The following, taken from Jonathan Burke, The
Words of the Prophets, pp. 12-15, is a survey of the various
interpretations of the key themes in 2 Thess 2 (the "man of Sin," the
nature of the falling away, the identity of the Temple of God and who/what
restrains) from the 2nd century until the 13th:
2 Thessalonians 2 – The Falling Away and the Man
of Sin
The earliest expositions on this passage are totally
clear. Although unable to predict the
papacy as such, commentators from the 2nd to the 5th century
understood only too well that a great Christian apostasy would arise, coming to
power after the fall of the Roman empire, that it would be led by an apostate
Christian who would seek to make himself the head of
all the churches, and that the system he led
would persecute the true believers.
|
Date (AD) |
Name |
Man Of Sin |
Falling Away |
Temple Of God |
That Which Restrains |
|
|
|||||
|
180 |
Irenaeus |
Apostate
Christian |
Christian
apostasy |
Jewish Temple |
Roman Empire |
|
185 |
Tertullian |
Apostate
Christian |
Christian
apostasy |
Christian
Church |
Roman
Empire |
|
200 |
Hippolytus |
Apostate
Christian |
Christian
apostasy |
Jewish
Temple |
Roman
Empire |
|
300 |
Victorinus |
Apostate
Christian |
Christian
apostasy |
Christian
Church |
Roman
Empire |
|
306-373 |
Ephraem |
Apostate
Christian |
Christian
apostasy |
Christian
Church |
Roman
Empire |
|
315-386 |
Cyril |
Apostate
Christian |
Christian
apostasy |
Jewish
Temple |
Roman Empire |
|
389 |
Chrysotom |
Apostate
Christian |
Christian
apostasy |
Christian
Church |
Roman
Empire |
|
340-397 |
Ambrose |
Apostate
Christian |
Christian
apostasy |
Christian
Church |
Roman
Empire |
|
340-420 |
Jerome |
Professedly
a Jew |
Christian
apostasy |
Christian
Church |
Roman
Empire |
|
354-430 |
Augustine |
Apostate
Christian |
Christian
apostasy |
Christian
Church |
Roman
Empire |
|
393-457 |
Theodoretus |
Apostate
Christian |
Christian
apostasy |
Christian
Church |
Roman
Empire |
|
500’s |
Primasius |
Apostate
Christian |
Christian
apostasy |
Christian
Church |
Roman
Empire |
|
520 |
Andreas |
Apostate
Christian |
Christian
apostasy |
Christian
Church |
Roman
Empire |
|
604 |
Gregory I |
Apostate
Christian |
Christian
apostasy |
Christian
Church |
Not available |
|
606-10: The Bishop Of Rome Declared Universal
Pontiff – Head Of All Christian Churches |
|||||
|
c. 950 |
Adso |
Apostate
Christian |
Christian
apostasy |
Undecided |
Roman Empire |
|
1070 |
Theophylact |
Apostate
Christian |
Christian
apostasy |
Christian
Church |
Roman
Empire |
|
991 |
Arnulf |
Papacy |
Christian
apostasy |
Christian
Church |
Roman
Empire |
|
1033-1109 |
Anselm |
Apostate
Christian |
Christian
apostasy |
Jewish
Temple |
Roman
Empire |
|
1240 |
Eberhard II |
Papacy |
Christian
apostasy |
Christian
Church |
Roman
Empire |
Little did some of these expositors realise that it was to be their own Church which would fulfil this dreadful prophecy.
It is noteworthy that all of the
expositors in the following table are Roman Catholics – and that the earliest
application of this prophecy to the papacy is to be found in 991 AD, by a Roman Catholic Archbishop.
To the table below could be added at least another 58 expositors writing after
1800, all the way up to the late 20th century. This understanding of the passage was almost
universal.
185:
Irenaeus:
‘…let them await,
in the first place, the division of the kingdom into ten; then, in the
next place, when these kings are reigning, and beginning to set their
affairs in order, and advance their kingdom, to acknowledge that he who
shall come claiming the kingdom for himself…‘
Irenaeus, 'Against Heresies' Book III, Chapter 30, Sections 2-3,
185 AD
‘And again, in the Second to the Thessalonians, speaking of
Antichrist, he says, "And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the
Lord Jesus Christ shall slay with the Spirit of His mouth…”’
Irenaeus, 'Against Heresies' Book III, chapter 7, section 2, 185 AD
190: Tertullian:
’”For that day shall not come, unless indeed there first come a falling
away," he means indeed of this present empire, "and that man
of sin be revealed," that is to say, Antichrist, "the son of
perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or
religion; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, affirming that he is God…”
[…]
Only let him hold fast who now rules, until he is out of the way, who can
only be the Roman State, whose breaking apart and dispersal among ten kings
will produce the Antichrist, and then will the evil one be revealed…’
Tertullian, ‘On the Resurrection of the Flesh’,
chapter 34, 190 AD
200: Hippolytus:
‘…the other little horn that grows up among them meant the Antichrist
in their midst; the stone that smites the earth and brings judgment upon
the world was Christ.’
Hippolytus, ‘Treatise on Christ and Antichrist’, paragraph 28, 200
AD
315-386: Cyril:
’Moreover, the
Antichrist was prophesied to come when the times of the Roman empire have
been completed…
But this aforesaid
Antichrist is to come when the times of the Roman empire shall have been
fulfilled, and the end of the world is now drawing near.
There shall rise
up together ten kings of the Romans, reigning in different parts perhaps, but
all about the same time; and after these an eleventh, the Antichrist, who by
his magical craft shall seize upon the Roman power...’
