2 Thessalonians 2:4

who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Paul had naturally included an instruction on the second coming of Christ in the doctrine which he taught at Thessalonica. But it seems that in the short interval since his departure from the city false opinions had gained a foothold in the Thessalonian congregation, particularly that of the immediate coming of the Lord's second advent. The apostle therefore warns his readers not to lend their ears too readily to such ideas: We beg you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being mustered together before Him, that you do not get unsettled quickly from your mind nor terrified, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of the Lord is at hand. The apostle realizes fully the danger of the position; he is anxious about the faith of his Christians and the life of sanctification they should lead. His exhortation, for that reason, almost assumes the form of an adjuration. On account of the honor of that day and the events which would transpire in it; on account of the fact that the day of the Lord will surely come, and that the right preparation for this event is expected from all Christians; on account of the fact that we must all be mustered before Him on that day and that judgment will be held: for these reasons it was essential that the conduct of the believers at all times should express their appreciation of the situation. They should beware, then, of a rapid unsettling of the mind; they should not permit their minds to be taken from their conviction of the truths which they had been taught; they should hold fast the doctrines which the apostle had proclaimed in their midst. Nor should they permit themselves to become excited or terrified with nervous fear; they should not give way to panic. Whether this disturbing agency happened to be some spirit of prophecy which some unscrupulous person was using to strike terror to their hearts, or some preaching which errorists were introducing, or some letter which had been forged and was now being ascribed to Paul: they should pay absolutely no attention to it. For all such attempts, all such assertions as though the day of the Lord, the Day of Judgment, was at hand, that its coming was imminent, were false and spurious; they had no foundation in the Word of Truth, in the teaching of the apostle. Were they to listen to such deceivers, they would merely become subject to needless terror, which would result in disorganizing their entire work.

The apostle substantiates his warning: Let no man deceive you in any manner; for unless the apostasy first come and the man of lawlessness be revealed, the son of perdition. Neither spiritual drowsiness nor unwholesome excitement is the proper state for Christians to exhibit; for in either case they are subject to delusions, in either case they can readily be led astray. The thought of the coming of the last day must be supplied from the previous verse. The apostle assures his readers that the Day of Judgment would not come unless the apostasy had first come, the great rebellion against Christ and against the sum of the doctrines taught by Him. He is speaking of a specific event in the future history of the world, of which he had spoken to the Thessalonians, of which he knew by prophetic insight and on the basis of the prophets, Daniel 8:23; Daniel 9:27. A feature of this apostasy from the purity of Christian faith would be the revelation of the man of lawlessness, of some man of unusual ability and power, whose entire life and being would be characterized by opposition to God's will and Law. According to his final destiny, the apostle designates this historical personage as the son of perdition. Because he is wholly devoted to sin, to lawlessness, therefore his end will be destruction. The thought seems also to be included that, as he goes down into condemnation under the judgment of God, he drags others with him into everlasting perdition.

The apostle continues his description of this human Anti-Christ: Who sets himself against, and vaunts himself above, all that is called God or an object of worship, so that he sets himself into the temple of God, showing himself forth that he is God. The man of lawlessness sets himself in opposition to God, to Christ, thereby revealing his nature as Anti-Christ. He wants his own doctrines and laws regarded just like those of Christ; in fact, he insists upon replacing Christ's precepts with his own. At the same time he vaunts himself, exalts himself against all that is called God or an object of true worship. He acts as though he were not under, but over God's will and Law; he treads all true religion under his feet, making the service of God a play and a farce. But the climax is reached by his final arrogance, by which he sets himself in the temple of God, showing himself forth that he is God. In the Church, in the midst of Christendom, in the midst of the baptized Christians, Anti-Christ had the audacity to place his throne. For he presumes to be the representative of God on earth and to be endued with divine power and authority. There can be no doubt that this prophecy finds its fulfillment in the Roman papacy, as a special article below will show. The insistence of the Roman See upon the tradition of the Church, its prohibition of Bible reading, its doctrines of the immaculate conception of Mary, of transubstantiation, of the sacrifice of the mass, of indulgences, of the veneration of saints, of purgatory, of the infallibility of the Pope, etc., the entire system of doctrine, in fact, with all its ramifications, mark the Pope of Rome as the Anti-Christ in the narrow or specific sense of the word.