Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

2 Thessalonians 2:4

2 Thessalonians 2:4. Who opposeth who is the adversary of God and all that is good. The phrase will best be understood by referring to Daniel 11.

And exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped. The prediction of Daniel (Daniel 11:36, etc.) is couched in terms almost identical, and found partial fulfilment in the impious arrogance of Antiochus Epiphanes. If in our own day we look for a type of Antichrist which may help us to understand what the final form may be, we see at least this characteristic fulfilled in the Positivist worship of humanity. All that men have hitherto called God and worshipped is put aside with contempt, and man takes the place of God,

Sitteth in the temple of God. ‘The use of this image may have been suggested by the recent attempt of Caligula to place his statue in the Temple, as well as by the common practice of deifying the Roman Emperors' (Jowett). More probably, however, it was suggested by the prediction in Daniel, which colours the whole of this passage, and in which it was announced as a sign of the end that ‘they shall pollute the sanctuary and shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.' Comp. Matthew 24:15. In the ultimate fulfilment of the prophecy it may not be the temple of Jerusalem which is thus desecrated; the terms of the prediction will be satisfied if the homage due to God is drawn aside to something human.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

2 Thessalonians 2:4

Old Testament

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