Who is Paul discussing in 2 Thessalonians 2?

[CrowCross]

The restraint must be removed
Paul says the restrainer continues “until he is taken out of the way.”

From the original post...

The Restrainer is composed of praying christians, Eph 6 spiritual battles and doing Gods will....powered by the Holy Spirit.

 

[CrowCross]

Yes, the TRIBULATION saints, as well as faith they have a whole lot of do & don'ts to follow.
eg :-
- Don't take the 'mark'

If you are a christian alive at the time the beast system is completely rolled out and the mark becomes a mandate....I would think that you know the score....You've been through the 4 horsemen, you've been through Rev 8 and seen the destruction of great level mentioned...you've seen the two witnesses...your faith in what scripture says as well as Jesus will be on steroids. So-to-speak.

As a tribulation saint you know what the mark is all about. You will be fully aware of the repercussions of taking the mark.
As a tribulation christian...you won't take the mark.

 

[CrowCross]

So, are you interpreting "antichrist" as being THE Antichrist (implying singular) or are you interpreting "antichrist" as being that spirit of antichrist (implying plural)?

The spirit of antichrist is currently with us and has been with us...THE Antichrist will be a person and only seen after the Restrainer has been removed at the pre-trib rapture of the church.

 

[covenantee]

I have heard that argument several times...there seems to be a problem with it that's been accepted because ...we've always accepted that word "apostasia" to mean that....but has it?

Here's how the word apostasy was translated way back then....

The 4th generation Latin Vulgate used the word DEPARTURE.
The 1384 Wycliffe bible used DEPARTURE
The 1388 Wycliffe Purvey bible used DEPARTURE
The 1526 Tyndale bible used DEPARTURE
The 1535 Coverdale bible used DEPARTURE
The 1539 Crammer bible used DEPARTURE
The 1540 Great bible used DEPARTURE
The 1560 Geneva bible used DEPARTING
The 1576 Breeches bible used DEPARTING
The 1582 Rhiems bible used REVOLT...The first complete English Catholic translation.
The 1583 Beza bible used DEPARTING
The 1608 Geneva bible used DEPARTING


Note: The Rheims translators explicitly rejected "departing" because they wanted to frame the text as a prophecy against the Protestant Reformation. By using "revolt," they directly accused the Protestants of causing the end-times apostasia by revolting against the Roman Catholic Church and the authority of the Pope.


The changing of the world was a theologically biased based reason rather than a literal direct translation.


The word "revolt" influenced the King James Version and over time became the incorrect standard seen in modern bibles.

As I said in my previous post....2 Thes 2:3...doesn't mention faith. It's not there. It's been added.
Because nothing is next to the word apostasy such as faith to depart from....you must look at the text surrounding the word and derive the depart from what from the narrative being spoken about.
The narrative speaks of a gathering which is the rapture of the church AND in the next verse we read about the removal of the Restrainer which is the church working through the Holy Spirit...keeping the antichrist spirit in check via prayers, Eph 6, and doing Gods work. When the gathering of the saints via the rapture happens which removes the christian restraining influence...the antichrist now free to advance is revealed.

Debunked.