The traditions— This probably refers to the prophesy concerning the man of sin in the preceding verses, and to the explication which the apostle had given of some particulars respecting it by word of mouth.
Inferences.—With humble reverence let us behold the depths of the divine counsels and judgments: God hath been pleased to suffer the craft of Satan to display itself, in reducing from his allegiance a great part of the Christian world: yet has he taken the wise in his own craftiness, so far, as to make that very apostacy from Christianity an additional proof of its divine original. Who, that had only examined the genius of that holy religion, could have imagined that such a mystery of iniquity should have arisen in it, and that man of sin have been revealed? Surely, when the particulars of the description come to be compared with the accomplishment, it may seem owing to some wonderful infatuation, that men of deep policy and great penetration, with this very passage of scripture in their hands, should have suffered the marks of Antichrist to be so very apparent, even, in many instances, beyond what might have seemed absolutely necessary for establishing that secular kingdom which they sought: particularly that the pope, on high days, should set himself on a high throne, in the temple of God, to be there solemnly adored, and should have permitted his parasites so expressly to boast that he is God, and to give him, in some of their licensed and authorised works, divine titles!
The scandalous and extravagant pretences which the followers of the papacy have made to miracles,—exceeding in number, and some of them in wonderful circumstances, those of Christ and his apostles,—plainly display the energy of Satan, that father of frauds, whether pious or impious. And the most incredible lies, which they have by solemn and irrevocable acts made essential to their faith, shew the strength of delusion, beyond what could have been imagined, had not fact led us into the theory. How dreadful is it to think of some of those expressions which the Spirit itself uses, when speaking of these artificers of deceit? that they should be abandoned by God to believe a lie; that they may all be damned, who have pleasure in unrighteousness;—that they might bring upon themselves eternal aggravated damnation!
Who would not tremble, who would not grieve, for so many of our fellow-creatures, yea, of those, who, degenerate as their form of Christianity is, we must yet call our fellow christians, who are thus dishonoured, endured, endangered?—The Lord grant that they may nor be utterly undone!—Let them despise us; let them, by most solemn execrations, annually repeated, devote us to destruction, and prepare against us all the instruments of it in their power; yet still we will pray for them. God grant that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. 2 Timothy 2:26. Let us recommend to divine compassion the souls drawn after artful and wicked leaders, in the simplicity of their hearts; and take comfort in this thought,—that the time is approaching, when the Lord shall destroy this son of perdition with the breath of his mouth, and the brightness of his coming. May the remnant of God's people among them take the alarm, and come out from them in time, and be separate, that they may not be partakers with them in their plagues, Revelation 18:4.
How wisely and happily does the apostle unite the views of the grace of God and the duties of men, while he represents our choice of salvation in a light so worthy of God,—since this salvation is still to be obtained through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth. Our spirits must be sanctified by the operation of the divine Spirit: the truth must be not only speculatively, but powerfully, and practically believed, or all our hopes will be vain.—But surely, were it possible that salvation could any other way be obtained, it would be less desirable; or rather, that which did not imply a sanctified spirit, and a heart open to receive and obey the truth, would not deserve the name of salvation.
Blessed be God, who in this view has called us to obtain salvation and glory by Jesus Christ, even God our Father who hath loved us. From him do these divine consolations flow: It is by his blessed and gracious operation, that we are strengthened and established in every good word and work. His fidelity stands engaged to do it, if we humbly commit ourselves to him, and wait upon him: in such case, the prayers of the apostles, dictated no doubt from above, concur with the promises to encourage our hopes, that he will direct our hearts into the love of God, and the patience of Christ. On the exercise of that love, and that patience, does the happiness of life chiefly depend. Too ready are our weak hearts to wander from it, and to faint under the difficulties which lie in our way. Let us then call on him to preserve and maintain the graces which he has implanted, that they may be exerted with growing vigour and constancy even unto the end.
Unreasonable and wicked men will naturally oppose the progress of the gospel, which has so powerful a tendency to promote holiness and comfort: and, as there are those who have not faith, they will be ready to labour for its destruction: but when the prayers of Christians are frequently engaged, that the word of God may run and be glorified, there is good reason to hope, that much of their perverse opposition may be overruled to the most contrary purposes; so that the wrath of man shall praise him, and the remainder of that wrath be restrained. Psalms 76:10.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, An error of a dangerous tendency had, it seems, crept into the church of the Thessalonians, that the coming of Christ to judge the world would be in their days. Whether this arose from their mistake of what the apostle had mentioned in his former epistle, or was propagated by some who vouched his authority to support what they advanced, he sets himself to confute the assertion, and to rectify their judgment in this matter.
1. He solemnly warns them not to be troubled with needless fears and apprehensions. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him; by all the hopes you entertain of meeting him with joy in that day, I adjure you, that ye be not soon shaken in mind from the gospel which you have embraced, and tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine; or be troubled by any assertions which may be advanced, or misconstructions which may arise; neither by spirit, by those who pretend to speak under divine inspiration; nor by word, however confidently any may advance this notion; nor by letter as from us, either counterfeiting our hand, or perverting our meaning; as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: the consequences of such a persuasion would be dangerous; and when you found yourselves disappointed of your vainly raised expectations, it might shake your faith in the truth of the whole gospel revelation. Note; (1.) One way in which the arch deceiver strikes at the faith of God's people, is by endeavouring, through his emissaries pretending to revelation, or a knowledge of the prophetic word, to raise groundless hopes in their minds, and from the disappointment of them to suggest that the whole may be a delusion. (2.) Though we cannot fix the time of Christ's coming, yet nothing is more certain, than that he that cometh shall come, and will not tarry: may we without fear or dismay be ready to meet him! (3.) However dispersed God's faithful saints now may be in different regions, and living in different ages, they shall one day be gathered together around the throne of Jesus, and so shall be ever with the Lord.
