truth that immediately causes scar tissue on the left bank of the soul, it opens up mataiwthj, and for the first time Satanic propaganda comes through to his right lobe. The doctrine of demons of 1 Timothy 4:1 enter into his right lobe and all of a sudden he is going through a period of confusion, then a period of rethinking everything he has ever learned, then a period of reaction and a period of emotional revolt. The emotional revolt plus the infiltration of Satanic doctrine changes him up inside so that he now returns with his friend to the false doctrine. This time he hears the same person give the same false doctrine and says yes. And when he says yes he has now reached the point of strong delusion — or the dog returns to his vomit.

            The great attack in the Tribulation is now found in 2 Thessalonians chapter two, and again we have an unbeliever who is inculcated with the laws of divine establishment and principles of authority. He hears apostate teaching in the Tribulation and says no. But then he hears one of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists of the Tribulation and says negative, and then he goes back and he hears another message from ecumenical religion and goes positive to it, he says yes. He has now reached the stage of strong delusion. This is what is going to be discussed in our passage: strong delusion in the Tribulation.

            Verse 7 — “only he who now letteth.” The word “letteth” is a present active participle of katexw, a compound noun which means to hold down or to restrain or check. We have a retroactive progressive present which is something that is begun in the past and continues to the present. In other words, beginning with the day of Pentecost, the day the Church Age began, and continuing to the present and the Rapture, in this period of time this continues. The active voice indicates that God the Holy Spirit is performing some kind of a restraining ministry. The intensive stage of the angelic conflict also has a restraining ministry of God the Holy Spirit because the dispensation would not continue if everyone was destroyed. The devil with all of his genius does not have the ability to keep the human race intact.

            “will let, until” — the adverb e(wj refers to the Rapture of the Church. This is a temporal adverb designed to show that there is a termination of the Holy Spirit’s ministry. The Church Age comes to an end and the Tribulation which is a very short period of time functions without the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit; “he be taken out of the way” — the aorist middle subjunctive of ginomai. Ginomai means to become something you are not. The aorist tense here is a culminative aorist. He restrains until He is taken out of the way, and the culminative aorist takes the Church Age as one entirety. The length of any aorist tense is undetermined except by context, and we do not know the length of this particular entirety but the culminative aorist sees the ministry of God the Holy Spirit terminated at the end of the Church Age. The middle voice also indicates that the action of the verb is meaningful to whoever is involved. The action of the verb here indicates that the trends, the safety valves of history, are removed and had the Tribulation gone any longer there would have been a total destruction of the human race. That is why the Armageddon campaign can never occur until the Tribulation. There can never be a military campaign that will destroy the entire world.

            “out of the way” is literally, “out from the midst”. The removal of the Church Age removes the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in the field of restraint. The last years of the Age of Israel are filled with those systems of self-destruction that must be utilised to demonstrate Satan’s total inability to rule the world.

            Verse 8 — “And then” — kai tote. Tote is an adverb of time; kai is a continuative use of the conjunction. “And at that time” — after the Rapture of the Church, after the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit is removed. Then in the Tribulation Satan will make his offer once again as he did to Christ. This time he will select a man who is involved in a coup de tat, taking over the power of the united states of western Europe or the revived Roman empire. He is called “that Wicked” or literally, o( o)nomoj — “the lawless one.” This means he is Satan’s man. He is the dictator of the revived Roman empire of the Tribulation and he is also the religious leader of ecumenical religion in the Tribulation.

            “shall be revealed” — future passive indicative of a)pokaluptw. The future tense is the gnomic future. The gnomic use of the aorist states an absolute. The gnomic future is slightly different, it is a statement of fact expected in the future. It is something that will definitely happen in the future. This is not the simple predictive future but a gnomic future to indicate this man will arise in history. The passive voice: the subject receives the action of the verb. The dictator receives manifestation, he is presented, as it were, by Satan himself. The indicative mood is the reality of the manifestation of the man of sin in the Tribulation.

            “whom” — the relative pronoun refers to the man of sin, known in this context as the lawless one.

            “the Lord” — kurioj refers here to Jesus Christ and refers to the second stage of strategic victory. The Lord Jesus Christ will handle this person at the second advent; “shall consume” — again, we have a gnomic future active indicative, this time from a)nairew which means to lift up, to take off the ground. Here it means to kill. This person will be personally killed by the Lord Jesus Christ — “whom the Lord shall annihilate.”

            “the spirit of his mouth” — the instrumental of pneuma means breath here. This is also found in Revelation 19:15,20.

            “shall destroy” — future active indicative from katargew which means annihilation here. This, again, is a gnomic future active indicative and it means to neutralise here by killing.

            “with the brightness of his coming” — literally, “by means of the glorious appearance of his coming,” not the brightness: e)pifaneia means a glorious and even a glamorous appearance or display; “coming” is His parousia, the second advent.

            Verse 9 — “Whose coming [parousia]” — the word is used for the second coming, it is also used for the Rapture, it is also used for coming to someone’s house for dinner. Here the word “coming” doesn’t really mean the second advent, it means here “presentation” — “Whose presentation” — Satan is going to present the man of lawlessness, so parousia in this verse means the rise of the dictator of the revived Roman empire.

            “is” — present active indicative of e)imi. However, this is not our ordinary customary present, this is a futuristic present. The futuristic present is an idiom in the Greek to indicate that while this is still in the future it is just as real as if it was occurring now.

            “after” is the preposition kata plus the accusative denoting a norm or standard — “according to.”

            “the working” — e)nergeia, “the operational power”; “of Satan” — Satan himself is the operational power behind the rise of the dictator of the revived Roman empire.