Cyril, ‘Catechetical Lecture 15’, paragraphs 9,12, 315-386 AD
389: Chrysotom:
‘One may first naturally inquire what is that which withholdeth, and
after that would know why Paul expresses this so obscurely… ‘he who now letteth will let, until he be taken
out of the way.’
That is, when the Roman empire is taken out of the way, then he shall come;
and naturally, for as long as the fear of this empire lasts, no one will
readily exalt himself; but when that is dissolved, he will attack the anarchy,
and endeavor to seize upon the government both of men and of God.’
John Chrysotom, ‘Homilies on Second
Thessalonians II 6-9’, 389 AD
340-20:
Jerome:
’But what am I
doing? Whilst I talk about the cargo, the vessel itself founders. He that
letteth is taken out of the way, and yet we do not realize that Antichrist is
near.
Yes, Antichrist is near whom the Lord Jesus Christ 'shall consume with the
spirit of his mouth'.’
Jerome, ‘Letter to Ageruchia’, paragraphs 16, 17, 340-420 AD
‘My mind is
refreshed, and for the present forgets the woeful calamities that this last age
labours with, groaning and travailing in pain, till he who hinders, be taken
out of the way, and the feet of the iron statue be broken to pieces by
reason of the brittleness of the clayey toes.’
Jerome, ‘Commentary on Ezekiel’, book 8, preface, 320 - 420 AD
‘Let us
therefore affirm, agreeably to the concurrent judgment of all ecclesiastical
writers, that in the consummation of the world, when the Roman Empire is to
be destroyed, there shall arise ten kings, who shall share the Roman
world among themselves, and that an eleventh king (the little horn
in Dan. vii.) shall arise, who shall subdue three of those ten kings…’
Jerome, ‘Commentary on Daniel’, chapter 7 section 20, 320 - 420 AD
‘”that which
restrains” - is the Roman empire.
For unless it shall have been destroyed and taken out of the midst - according
to the Prophet Daniel, Anti-Christ will not come before that.’
Jerome, ‘Commentary on Jeremiah’, chapter 5 section 25, 320 - 420
AD
393-457: Thedoretus:
‘What the Apostle
calls the Temple of God are the churches in which this impious wretch will
occupy the first rank, the first place, striving to get himself accepted
as God.’
Theodoretus, note
on 2 Thessalonians 2, chapter 2, 393-457
604: Gregory I (Bishop
of Rome):
’The king of pride is near, and (awful to be
said!) there is an army of priests in course of preparation for him, inasmuch as they who had been appointed to be leaders in
humility enlist themselves under the neck of pride.‘
What then, dearest brother, wilt thou say in that terrible
scrutiny of the coming judgment, if thou covetest to be called in the world not
only father, but even general father?‘
For to assent to that atrocious title is nothing else than to lose the faith.'
Gregory I, Epistle XVIII, to John, Bishop of Constantinople, 540-604
‘Is it not the case that, when Antichrist comes and calls
himself God, it will be very frivolous, and yet exceedingly pernicious?
If we regard the quantity of the language used, there are but a few syllables;
but if the weight of the wrong, there is universal disaster.
Now I confidently say that whosoever calls himself, or desires to be called,
Universal Priest, is in his elation the precursor of Antichrist, because he
proudly puts himself above all others.’
Gregory I, Epistle XXXIII, to Mauricius Augustus, 540-604
‘But in this pride of his [John, the Bishop of
Constantinople] what else is denoted than that the times of Antichrist are already
near at hand?’
Gregory I, Epistle XXI, to Constantina Augusta, 540-604
991: Arnulf:
‘Yet
how would it fare with us, if it should happen that the man the most deficient
in all these virtues, one so abject as not to be worthy of the lowest place
among the priesthood, should be chosen to fill the highest place of all?
What would you say of such a one, when you behold him sitting upon the throne
glittering in purple and gold?
Must he not be the “Antichrist, sitting in the temple of God, and showing
himself as God?’’
Verily such a one lacketh both wisdom and charity; he standeth in the temple as
an image, as an idol, from which as from dead marble you would seek counsel.’
Arnulf, Bishop of Orleans, speech at the Council of Rheims, 991
1240: Eberhard
II:
‘With the greatest effort, Jesus also admonished that we
avoid false Christs, false prophets who, clothed in sheep skin with the name
of Christian and a Pontifical title, desire to rule and deceive us.
It is fitting they be recognized by their thorny works, especially avarice,
debauchery, strife, hatred, envy, wars, the desire to have dominion, and blind
ambition.
Can there be a more obvious meaning to these words which our heavenly Emperor
prophesies? He can only be pointing
to the Pharisees and Scribes of Babylon who, under the title of Supreme Pontiff,
we discern, unless we are blind, a most savage wolf whose skin feels as the
skin of a Shepherd.’
Eberhard II, Archbishop of Salzburg, speech at Council of Ratisbon, 1240
‘One hundred and seventy years earlier, Hildebrand
[Pope from 1073-1086] first laid the foundations of the rule of Antichrist,
under the peaceful appearance of religion, but, in reality, was the first
to inaugurate this nefarious war which has been faithfully continued by his
successors…
He who is the servant of servants desires to be Lord of
Lords, as if he were God; he despises holy assemblies and the councils of
the brethren, nay, rather of his own Lords…’
Eberhard II, Archbishop of Salzburg, speech at Council of Ratisbon, 1240
‘….He speaks great things as if he
were God and is ever scheming and plotting in his heart how to strengthen his
rule.
To this end he changes laws, he enacts his own, he corrupts,
he plunders, he defrauds, he kills; that morally depraved
man whom they are accustomed to call the Antichrist, upon whose forehead
is written the name of contempt, I am God, I cannot err; he sits in
the temple of God and his domain is far and wide.’
Eberhard II, Archbishop of Salzburg, speech at Council of Ratisbon, 1240