2. He confutes the error which was propagated, by shewing, that many events which would require much time to fulfil them, must precede the second coming of Christ.
(1.) There must be first a general apostacy. For that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first from the doctrines of the gospel, and the practice of godliness, which shall usher in the reign of antichrist.
(2.) The rise of the antichristian power is described, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10. To whom what is here spoken belongs, has been a matter of much dispute: but I must declare, with the best protestant commentators, my full conviction, that the Popish hierarchy is the subject of this prophesy; wherein we have,
[1.] The names of the person, or rather state, here spoken of—The man of sin, the son of perdition, that wicked one; which do not point out any individual, but a succession of men, carrying on the same destructive designs.
[2.] When that man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, he may be known by these characters: Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; assuming all power in heaven and in earth; undertaking to enact laws contrary to God's word and will; and setting up himself above kings and emperors: so that he as God, arrogating divine perfections, sitteth in the temple of God, the church, where he has erected his unhallowed throne; shewing himself that he is God; assuming the blasphemous titles of, our God the pope, God upon earth, &c. usurping divine authority over the bodies and consciences of men, and pretending to pardon sin by his own power. Remember ye not, says the apostle, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things.
[3.] His rise is pointed out. And now ye know, if you reflect upon what I told you formerly, what withholdeth, that the man of sin does not immediately appear, even the power of the heathen Roman emperors. During their rule, the bishops of Rome were prevented from rising above their fellows; but this empire would in process of time moulder away, when he should be revealed in his time—when God would permit the antichristian power to rear its head. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work, and the seeds of pride, dissention, and worldly ambition, have begun to be sown: but he that letteth, the Roman emperors, will let, until he be taken out of the way, their power declining, and the seat of empire being removed from Rome; and then shall that Wicked one be revealed, and the mystery of iniquity and the tyranny of the popish power soon arrive at their height.
[4.] His ruin is as certain as his rise. Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming; raising up a noble army of preachers, who by the word of truth, accompanied with the Spirit's power, shall cut in sunder the fetters wherewith superstition has enslaved the minds of men: and as the kingdom of antichrist shall be overturned hereby, so shall he and all who enter into his spirit perish at last in the lake of fire.
[5.] The way in which this wicked one shall maintain his usurped dominion, is described. Whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders; with all Satanical influence and wiles, pretending to work miracles in support of his cause, and by a system of frauds deluding the nations of the earth, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, deceiving the souls of men to their eternal ruin; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved, but wilfully turned aside to the greatest errors, and wilfully chose their own delusions. And for this cause, in just judgment upon them, God shall send them strong delusion; abandoning them to their own hearts, and giving them up to judicial blindness; that they should believe a lie; all those absurd legends, forgeries, and falsehoods, with which the church of Rome abounds: that they all might be damned, who believed not the truth, wilfully rejecting Christ and his gospel; but had pleasure in unrighteousness, delighting in their errors, superstitions, and bloody persecutions, to fill up the measure of their iniquities. Note; It is just in God to abandon obstinate sinners to their own delusions, and to leave them to the damnation which themselves have chosen.
2nd, The apostle,
1. Expresses his thankfulness to God for his love. Such corruptions as the above mentioned will at length arise in the church; and we have hinted that something of this spirit is already beginning to work. But blessed be God that so little of it appears among you; on the contrary, we are sensible that we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, whom we have great reason to address as beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning [of our ministry] chosen you to salvation; for a participation of which you are prepared by that sanctification, which is the work of the Holy Spirit on your hearts, and that belief of the truth, which has so effectual a tendency to promote it. This is God's appointed way of obtaining an interest in this salvation, to which he hath called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ; that glory which his mercy hath prepared for all his persevering saints, and to which his faithful care shall at length conduct them; in which they shall fully enjoy the rich provisions of his love, and be made like him in holiness and happiness.
[See the Annotations, where this text is fully considered.]
2. He exhorts them to be faithful. Therefore, brethren, let me exhort you to stand fast, and strongly to retain the instructions which you have learned of us, whether by word or by our former letter, as you may be assured you have there a genuine representation of the contents of those important doctrines with which we are intrusted. Note; God's word is our only rule of duty; thereunto we must cleave.
3. He closes with a fervent prayer for them. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, who alike are the objects of our worship, and are one in the glory of the same undivided godhead; who hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation, the foretastes of those joys which will hereafter be uninterrupted and eternal to all the faithful saints; and good hope through grace, built on the merit of his blood and our interest in him, comfort your hearts with a clearer knowledge of your invaluable privileges, and a brighter manifestation of his love to your souls, amidst all your trials and sufferings; and stablish you in every good word and work, that you may approve yourselves faithful, and unto death persevere immoveably in the doctrine and practice of the blessed gospel. Note; It is the Lord's work to comfort and stablish our hearts; and while we are waiting upon him, we shall assuredly renew our strength.