            “with all” — e)n plus the locative of paj is “in the sphere of all.” Now we have three areas of Satan’s operational power. This man if actually Satan-filled and therefore the inherent power of Satan is brought into function. The word “power” is dunamij, inherent power. This is Satan’s power in the field of religion, social action, social gospel, and revolution. All of these things help to bring Satan’s man into power.

            The second phrase is another type of dynamics called “signs” in the English — shmeion is actually used for extra natural phenomena in the spiritual realm. Miracles, acts of healing, speaking in tongues, etc. The third area by which Satan advances his man is called “lying wonders”. The word wonders is teraj means propaganda. This is the infiltration of Satanic doctrine into the heart or the right lobe of this dictator. This dictator has gone through the process of unbeliever reversionism.

            This leads us to the concept of pseudo tongues which is one of the concepts under the second category.

 

            The doctrine of pseudo tongues

            1. The purpose of the true gift of tongues is discovered by comparing Isaiah 28:13 with its quotation in 1 Corinthians 14:21,22.

            2. Tongues was a temporary gift designed to evangelise Jews and to warn them of the coming of the fifth cycle.

            3. The first historical warning occurred in Acts 2:1-11.

            4. However, tongues were to be discontinued, as per the Greek exegesis of 1 Corinthians 13:8,10 were where we have “that which is perfect” being a nominative singular neuter. The neuter gender refers to a thing, not a person. The thing is the Word of God, the completion of the Word of God sets aside temporary spiritual gifts.

            5. Tongues continues as a system of pseudo spirituality under several conditions. For believers, demon influence; for unbelievers, demon possession. Under the system of demon possession the e)ggastromuqoj demon controls the vocal cords of the unbelievers and the result is the pseudo tongues activity. Where the believer is involved it becomes a psychological thing and emotional revolt plus the blackout of the soul makes it possible for a frantic search for happiness to be exercised in the field of becoming involved with the holy rollers. Cf 2 Corinthians 6:11-12; Romans 16:17,18.

            6. Tongues also continues as a Satanic operation in the Tribulation — 2 Thessalonians 2:9.

            7. The mechanics of tongues as Satanic operation is found in Isaiah 8:18,19; 29:4; Revelation 16:13,14.      

 

            In verses 10-12 we have the followers of the man of sin.

            Verse 10 — “And with all” is literally “in the sphere of all,” e)n plus the locative of paj. The word “deceivableness” is also the locative a)path and is a part of the same prepositional phrase. The word actually means delusion. It is a little stronger than deceit. Deceit is being fooled on one or two occasions; delusion becomes a way of life in which one is perpetually deceived.

            “of unrighteousness” — the locative of a)dikia in the plural. A)dikia means injustice, it also means falsehood. It means eventually any kind of unrighteousness but the unrighteousness always begins with falsehood of injustice. When a person has a love of the truth inevitably they have a love of justice and fairness. Always the people who are starting life and continue life under the delusion and are inclined to be unjust are inevitably the ones who inevitably also reject the gospel. There are certain characteristics that go together. Therefore this man of sin who is the dictator of the revived Roman empire on his political hat, and who in his religious hat also is the head of ecumenical religion in the Tribulation. This man himself has no love of the truth, this is characteristic of him. Also he has a great sense of injustice, not justice. Injustice is always tyranny. Many people can never handle authority, cannot take charge of other people, simply because they do not have a love of the truth, and therefore they are unfair and unjust. The man of sin, because he doesn’t love the truth, is a deceiver in that field and he utilises doctrine only to strengthen his own power and authority. Because of negative volition he himself has that vacuum in the frontal lobe into which that Satanic doctrine is drawn, and those who follow him follow the same principle. Their negative volition toward doctrine results in the opening of the mataiwthj and the infiltration of demon type doctrine. Therefore we find the inevitable occurring in the middle of this verse …

            “in them that perish” — the present passive participle of the verb a)pollumi which is one of the stronger words in the Greek for perishing. It means to destroy utterly and totally. The present tense is a tendencial present which means the action which will occur and does occur has not taken place as yet. The present tense is used for an action which will occur but is not taking place as yet. But it is placed in the narrative in the present tense to make sure of the fact that it will occur and that you should understand this. The passive voice indicates that a group of people are going to exist in some future generation, after the Rapture, who will be totally taken in by religion, completely destroyed by religion. This will be in the historical account of principles of life, this will be God’s demonstration that religion having maximum authority can only completely destroy its adherents and that the greatest enemy of mankind is that Satanic attack upon the human race called religion. Religion is contrary and in opposition to doctrine. The participle is a concessive participle, it indicates the fact that the writer in effect concedes that this will be a reality.

            “they received not” — the aorist active indicative of dexomai which meant to embrace, and then came to mean deceive later on. This is a constantive aorist which indicates that a person spends a lifetime in deceit, always deceiving. The constantive aorist takes up the lifetime of these people in the Tribulation and shows that they were always living under falsehood. The active voice indicates those who have lived by the lie, who are congenital liars, and who at the point of God consciousness were negative and antagonistic, and who at the point of gospel hearing followed suit. The indicative mood is the reality of this historical phenomena which will occur in the future and will be the capstone of the human viewpoint in western European civilisation.

            “love” — the word has to be a word which involves the soul and no overt demonstration, and only a certain part of the soul; a)gaph love refers to mental love only, it does not even extend to the point of emotion. Therefore it best represents to us the love which is inherent in God. God is love. His love is not in any way related to emotion.

