LXX., in Zechar. iii. 1, put avniceiiJievog for -jisto, yet Antichrist cannot
here signify Satan directly, because in ver. 9 he is distinguished
from him. But he has certainly the disposition and tendency of the
devil, viz., resistance to God, and to all that is godlike in church
and state. While he seeks to destroy what is God's, he aims at
setting himself in his place, at making himself God, which is the
highest pitch of wickedness, but at the same time the expression
of the perfect folly and inward contradiction which are the attributes
of evil. This highest manifestation of Antichrist Paul describes in
the concluding words of ver. 4, 6 virepaipo^evog em vdvra Xeyopevov
Qeov, K. r. A.. According to this, as Chrysostom has already correctly
remarked on this passage, Antichrist will not promote idolatry, but
seduce men from the true God, as also from all idols, and set himself
up as the only object of adoration. This remarkable idea, that sin
in Antichrist finally issues in a downright self-deification, discloses
to us the inmost nature of evil, which consists in selfishness. In
Antichrist all love, all capability of sacrifice and self-denial, shews
itself entirely submerged in the making self all in all, which then
also insists on being acknowledged by all men as the centre of all
power, wisdom, and glory. Daniel (xi. 36, seq.) had already said in
his description of Antichrist, whom he represents as a king, as a
universal monarch, v^uOrjaKTai, nai neya^vvOrjoerai em navra Qeov }
K. T. A., and in the 13th chapter of Revelation, ver. 15, it is prophe-
sied how an image of Antichrist will be vivified by pretended mir-
acles, and the adoration of that image required of all on pain of
death. ('YTTEpalpEoOai has already occurred 2 Cor. xii. 7. The
phrase em ndvra Aeyd/zevov Qeov reminds one of 1 Cor. viii. 5. We
are not to understand merely the true God, but also all forms of re-
ligious life, even the lowest. These shew themselves by the side of
the worship of Antichrist as still, relatively, worthy forms of God's
worship, for the men who were worshipped as Gods or heroes were
certainly mostly benefactors to humanity, in whom some rays of the
better element gleamed ; but in Antichrist the quintessence of all
that is evil appears combined, and yet presents itself for adoration.
Even the self-deification of the Bornan emperors appears as modesty



316 SECOND THESSALONIANS II. 3, 4.

by the side of Antichrist, for the Cassars did not elevate themselves
above the other gods, they only wanted to have a place beside them
as representatives of the genius of the Roman people. Antichrist,
on the contrary, wants to be the only true God, who suffers none
beside him ; what Christ demands for himself in truth, he in the
excess of his presumption claims in falsehood. The supposition of
Michaelis, Baumgarten, and others, that Qe6$ here, after the analogy
of the Hebrew dTj'fess, denotes princes and authorities, is to be utterly
rejected, as the mention of the vaoc;, which follows, shews. Sefiaona
denotes everything holy as an object of worship, be it a person, an
idol, or a place [Acts xvii. 23] ; but, as it does not by the repetition
of the article appear as a fresh idea, the first reference to persons is
preferable. Paul in using it had probably in mind the heroes
and other subordinate personages of the heathen mythology.) The
words wore avrov elg TOV vabv TOV Qeov naOioat d-odeinvvvra KO.VTOV
on tart Qeog, so that he sits in the temple of God, shewing himself,
etc., are substantially an obvious and necessary result of what pre-
cedes. Whoever exalteth himself above all that is called God must
necessarily consider and declare himself God. But more is couched
in the d-^odanvvvTa than the mere assertion ; it implies, doubt-
less, as Schott has already correctly assumed, to the proving his
pretended divinity by means of sham miracles (ver. 9), such as is
described Rev. xiii. 15 also. The reading wf Qeov before naOiaai,
which Matlhaei, Koppe, Knapp, and Schott, defend, would in itself,
it is true, be not unsuitable, but the critical authorities so de-
cidedly favour the omission, that we with Griesbach and
Lachmann, must strike it out. But the most difficult point is
the KaOiaat el$ TOV vabv TOV QEOV, sit in the temple of God. If
there stood merely dg vaov, " into any temple," the phrase
might seem employed only symbolically to denote the act of pre-
senting one's-self for adoration ; viz., the sitting, after the analogy
of the sitting of kings on the throne, denotes here his taking pos-
session of the Temple as his property, and his readiness to receive
the homage of his subjects. But 6 vabg TOV Qeov seems necessarily
to refer to the Temple of the only true God in Jerusalem, which
still stood at the time at which Paul wrote. If we glance first
at the possible parallel passages, Matth. xxiv. 15, /3dt'Auy/ta Tfjg
ipT]fj,a)O(jjg KOT&S iv TOTT&J dy'n,, desolation of abomination standing,
etc., presents itself. These relate, as is well-known, to Daniel
ix. 26, 27, xi. 31, xii 11, and allude (compare at Matth. xxiv. 15)
not to Antiochus Epiphanes, but to the destruction of Jeru-
salem and pollution of the Temple by the Romans. To give
with certainty in a more definite way the fact indicated will be
hardly possible. But, in any case, in all that occurred to pol-
lute the Temple at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans



