The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Thessalonians — Section 42

sente.tions founded upon an alleged Epistle of the apostle. The existence and circuia- tion of e. fabricated Epistle seem to be hinted at in the words at the close of this Epistle: "The salutation of me Paul with mine own han<l, which is the token in every Epistle: so I write." If the Thesse.lonians accepted of these representations, there was danaer of their being precipire.tely shaken from their composure of mind and even thrown° into a terrified state, e.s at sea men e.re discomposed and even horrified by the bursting of e. storm upon them. The apostle, therefore, considered it necessary to write this Epistle to put them on their guard against their being led away by these representations. Let no me.n beguile them in these we.ye, or, making it wider, in e.ny other way. II. 'l'HE ANTICHRISTUN MANIFESTATION. 1. The ccming of (Jhrist to b, preced«I by apostasy. "For it will not be, except the falling away come first." "Aposta..sy" (aft.er the Greek) is the more technical word-the apost~sy of which the Thessalonian& had been t.old. There is, particularly, meant falling away from the faith of Christ. It ii a movement begun by those who have been within the Christian circle, and who, after having been advantaged by Christianity in outward enlightenment and quickening, have ungratefully turned away. Or the movement away from Christ may dishonourably be encoura~ed by those who still remain witliin the Christian circle, but have lost faith in the distinctive teachings of Christianity. The name of" apostate" has been given to the Empc-ror Julian for his signal renunciation of Christianity, but it is a name which belongs to every one who in the struggle of life parts with his early Christian convictions, his good tradi- tions. Let us see that we are not, in the smallest degree, contributing to the mov~ ment away from Christ. 2. The revelation of the man of ,in, " And the man of sin be reveaied." It is now an exploded idea that the man of sin means popery. The principal interpreters-Olshausen, Ellicott, Alford, Eadie-bold to the idea of the man of sin being a person. He is supposed to be the last and worst product of the apostasy. He is a caricature of Christ, having a mystery, and revelation, and miracles, and claim of divinity, a coming and preparation, even as Christ has. He is a.s inclusive of all the bad forms of humanity, as Christ is of all itR good forms. It cannot be said of this most unlovely conception that it has the similitude of truth. It cannot be dogmatically laid down as a matter of interµretation that the man ol sin is a person, any more than the restrainer is a person. The designation" man of sin" points, in the first place, to sin as the essence of the apostasy. The moving away from Christ is an opposing of the Divine authority. The designation "man of sin" points, in the second place, to sin as working under human (not angelic) conditions, and, taken along with apostasy, point:! especially to the development of sin in human history. The designation "man of sin"points, in the third place, t-0 this historical development, not as actual, but as idealized. As the language, "0 man of God," is a call to consider the true ideal of manhood, so the man of sin may be viewed as the ideal of the development of sin among men. In so far as popery is after this ideal may it be said to be the man of sin. In so far a.s any of us take after the bad ideal of manhood may it be said to us, " 0 man of sin !" calling us to consider what we are following after. Let us see that we do not in the least merit the designation. By the revelation of the man of sin is to be understood the bringing out of the real nature of sin. It may put on specious forms, but it is essential vile- ness; it is uglier than the ugliest of creatures, it is more venomous than the serpent, it is more grovelling than the earth-worm, it is blocker than darkness. And in the working of Providence in human history, it is intended that this should be, with accumulating evidence and unmistakably, brought out. And we are here taught that there cannot be the revelation of Christ at his coming until all that is evil in sin has been brought out. 3. The son of perdition. "The son of perdition." The common Hebrew form is followed. Sprung from perdition, he bas perdition as his destiny. The designation marks the result of the movement away from Christ. Every such movement must prove in the end abortive. How many of those movements that once had vitality in them have already ended in perdition I The designation was given by our Lord to Judas Iscariot : "An,1 none of them is lost, but the son of perdition." And it is certainly not to be wondered at that he whose apostasy was aggravated by the proximity in which he stood to Christ should strikingly be shown in his suicidal end to be the son of perdition. In so fe.r as any of us are moving away from Christ we are placing our paternity iu perdition, and are working out perdition as our ,lestiny. Let us, then, be 1,\/arned by what will yet be S!len to come out of sin. 4. The opposer of Ch-r-i,t. "He that  40 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [oH, 11, 1-17,