            “of the truth” — the Bible doctrine; “that” does not occur here, it was thrown in by the translator to indicate a clause. An infinitive is parlayed into a clause to indicate purpose or result; “they may be saved” — the aorist tense is a culminative aorist. The inevitable result for these people in the Tribulation is that they were not saved. The passive voice: they do not receive salvation because they live by a principle, they do not receive truth at any point. They do not receive truth in establishment, they do not receive truth as it relates to God consciousness, they have rejected every principle from freedom to nationalism and therefore under the aegis of religion they press forward to a state of self destruction preceded by self-delusion. This is brought out by the infinitive which shows the result of failing to embrace truth at any point.

            Verse 11 — “And for this cause” — dia plus the accusative is literally “because of this.” Because of negative volition, because of embracing falsehood instead of truth.

            “God” — o( qeoj, God the Father; “shall send” — this is the Tribulation now. We have the present active indicative of pempw. The present tense is a static present, it represents a condition which is assumed as perpetually existing, a condition of reversionism which will exist throughout the Tribulation. It is a combination, therefore, of the futuristic present and the static present. It is a condition which will represent that closing part of the Age of Israel. The Age of Israel winds up in a great mess. The purpose of Israel: custodianship of the truth, dissemination of the truth. The inevitable result is the great apostasy of the Tribulation. The active voice: God produces the action by sending these people delusion, the inevitable result of their love of falsehood. The indicative mood is the reality of the blackout of the soul based upon reversionistic hardness of heart.

            “them” refers to the unbelievers of the Tribulation who come under the ecumenical religious leadership of the dictator of the revived Roman empire.

            “strong” is not correct. It is an accusative from e)nergeia which means “operational.” It means the active energy; the word “delusion” is a descriptive genitive planh which refers to delusion, deceit or false opinion — “the active energy of false opinion.” Never is human history do we get around the active energy of false opinion. It will reach its climax in the Tribulation where the entire western European civilisation plus religious adherence all over the world will live under the active energy of false opinion. This describes what is going on in our country right now. We live under the active energy of false opinion. Our Government is filled with false opinion as to what constitutes legislation and how legislation can or cannot solve human problems. No human problems are ever solved by intrusion upon privacy and freedom. Our Government has a false opinion that they can legislate answers to the problems of life. They cannot. Their purpose is to protect the rights, the privacy, the freedom of the individual, not to destroy it. Yet, their legislation now is destructive.

            “that they” — a preposition which means “with the result that,” e)ij plus an infinitive; “they should believe” — the aorist active infinitive of pisteuw. This is a constantive aorist. During the entire course of the Tribulation and during the active energy of ecumenical religion these people will believe at every point whatever false doctrine emanates from the office of the man of sin. The constantive aorist gathers up the entire trend of the Tribulation with regard to these people who have been enslaved by religion. The active voice indicates that these people under the type of reversionism — negative volition toward doctrine, the opening of the mataiwthj, the Satanic infiltration of doctrine, the blackout of the soul, and the practice of reverse process reversionism — will culminate in believing not the truth. The word “truth”, a)lhqeia, refers to doctrine.

            Verse 12 — “but had pleasure in unrighteousness” is the aorist active participle of e)udokew. E)udokew means to take pleasure in something, to approve of something or to acquiesce. The culminative aorist indicates a result of a constantive aorist. The constantive aorist: they habitually and continually do not believe doctrine and therefore they approve or acquiesce to “unrighteousness.” The unrighteousness here is injustice — a)dikia — and it describes the active energy of the religious system.

            The man of sin is the last world dictator before the second advent of Jesus Christ. Politically he will rule the revived Roman empire but religiously he will be the world ruler of ecumenical religion. Those who reject Christ during the Tribulation will inevitably approve or acquiesce to the Satanic system and this man will utilise it.

            Verse 13 — the conjunction of contrast sets up a difference between Satan’s plan and the plan of God. We have the word “we” which is actually a pronoun and not a part of the verb. The nominative plural pronoun e)gw in the proleptic position refers to believers only.

            “we are bound” — the present active indicative of the verb of obligation o)feilw. This is a static present which indicates the perpetual function of the priesthood on earth. It should be translated “we are obligated.” The active voice indicates that the believer priest produces the action. The indicative mood is the reality of the believer priest presenting thanksgiving to God.

            “to give thanks” is a present active infinitive of e)uxaristew, a function which depends upon doctrine. This is a static present, this should be the function of the priesthood throughout phase two.

            “to God” — “with reference to God” is a more literal translation; “for you” is literally “concerning you.”

“brethren beloved of the Lord” — the preposition u(po plus the ablative means “by the Lord.”

            Now we have the ministry of God the Father which is the basis for this thanksgiving — “because God” is literally, “because the God,” o( qeoj.

            “that chosen” — the aorist middle indicative of the verb a)irew. It means to take or to choose. In the middle voice it means to elect or to choose, and we can translate it “the God has elected.” The aorist tense is a culminative aorist, it indicates the entirety is the decree of God in eternity past. The culminative aorist shows the result of the decree, we are personally elected by God.

            “from the beginning” is the preposition a)po which means actually, “before the beginning.” A beginning which existed before the beginning means eternity past. He has elected us from eternity past “to salvation.” The preposition e)ij here means “with the result of salvation.”

 

            The doctrine of election

            1. All members of the human race are potentially elected to the plan of God. This potential election is the doctrine of unlimited atonement in 2 Timothy 2:10. When Christ hung upon the cross the sins of the entire world were poured out upon Him and judged, so that all of the human race is potentially elected. This is the fairness of the justice of God. Christ did not die for the elect, Christ died for all members of the human race.