SECOND THESSALONIANS II. 5, 6. 317

but a faint type of the occurrences here prophesied by Paul is
recognized. The Apocalypse contains nothing to explain this men-
tion of the Temple ; true, Ezek. xxviii. 2 bears a certain typical
analogy, where the King of Tyre is represented as declaring him-
self God ; but neither there is the Temple spoken of. We are,
therefore, absolutely tied down to this single passage. If, then, we
reflect that in the Temple at Jerusalem there was, as is well known,
apart from the ark of the covenant, no image or throne of Jehovah
whatever ; that according to Matth. xxiv. 2 ; John iv. 21, the
demolished Temple is not to be rebuilt ; it appears, as also the
later interpreters assume, necessary to understand the Temple of
God here in a symbolical sense of the Christian Church, which is
elsewhere too called (2 Cor. vi. 16 ; Eph. ii. 21) vao$ in the New
Testament as Christ's abode through his Spirit. The sense of
the words is then this : Antichrist will seek to thrust Christ, the
real object of adoration, out of the church, and to put himself in
his place. ('ATrodeitivvvra eavrbv on is a sort of attraction for
aTTodeuivvvTa on avro^ eonv 0eof.) After this contemplation of
the single features of the picture that Paul sketches of Antichrist,
we have still to inquire how he may have conceived the realization
of the same, whether in one individual or in several, and all con-
nected with this : further, to what historical facts the prophecy
has reference according to the various views of the interpreters. But
these questions are so intimately connected with the interpretation
of the /care^wv, of which Paul immediately speaks, that we can in-
vestigate them only after explaining the next three verses.

Vers. 5, 6. Paul told the Christians in Thessalonica nothing
new in these communications ; he only reminds them of the fact
that he had already declared the same thing to them during his
personal presence. That these subjects had already come under dis-
cussion in the few weeks of his stay there (see the Introd. to these
two epistles, 1) cannot surprise us if we reflect what importance
the doctrines of the kingdom of God and the advent of Christ had
in the apostles' time ; an importance which they will receive again
only at the end of the world. It might rather surprise us that so
little on the subject is found in Paul's other epistles. To me it is
probable, as I have already remarked above, that Paul was induced
by his experiences in Thessalonica to leave, among the Gentiles, his
eschatologic views more in the background. They were too new
to the Gentiles, and excited their fancy in a way which almost in-
evitably generated fanatical errors. But now the question, ov
uvr]ij,ovevere } has here the meaning, " Have ye quite forgotten that
I propounded this to you, that ye have been able to give ear to such
deceitful discourses ?" (ver. 2). Even the next communication as to
the Ka~e%ov Paul supposes to be known to his readers in the words,



