Second Thessalonians

 •  11 min. read  •  grade level: 11
 
Canonicity of the Epistle
PROF. J. B. LIGHTFOOT, D. D.—The external evidence in favor of the second Epistle to the Thessalonians is even more definite than that in favor of the first Epistle. It seems to be referred to in one or two passages of Polycarp, and also in Justin Martyr. It is found in the Syriac and old Latin versions; and in those of the Muratorian fragment, and of the heretic Marcion; it is quoted expressly by name by Irenæus and others at the close of the second century, and was universally received by the church. The internal character of the epistle too, as in the former case, bears the strongest testimony to its Pauline origin. Its genuineness has never been questioned.—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 3228.
The Coming of Christ, and the Man of Sin
2 Thess. 2:1-41Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4Who 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 2:1‑4). Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition: 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.
BISHOP THOMAS NEWTON, D. D.—The Thessalonians, from some expressions in the former epistle, were alarmed, as if the end of the world was at hand, and Christ was, coming to judgment. The apostle, to correct their mistakes and dissipate their fears, assures them, that the coming of Christ, will not be yet a while: there will be first a great “falling away," a great apostasy or defection of Christians from the true faith and worship. This apostasy all the concurrent marks and characters will justify us in charging upon the Church of Rome.
If the apostasy be rightly charged upon the church of Rome, it follows of consequence that " the man of sin " is the pope, not-meaning this or that pope in particular, but the pope in general, as the chief head and supporter of this apostasy. The apostasy produces him, and he again promotes the apostasy. He is properly The man of sin, not only on account of the scandalous lives of many popes, but by reason of their more scandalous doctrines and principles, dispensing with the most necessary duties, and granting or rather selling pardons and indulgences to the most abominable crimes. Or if by "sin" be meant idolatry particularly, as in the Old Testament, it is evident to all how he hath corrupted the worship of God, and perverted it from spirit and truth to superstition and idolatry of the grossest kind. He also, like the false apostle Judas, is " the son of perdition," whether actively as being the cause and occasion of destruction to others, or passively as being destined and devoted to destruction himself.
" He opposeth; "—he is the great adversary to God and man, excommunicating and anathematizing, persecuting and destroying by crusades and inquisitions, by massacres and horrid executions, those sincere Christians, who prefer the word of God to all the authority of men. The heathen emperor of Rome may have slain his thousands of innocent Christians, but the Christian bishop of Rome has slain his ten thousands. There is scarce any country, that hath not at one time or another been made the stage of these bloody tragedies: scarce any age, that hath not in one place or other seen them enacted.
"He exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; " not only above inferior magistrates, but likewise above bishops and primates, exerting an absolute jurisdiction and uncontrolled supremacy over all; nor only above bishops and primates, but likewise above kings and emperors, deposing some and advancing others, obliging them to prostrate themselves before him; to kiss his toe; to hold his stirrup; to wait barefooted at his gate, as Hildebrand did to Henry IV.; treading even upon their necks, as Alexander III did to Frederic I.; and kicking off the imperial crown with his Loot, as Celestin did to Henry VI.; nor only above kings and emperors, but likewise above. Christ and God himself, " making the word of God of none effect by his traditions," forbidding what God hath commanded, as marriage, communion in both kinds, the use of the scriptures in the vulgar tongue, and the like, and also commanding or allowing what God hath forbidden, as idolatry, persecution, works of supererogation, and various other instances.
"So that he as God sitteth in the temple of God; "—having his seat or cathedra in the 'Christian church: and he sitteth there " as God," especially at his inauguration, when he sitteth upon the high altar in St. Peter's church, and maketh the table of the Lord his footstool, and in that position receiveth adoration.
“Showing himself that he is God; " at all times he exerciseth divine authority in the church; affecting divine titles and attributes, as holiness and infallibility; assuming divine powers and prerogatives in condemning and absolving men; in retaining and forgiving sins; in asserting his decrees to be of the same or greater authority than the word of God, and commanding them to be received under the penalty of the same or greater damnation. Like another Salmoneus, he is proud to imitate the state and thunder of the Almighty; and is styled, and is pleased to be styled, “Our Lord God the Pope "—" Another God upon earth "—"King of kings, and Lord of lords." " The same is the dominion of God and the Pope "—" To believe that our Lord God the Pope might not decree, as he decreed, it were a matter of heresy "—" The power of the Pope is greater than all created power, and extends itself to things celestial, terrestrial, and infernal "—" The Pope doeth whatsoever he listeth, even things unlawful, and is more than God." Such blasphemies are not only allowed, but even approved, encouraged, rewarded in the writers of the church of Rome: and they are not only the extravagances of private writers, but are the language even of public decretals and acts of councils. So that the Pope is evidently the god upon earth: or at least there is no one like him, who " exalteth himself above every God; " no one like him, " who sitteth as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."—Dissertations on the Prophecies, No. XXII.