            2. Christ was elected in eternity past, according to Isaiah 42:1; 1 Peter 2:4,6. Election for the believer means to share the election of Christ and the destiny of Christ. Jesus Christ was elected, as it were, first because He was commissioned to be a royal high priest. Therefore He was elected and as members of the body of Christ in the Church Age we share in that election as well as in that royal priesthood.

            3. This election of Christ occurred in the doctrine of divine decrees and/or the eternal life conference. Therefore every believer is actually involved in this eternal life conference, John 15:16; Ephesians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2. Remember that election is simply sharing the election of Jesus Christ. God the Father elected Jesus Christ for a destiny and we share that.

            4. Every believer shares the election of Christ through the mechanics of positional sanctification — 1 Corinthians 1:2, 30; Romans 8:28-32; Ephesians 1:4. This means that we are related to Christ in His death by positional truth, His resurrection, ascension and session. This means that we have purpose and definition in phase two. This is the strategical victory of the angelic conflict. The strategical victory was planned in eternity past and we are also related to that victory in eternity past — doctrine of election and predestination. So every believer priest is tied into strategic victory in eternity past, at the cross, and at the right hand of the Father where Christ is glorified as the high priest. We are tied into every facet of strategical victory. We are entered into union with Christ, the baptism of the Holy Spirit accomplishes all of these. So that whenever we here the word “predestination” it simply means that in eternity past God the Father ordained in the divine decrees that Jesus Christ would have a glorious destiny, a destiny in which He would be glorified in His humanity as a royal priest. Predestination has to do with the believer’s royal priesthood. The believer is related to God at the point of the planning of strategic victory.

            5. Election is the present as well as the future possession of every believer. Therefore election is the temporal as well the eternal possession of every believer — John 15:16; Colossians 3:12.

            6. This election occurs at the moment of salvation for us. It occurs in a twofold sense. We enter into union with Christ and we share His election; we enter into union with Christ and we share His destiny — 1 Thessalonians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 1:9.

            7. Election, then, is the foundation of the Church — 1 Thessalonians 1:4. The Church is actually made up of every person on the earth who is a royal priest. That is the Church universal.

            8. Orientation to election comes through Bible doctrine in the human spirit — Titus 1:1.

            9. The regenerate Jews of the previous dispensation also had an election as a part of the plan of God — Romans 11:1-7. So believers in every dispensation are written up in the election. However, in the election plan of God in eternity past they were no priests. They came under a specialised priesthood and only a few of them were priests in the family of Aaron of the tribe of Levi.

 

            “through sanctification of the Spirit” — the preposition e)n plus the instrumental of a(giosmoj, a rather technical term, The word “through” is not correct, e)n plus the instrumental should be translated “by means of.” The words “of the Spirit” is a descriptive genitive of pneuma — “by means of set apartness.” The word “sanctification” means set apartness. The descriptive genitive, “of the Holy Spirit”, indicates that God the Holy Spirit is the one who accomplishes or executes this sanctification.

 

            The doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit

            1. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a function of the third person of the Trinity which did not occur before the Church Age — in fact, was not necessary. It could not occur until Jesus Christ had achieved strategic victory from the cross, resurrection, ascension and session. Until there is strategic victory God the Holy Spirit could not function under the baptism of the Spirit. After the strategic victory was completed at the ascension and session ten days later the baptism of the Spirit occurs for the first time. Why? Because the Age of Israel is interrupted and a new dispensation is necessary to fulfill the principle of the intensified stage of the angelic conflict. The Levitical priesthood is inadequate for the intensified stage of the angelic conflict. Christ is at the right hand of the Father, He has broken the back of Satan, and therefore it is impossible to continue in a dispensation of a specialised priesthood. There must be a universal priesthood, every believer must be able to represent himself before God in this intensified stage. The reason is that every believer is a target in the angelic conflict and therefore an entire new dispensation begins, the Age of Israel is interrupted before its completion, the completion of Israel is in the Tribulation. In this particular dispensation, the Church Age, it is imperative to understand a total change has occurred, a change which makes every believer what Melchizedek was and what Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father, and that is a royal priest. So the baptism of the Holy Spirit is designed to take every believer in the Church Age and relate him to the decrees and election, relate him to the cross, relate him to Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the Father, waiting for operation footstool. No believer had the baptism of the Spirit until then. And, of course, the baptism of the Spirit on its first occurrence was accompanied by a special warning to Israel. It occurred in Jerusalem and it was only fair that all believers in Jerusalem might begin to understand that Jerusalem was close to its destruction and to its loss. Therefore the first time the baptism of the Spirit occurred it occurred in Jerusalem accompanied by another special gift — tongues. The purpose of tongues was to warn the unbeliever of the coming of the fifth cycle of discipline, it was not a part of the baptism of the Spirit. They occurred simultaneously on the first occasion but that is the only time, tongues is not a part of the baptism of the Spirit and later on Satan used it as a distortion of the baptism of the Spirit.

            2. We know that the baptism of the Spirit did not occur until the day of Pentecost because it was prophesied by Jesus Christ. While Christ was on earth the baptism of the Spirit did not occur because He prophesied concerning it — John 14:20; Acts 1:5.

            3. The mechanics of the baptism of the Spirit are given in 1 Corinthians 12:13 — God the Holy Spirit enters every believer into union with Christ. He is identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection and ascension; he is identified with Christ as Christ was a part of the election and a part of the destiny of the divine decrees. Therefore because of positional truth every believer is predestined to live with God forever under perfect circumstances.

