Whose coming is after, &c.— The apostle was eager to foretel the destruction of the man of sin; and for this purpose, having broken in upon his subject, he now returns to it again, and describes the other qualifications by which this wicked one should advance and establish himself in the world. He should rise to credit and authority by the most diabolical methods; should pretend to supernatural powers, and boastofrevelations,visions,and miracles, false in themselves, and applied to promote false doctrines; 2 Thessalonians 2:9. He should likewise practise all other wicked arts of deceit; should be guilty of the most impious frauds and impositions upon mankind; but should prevail essentially only among those who are destitute of a sincere affection for the truth, whereby they might attain eternal salvation; 2 Thessalonians 2:10. And indeed, it is a just and righteous judgment of God, to give them over to vanities and lies in this world, and to condemnation in the next, who have no regard for truth and holiness, but delight in falsehood and wickedness; 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12.
Upon this survey there appears little room to doubt of the genuine sense and meaning of the passage. The Thessalonians (as we have seen from some expressions in the former epistle,) were alarmed, as if the end of the world was at hand. The apostle, to correct their mistakes, and dissipate their fears, assures them, that a great apostacy or defection of the Christian, or visible church, from the true faith and worship, must happen before the coming of Christ. This apostacy all the concurrent marks and characters will justify us in charging upon the church of Rome. The true Christian worship is, the worship of the Three-One God, through the one only Mediator, the man Christ Jesus; and from this worship the church of Rome has notoriously departed, by substituting other mediators, and invocating and adoring saints and angels. Nothing is apostacy, if idolatry be not: and are not the members of the church of Romeguilty of idolatry in the worship of images, in the adoration of the host, in the invocation of angels and saints, and in the oblation of prayers and praises to the Virgin Mary, as much or more than to God blessed for ever? This is the grand corruption of the Christian church: this is The apostacy, as it is emphatically called, and deserves to be called; which was not only predicted by St. Paul, but by the prophet Daniel likewise. If the apostacy be rightly charged upon the church of Rome, it follows of consequence, that the man of sin is the Pope; not meaning any pope in particular, but the Pope in general, as the chief head and supporter of this apostacy. He is properly the man of sin, not only on account of the scandalous lives of many popes, but by reason of their most scandalous doctrines and principles; dispensing with the most necessary duties, and granting, or rather selling, pardons and indulgences to the most abominable crimes. Or, if by sin be meant idolatry particularly, as frequently inthe Old Testament, it is evident how he has perverted the worship of God to superstition and idolatry of the grossest kind.He also, like the false apostle Judas, is the son of perdition; whether actively, as being the cause of destruction to others, or passively, as being devoted to destruction himself. He opposeth;—he is the great adversary to God and man; persecuting and destroying byCroisadoes, inquisitions, and massacres, those Christians who prefer the word of God to the authority of men. The heathen emperor of Rome may have slain his thousands of innocent Christians; but the Christian bishop of Rome has slain his ten thousands. He exalteth himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped; not only above inferior magistrates, but likewise above all bishops; not only above all bishops,butlikewiseabovekingsandemperors;deposingsome,obligingthem to kiss his toe, to hold his stirrup, treading even upon the neck of a king, and kicking off the imperial crown with his foot; nay, not only above kings and emperors, but likewise above Christ himself;—making even the word of God of none effect by his traditions; forbidding what God hath commanded; as marriage, the use of the scriptures, &c.—and also commanding or allowing what God hath forbidden; as idolatry, persecution, &c. So that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, &c. He is therefore in profession a Christian, and a Christian bishop: His sitting in the temple of God, plainly implies his having a seat, or cathedra, in the Christian church: and he sits there as God, especially at his inauguration, when he sits upon the high altar in St. Peter's church, and makes the table of the Lord his footstool, and, in that position, receives adoration. At all times he exercisesdivine authority in the church,—shewing himself that he is God; affecting divine titles, and asserting that his decrees are of the same or greater authority than the word of God. So that the pope is evidently, according to the titles given him in the public decretals, "The God upon earth;" at least, there is no one like him, who exalteth himself above every God; no one like him, who sitteth as God in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. The foundations of popery were laid in the apostle's days, but the superstructure was raised by degrees; and several ages passed before the building was completed, and the man of sin revealed in full perfection. The tradition which generally prevailed was, that what hindered was the Roman empire: this tradition might have been derived even from the apostle himself; and therefore the primitive Christians, in the public offices of the church, prayed for its peace and welfare; as knowing that, when the Roman empire should be dissolved and broken into pieces, the empire of the man of sin would be raised upon its ruins. In the same proportion as the power of the empire decreased, the authority of the church increased, and the latter at the expence and ruin of the former; till, at length, the pope grew up above all, and the wicked, or lawless one, was fully manifested and revealed. His coming is after the energy of Satan, &c.; and does it require any particular proof, that the pretensions of the pope, and the corruptions of the church of Rome, are all supported and authorized by feigned visions and miracles, by pious frauds, and impositions of every kind?—But how much soever the man of sin may be exalted, and how long soever he may reign, yet, at last, the Lord shall consume him, &c. This is partly taken from Isaiah 11:4. [And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked;] where the Jews put an emphasis upon the words the wicked one, as appears from the Chaldee, which renders it, "He shall destroy the wicked Roman." If the two clauses (as said in the note on 2 Thessalonians 2:8.) relate to two different events, the meaning is, "That the Lord Jesus shall gradually consume him with the free preaching of the gospel, and shall utterly destroyhim at his second coming in the glory of the Father." The former began to take effect at the reformation, and the latter will be accomplished in God's appointed time. JustinMartyr,Tertullian,(asabove,)Origen,Lactantius,CyrilofJerusalem,Ambrose, Hilary, Jerome,Augustine,andChrysostom,give much the same interpretation which has here been given of the whole passage: and it must be owned, that this is the genuine meaning of the apostle; that this only is consistent with the context; that every other interpretation is forced and unnatural; that this is liable to no material objection; that it coincides perfectly with Daniel; that it is agreeable to the tradition of the primitive church, and that it has exactly been fulfilled in almost all its particulars;—which cannot be said of any other interpretation whatever. Such a prophesy as this, is an illustrious proof of divine revelation, and an excellent antidote to the poison of popery.