Question about translation of a phrase in 2 Thessalonions 2:7

Question

Why are the words "ginomai" and "mesos" consistently translated "taken" and "way" in most translations? Is that rendering what they would consider consistent with the belief that the restraining is being done by someone other than the object in the sentence.Since "become" and "midst" make good grammatical sense and are a good translation of the words and the words they use seem quite a distance from the target. 2 Thessalonians 2:7

Answer 1

The reason for the OP perplexity has to do with two effects:

• the range of meaning of some words - "ginomai" has a wide range of meaning
• Greek idiom

Let us consider these one at a time.

γίνομαι (ginomai)

This verb can mean "come into being, am born, become, come about, happen", (Strong's). It is typically translated by as "born", or, "exist", "take place", "become", "accomplished", etc. That is, the word's meaning is context sensitive.

"μέσος" (mesos)

This word means, "middle, in the middle, between, in the midst of"

Literal Translation

The last four words of 2 Thess 2:7 read literally:

ἕως ἐκ μέσου γένηται = "until out of [the] midst he might be"

Now, to take something "from the midst" is take it out of the way - that is Greek idiom. This is why most version translate it thus.

Answer 2

... only he who is keeping down now `will hinder' -- till he may be out of the way, [Young's Literal 1862]

... he who restrains at present until out of the midst he be and then will be revealed the lawless. [EGNT 1870]

What some translations miss (due to a traditional view of the passage) is that the personage spoken of is hiding in plain sight.

He hides among others. Until such a time as he appears for what he is.

But by then it is too late.

He was there all the time. And now he reveals himself to be what he truly is.