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no t reproach, “We beseech you, b reth ren .” His en treaty was concerning th a t most precious tru th , “ the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gather- ing together unto H im .” The purpose of his en treaty was “ to th e end th a t ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troub led .” There were some in Thessalonica who thought th a t “ the day of th e Lord” had already o r> as th e English Revision puts m>w p resen t.” T)iis rendering of the English revision gives the force of th e Greek b etter th a n th e Authorized Version, “is a t h and ,” or even the Amer ican Revision, “ is ju st a t hand.” W hat some in Thessalonica though t was th a t they were already in the m idst of th e judgm ents of “ th e day of th e Lord.” P aul tells them not to tak e up w ith any such idea, even though those who taugh t it claimed to have received it “ by Spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us i. e„ even though they claimed th a t they had had a revelation from some sp irit (cf. 1 Thess. 5: 20- 23; 1 John 4 :1 ), or by some word th a t P aul him self had spoken, or by some epistle th a t they had received from him. I t is prob able th a t some even went so far as to claim th a t they had had a le tte r from P aul to th is effect— th is will suggest why P aul though t it was necessary to guard against imposition by pu tting his signatu re to th is and o th er letters (cf. ch. 3 :1 7 ). Very solemnly P aul adds, Let no man beguile you in any w ise” (cf. Matt. 2 4 :4 ). There is no subject upon which m isleading teaching is more likely to arise th an on th is of our Lord’s retu rn . The Devil hates th e doctrine, and th erefo re does everything in his power to bring it into disrepute. P aul assures them th a t “ th e day of the Lord, i. e., the day of aw ful judgm ent to r sin th a t is coming upon th is earth in connection w ith our • Lord’s re tu rn to it (no t our Lord’s coming in th e air to .receive H is own to Himself, which, as far as we know, may occur a t any moment) “will not be except th e fall ing away come first, and the man of sin be revealed.’-’ “The falling away” means the g reat apostasy which the Spirit of God had revealed as to come upon th e Church. “The man of sin ” is not a system, b u t a person. The Roman Catholic Church is no t “ the man of sin,” though th ere are elements in th a t Church th a t are preparing for th e revelation of “ th e man of sin.” N o tr as yet doth th e Church of Rome oppose itself again st all th a t is called God or
th a t is worshipped; indeed, it multiplies objects of worship. The sp irit of an ti- Christ is indeed already abroad in th e world (cf. 1 John 2 : i 8 ) ; bu t all th is is to head up in an individual, here called “ the man of sin.” P aul also calls him “ th e son of perdition,” because he is fit for perdition and destined for "p erd ition ” (cf. Rev. 17 :8 -11 ). The same title is applied to Jud as Iscariot and to him only (cf. John 1 7 :1 2 ), bu t th is is a very insufficient foundation upon which to build th e conclusion, as some do, th a t Jud as Iscariot will be raised from th e dead and become the anti-Christ. “ The man of sin” is fu r th e r described as “ he th a t boasteth and exalteth him self again st all th a t is called God or th a t is worshipped (lit erally, an object of w o rsh ip ).” The Pope already claims to be viceregent of God and has been called by his follow ers, “ Our Lord God th e Pope.” But the final and supreme anti-Christ will go beyond this. “He sitteth in th e temple of God, setting him self fo rth as God.” This clearly implies th e rebuild ing of th e temple a t Jerusalem before th e full m anifestation of the anti- Christ. P au l had told them these things while w ith them (v. 5). There was something which restrain ed th e m anifestation of “th e man of sin” (v. 6, R .V .). P aul does no t say w h at th is was, bu t he says, “Ye know th a t which restra in eth .” The most probable con jectu re seems to be th a t it was eith er th e Holy S pirit or th e Church. While “ th e mystery of law lessness” already worked, P au l tells them th a t th e restra in in g one would restra in un til “ taken ou t of th e way (literally, un til it is become out of th e m id st).” This Clearly teaches th a t “ th e man of sin ” cannot be fully revealed, and th erefo re the “ g reat trib u la tio n ” cannot come until, th e Spirit as a dispensational agent is removed from th is earth , and of course, He cannot be removed until th e Church is removed (Jo h n 1 4 :1 6 ). In verse 8 “ th e man of sin” is also called “ th e lawless one,” i. e., one who will be th e incarnation of all th e law lessness and godlessness th a t has been working in mystery (cf. v. 7) for cen tu ries. As Romanism is a p reparation for th e anti-Christ, so also is anarchy. A fu ller description of th is lawless one can be found in Dan. 11:36-39, and also in th e la st book in th e Bible. The day of “ the lawless one’s” power is to be brief, “ the Lord shall slay him w ith the breath of His mouth, and bring
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