TH EO LO G IC A L L Y TH IN K IN G
Doctrinal pointers by Gerald B. Stanton, Th.D.
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T h e R e s t r a i n e r
A somewhat difficult and yet exceed ingly important passage of Scrip ture connected with the return of Christ is found in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12. It is recommended that the passage be read from the American Revised Version for greater clarity. It w ill be immediately apparent that the passage is a prophetic one and that there are two major person ages in view: 1) The Lawless One. Identified as the “man of sin” in verse 3 and the “wicked one” in verse 8, this is evidently the antichrist of the tribulation period (cf. 1 John 2:18-22; 4 :3 ; Rev. 13:1-10). 2) The Restrain ing One. In verses 6 and 7 Paul writes of a “hinderer” or “restrainer” who holds iniquity in check and shall do so until he be “lifted up” from the earth. Not until this restraining in fluence or personality be taken away can antichrist be unleashed. F au lty identifications. There have been many divergent attempts to identify the restrainer, several of which deserve brief examination. 1) T h e Rom an Em pire. Many post-trib- ulationalists favor the view that this “magnificent system of law and justice throughout the Roman world . . . held lawlessness and the Man of Lawlessness in check” (Reese). But history reveals that the Roman gov ernment was exceedingly corrupt and was of little consequence in holding back the tides of human sin. To the contrary, the empire fell under the sheer weight of her own iniquity. Also she has long ceased to exist as an empire while antichrist has not yet been revealed. 2) T h e Jew ish State. Warfield and others have suggested that Judaism, as the “protecting sheath” within which the infant Church developed, became the restrainer of iniquity. Acts 26:10, 11 records the havoc Saul and other Jews made of the early Church and this is sufficient to nulli fy this proposal. 3) H um an govern m en t in general has been suggested as the restrainer. While it is true that “the powers that be are ordained of God,” civil rule in itself is insufficient to resist the forces of evil and itself frequently becomes corrupt. Nor will human government be removed from the earth before the tribulation period commences. 4 ) Some have proposed that Satan is the restrainer of evil, holding him self in check until the time appointed for his full manifestation. Mark 3:25,
26 gives sufficient answer to this spec ulation. A better theory is that 5) the true Chu rch is the restrainer. While this view permits a pre-tribula- tional conclusion, it should not go un noticed that the restrainer is spoken of in both the masculine and the neuter gender while “Church” is always in the feminine. This fact makes it difficult to see the Church in this passage. A m ore p ro b a b le iden tification . A number of factors unite to identify the restrainer of 2 Thessalonians 2:6, 7 with the Holy Spirit. 1) All other suggested identifications f a l l f a r short of an adequate solution and so must be eliminated. 2) Since the Wicked One is a personality and in volves issues that are spiritual, by the same token the restrainer must be a personality and of a spiritual order. An impersonal agency cannot resist the forces of sin and Satan. 3) To accomplish his task, the restrainer must be a person of the Godhead, for none other can bind the strong one. Since iniquity is uni versal, the restrainer must be omni present. Since the workings of sin and Satan have permeated all ages of human history, the restrainer cannot be bound by time and evidently must be eternal. These characteristics are satisfied by the Holy Spirit. 4) Restraint of evil was by the Spirit in the days of Noah (Gen. 6 :3 ), and similar wickedness shall be a prime characteristic of the end time (Luke 17:26, 27 ). Likewise, in the days of Isaiah when the enemy came in like a flood it was the Spirit of Jehovah which lifted up a standard against him (Isa. 59:19). 5) In this present age, it is the Spirit that re bukes and convicts of sin (John 16:7- 11). Christians are given assurance that “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4 :4 ). All these factors strongly sup port the view that Paul writes con cerning the Holy Spirit in his epistle to the Thessalonians. When the Spirit is removed, then must the Church he taken up, for to affirm otherwise would make void the promise of Christ that the Spirit shall abide with the Church forever (John 14:16). W ith the Spirit and the Church both removed, it is small wonder that antichrist shall exercise full dominion and bring under bond age to Satan the men that dwell on the earth. END.
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