Translation
For the mystery of lawlessness is already working, but the one who restrains
Go to footnote number[will do so] until he is completely taken out of the middle.
Paraphrase
For the hidden secrets that give lawlessness its power are already at work, but the one who restrains him will keep doing so until he is taken completely out of the way.
Footnotes
1
Here it is a person who does the restraining, in verse 6 it is expressed in an impersonal manner, meaning “the thing that restrains.” It seems to me that both are referring to the Holy Spirit.
THE LAWLESS ONE
Paul’s discussion of “the lawless one” most likely had its fulfillment at the time of the destruction of the temple. Paul was trying to describe what he imagined as the “next Antiochus.” These statements may also have yet another fulfillment in the future, but we cannot know for sure what that might look like.
I keep saying things like this because most of us have read this passage as modern westerners without even thinking about AD 70.
THE RESTRAINER
Some think this act of taking the “restrainer” out of the way is an indication of the rapture. They say that the Holy Spirit will be taken out of the world when the church is raptured. The problem with that is this: Even most of those who believe in 7 years of unique tribulation think there will be opportunity for some to repent during that time. That would require the work of the Holy Spirit to convince them and then guide them in their new relationship with God. The book of Revelation is clear that there will be many opportunities to repent even during events that are partial judgments from God. It appears that, until the time of the final judgment, there will be time for repenting which, in my opinion, means the Holy Spirit will still be at work on this earth.
At the time of the destruction of the temple the Holy Spirit orchestrated things so that the timing for the confirmation of Jesus’ Messiahship would be just right. In order to do that the Holy Spirit had to hold some things back for a while and speed other things up a bit. So we can be confident that this “restraining” happened in AD 70, and we can also presume that all these things may take place again, but we cannot know how or when. It is common for God to work in ways that we do not expect and could never predict. We need to keep that in mind as we think about any possible double fulfillments of the words of Jesus or Paul or John.