Antichrist, man of lawlessness, restrainer?

[joshrp]

Hi,

I think there is a passage from 2 Thessalonians that refers to a restrainer keeping the antichrist or man of lawlessness from being revealed, and then an apostasy and persecutions. I have been very concerned about this. I’ve been asking God to explain what this is about to me, and thought to come on here and ask. What do we do about this?

Joshua

 

[bmullins]

We continue to live following God in Spirit and in Truth. The bible reminds us time and time again not to worry. To trust God for all our needs and to realize that we cannot even add one moment to our life by fretting. If this verse from Thessalonians is literal, the temple has to be rebuilt before any of this can occur (or it has already occurred before the temple was destroyed in 70 AD, or even referred to the destruction itself.) So just hold steadfast to God who is the lawful one, and let him protect you and guide you.

 

[COPLAND_3]

Hi,

I think there is a passage from 2 Thessalonians that refers to a restrainer keeping the antichrist or man of lawlessness from being revealed, and then an apostasy and persecutions. I have been very concerned about this. I’ve been asking God to explain what this is about to me, and thought to come on here and ask. What do we do about this?

Joshua

Here is a quote from the footnotes from the Aquinas Study Bible

2:6-7 restraining: Severian says it’s the Holy Spirit that restrains, while Ishodad of Merv, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyrus say its God’s decree. St. John Chrysostom, Haimo, Ambrosiaster, Thietland, Tertullian claim its the reign of the Roman Empire. I am of the opinion that this is concerning the binding of the Devil that we read about in Revelation 20. The Fathers don’t appear to make that connection, but it seems quite obvious from the eyes of an ammillenialist. I assume that there are some reasons why the Fathers did not make that connection; 1) is because some Fathers had not considered the book of Revelation to be canonical, and therefore would not have connected those passages together. 2) St. Augustine is the one who brought greatest development early on to Rev. 20 and the binding of the Devil, and therefore had not advanced far enough with it to connect these two passages. mystery of iniquity: Some commentators claimed that to Nero is given the name mystery of iniquity, and that he had become a worker of godlessness. On the contrary, the apostle is indicating the heresies that had sprung up, by leading people away from God. (Theodoret of Cyrus) Or, the mystery of iniquity began with Nero, who in his zeal for idolatry killed the apostles at the instigation of his father the Devil, and went on to Diocletian, and most recently Julian. (Ambrosiaster) And that, all the wicked who have gone before are signs of the Antichrist. (St. Thomas Aquinas)

 

[Todd_Easton]

A Commentary on the New Testament, prepared by the Catholic Biblical Association in 1942, page 568, on 2 Thessalonians 2:6 and 7, says:
6. What restrains him: Paul refers to some obstacle hindering the advent of Antichrist. We do not know what the obstacle is. St. Augustine in his day confessed complete ignorance of its nature. 7. The mystery of iniquity is already at work. The evil power of which Antichrist is to be the public exponent and champion is now operating secretly in the world. Only that he who, etc.: here Paul speaks of the obstacle as a person. Above he had spoken of it as a thing. Someone is now restraining the evil force, but the time will come when he shall no longer obstruct it. When this happens Antichrist will appear (v.8). Some make the conjecture that Michael, the Archangel, and his heavenly army are the obstacles.

 

[bmullins]

Just to share another perspective, this is from the Ignatius Study Bible:

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It then goes on to say that the mystery of lawlessness is the secret operation of evil in the world. Readers are already getting a taste of this through the bitter experience of persecution (1:4). The steady build-up of iniquity through history is paving the way for an explosion of evil in the last days. (CCC 385)

CCC 385:

385 God is infinitely good and all his works are good. Yet no one can escape the experience of suffering or the evils in nature which seem to be linked to the limitations proper to creatures: and above all to the question of moral evil. Where does evil come from? “I sought whence evil comes and there was no solution”, said St. Augustine, and his own painful quest would only be resolved by his conversion to the living God. For “the mystery of lawlessness” is clarified only in the light of the “mystery of our religion”. The revelation of divine love in Christ manifested at the same time the extent of evil and the superabundance of grace. We must therefore approach the question of the origin of evil by fixing the eyes of our faith on him who alone is its conqueror.