Paul refers to "What restrains" the man of lawlessness (2 Thess. 2:6) and "he who now restrains" him (2:7). The Thessalonians were certainly aware of the what and the who of this restraint, but for us they remain a mystery. We can only offer an educated guess. The futurists are left with a similar puzzle. As I hope to demonstrate, the first-century Roman government was the likely restrainer of Jewish persecution against Christians (Acts 22-28). The restraint was in operation for decades. The Jews, for example, were "not permitted to put anyone to death" (John 18:31). We know that the restraint had to be in geographical proximity to the temple, and thus the restrainer resided in Jerusalem.
The "what" is likely the Roman civil government that, for the most part, kept the Jewish hierarchy from persecuting the infant Jewish Christian church. Roman restraint meant that the high priest could no longer use his judicial authority to call for imprisionment, persecution, and death of Christians (Acts 4:1-22; 5:17-42; 7:54-60). In time, however, the disturbances incited by the Jews at the directive of the high priest were affecting the Roman social order. Rome began to step in to halt the civil unrest (22:22-30; 23:1-22). When the Sanhedrin met to council to put James the brother of Jesus to death, King Agrippa wrote in anger to Ananus, and threatened that he would bring him to punishment for what he had done; on which king Agrippa took the high priesthood from him. (Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews in The Works of Josephus 20:9:1, 538). Here we see that Agrippa is restraining the excesses of the priesthood in protection of the church.
The Romans foiled a plot to assassinate Paul by restraining the Jews and providing safe passage for him to be moved to Caesarea (23:12-22). Clausius Lysias sent the following letter to "govenor Felix": "When this man [Paul] was arrested by the Jews and was about to be slain by them, I came upon them with the troops [using them as a restraining force] and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman" (Acts 23:27).governor against Paul" (24:21). Here is a direct reference as to how Rome was acting as a civil restrainer.
Since Scripture is our guide, and the Book of Acts continually puts the local agencies of the Roman Empire forward as the consistent restrainer of jewish aggression against the church, and Paul writes to the Thessalonians that "you know what restrains him now," Rome is the likely candidate.
If the force of Roman authority is what restrains, then who is the restrainer? This question is much more difficult to answer since we have to single out an individual with a name. Putting forth Herod Agrippa as the restrainer is an opinion beased on the available historic evidence. We may never know who Paul had in mind. What we do know, however, is that the people in Thessalonica knew who he was (2 Thess. 2:6).
Based on this brief survey of 2 Thessalonians 2, we can conclude that Paul is not describing a future Antichrist who will make a covenant with the Jews during a period popularly described as the Great Tribulation. Such a view is pure speculation that has no basis in biblical fact. Paul's man of lawlessness was revealed in his day, and God has blown him away.
