Thread: On the Falling Away of II Thessalonians 2: 3-4
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On the Falling Away of II Thessalonians 2: 3-4
Posted : 31 Jul, 2013 11:19 PM
I've read many articles here at CDFF concerning this particular passage. Submitted below for your perusal is an alternative and I believe far more accurate understanding of this passage.
It has also been falsely claimed that "Calvinists almost never deal with end time Bible prophecy, because of their amillennial perspective, etc. They almost never talk about, understand or teach II Thessalonians 2: 3-4, I Timothy 4: 1-2, II Timothy 4: 3-4, II Peter 2: 1-3 or Matthew 24: 11 on the falling away from sound doctrine and apostasy of what they would call the church" I would like to make two points concerning this: 1. Many Calvinists are postmillennial. To categorically assert that Calvinists are amillennial is simply not an accurate assessment. 2. There are many Calvinists who view the "end time Bible prophecy" as being eschatons
( some point or period in time) such as the eschaton of A.D. 70 - the destruction of Jerusalem.
I would like to highlight one more thing which concerns the above reference to Matt 24:11. Take note from Matt. 24:34 "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled". Did you catch that? Matt 24:11 was fulfilled before the end of that generation. We are not still waiting on it's fulfillment.
The following article is written from a postmillennial Calvinistic perspective.
Here is the passage in question quoted from the KJV:
2 Thess.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.
The word �falling away� is apostasia, which occurs in the New Testament only here and in Acts 21:21. Historically, the word can apply to a revolt: either political or religious . But to which does it refer here? Does it refer to a future worldwide apostasy from the Christian faith, as per pessimistic eschatologies? Amillennialist William Hendriksen writes that this teaches that �by and large, the visible Church will forsake the true faith.� Dispensationalist Constable comments: �This rebellion, which will take place within the professing church, will be a departure from the truth that God has revealed in His Word.� Or does the apostasia refer to a political rebellion of some sort?
A good case can be made in support of the view that it speaks of the Jewish apostasy/rebellion against Rome. Josephus certainly speaks of the Jewish War as an apostasia against the Romans (Josephus, Life 4). Probably Paul merges the two concepts of religious and political apostasy here, although emphasizing the outbreak of the Jewish War, which was the result of their apostasy against God. The emphasis must be on the revolt against Rome because it is future and datable, whereas the revolt against God is ongoing and cumulative. Such is necessary to dispel the deception that Paul was concerned with. In conjunction with this final apostasy and the consequent destruction of Jerusalem, Christianity and Judaism were forever separated and both were exposed to the wrath of Rome.
The Man of Lawlessness is Nero Caesar, who also is the Beast of Revelation, as a number of Church Fathers believed. The difficulty of this passage lies in the fact that Paul �describes the Man of Sin with a certain reserve� (Origen, Celsus 6:45) for fear of incurring �the charge of calumny for having spoken evil of the Roman emperor� (Augustine, City of God 20: 19). Paul and his associates had already suffered at the hands of the Thessalonican Jews for �acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king Jesus� (Acts 17:7). Wisdom demanded discreetness in referring to imperial authority. His recent (1 Thess. 2:17) personal ministry among them allowed it: they were to �remember� that while with them he �told [them] these things� (2:5).
It is at least clear from Paul that something is presently (ea. A.D. 52) �restraining� (present participle) the Man of Sin �that he maybe revealed in his own time� (2:6). The Man of Lawlessness was alive and waiting to be �revealed.� This implies that for the time being, Christians could expect at least some protection from the Roman government: the Roman laws regarding "religio licita� were currently in Christianity�s favor, while it was considered a sect of Judaism but before the malevolent Nero ascended the throne. Paul certainly was protected by the Roman judicial apparatus (Acts 18: 12fI) and made important use of these laws in A.D. 59 (Acts 25:11-12; 28:19) as protection from the malignancy of the Jews. He expressed no ill-feelings against Rome when writing Romans 13 in A.D. 57-59: during the early reign of Nero, the famous Quinquennium Neronis .
When Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians 2, he was under the reign of Claudius Caesar. It may be that he employs a word play on Claudius� name. The Latin word for �restraint� is claudere, which is similar to �Claudius.� It is interesting that Paul shifts between the neuter and masculine forms of �the restrainer� (2 Thess. 2:6, 7). This may indicate he includes both the imperial law and the present emperor in his designation �restrainer.� While Claudius lived, Nero, the Man of Lawlessness, was without power to commit public lawlessness. Christianity was free from the imperial sword until the Neronic persecution began in November, A.D 64.
Remarkably, the Jews were kept so in check by imperial law that they did not kill James the Just in Jerusalem until about A.D. 62, after the death of the Roman procurator Festus and before the arrival of Albinus (Josephus, Ant. 20:9:1 ). With these events the �mystery of lawlessness� was being uncovered as the �revelation of the Man of Lawlessness� (the transformation of the Roman imperial line into a persecuting power in the person of Nero) was occurring.
The evil �mystery of lawlessness� was �already working,� though restrained in Claudius� day (2 Thess. 2:7). This is perhaps a reference to the evil conniving and plotting of Nero�s mother Agrippina, who may have poisoned Claudius so that Nero could ascend to the purple (Tacitus, Annuls 12:62~ Suetonius, Claudius 44). The Roman emperor according to Paul, �exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped� (2 Thess. 2:4a). The evil potential of emperor worship was publicly exhibited just a few years before, when the emperor Caligula (Gaius) attempted to put his image in the Temple in Jerusalem (Josephus, Ant. 18:8:2-3).