            4. The unification of believers is achieved by the baptism of the Spirit — Ephesians 4:5.

            5. The implications of the baptism of the Spirit provide equality not existent in physical birth — Galatians 3:26-28.

            6. The basis for retroactive positional truth is found in Romans 6:3,4; Colossians 2:12. Retroactive positional truth identifies us with Christ in His death and the significant thing with this part of the baptism of the Spirit is the fact that when Christ was bearing our sins, which came from the old sin nature, He was also rejecting human good and lust which come from the old sin nature. Lust is the motivator of life, human good is the carrying out of this motivation. Human good was rejected. The royal priesthood demands that we never be motivated by lust or jealousy or bitterness, and that furthermore we never in our lifetime as a royal priesthood perform human good.

            7. The baptism of the Spirit is also related to current positional truth — Ephesians 1:3-6; Colossians 2:10. The implication of current positional truth: Jesus Christ is resurrected, He is seated at the right hand of the Father. We are in union with Him, therefore we share everything that He has. We share His heirship, we share His election, we share His destiny, we share His sonship, we share His righteousness, we share His eternal life. The very basis of strategic victory is now ours in toto. We have a total strategic victory and because we do it is imperative that we move to our tactical objective.

            8. The baptism of the Spirit begins the Church Age — Matthew 16:18; Acts 1:5; 2:3 cf Acts 11:15-17.

            9. The baptism of the Spirit is not an experience of any kind. It is not ecstatics, it is not speaking in tongues. The aorist tense of 1 Corinthians 12:13 plus the subject of that verb, “we all,” indicates that no one experiences this ministry of the Spirit at salvation.

            10. The baptism of the Spirit occurs at the moment we believe in Jesus Christ — Colossians 2:12.

 

            “and belief in the truth” — this gives us the entire picture, the picture that is so important to us right now, the picture of understanding that all of this occurs at the moment of faith in Christ. “Belief in the truth” means “belief in doctrine.” The word “belief” is a dative of advantage from pistij. This is how we are saved, this is when the moment of the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs. And then we have the objective genitive of a)lhqeia which means doctrine. The doctrine is gospel doctrine.

            Verse 14 — the objective here is supergrace. The purpose of salvation and staying in this life is to reach the supergrace life. God delights in blessing you to the maximum in time, right under the devil’s nose and in the devil’s kingdom. “Whereunto” is literally “Into which.”

            “he called” — the aorist active indicative of kalew. This verb is generally used to relate salvation to the eternal decrees. The aorist tense is a constantive aorist, which means that in eternity past God knew that you were going to believe and He provided everything for your life. So this entirety existed in eternity past. The active voice: God the Father produces the decrees in eternity past. His omniscience knew what we would need and what the situation would be at every moment in our lives. The indicative is the declarative indicative which views the action of the verb from the standpoint of reality.

            The means by which in time we entered into God’s plan designed for us in eternity past is now described — dia plus the genitive: “by our gospel” or “through our gospel.” It is called “our gospel” because this is addressed to believers and it is our personal possession, we have passed the point of salvation.

            “to” is the preposition e)ij and it is followed by the accusative of peripoihsij. It is translated in the KJV “to the obtaining” and it means “acquiring” or “appropriation” — “with reference to the appropriation.”

            “of the glory of Christ” — the glory of Christ is the supergrace life. So in eternity past not only did God design for us salvation but in phase two the supergrace life. That is the glory of Christ.

 

          The doctrine of the supergrace life

            1. Definition. The supergrace life is the ultimate stage of Christian growth, the stage beyond the ECS. It is the area of reaping what God has sown in eternity past. That is the constantive aorist of kalew. It is characterised by occupation with Christ and the supergrace capacities. Supergrace capacities include capacity for freedom, for life, for love, for happiness, for prosperity, and even for adversity. Above all, whatever supergrace blessings were assigned to you in eternity past you have the capacity to enjoy them.

            2. Characteristics. The supergrace life is related to the analogy of the sup running over in Psalm 23:5. The cup in the supergrace capacity is maximum blessing through capacity. The cup is made up of doctrine and God does not pour until you have a cup. God’s pouring is related to the supergrace life.

            3. A distinction, therefore, must be made. Supergrace is distinguished from other categories of God’s grace. We have salvation grace — Ephesians 2:8ff. The operation of that is a very simple one, it involves volition because salvation is a part of the angelic conflict. Salvation takes up the slack for what in the garden amounted to “don’t eat of one tree.” The forbidding of one tree was a volitional test, and salvation is a vol.itional test to the human race. So the operation demands positive volition in a non-meritorious way, and that equals faith in Jesus Christ. The second category of grace is the grace that keeps you alive in phase two. This is everything that God does for you that keeps the believer alive and intact in the intensified stage of the angelic conflict. No volition is involved, this is a matter of the sovereignty of God. There is a third category — supergrace. Volition is involved here. Positive volition is expressed toward the written Word instead of the living Word. The written Word is Bible doctrine. The fourth category in this distinction has to do with Ephesians 2:7 where you have “the exceeding riches of his grace.” But the Greek says, “surpassing grace.” Surpassing grace is phase three grace, and there is no volition involved. The angelic conflict is over, this is the place of ultimate sanctification, this depends upon the sovereignty of God and it lasts forever. These four graces must be distinguished.

            4. The analogy. Supergrace is analogous to God resting on the seventh day. This is brought out in Hebrews 4:3, 10.

            5. The love problem related here. Because supergrace is different from reversionism believers under discipline of reversionism sometimes have the feeling that in reversionism God doesn’t love them any more. When a believer is carnal Christ still indwells him, it is only when he goes into reversionism that Christ goes outside the door and starts knocking — Revelation 3:20. The issue here is, does God love the reversionist? The answer is, God loves every believer with maximum love. The issue was settled at the cross through propitiation whereby God found a way to love every believer regardless of his status in time and not compromise His righteousness and His justice. So the believer’s love response varies according to the amount of doctrine in his soul. God expresses His love in different ways, the means of expression is different. Expression to the supergrace believer is Romans 8:28 or God pouring.

