<p>2:7 <i>For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so, until he is out of the way</i>- The &quot;mystery&quot; could refer to the false teaching of the Judaizers, or to the development of the imperial Caesar cult. See on :6 and :7. &quot;The mystery&quot; in the New Testament refers to the mystery of the Kingdom, of the Gospel; and the Gospel likewise was &quot;at work&quot; through the Spirit in believers. But the man of sin is a fake Christ, and is associated with a false Gospel and another spirit and mystery. The 'working' is defined as &quot;the working of satan&quot; (:9), and I have noted that the great satan or adversary to the Lord was the Judaist movement. This is termed lawlessness because as Paul often shows, Judaism was effectively anti God's true Law. By not obeying the Gospel they were effectively not knowing God (see on 1:8).</p>