318 SECOND THESSALONIAXS II. 5, 6.

KOI vvv TO narexov otddTe, and now ye know ivkat-^ivitJiholdeth. Still
deferring the investigation as to the difficult and extremely obscure
Kd-t^oVj \ve first investigate how the vvv is here to be taken.
Storr, Schott, and Flatt, take it as an antithesis to Zn in ver. 5.
But in that case we should expect the collocation vvv nai. Be-
sides, we do not see how the Thessalonians could now have known
anything of the /caTt^ov, unless Paul had already in person made
communications to them about it, for neither epistle contains
the slightest reference to the subject. For the same reason we
cajmot either take, with Pelt and others, vvv as a mere transition-
particle, for even so it points to something following as a con-
sequence ; igitur or nunc igitur requires something in what
precedes which might serve for the knowledge of the na-K^ov. If
we compare the phrase b na-Exw dpn ) ver. 7, it seems most suit-
able here too to connect vvv with art%ov. True, we should ex-
pect in this connexion the collocation TO vvv KUT^OV or TO KUTK^OV
vvv, but at all events the assumption of an inexact collocation of
words is an unessential difficulty in comparison with the relief
furnished by this construction to the obscure passage. For, as
we shall see later, it is precisely the idea, " what now with-
holds, hinders, the revealing of Antichrist," that promotes the ex-
planation. If, however, the hypothesis of an inversion be rejected,
ajid one of the two other above-mentioned ways of taking the vvv
be preferred, still the dpri must, at all events, be supplied here too
from ver. 7. A definite time is ascribed to the dnoKahviptg (ver. 3)
of Antichrist by the apostle, as it must needs happen according to
God's dispensation (KV ru> i-avrov Kaipti. Cf. John vii. 6, 30). In this,
too, the analogy with the advent of Christ declares itself. When
the time was fulfilled God sent his Son (Gal. iv. 4). What with-
holdeth is, accordingly, operative not against God's will, but in con-
formity with it. It is the medium in God's hand for keeping buck
the appearance of Antichrist till the time appointed him. The Di-
vine intention with the aar^ov is precisely intimated in the d^ ro )
"which is meant to serve the end that Antichrist may be able to re-
veal himself only in his time (not earlier)." According to this, the
Kd~Kxe.iv is plainly strictly defined, viz., as the hindering agency by
which the evil power urging Antichrist to appearance is paralyzed
in its operation.

* Kern (ubi supril, p. 161) also lays a stress on thevOv as a definition of time, and
with justice. With regard to the connexion with vvi> he considers, as to sense, the con-
nexion with K.a-ixov and that with oWar? on a par, grammatically that with <Mare
seems to him to be preferred. But the afiTi (ver. 7) favors, in my opinion, the connex-
ion with narix'tv. The question is not of the fact that they (the readers) now know
something which they did not know before, but that they know what now hinders the
manifestation.



SECOND THESSALONIANS II. 7. 319

Yer. 7.- This position of the Kare^ov (for which 6 Kare%cov here
comes in, of which change of gender we shall speak later), to the
Satanic power which urges forward Antichrist as its fruit, ver. 7 de-
scribes more closely. The power that produces him is already con-
tinually active (7/0*77 evspyeZ-at), but the Kare^wv does not allow him
to appear ; as soon as it shall be removed Antichrist will reveal him-
self. But the phrase nvaTijpiov r^ dvofiiag } mystery of iniquity,
here is peculiar. The reference of it to the dTroaraaia (ver. 3), or to
the heretics who shall desolate the church, is inadmissible, because
these phenomena can only be considered as subsequent, or at most
preparative, workings of Antichrist. From the relation of the open-
ing words of ver. 7 to the opening ones of ver. 8, KOI TOTS dnoicakvQ-
6r}oe-aL 6 avojuof, the phrase ^var^iov TTJS dvoplag can also denote
only Antichrist himself. But, it is asked, on what ground does
Paul use this phrase in order to characterize him ? In the Apo-
calypse too the Babylonian whore, f] ^rrjp rwv Tropv&v not r&v
Bdehvyfidruv r?fc yfjg (Rev. xvii. 5), in whom the formation of the
universal antichristian spirit in the city of Rome is alone to be re-
cognized (ib. ver. 18), bears on her forehead the name \ivarr\piov (ib.
yer. 5, seq.), it is true not primarily in reference to the dvopia, but
to the peculiar mysterious formation of antichristianity in the rulers
of the kingdom which the whore of Babylon represents. But if we
compare 1 Tim. iii. 16, Christ is there called TO rrjg evaefidas \ivarf\-
Qiov, and that too because in him God himself appeared in the flesh,
Qebg I6avep66r) ev aa-pid. In accordance with the pervading analogy
between Christ and Antichrist we shall, therefore, not be in error if
we say Paul here calls Antichrist ^var-tjpiov rfjg dvofiiag because &
did(3oho$ tyavspud?] KV oapitt, the devil was manifested in the flesh.
As the holy Scriptures speak of deep things of the Deity (1 Cor.
ii. 10), so too they know (3ddrj rov oaravd, depths of Satan (Rev. ii.
24); these are, fortunately, veiled even from sinful man, but at the
appearing of Antichrist these depths of Satan will reveal them-
selves, just as in Christ and his appearing the depths of God have
revealed themselves. Through the entire history of the world the
activity of the powers of darkness, an element which excites our
horror and dread, manifests itself to the deeply penetrating in-
quirer ; the wickedness of Satan exhibits itself now in this form,
now in that; but the time will come when these scattered appear-
ances will present themselves all together in their highest power, and
in complete fusion in Antichrist as a real embodiment of Satan. It
follows from this that what now still keeps back the revealing of him
(TO KaTK%ov or 6 /caTg^wv) must be a beneficent power, which is only
overpowered in the end by the power of evil, under God's permis-
sion, becoming predominant. This view explains also the choice
of the phrase K (J.KOOV yiveadai, in which the intimation of a



