"Lawlessness" has come up frequently in my recent study. First in Matthew 24, Jesus' prophesy of the last days before His return, when He says "Because lawlessness is increased, the love of many will grow cold" (Matthew 24:12).
That sparked my back-of-mind remembrance that the end-time personage we call "anti-Christ" seems to be the one designated "the man of lawlessness" in II Thessalonians 2.
It came up again when I was reading Skye Jethani's chapter "How to Fail the Last Judgement," when Jesus rejects the plea of those who point to their mighty works done in His name, telling them, "...I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness" (Matthew 7:23).
With more study, I was reminded that "lawlessness" is I John 3:4's very definition of sin: "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness" (my emphasis).
And John couldn't be more spot-on. God gave us "the Law:" the religious commandments to the Jews, but also the Spirit's direction in every man's "innermost being." Any act, word, or thought contrary His Law is, therefore, by definition, "law-lessness."
Understanding what scripture says about lawlessness seems especially critical for Christians in our time, which many of us consider the "last days" Jesus prophesied, and the time "...that man of lawlessness will be revealed..." (II Thessalonians 2:8).
This is also a time when so-called "Evangelicals" have made themselves a solid political "demographic" for a faction whose ways are entirely "lies" and "murder." Scripture's test whether we hear and understand its words is manifestly for this very time: "...what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness ?" (I Corinthians 6:14).
Amen.
Amen.
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