“and with every wicked deception among those who are perishing. They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth and so be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:10 CSB).
2 Thessalonians 2:10 identifies a kind of cause and effect relationship. But unlike the usual expression of this idea where a cause leads directly to an effect, the passage quoted above brackets the effect around the cause in the following manner…
Effect: “They perish…”
Cause: “because they did not accept the love of the truth…”
Effect: “and so be saved.”
We’ll discover why people “…refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them” (NLT) a little later in verse twelve. But first we should address two important points. We can begin with this observation: we increase our susceptibility to various forms of deception whenever we depart from the truth. The following portion of the New Testament book of Romans makes this abundantly clear…
“Ever since God created the world, his invisible qualities, both his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly seen; they are perceived in the things that God has made. So those people have no excuse at all! They know God, but they do not give him the honor that belongs to him, nor do they thank him. Instead, their thoughts have become complete nonsense, and their empty minds are filled with darkness. They say they are wise, but they are fools” (Romans 1:20-22 GNT).
This coming man of lawlessness will subsequently exploit that vulnerability…
“The meaning of this verse is not that everything (the man of lawlessness) does will be perceived as evil by people, but that it will be evil in its essence because it misrepresents the truth and leads people away from worshiping God. The same three words used to describe his miracles in 2Th_2:9 (miracles, signs, wonders) were used of the miracles of Jesus Christ (Act_2:22) and the apostles (Heb_2:4). It will appear to unbelievers living on the earth at that time that he is indeed God. He will be able to pass himself off as God and receive worship as God.” (1)
The second point involves those who find fault with God for punishing human beings who “…have refused to love the truth that would allow them to be saved” (CEB). One scholar addresses that objection with an instructive response…
“…justice often cannot occur without punishment for the oppressors. We understand the dynamics with injustice in this life, and yet some then protest that God has to be completely different when it comes to eternal life. The inconsistency proves telling.” (2)
(1) John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Bible Knowledge Commentary [2 Thessalonians 2:10]
(2) Craig L. Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the New Testament Copyright © 2016 B&H Academic Nashville, Tennessee [pg. 367]