            6. The key to supergrace begins with the happiness spectrum. It always begins with the acquiring of +H. Our +H runs all the way from tranquillity to ecstatics, it all depends on the situation. The key is sharing God’s happiness — Philippians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16. This happiness is acquired through the intake of doctrine — 1 John 1:4.

            7. The celebrityship of Christ. The supergrace believer has maximum love and appreciation for the Lord Jesus Christ — Lamentations 3:22-25; Hebrews 12:2; Colossians 3:1,2. The celebrityship of Christ has a constant test, the communion table is one of the issues. When believers reach supergrace communion has a meaning that it never had before.

            8. The capacity factor is involved in supergrace. The supergrace believer has capacity in the following categories: freedom — Galatians 5:1; James 1:25-2:12; Romans 8:21; 2 Corinthians 3:17; life — 1 Samuel 17:47; 18:5, 14, 30; love in all of its categories — category #1, Deuteronomy 6:6; 30:20; Joshua 23:10,11; 1 John 2:5; 4:19; category #2, Song of Solomon 8:6,7; category #3, 2 Samuel 1:26; happiness — Psalm 9:1,2; 21:1; 31:7; 43:4; 97:12; John 17:13; 1 John 1:4; suffering — 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.

            9. The availability of supergrace — Isaiah 30:18, God is tapping His foot waiting for us to get there. This is an anthropomorphism of impatience.

            10. The promotion of supergrace — Psalm 84; 1 Samuel 17.

 

            Verse 15 — “Therefore, brethren” — royal priests, members of the royal family of God. The present active imperative of sthkw — “stand fast.” Here it means to stand firm under pressure. The present tense is the progressive present. As you continue to take in doctrine you continue to stand firm. The active voice: the royal priest produces the action under the control of the Holy Spirit and the utilisation of doctrine. The imperative mood is a direct command. This verb means to be consistent.

            “and hold” — the present active imperative of kratew means to seize and to hang on to. To seize vigorously and hang on to means GAP. The word “traditions” is incorrect. It is the accusative plural of paradosij which means the “categories.” You must cling tenaciously to the categories of doctrine.

 Paradosij comes from the word “delivering” or “handing over” but in the plural it means to hand over something that is categorically arranged.

            “which you have been taught” — the relative pronoun refers to the categories of doctrine. The aorist passive indicative of didaskw refers to someone teaching you who is qualified. In the royal priesthood the only surviving qualification is the gift of pastor-teacher. The aorist tense is important here because it follows the constative aorist with kalew. Now we have the culminative aorist which recognises the function of GAP, the recognition of the authority of the right pastor, and being consistent in the intake of doctrine, so that the culminative aorist emphasises the results. The result is entrance into the supergrace life. You are taught until you reach that point. The passive voice: the subject receives the action of the verb. Didaskw means to teach with authority. The believers must receive this teaching. The indicative mood: the action of the verb is viewed from the standpoint of reality. Therefore we have an absolute assertion, and this is accomplished through doctrine “by the word” — dia plus the genitive of logoj.

            “or our epistle” should be translated “even our epistle.” We have dia plus e)pistolh in the genitive which indicates that Paul knew that this was a part of the canon of scripture.

            Verse 16 — the problem with this verse is the word “hope.” It is used in a number of ways — e)lpij doesn’t mean hope, it means expectation, anticipation. The problem is to find out what in context is expected or anticipated. This time the expectation is in phase three. But remember that we have a dual expectation. Our expectation in time is supergrace and supergrace blessing, but in phase three it is absent from the body, face to face with the Lord, ultimately the resurrection body and living with Him forever.

            “hath loved us” — the aorist active participle of a)gapaw is an antecedent type action, they have loved us from eternity past. Their love from eternity past ends up ultimately in having everlasting life. The ultimate reflection of the love of God is the fact that you are going to live with Him forever is a perfect state in ideal conditions. So the aorist active participle should be translated “having loved us.” The aorist tense of the participle is a culminative aorist.

            “and hath given us” — “given” is also translated like a finite verb but it is a participle with antecedent action. This one is a gnomic aorist. It is didomi. The culminative aorist followed by the gnomic aorist sets up an absolute principle.

            “everlasting” — ai)wniaj means eternal; “consolation,” paraklhsij means the act of encouragement. So paraklhsij simply refers to all scriptures dealing with phase three. Paraklhsij means eternal encouragement, but the eternal encouragement is what we have now, what we know now about phase three.

             “good hope” — the word a)gaqoj is an adjective that indicates absolute good or good of intrinsic value; e)lpij means phase three expectation.

            “through grace” — e)n plus the instrumental is “by means of grace.” Karij is surpassing grace here.

            Verse 17 — the application. “Comfort your hearts [right lobes]” — aorist active optative of parakalew which has two antithetical meanings. Parakalew means to exhort or it means to comfort. Here it refers to comfort and doctrine is the comfort of the right lobe. “Comfort” is a culminative aorist and it relates this to the supergrace life. By GAPing and taking in all of this doctrine so that you know all of these categories you ultimately come to the existing results, and the result is supergrace blessing. So supergrace blessing is the ultimate comfort of the right lobe of the soul. The active voice: the believer must GAP it to supergrace for himself. The optative mood expresses a wish or a desire which at the moment does not occur, but this is Paul’s desire for these people.

