Difference between revisions of "Man Of Sin"

<p> <strong> MAN OF SIN </strong> (or ‘ <strong> lawlessness </strong> ’). Probably the equivalent in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10 of <strong> Antichrist </strong> (wh. see). According to the [[Pauline]] view, the [[Parousia]] would be preceded by an apostasy of believers and the appearance of the ‘man of lawlessness,’ ‘who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God’ ( 2 Thessalonians 2:3 f.). The appearance of this evil one and his oppression of the believers were prevented by some force or person. In course of time, however, this restraint was to be removed. The wicked one would exercise his power until the Christ should come to destroy him ( 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 ). </p> <p> The precise references of this statement are beyond final discovery. It is, however, commonly believed that the reference is to some historical person, possibly the god-emperor of Rome. Such a reference is, however, very difficult if 2 Thess. was written by St. Paul, for at the time of its composition the Roman State had not become a persecutor. The ‘one who restrains’ is also difficult to identify if the ‘man of lawlessness’ be the Roman emperor. For that reason it may be best to refer the ‘man of lawlessness’ to the Jewish people or their expected Messiah, and ‘he that restraineth’ to the Roman power. This interpretation is supported by the fact that in his letters to the Thessalonians, St. Paul regards the [[Jews]] as persecutors, while throughout Acts the Roman State is presented as a protector of the Christians. This identification, however, does not satisfactorily explain the reference to ‘sitting in the temple.’ It is, therefore, probably better not to attempt a precise historical interpretation of either the ‘man of lawlessness’ or ‘him that restraineth,’ but to regard the former as a reference to the expected Antichrist, and the latter to some unidentified personal influence that led to the postponement of his appearance. </p> <p> Shailer Mathews. </p>

<p> ( ὁ ἄνθρωτος τῆς ἁμαρτίας , <i> ''''' ho ''''' </i> <i> ''''' anthrōpos ''''' </i> <i> ''''' tḗs ''''' </i> <i> ''''' hamartı́as ''''' </i> ; many ancient authorities read, "man of lawlessness," ἀνομίας , <i> ''''' anomı́as ''''' </i> ): </p> 1. The Pauline Description: <p> The name occurs in Paul's remarkable announcement in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10 of the manifestation of a colossal anti-Christian power prior to the advent, which some of the Thessalonians had been misled into thinking of as immediately impending ( 2 Thessalonians 2:2 ). That "day of the Lord," the apostle declares, will not come till, as he had previously taught them (2 Thessalonians 2:5 ), there has first been a great apostasy and the revelation of "the man of sin" (or "of lawlessness"; compare 2 Thessalonians 2:8 ), named also "the son of perdition" (2 Thessalonians 2:3 ). This "lawless one" (2 Thessalonians 2:8 ) would exalt himself above all that is called God, or is an object of worship; he would sit in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God (2 Thessalonians 2:4 ). For the time another power restrained his manifestation; when that was removed, he would be revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:6 , 2 Thessalonians 2:7 ). Then "the mystery of lawlessness," which was already working, would attain its full development (2 Thessalonians 2:7 , 2 Thessalonians 2:8 ). The coming of this "man of sin," in the power of Satan, would be with lying wonders and all deceit of unrighteousness, whereby many would be deceived to their destruction (2 Thessalonians 2:9 , 2 Thessalonians 2:10 ). But only for a season (2 Thessalonians 2:6 ). Jesus would slay (or consume) him with the breath of His mouth (compare Isaiah 11:4 ), and bring him to nought by the manifestation of His coming (2 Thessalonians 2:8 ). </p> 2. The Varying Interpretations: <p> [[Innumerable]] are theories and speculations to which this Pauline passage has given rise a very full account of these may be seen in the essay on "The Man of Sin" appended to Dr. J. Eadie's posthumous <i> [[Commentary]] on Thessalonians </i> , and in Lunemann's <i> Commentary </i> , 222 ff, English translation). (1) There is the view, favored by "moderns," that the passage contains no genuine prediction (Paul "could not know" the future), but represents a speculation of the apostle's own, based on Daniel 8:23 ff; Daniel 11:36 ff, and on current ideas of Antichrist (see [[Antichrist]]; [[Belial]]; compare Bousset, <i> Der Antichrist </i> , 93 ff, etc.). This view will not satisfy those who believe in the reality of Paul's apostleship and inspiration. (2) Some connect the description with Caligula, Nero, or other of the Roman emperors. Caligula, indeed, ordered supplication to be made to himself as the supreme god and wished to set up his statue in the temple of Jerusalem (Suet. <i> Calig </i> . xxii. 33; Josephus, <i> Ant. </i> , Xviii , viii). But this was long before Paul's visit to Thessalonica, and the acts of such a madman could not furnish the basis of a prediction so elaborate and important as the present (compare Lunemann and Bousset). (3) The favorite [[Protestant]] interpretation refers the prediction to the papacy, in whom, it is contended, many of the blasphemous features of Paul's representation are unmistakably realized. The "temple of God" is here understood to be the church; the restraining power the Roman empire; "the man of sin" not an individual, but the personification of an institution or system. It is cult, however, to resist the impression that the apostle regards "the mystery of lawlessness" as culminating in an individual - a personal Antichrist - and in any case the representation outstrips everything that can be conceived of as even nominally Christian. (4) There remains the view held by most of the Fathers, and in recent times widely adopted, that "the man of sin" of this passage is an individual in whom, previous to the advent, sin will embody itself in its most lawless and God-denying form. The attempts to identify this individual with historical characters may be set aside; but the idea is not thereby invalidated. The difficulty is that the apostle evidently conceives of the manifestation of the "man of sin" as taking place, certainly not immediately, but at no very remote period - not 2,000 years later - and as connected directly with the final advent of Christ, and the judgment on the wicked (compare 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 ), without apparently any reference to a "millennial" period, either before or after. </p> <p> It seems safest, in view of the difficulties of the passage, to confine one's self to the general idea it embodies, leaving details to be interpreted by the actual fulfillment. </p> 3. The Essential Idea: <p> There is much support in [[Scripture]] - not least in Christ's own teaching (compare Matthew 13:30 , Matthew 13:37-43; Matthew 24:11-14; Luke 18:8 ) - for the belief that before the final triumph of Christ's kingdom there will be a period of great tribulation, of decay of faith, of apostasy, of culmination of both good and evil ("Let both grow together until the harvest," Matthew 13:30 ), with the seeming triumph for the time of the evil over the good. There will be a crisis-time - sharp, severe, and terminated by a decisive interposition of the Son of Man ("the manifestation of his coming," the Revised Version margin "Gr presence"), in what precise form may be left undetermined. Civil law and government - the existing bulwark against anarchy (in Paul's time represented by the Roman power) - will be swept away by the rising tide of evil, and lawlessness will prevail. It may be that impiety will concentrate itself, as the passage says, in some individual head; or this may belong to the form of the apostle's apprehension in a case where "times and seasons" were not yet fully revealed: an apprehension to be enlarged by subsequent revelations (see [[Revelation]] , Book Of ), or left to be corrected by the actual course of God's providence. The kernel of the prediction is not, any more than in the Old Testament prophecies, dependent on its literal realization in every detail. Neither does the final manifestation of evil exclude partial and anticipatory realizations, embodying many of the features of the prophecy. See Thessalonians , Second [[Epistle]] To , III. </p>

