The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Thessalonians — Section 43

oppo!ll!th." It ie not said, "He that opposeth Uhrist," but, from the way in which Christian thought is interwoven with the whole paragraph, we may understand that to be the meKning. We may, therefore, regard the movement as described by the designation "antichrist" with which John supplies us. As it is in its origin a movement away from Christ, so it comes to have the character of being directed against Christ. It is a moveml'nt in which advantage~ gained from Christ are unworthily used against him. As it is ~h~ object ~f God in ~he _Church to put forward Christ f?r the acceptance of men, so 1t 1s the ob3cct of ant1chnst to draw away men from Chnst; Popery is anti- christ in so far as it does not give Christ and his words and his death their proper plaee in Christian belief and life. It may be said of 118 that we are antichrist in so far as we do not yield ourselves up to Christ, and do not to our utmost ability help forward the cause of Christ. "He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattercth abroad." 5. The deifi,er 'JI srif. "And exalteth himself a<>ainst 0 all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God setting himself forth as God." There is strong confirmation here of the doctrine of Muller, that all sin is of the nature of selfishness. Antichrist is selfishness rising to the impious height of self-deification. He raises himself above and against him who is truly called God, without thereby falling into idolatry; for he also raises himself above and against those that have only the name of gods, and, it is added (going beyond the actually named), above and against all that can be turned into an object of worship. He noes not, therefore, shut out the sacred sphere ; rather does he fill it with himself. He is the centre of all 1visdom, power, and glory for which worship is due. The startlin" language is that be sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God. Ther~ is supposed to be meant a Ression in the actual temple in Jerusalem by those who, laying undue stress upon the langnage here, regard the paragraph as having already received its fulfilment. But there is reference to the actual temple only by way of illustra- tion. As God was represented as sitting between the cherubim, requiring the adoration of all Israelites (as be was the object of adoration to the highest intelligences), so anti- christ entertains the thon!!ht of divinity and strictly requires adoration. While in Christ's consciousness of divinity there was the element of infinite self-sacrifice, in antichrist's presumptuous thought of divinity there is only the element of utter selfishness. We are not to think here merely of him who sits in the Church and arrogantly wields spiritual power. Rather are we to see the tendency of the whole movement away from Christ. This is how it aims at expressing itself. This is the dreadful interpretation of what it would be at. And it is true of us all, in so far as we are selfish, that we are aiming at making a temple for ourselves in which to sit down and to require adoration. AI. we in our present state of feeling can only recoil from such self-deification, let us beware of that selfishness which is at the heart of sin. 6. The T/,essalonians reminded offormer teachings on the above points. "Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?" 1n his teachings on the coming he was not corrected or supplemented by recent revelation. He had occupied the same position from the beginning; such is undoubtedly his own contention, and is against the contention of some who attribute to him that he believed that he would live to see the coming. He reminds the 'l'hessalonians here, not without some measure of blame, that when he was with them (and he singles out himself in making this statement) he told them some things which he was now putting down in his letter. III. THE BESTBAINING POWER. 1. What restrains the antichristian manifestati()'II,. • And now ye know that which restraineth, to the end that he may be revealed in his own seasoa." This was another point on which he had given them information. It is left indefinite what the restraining power is. 'l'he prevailing opinion, as expressed by Ellicott, is "u·ell-ordered hu:rr,an rule, the principles of l~gality as opposed to those of lawlessness~{ which the Roman empire was the then embodiment and manifestation." It is true that civil rule keeps back many of the manifestations of evil. The ci vii ruler is a terror to evil-doers. If men were allowed to give vent to their evil passions with- out drt-ad of punishment, this world would be a pandemonium. But, at the same time, it is true that the worst manifestations of evil, of proud defiance of God, of bitter rancour against Christ (which are chiefly to be thought of in connection with the anti- cbristio:n movement), are those with which the civil magistrate has little to do, The condition upon which these manifestations depend is rather the increased setting forth  oH. 11. 1-17.J THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. 41