The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Thessalonians — Section 59

exeoute judgment on Jerusalem; and although Nero did not personally undertake anything against the Jews, yet he did so by his lieutenant Vespasian. The apostasy was the departure of the Christians into the errors of the Gnostics. Dollinger, however, considers that there may be a more complete fulfilment in the last daye.1 Baumgarten thinks that the prophecy reflects the experience of the apostle: the Man of Sin was the Jews who everywhere opposed his preaching the gospel; the apostasy was the renuncia- tion of Jesus as the Messiah; and the restraining influence was the imperial authorit) which hitherto had protected the apostle and kept the Jews in chedk. Thil! opinio" appears to be partially adopted by Bishop Lightfoot: "It seems, upon the whole, pro- bable," he observes," that the Antichrist is represented especially by Judaism. With 11 prophetic insight, the apostle foresaw, 11.S he contemplated the moral and political condi- tion of the race, the approach of a great and overwhelming catastrophe. . . . It was to Homan justice and Roman magistrates that the apostle bad recourse at this time to sl,ield him from the enmity of the Jews and to check their violence." i At the same time, he thinks that the prophecy has not yet received its most striking and complete fulfilment. It would be a mere waste of time to examine these views seriatim. So far as they consider the prophecy as having received its full accomplishment, they do not satisfy its conditions, and have only a general and fancied resemblance. Especially it is fatal to the views of this class of interpreters that the coming of Christ alluded to is evidently not his coming in spirit to destroy Jerusalem, but, as the context shows, and as is the uniform meaning of the phrase in the Epistles of Paul, his coming in person to establish bis spiritual kingdom. 3. The third class of exponents are those who regard the prophecy as being fulfillerl, or as in the course of fulfilmt'nt; that is, as already partially fulfilled, but awaiting its complete accomplishment: we allude to those who find in the passage a prediction ol popery. Besides the early Reformers, this opinion is advocated by Hooker, Hord, Newlon, Tnrretin, Benson, Bengel, Doddridge, Macknight, Michaelis, Elliott, and Bishop Wordsworth. This opinion proceeds on the assumption that the restraining influence is the Roman empire. In the prediction, that influence is both masculine and neuter; by the mascu- line the emperor is meant, and by the neuter the empire. This opinion is that of the early l<'atbers, and was generally adopted with various modifications by Greeks, Roman- ists, and Protestants.3 It is in itself highly probable, and may have been handed down by tradition from the Church of Thessa.lonica, who had been instructed concerning its nature (eh. ii. 6). If the restrainer was the Roman emperor, we may understand the reason of the reserve of the apostle. If he had stated this in so many words, he would have been regarded as an enemy to the Roman government, because he would then teach the destruction of the empire, and would have involved Christians in perse- cution. Prudence required a discreet silence on this point. This reason for reserve was recognized by the early Fathers. "If St. Paul," observes Chrysostom, "had said that the Roman empire will soon be dissolved, the heathen world would have destroyed him as a rebel and all the faithful with him, as persons who took up arms against the state. But St. Paul means the Roman empire; and when that shall nave been taken away, then the Man of Sin will come. For as the power of Babylon wa.s dissolved by the Persian dynasty, and the Persian WB.9 supplanted by the Greek, and the Greek by the Roman, so the Roman will be dissolved by Antichrist, and Antichrist by Christ" (in loco). Now, in the view of those who regard the pope as the Man of l:;in, this pre- diction was fully verified. No sooner was the restrainer removed than the Man of Sin was revealed. As long as the Roman emperor continued heathen and resident at Rome, no ecclesiastical power was permitted to exalt itself; but no sooner did the 1 For Dollinger's views, see Llinemann, • On the Thessalonians,' p. 232 ; and Riggenbaoh in Lange's • Commentary.' 1 Smith's • Dictionary of the Bible,' article "Second Epistle to the Thessalonians.'' 1 To this general opinion the view of Calvin is a notable exception. He supposes thal the restraining influence was the limited diffusion or the gospel, and that the Man of Sin w1111 not to be manifested until the gospel was preached to the whole world. " This, there- fore, was the delu.y until the career of the gospel should be completed, because a gracioua invitation to salvation was first in order" (Calvin, in loco).  6€ THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [oB. u.1-17,