2 Thess. 5-8.—Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of, iniquity doth already work: only he who, now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed.
DR. THOMAS SCOTT.—The Roman empire, united under one potent government, and extremely jealous of all other power and authority, prevented the establishment of that spiritual tyranny and usurpation by which Satan was attempting to make his grand effort against Christianity; but it would not have been prudent for the apostle explicitly to mention it, in an epistle for general perusal; nor would it have accorded to the style of prophecy; however, most of the Fathers so far understood rim as to declare that Antichrist would not come till after the downfall of the Roman empire. Had it not been for this, obstacle, the evil would have broken out much sooner; for even when this was written, “the mystery of iniquity did already work." But the Roman Empire, which then "letted," or hindered its full effect, by keeping the church under persecution, and curbing all authority but its own, would continue to retard this event until it should be removed “out of the way." It was not till the subversion of the Western empire by the northern nations, and the division of it into ten kingdoms, that way was made for the full establishment of the Papal usurpation at Rome, the capital of the empire. —Com., In loco.
BISHOP THOMAS NEWTON, D. D.—In the same proportion as the power of the empire decreased, the authority of the church increased, the latter at the expense and ruin of the former; till at length the Pope grew up above all, and the wicked one was fully manifested and revealed, or the lawless one, as he may be called; for the Pope is declared again and again not to be bound by any laws of God or man. —Dissert., XXII.
BISHOP THOMAS NEWTON, D. D.—And doth it require any particular proof, or is it not too generally known, that the pretensions of the Pope and the corruptions of the church of Rome are all supported and authorized by feigned visions and miracles, by pious frauds and impostures of every kind? There hath been printed at London, so lately as in the year 1756, a book entitled, " The Miraculous Power of the Church of Christ, Asserted through each Successive Century, from the Apostles down to the Present Time; " and from thence the author draweth' the conclusion, that the Catholic church is the true church of Christ. They must certainly "not receive the love of the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness," who can believe such fabulous and ridiculous legends, who hold it a mortal sin but to doubt of any article of their religion, who deny the free exercise of private judgment, who take away the free use of the Holy Scriptures, and so "shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, neither going in themselves, neither suffering them, who were entering in, to go in."—Dissert., XXII.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—It is hardly necessary to remark that the Papacy has always relied for support on its pretended miracles. Even in our own age the wonders performed by the Prince Hohenloe, and by the pretended seamless garment of the Savior, have been proclaimed as true miracles, and as furnishing indubitable evidence of the truth of the Roman Catholic system. The dissolving of the blood of St. Januarius, the removal of Pilate's stairs to Rome, and the transportation to Italy of the "House of our. Lady," are among the miracles to which there is a constant reference in the Papal communion. In addition to these and to all similar pretensions, there is the power claimed of performing a miracle at the pleasure of the priest by the change of bread and wine into "the body and blood, the soul and divinity" of the Lord Jesus. The power of working miracles has been one of the standing claims of the Papacy. Lying wonders—all deceivableness of unrighteousness. It would be impossible for language to describe them more clearly, in the apprehension of all Protestants, than is done in this language of the apostle Paul.—Note, In loco.
IDEM.—To any one acquainted with the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, nothing can be more manifest than the correspondence of the facts in history respecting the rise of the Papacy, and the statement of the apostle Paul here. The simple facts are these: I. There were early corruptions in the church at Rome, as there were elsewhere, but peculiarly there, as Rome was the seat of philosophy and of power. 2. There were great efforts made by the bishop of Rome to increase his authority, and there was a steady approximation to what he subsequently claimed—that of being universal bishop. 3. There was a constant tendency to yield to him deference and respect in all matters. 4. This was kept in check as long as Rome was the seat of the imperial power. Had that power remained there, it would have been impossible for the Roman bishop ever to have obtained the civil and ecclesiastical eminence which he ultimately did. Rome could not have two heads, both claiming and exercising supreme power; and there never could have been "a revelation of the man of sin." 5. Constantine removed the seat of empire to Constantinople; and this, removal or “taking away " of the only restraint on the ambitious projects of the Roman bishops, gave all the opportunity which could be desired for the growth of the Papal power. In all history there cannot, probably, be found a series of events corresponding more accurately with a prophetic statement than this.—Paul, therefore, must have been inspired. —Notes, In loco.