2 Thessalonians 2

2 Thessalonians 2:7: Midst or Way

By Alan Pohl

(2 Th 2:7 KJV) For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

I am including the readings from English versions prior to the AV of A.D. 1611.

Concerning II Thessalonians 2:7 -

I believe that the AV correctly renders mesoV as "way" in II Thessalonians 2:7. mesoV has the root meaning of "middle", or "midst". Whence Mesopotamia, the ancient name of the land called the Cradle of Civilization, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Mesos (middle) + potamos (river). Indeed, mesoV is so rendered in the AV 56 of the 60 times that it appears - "midst", "among", or in combination - "midday", "midnight".

However, there are two places where it is used in a different sense.
ek + mesoV

The preposition ek means "out of", or similar, and is used only with the genitive case.

The genitive case changes the ending, so it shows up in our Greek New Testament as ek tou mesou

These two places are here in II Thessalonians 2:7, and in Colossians 2:14.

(Col 2:14 KJV) Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

You cannot change "way" to "midst" in this verse without doing violence to the text. The handwriting of ordinances is our indictment as unsaved, dirty, rotten sinners, condemning us to the hell that we so rightly deserve. This is the insurmountable obstacle between us and fellowship with God. It is not in the midst. It is in the way - period - every bit like a big meteorite might have crashed down and blocked your evacuation highway from the most recent hurricane.

Such an impediment would have been in the way, not in your midst. In Greek, words can change meaning based on the form of the word and adjacent words. In English, there is no direct parallel. Words in English tend to have fewer different root meanings, and we instead typically handle changes of meaning with syntax.

It is not unusual for a word in Greek to have one primary meaning that is used the majority of times, yet still have a sprinkling of uses with quite different meanings. This is one of them.

This conclusion is corroborated by the English translations that were made prior to the AV in A.D. 1611:

Wiclif (A.D. 1380)
... til he be don aweie.

Tyndale (A.D. 1534)
... vntill it be taken out of the waye.

Cranmer (A.D. 1539) - this is also known as the "Great Bible" (for its physical size)
... tyll ... he be taken out of the waye.

Geneva (A.D. 1557) - New Testament
... til he be taken out of the way.

Geneva (A.D. 1560) - when the complete Bible was translated
... til he be taken out of the waye.

Geneva (A.D. 1609) - Unlike the AV, the Geneva Bible was revised, at least once.
... till hee be taken out of the waye.

Douay-Rheims (A.D. 1582) - God help us, this version was made under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church, and even it reads
... vntil he be taken out of the vvay.

Authorized Version (KJV) (A.D. 1611) - Our later editions update the spelling.
... vntill he be taken out of the way.

Thayer's lexicon has this to say:
ek tou mesou, like the Latin e medio, i.e. out of the way, out of sight:
airw ti, to take out of the way, to abolish, Col ii.14

(Thayer uses airw in the last line of the above. In your Greek New Testament, you will see this as hrke or hrken, which is the perfect of airw. Ignore the ti.)
Interestingly, Thayer also goes on to cite Isaiah 57:2, obviously referring to the LXX (Septuagint). I must caution that the LXX is a most thoroughly unreliable and corrupt translation of the Old Testament, as will be seen here. However, it is still useful for word and grammar studies such as this. Here is Isaiah 57:1-2 from the LXX: (1) See how the just man has perished, and no one lays it to heart: and righteous men are taken away, and no one considers: for the righteous has been removed out of the way of injustice. (2) His burial shall be in peace: he has been removed out of the way. (Isa 57:1-2 KJV) The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. {2} He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. If you will compare this with the AV, you will easily see why the LXX should be considered corrupt. What is instructive is that the phrase "out of the way" at the end of verse 2 is ek tou mesou. This supports the above understanding of the phrase.
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