320 SECOND THESSALONIANS II. 7;

hostile power which removes an object by force is always couched
It has reference to the growing Antichrist, who exerts himself
to put aside that which hinders his full development. (Com-
pare 1 Cor. v. 2 ; CoL ii. 14 ; Isa. Ivii. 2.) But the construction
in ver. 7 offers difficulties, which have been resolved in various
ways. Storr and Flatt, whom Pelt joins, supply the verb Kare^ei
avro from the participle Kare.j(wv. But this yields no aid, for thus
twf with the nai r6re following, makes no fitting connexion.
Others, as Baumgarten, supply merely KOTI after /tovov, but then
the troublesome twc with not rore following is equally unexplained.
Rosenmuller, Nosselt, Heidenreich, and Schott, suppose a trans-
position of the wc, and translate as if it stood before 6 KQT^WV
dprt } in this way : " till only he who still withholds it shall have
been taken away." But this is very harsh, as it perverts the
natural force of the t-vepyetrew TO fivarTJpiov. The words must
then be taken thus : " iniquity works in secret only so long,
until," etc., a meaning to which ?/&/ is decidedly opposed. It re-
mains only to acknowledge in this passage a fusion of several prop-
ositions into one ; Paul means to say, " the mystery of iniquity
is already at work, it is already in motion ; nothing hinders its
revelation but he only that now keeps it back ; until he shall
have been removed it cannot come forth ; but when he has been
removed, then the lawless one will reveal himself without delay."
But this series of ideas fuses itself in Paul's vivacious style into
the single irregular sentence, which does not admit of being fairly
analysed.

Here closes the description of Antichrist, and of that which de-
lays his manifestation. In what follows, Christ's conflict with him
at his coming, and the efficiency of Antichrist for the seduction of
men by lying wonders, are alone described, which things have
no influence on the main ideas. We, therefore, in conclusion,
here review the whole remarkable representation in its entirety.
The idea that the principle of good does not gradually extend itself
victoriously in the development of the history of the world, but that
beside that principle evil also heightens itself within itself, and by
no means gradually disappears, but is first entirely overcome in a
last great fight in which it apparently conquers, is not peculiar to
this passage, but pervades the whole of Holy Writ, and has already
met with examination in the Comm. on the parable of the wheat and
the tares. (See on Matth. xiii. 29, 30.) But there is room for un-
certainty whether the representation here given of Antichrist, which
plainly describes him as a person, as an individual, is the general form
of representation in Scripture. The individuality of Antichrist can
manifestly be excluded from this passage only by forcing its mean-
ing. He is not merely called expressly 6 ayOpwrrof -n/f a/taprta^, K. r. A.,



SECOND THESSALONIANS II. 7. 321

6 avTiKeipevos (ver. 4), but a coining is also ascribed to him, as to
Christ, and an action (ftadiaat dg vaov), such as is imaginable in a
person only (vers. 4, 9). But the description of the Apocalypse, to
go no further, seems less favourable to that assumption ; the repre-
sentation of Antichrist as a beast with seven heads (Eev. xiii. 1)
rather seems to lead to a multiplicity of Antichrists, which is at
length expressly declared by John in his epistles (1 John ii. 18, 19,
22, iv. 3 ; 2 John ver. 7), where the name avrixpiaroc;* alone occurs.
Elsewhere, too, as e. g., Acts xx. 29, 30 ; 2 Pet. ii. 1, seq., iii. 3, seq.;
Jude ver. 18, seq., where the hostile powers and seducers in the
latter days are described, several, not one, are always spoken of. In
Daniel alone, chap, xi., the individuality in the picture of Antichrist
again predominates in a typical form. Now how are we to explain
to ourselves this apparently contradictory form of doctrine ? Is
Antichrist to be considered as only a moral tendency diffused in
many individuals ? or merely as a single individual, who communi-
cates his tendency to others ? Neither of the two can be the
correct solution ; rather the conjunction of both points, the indi-
viduality and the spiritual tendency in masses of individuals. As
has been already remarked above (ver. 3), Antichrist does not step
on the scene suddenly without preparation ; on the contrary, a
stream of Antichristian sentiment and conduct pervade the whole
history of the world. From this stream in the last days proceeds
Antichrist as the completed evil fruit ; it will express itself in
many individuals, but by all these one personality will be considered
as the centre of all their striving, and acknowledged as the njaster
by whom they let themselves be guided.f A struggle to mould all
the depths of good and evil into concrete appearances manifests itself
in history. In the case of Christ's advent this struggle has arrived at
the highest forms, and those too, in accordance with the tendency
of history to form persons, living personalities, in whom all the
ideas of good and evil present themselves embodied. We can-
not, accordingly, assent to the view that Calixtus had already ex-
pressed, and which Pelt (pp. 167, 204, seq.) also makes his own,
viz., that the mystery of iniquity here described by Paul will be
nothing outward, that strikes the eye, but merely an spiritual event,