            “stablish” is the aorist active optative of sthrizw and it means to stabilise. Again, the aorist tense is a culminative aorist. This is the stability that comes from supergrace. The active voice: the believer’s stability in supergrace is part of the tactical victory. The optative mood expresses the writer’s wish for these believers.

            “in every good word and work” — .the preposition e)n plus the locative of sphere. The sphere is in “a)gaqoj word” which means that the supergrace believer does not spend his time running down other people. That is an intrusion upon their privacy.

            “work” simply means the production of the entire life which is the overflow of the harvest of the vegetation as seen in Hebrews 6:7, good production.

 

            2 Corinthians 12:7-10

            Verse 7 — Twice in this passage we have the word “lest” which is i(na plus the negative mh. It is correctly translated “lest” or “that not,” and introduces a negative purpose clause. The apostle Paul has reached the supergrace life and the key to his supergrace blessings is the abundance of doctrine. No man ever knew more doctrine than Paul.

            “I should be exalted” is a present passive subjunctive from the verb u(perairw. The word really means to be arrogant or to be elated. It meant originally to lift up or to carry, hence to raise up, to exalt one’s self, to be arrogant or to be elated. The present tense here has to do with the retroactive progressive present, which means “that I be not arrogant in the past with the result that this overflows into my life.” It also means over elation. The passive voice: Paul receives the action of being either exalted or over elated. The subjunctive mood is part of the syntax of the negative purpose clause also indicating that the over elation or arrogance is potential depending upon how well Paul handles his supergrace prosperity. Apparently Paul had a problem at some time and therefore he is going to suffer in a way designed for his blessing.

            “the abundance of revelations” — the instrumental of u(perbolh meaning “by means of the abundance.” It means the key to his supergrace life. We have the genitive plural of revelations indicating that Paul personally possessed more doctrinal revelations than anyone in his time and probably than anyone who ever lived.

            “there was given to me” — the aorist passive indicative of didomi. Notice that this was a gift to a person who was not out of line, a person who was in supergrace. This introduces the principle of supergrace suffering or at least one purpose for it. The aorist tense is a constantive aorist which gathers up into one entirety all of the time that Paul suffered from the thorn in the flesh. The thorn in the flesh is described so that there is no doubt as to what it is in Paul’s case.

            “to me” is not only dative of advantage but dative of indirect object, which means that Paul was to benefit from the results of the verb. There are several words for “thorn” and the one here is skoloy. The thorn in the flesh is said to be a messenger from Satan himself or an angel from Satan.

 

            The doctrine of thorns

            1. Thorns are associated with the curse of both mankind and nature at the time of the fall — Genesis 3:18.

            2. Thorns are used to designate divine punishment — Numbers 33:55; Judges 2:3.

            3. Thorns are used to designate the fifth cycle of discipline to a nation — Isaiah 34:12.

            4. Thorns are related to economic depression and recession under an agricultural society — Jeremiah 12:13.

            5. Unconquered people in the land of Canaan were called a thorn to the nation Israel — Numbers 33:55; Joshua 23:13; Judges 2:3. All of the people in the land should have been conquered and this brings up the issue of a nation handling its minorities. If it doesn’t handle them properly they become a thorn to the nation.

            6. Thorns are used for negative volition toward Bible doctrine — Proverbs 22:5; 26:9.

            7. Thorns describe the various stages of reversionism — Hebrews 6:8.

            8. Thorns are used for the details of life which cause negative volition toward doctrine — Matthew 13:7, 22.

            9. Jesus Christ wore a crown of thorns which signified being made a curse for us on the cross — Matthew 27:29; 15:17; John 19:2 Cf Galatians 3:13.

            10. The Millennial deliverance of nature from the curse of the fall is expressed by the removal of thorns — Isaiah 55:13; Ezekiel 28:24.

 

            The apostle Paul has a thorn in the flesh. This means a type of suffering. The thorn in the flesh is described here in this verse for the apostle Paul. This suffering is unique because it only applies to those who are in supergrace. The word is really not “arrogance” but “elevation” — “Therefore that I be not elevated by means of the abundance of revelations.” This is not a punitive type suffering, this is a suffering so that he will not lose perspective in supergrace. Paul is elated about the revelations, and if there is anything that will slow down elation and excitement it is to have a thorn in the flesh. This was a very painful thing for Paul because he had VIP treatment from Satan’s “messenger” — an angel, a)ggeloj. Then we have the ablative of satanaj — “an angel-demon from the source of Satan.” Here is a demon who cannot possess Paul but can disturb him, bother him. Paul is not influenced by demonism, he is not indwelt by a demon, but the demon apparently can pursue him and cause him trouble, and does.

            “to buffet me” — the present active subjunctive of kolaqizw. This is a present tense of repeated action. It didn’t happen all the time, it happened occasionally.

            “that I should not be over elated” — stated for the second time.

            Verse 8 — Paul does something about it, he starts to pray. he is going to pray about it because as a supergrace believer this has no precedent. There comes in the life of the supergrace believer only a type of suffering which has no precedent and does not fall into any of the categories which the Bible elucidates for all believers. This suffering is for supergrace blessing.

            “I besought” — the aorist active indicative of parakalew, used here for a very fervent type of prayer. It means to exhort as well as to comfort, and here it means to intensify his prayer. The aorist tense is the ingressive aorist which means he began to do this. “On behalf of this thing I began to beg the Lord.”

            “that it might depart” — a)fisthmi means to sheer off, to stand off — “that the thorn demon might stand off from me.”