The phrase �so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God� is interesting. When hoste (�so that�) is followed by an infinitive (kuthisai, �to sit�), it indicates a purpose intended, not necessarily a purpose accomplished. It was Caligula�s intention to sit in �the temple of God� in Jerusalem; it was the emperor�s desire to �show himself that he is God.� In fact, Philo tells us that �so great was the caprice of Caius [Caligula] in his conduct toward all, and especially toward the nation of the Jews. The latter he so bitterly hated that he appropriated to himself their places of worship in the other cities, and beginning with Alexandria he filled them with images and statues of himself.�
This was for all intents and purposes accomplished by future emperor Titus, who concluded the devastation of Jerusalem set in motion by Nero. Titus actually invaded the Temple in A.D. 70 Josephus, Wars 6:6:1). This parallels Matthew 24:15 and functions as Paul�s abomination of desolation, which was to occur in �this generation� (Matt. 24:34).
Not only so but in Nero the imperial line eventually openly �opposed� (2 Thess. 2:4) Christ by persecuting His followers. Nero even began the persecution of Christians when he presented himself in a chariot as the sun god Apollo, while burning Christians in order to illuminate his self-glorifying party. Verses 8 and 9 read: �And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders.� As indicated, the lawless one was eventually openly revealed. The mystery form of his character gave way to a revelation of his lawlessness in Nero�s wicked acts. This occurred after the restrainer [Claudius]was �taken out of the way,� allowing Nero the public stage upon which he could act out his horrendous lawlessness.
In that judgment -coming against Jerusalem, there is also judgment for the Man of Lawlessness, Nero. There is hope and comfort in the promised relief from the opposition of the Jews and Nero (2 Thess. 2:15-17). Not only was Jerusalem destroyed within twenty years, but Nero himself died a violent death in the midst of the Jewish War (June 8, A.D. 68). His death, then, would occur in the Day of the Lord in conjunction with the judgment-coming of Christ. He would be destroyed by the breath of Christ, much like Assyria was destroyed with the coming and breath of the LORD in the Old Testament (Isa. 30:27-3 1) and like Israel was crushed by Babylon (Mic. 1:3-5).
excerpted from "He Shall Have Dominion" - Dr. Kenneth Gentry
No, on II Thessalonians 2: 2-4 you are very wrong that the falling away is the "Jewish apostasy/rebellion against Rome. Josephus certainly speaks of the Jewish War as an apostasia against the Romans."
It makes no sense for Paul, writing sometime after his conversion and the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., to make a major statement dealing with that history.
Second, this is not the only prophecy by Paul about a coming apostasy. He does so in I Timothy 4: 1, II
Timothy 3: 1-9, II Timothy 3: 13 and a few other texts.
Third, the whole context of II Thessalonians 2: 2-4 is about the falling away AND the revealing of the man of sin who is said to sit in the temple of God showing that he is God. The dispensationalists don't understand this is metaphor, and is not about a literal re-built temple in Jerusalem. Paul says in I Corinthians 3: 16-17 and in I Corinthians 6: 19 that the believers are the temple of God. In light of what Paul teaches in Romans, Galatians and Ephesians, it makes no sense to say that the Jews were the temple of God before the Cross and a remnant came to Christ.
It takes a while to build up enough understanding of Bible prophecy to avoid making these kinds of mistakes, and not many Calvinists following Augustine's amillennialism are that interested in end time Bible prophecy.
But - saying the falling away of II Thessalonians 2; 3-4 is the Jewish rebellion against Rome avoids - for this one verse - avoids admitting that end time Bible prophecy predicts an apostasy of the entire church.
And such an interpretation may be consistent with preterism, which does not fully understand Matthew 24, which is in part about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D, but as it blends that with what is called the indignation in Isaiah 26: 20-21, the time of trouble in Daniel 12: 1, the day of wrath of Zephaniah 1: 15 it ends up focusing on that later period of time by Matthew 24: 29-30, which talks about the sun being darkened, the moon not shining, the stars falling and the powers of the heavens shaken AFTER the tribulation. Even if these events in the heavens are metaphoric, they occur after a period of time called the tribulation.
"The Book of 2 Thessalonians was likely written in AD 51-52. "
" The dating of the book is believed by many scholars to be written between 52-54 AD, shortly after the First Epistle to the Thessalonians was written" wikipedia.
So, we see that this epistle was believed to have been written between 12-15 years before the Jewish-Roman war and as many as 16-19 years before the destruction of Jerusalem.
Second, it is widely held that those verses in Timothy point to the Gnostic heresy which grew worse and worse throughout the 2nd and 3rd centuries.
To your third point - I found this mostly irrelevant as you seem to be trying to refute a dispensationalist perspective and not the content of the original article.
I won't debate the matter with you. We can agree to disagree. Too much of your assertion is based upon presuppositions which seem to lean toward the premil. camp. You begin your argument on those presuppositions and then reason it out from there. Your eschatological position appears to be one of "gloom and doom" As a postmillennialist, I don't share your conclusions.
I would recommend that you take some time to better inform yourself on the postmillennial view. Many Calvinists hold this view and have historically.