<p> (ὁ ἃνθρωπος τῆς ἁμαρτίας ), an impersonation of the sinful principle spoken of by the apostle Paul in an emphatic manner (2 Thessalonians 2:3). The context (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4) gives the following attributes or synonymous titles: </p> <p> (1.) apostasy (ἡ ἀποστασία, "a [rather the] falling away"), which precedes (πρῶτον ) the appearance (ἀπακαλυφθῇ ); </p> <p> (2.) son of perdition (ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας, i.e. one sprung from the fall (compare "that wicked"), and doomed to its penalty (comp. 2 Thessalonians 2:8); </p> <p> (3.) a persecutor (ὁ ἁντικείμενος ), especially of God's cause and government; </p> <p> (4.) a blasphemer (ὑπεραιρόμενος, etc.), i.e. one arrogating divine honors, and claiming to work miracles (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10). This is evidently an assemblage of the most striking characteristics of former Antichrists in Scripture, especially the "little horn" of Daniel. As that prophecy referred particularly to Antiochus Epiphanes, this passage must be understood as employing the conventional Scriptural language symbolically to indicate a then (and perhaps still) future effort on the part of some hostile power to overthrow Christianity, and induce its professors to renounce it. Such a peril is clearly intimated in several other passages of the N.T. (e.g. Mark 13:22; 2 Timothy 3:1; 2 Timothy 3:13; Revelation 20:8). But we are not to confine the prophecy to any one type of Antichrist; "in whomsoever these distinctive features are found — whoever wields temporal or spiritual power in any degree similar to that in which the Man of [[Sin]] is here described as wielding it-he, be he pope or potentate, is beyond all doubt a distinct type of Antichrist" (Ellicott, note, ad loc.). For a history of opinion on this passage, see Alford, Gr. Test. 3, proleg. p. 55 sq. (See [[Antichrist]]). </p>