            Verse 9 — the dynamics of supergrace. “And he said to me” — the perfect active indicative of legw. It is an intensive perfect, he said it in the past with the result that it stands forever. The existing results mean the alleviation of the problem.

            “my grace” — h( xarij mou; “is sufficient” — a)rkew in the present active indicative. The word means to be sufficient, as translated, it means to be contented, to be satisfied. It is not only a present active indicative but the present tense is a static present — “always my grace is designed to produce contentment for you.” Here is a principle. The intensity of the pain is emphasised in the Greek, and it is coming to a supergrace believer. The intensity of the pain is hooked up with supergrace to produce +H. +H is a spectrum that goes all the way from tranquillity to ecstatics. Ecstatics has been his problem and in time of pain +H takes us over the tranquillity side of the spectrum, so that we can have happiness on both sides. Ecstatics never prepare us for anything in life. That is not true of tranquillity; tranquillity carries the believer where ecstatics will not. The supergrace believer is always going to be on top of suffering. Grace makes the difference — “my grace produces contentment for you.”

            Then we have the illitive use of gar to express the reason for this — “for”; “my strength” — h( dunamij, there is no possessive pronoun here, it is literally “the inherent power.” In supergrace God gets to express His omnipotence to the maximum. Just as God had the omnipotence to save Abraham’s sexual organs from death to life, to bring him to the point of supergrace sexual prosperity, so God has the power, the ability, for a supergrace believer to convert the greatest disasters of life into contentment. This only occurs under supergace.

            “is made perfect” — present passive indicative of telew. The static present means it is always true for a supergrace believer. The passive voice means to receive fulfilment or completion.

            “in weakness” — e)n plus the instrumental of a)sqeneia — “by means of weakness”; “the omnipotence of God is fulfilled by means of weakness.” The thorn in the flesh, the angel from Satan, is stronger than Paul and therefore Paul would have the disadvantage, but the advantage is his in supergrace provision.

            Now the application. How does Paul respond to this? He uses a superlative adverb h(dista which means “with the greatest pleasure,” not “most gladly.” “Gladly” is a comparative adverb of mallon which means “to the highest degree.”

            “I will glory” — the future active indicative of kauxaomai which means to boast — “I will boast.” This is not sinful, this is supergrace function — “with the greatest of pleasure, to the highest degree, I will boast.” This is a gnomic future which means “this is my modus operandi.”

            “in my weaknesses” — e)n plus a)sqeneia, e)n plus the locative. He has discovered a new aspect of supergrace. Supergrace in its simplest form is capacity or the cup in the soul, and God pours. This overflows to others. There is another aspect. The first is all fun, blessing, happiness, things that people enjoy; but there is another set of circumstances which are circumstances of total suffering. God is glorified in the simplest concept because God does the pouring and God gets the glory. But supergrace capacity means not only capacity for blessing but it means capacity for suffering. It means that under conditions of suffering God can get more glory than He could have in any other way in the supergrace status. This is because the greater the suffering in supergrace the greater the glory to our only celebrity, the Lord Jesus Christ.

            “that the power [omnipotence] of Christ” — we have dunamij again, and this time it is related to Christ; “may rest upon me” — the aorist active subjunctive of e)piskhnow which really doesn’t means to rest, it means to bivouac, it means to take up quarters, to pitch a tent — “that the omnipotence of Christ may bivouac with me.” It is easy for God to pour blessings, it is easy for God to pour. But when you have suffering in supergrace it always involves your volition, and when your volition under doctrine is responsive to Him — occupation with Christ — then His omnipotence stands forth and He is glorified in a very special way. The omnipotence of God in pouring is no problem at all but when suffering comes into this picture then God gets a chance, as it were, to show us His omnipotence. Very few people get to see the omnipotence of God but a thorn in the flesh situation involving angels causing Paul great suffering gives God the opportunity to show His great power. And that isn’t all — to let you see it. And how do you see it? It bivouacs with you. God pitches a tent with you right there.

            Translation: “And he had communicated to me [in the past with the result that I have it forever], My supergrace produces contentment for you: for the omnipotence is fulfilled [carried out] by means of weakness in supergrace. Therefore with the greatest of pleasure, to the highest degree, I will boast in the weakness, that the omnipotence of Christ may bivouac on me.”

            Verse 10 — “Therefore” — conclusion — “I take pleasure” — present active indicative of e)udokew. The present tense is a static present — always that way in supergrace. Active voice: Paul produces this happiness. The indicative mood: the verb is viewed from the viewpoint of reality.

            Now he adds a series of five areas in which the supergrace believer will face the same type of suffering. The ere times when a supergrace believer will suffer with infirmities — a)sqeneia, meaning the problems of physical illness, loss of health. It is possible to be in supergrace and lose one’s health. But the purpose is to give you a blessing you could never have in any other way in this life; “in reproaches” means literally, “in the sphere of insults” or “malignings”. In other words, in supergrace many believers will know the thorn in the flesh through being maligned, misunderstood, insulted; “in necessities” means that God provides for supergrace believers in time of national disaster, the pressure of needs, lack of the details of life; “persecutions” — persecution from religion, from legalism; “distresses” — anguishes from disappointment and frustration in human relationships.

            “for Christ’s sake” is literally “on behalf of Christ” — u(per; “for when” — literally, “on the occasion when”; “I am weak [helpless], at that time I am strong” — the present active indicative of e)imi plus the adjective dunatoj which means that the omnipotence of Christ has bivouacked in your life so that nothing can get to you.

            Translation: “Because of which [supergrace status] I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in pressures, in needs, in persecutions, in anguishes on behalf of Christ: for on the occasion that I am helpless, at that time I keep on being strong.”