In tlie apocalyptic literature of a later period, the general notion of a linal coniiict between the powers of the world and tlie kingdom of the saints re- appears in varying forms. In times of unusual op- pression it seemed to be near at hand, and existing heathen rulers seemed to represent the very incar- nation of the heaven-defying world-spirit. The book of Daniel takes this view of Antiochus Epi- phanes (Dn U*""-), and at a later time the Psahua of Solomon seem to regard Pompey in a similar way (Pss.-Sol. ii. 1, 29, xvii. 13).
In later pictures of the last struggle a shadowy figure sometimes appears, half - human, half- demonic, who is to lead the world-forces in the last times (Apoc. Bar. xl. ; cf. 4 I'^zr. v. 1 S., Sib. Orac. iii. 60 tt'.). His reign will be a time of general impiety (4 Ezr.v. 1, 10-12); he will per- form miracles (see 4 Ezr. v. 4, 7, Sib. Orac. iii. 6.5 ft'., Asc. Isa. iv. 5) and deceive even the faith- ful (Sib. Orac. iii. 69), till finally he is slain by Messiah (Apoc. Bar. xl.). This is the person familiar to later speculation under the name 'Antichrist,' a name which first appears in 1 Jn 2"""". Ah allusion to this idea is possibly to be found in the personal character given to the ' abomination of desolation ' by the use of the masculine participle iimjKdTa in Mk \Z^*. Bousset, less probably, sees a similar reference in the words of Jn 5**, ' If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive' (The Antichrist Legend, p. 134).
The picture of the 'man of lawlessness' is in- dubitably a phase of the Antichrist tradition. Like all Apocalyptists, the writer felt himself free to introduce new details, i.e. the crowning impiety of sitting as God in the Temple, and the idea of a restraining power, which was necessary to explain why the end was delayed. But the figure presented is purely conventional, and is not directly con- nected with any historical person or circumstances. Its main features are borrowed from Daniel's accotint of Antiochus Epiphanes (Dn ll'**-), with a possible reminiscence of Ezekiel's description of the prince of Tyre (Ezk 28-). The idea, common to most apocalyptic works, of a widespread apostasy in the last times seems to have sprung from the memory of the actual apostasy of many Jews in the time of Antiochus (1 Mac 1"' 2'^- ^^ ; ci. Mt 24'°"'*). For the miracles wrought by the ' man of lawlessness,' his deluding of the Jews, and his destruction by Messiah, Jewish parallels have already been quoted (cf. also Mk 13--). It is not necessary to suppose that the writer of 2 Th 2 intended to make any close application of the details of the old tradition to the circumstances of his own age. Many interpretations of the chapter have been based on that supposition, but they are at best precarious and quite unnecessary (see Milligan, Thessalonians, p. 166 tf. ; F'indlay, Thessa- lonians, p. 223 ft'. ; HDB iv. 748). The one point which may be granted is that by the force which restrains the final outbreak of lawlessness is meant the Roman Empire. * The ' mystery of lawlessness'
* TO Karexov will then be the power of the Empire : o Karex^av the Emperoras the representative of that power, or perhaps the angel which presides over the fate of the Empire (cf. Dn iniS).
THESSALONIAKS. EPISTLES TO THESSALONIAKS, El'ISTLES TO
is any power, whether Jewish or heathen, wli activilv opposes the spread of ( hnst s Kin^^. . The portrait of the ' nian ot hiwlessness is « h
which loni.
portrait ot tlie • man oi ul" .i=-i.^-- •■■'ly
iaeal, a kind of jieisonilication ol the supreme eliort of the anti-Christian forces.
SHperlicially viewed, tliis teaching may seem to be merely an echo of an ohsolote myth. But it must not he for-otten that the angua-e o Apoca- V se is essentTally syn.l,oli«U. 'anl has not ife'sitated to use all the in.a^'ery of • «">^ ' 'M'^ Ivptic, yet throush this conventional syn.hol mi 1 e expresses the truly Christian conhdence tliat. in thi end the cause of Christ must tnuniph and a 1 the powers of evil cease to be (see l'i>"";J>' ^ '"-/."''- lonians, p. 230 ; Kenne.ly, St. Paul's Conceptions of the Lnst nhifix, p. 1S4). tuit^a
5. Authenticity of the Epistle8.-(i.) 1 Thessa- LONIAXS.-At the present day it is scarcely neces- sary to defend the authenticity or even the in- teo-rity of 1 Thessalonians. Both are accei.ted as fuTly established by all modern critics (e..^- Juhcher Wrede, Harnack, ^liUigan, Momut Lake), except the small minority who regard ^H. the Pauline Epistles as spurious (see EBi, art. 'Paul § 38). The only really doubtful clau.se is 2'^^ ^*f «" « ^' airoi i, iprh eiJ tAo5, which seems to be a ^miniscence TtcH. Levi v. 11, and may have been added after the fall of Jerusalem. The g^nuinenessof the rest of theEpistleis pnt beyond 111 doubt by its thoroughly Pauline style, its inde- pendence of the Acts narrative, and the absence of any doctrinal or polemical interest which could supply the motive of a forgery. . „ ^u
(1?) 2 THESRALONIANS.-The case for 2 Thess. is not so clear. Its genuineness has been doubted on the following grounds. _ , . , 'ri„„„