The Man of Sin

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The Man of Sin

By: Jim Crews

 

Have you noticed about Scripture that when not very much is said on a particular topic that it generates more discussion than when a lot is said? Of course, when not very much is said the range of possibilities is wide open.  It generates strong opinions, not truths, just opinions, which cannot be shaken because my opinion is worth just as much as yours. And to me it is worth more. We could easily apply these statements to gossiping, and they do apply, but I would like us to focus on the speculations made in one particular passage of Scripture.

II Thessalonians 2:1-12

Just who is the man of sin? Since his is “of sin,” it is fairly clear that we are talking about a wicked person. He is also called a man of destruction, or perdition in the KJV. Perdition means ruin, loss, destruction, or waste. It is what Judas was called.

John 17:12

He opposes God.  He is without law. He is acting in accord with Satan. No, he is not a nice man. The passage also mentions that he sits as God in the temple of God. Other passages tell us the temple of God is the church.  

Ephesians 2:20-22
 

Still other passages tell us the temple of God is all Christians.

I Corinthians 3:11-17

So who is this man of sin? One thought is that the man of sin is the papacy in the Roman Catholic Church, not any one particular Pope, but the institution as a whole. The problem with this, though,  is that Catholicism is not the only apostasy which developed from the first century church.

 

The Gnostics also apostatized from the first century church. Gnostics believed that all came from one of two Gods or states, good or bad, and that everything physical was sin. They based their teachings on secret knowledge that seemed to be known only to them and to no one else.

There were also the Ebonites, who accepted Jesus as the Messiah, but denied that he was God.

There were the Judaizers, who wanted Christianity to be just a sect of Judaism.

Acts 15:1

There were the Nicolaitans, who encouraged God’s people to follow sexual pleasures and idolatry, as did Balaam of old. Revelation 2:6, 14-15

There was also Montanism, who believed in continuing revelation and ecstatic utterances which superseded what the apostles taught.

The papacy didn’t start until A.D. 606 when the current bishop of Rome accepted the title of Pope. But by this time the branch that he led no longer resembled the early church. It is difficult to say that he sat in the temple of God. They sat in an apostate church, but not in the church itself.

So the man of sin, despite some modern interpretations of this passage of Scripture, is not referring to the Catholic pope.

 

Keying off the phrase that he called himself God, another line of thought is that Paul was referring to the Roman emperors. These men established themselves as the head of a state religion and demanded that incense be burnt each year in their honor. Worse, they accepted the title “Lord God Caesar.” Domitian was probably the worst of the lot. However, none of these men were in the church.

Keying off the opposition to God, some today see the man of sin as being the Antichrist, because the passage talks about the man of sin’s destruction at the return of Christ, a large body of beliefs, largely contradictory, but loosely similar, has arisen from this error.
Their thought is that just before Christ returns, a man will arise representing all that Christ opposes. Christ then will come to destroy him and establish an earthly kingdom that will last a thousand years. To highlight their contradictory teachings, some of them have the rise of the Antichrist at the end of the thousand year kingdom.

Their main problem, ignoring all their other contradictions, is that the Bible does not speak of a single Antichrist. Instead, it speaks of many antichrists who are already in the world with more to come.

I John 2:18

 

Anyone who denies Christ is an antichrist.

I John 2:22

 

Anyone who denies that Christ came in the flesh is an antichrist, and those were already in the world when John wrote his letters.

I John 4:3

II John 1: 7

Yes, antichrist is sometimes used in the singular form, but since other verses tell us there are many, we know that it is a literary technique where the one represents the many. It is a form of personification.

Taking that last thought leads a very reasonable explanation. The man of sin could personify many people’s actions of lawlessness. The man of sin, then, is the disrespect for truth, represented by a man who usurps the rule of the church and leads God’s people into apostasy. Such a man of sin is always present. He is seen in men who oppose Christ, men who alter the truth, men who speak presumptuously, men who go beyond what has been written, men who bring in innovations, or men who ignore the teachings of God.

Paul is concerned that in regards to Christ’s second coming that the faith of Christians would be shaken by ideas, presented as if coming from the apostles, that Christ’s coming is near, or has already happened.

He didn’t want anyone to be shaken or tossed by false doctrine. Ephesians 4:14

He was worried because the teaching that the second coming had already happened was going on in that time.

II Timothy 2:18
 

 

Paul points out that there are things which must first take place before the second coming of Christ. There would be a falling away from the truth.

I Timothy 4:1-2

The sedition must be revealed for what it is, usurping the God’s place of authority in the church.

Ephesians 2:2

Ephesians 5:6

Colossians 2:8

Colossians 3:6

The difference between these warnings and the one in II Thessalonians is that the disobedient are stated in the plural and in II Thessalonians they are in the singular.

Jesus had warned about false Messiahs who would show up before the fall of Jerusalem.

Matthew 24:24

John warns about false prophets spreading through the church.

I John 4:1-3
 

 

When someone makes judgment on God’s word, they are setting themselves up above God.

James 4:11-12

At that moment the man of sin, also known as the sons of disobedience, is being restrained until the appropriate time. Exactly what this restraint is wasn’t mentioned. We are only told that Paul had discussed it with the Thessalonians when he was with them. It is thought that Paul couldn’t put it down in writing because it wasn’t time to tip God’s hand. We only know that whatever is restraining it is in the neuter, referring to a thing. Yet in verse 7 we are told that God is doing the restraining. In other words, God is using something to keep the apostasy from spreading too quickly, to keep it from being completely overwhelming.

I Corinthians 10:13

Whatever this restraint is, it  will continue until the Lord returns. It will continue until the brightness of the  appearing of the Lord.

I Timothy 6:14

II Timothy 4:1
 

 

That coming will be a time of destroying the destructive forces in the world.

II Thessalonians 1:8-9
 

It will be a time for revealing hidden things.

I Corinthians 4:5

Why is it happening? In order to illustrate this, look at David’s sin in numbering the people. Satan was behind it.

I Chronicles 21:1

God was behind it.

II Samuel 24:1

It is not a contradiction. Satan is unable to do anything without God’s permission. God limits Satan.

Job 1:8-12

Yet, God will even make use of wicked Satan to accomplish an end.  Satan is behind the lawlessness revealed in the New Testament.

II Thessalonians 2:9-10

 

Satan is using every deception in his arsenal to keep people from being saved, and people are falling prey to him because they do not have a love of the truth.
 

God is allowing it to happen.

II Thessalonians 2:11-12

God wants people to be saved.

II Peter 3:9
 

However, salvation has never has been unconditional. There is a type of person God wants. God permits Satan’s deception to weed out those who do not love the truth.

This deception happened against lying prophets.

Ezekiel 14:9

It happens against those who want to sin.

Romans 1:24

Are you on guard against deception? Satan hasn’t given up yet. The man of sin, thus still remains. It is our love of truth that leaves God on His throne in our hearts.