* See particulars as to the etymology of the word at 1 John ii. 18. The uvrl de-
notes not substitution, " one who appears instead of Christ, arrogates to himself
his position" (that is rather couched in the word ^evdo^piaTof [see on Matth. xxiv. 4^
24]), but hostile opposition, " him who is full of enmity against Christ." (See Liicko
adh. 1)

f This relation of the individuality to the tendency in the masses is expressed ex-
tremely significantly in Revelation by the beast and its heads. The heads are a result
of life in the beast, and yet, vice versd, alone lead him. The different heads, however,
are to be conceived, according to the meaning of Revelation, not along with, but after,
one another on the beast ; the unity of the personality of Antichrist is therefore not pro-
iudiccd by them.
VOL. V. 21



SECOND THESSALONIANS II. 7.

viz., the inward dominion of the principle of evil).* The commu-
nications of Paul (ver. 5) as well as, particularly, those of the
Apocalypse (ch. xiii.), are of that nature that they necessarily sup-
pose outward facts, as indeed the internal dominion of evil must
manifest itself outwardly, and the French revolution, with the
abolition of Christianity, and the setting up prostitutes on the
altars for adoration, gives us outwardly, as the daily wider spread-
ing denial of the fundamentals of all religious truth and mor-
ality, of the doctrines of God, freedom, and immortality, as also
deification, as a consequence of erroneous speculation, give us in-
wardly, a strong foretaste of what might at some future time be
but too really executed in the universal monarchy of Antichrist
under his iron sceptre. But should it be alleged that while the as-
sumption is indeed unobjectionable, that the evil principle, which
arrives at dominion in many, will bring forth real evil fruits out-
wardly too, in increased proportion, as happened in the French
revolution ; we are still not to imagine that such occurrences should
be set in motion and conducted by one personality, which is as it were
Satan himself incarnate ; that Antichrist is, like the devil, a mere
abstraction, only there are many Antichrists, i. e., men, in whom the
evil principle operates, no doubt very powerfully, but who yet al-
ways bear in them still something better along with the evil ; we reply
that the doctrine is in utter opposition to historical analogy. All
great movements in the history of the world have definite personages
for pillars, who are, as it were, the centres from which they are car-
ried on. No doubt the spirit that animates them is also diffused in
many others, but rather in a derived than an original way. In ac-
cordance with this, the assumption that the last and utmost devel-
opment of evil will also attain to its centre in a personality, that all
the labour of the evil powers strives, as it were, after the production
of this individual, has the analogy of history entirely in its favour.
But the opinion that alike in Antichrist, and in the devil, evil is only
to be conceived as abstract, contradicts the doctrine of Scripture quite
clearly ; it may be said, on the contrary, evil is never abstract, but
ever appears in concrete personages. This view of the devil and
Antichrist as real personages is far removed from Manicheism by
the circumstance that their powers must still be acknowledged as
good in substance, as they are God's powers ; but the misapplication

* Liicke too (on 1 John ii. 18), seems to leave the personality of Antichrist at the
least very doubtful, when he writes : " John's conception of Antichrist is of that nature,
that it is ejisier in it than in Paul's to carry back the idea to its true universal import,
by a severance of the form of a definite outward historical personality, in which form
it had been first of all conceived and to make it thus more easy to be realized." That
John does not, either, deny the definite personality of Antichrist, we shall see in the in-
terpretation of his epistles.



SECOND THESSALONIANS II. 7. 323

of them against God's will to objects of selfishness constitutes the
essence of evil.

If we, after this, turn to the contemplation of the various inter-
pretations which have been made of this passage,* it is, first of all,
clear that all those who believe that the prophecy is already ex-
hausted in one fact of the past are decidedly in error. As Christ's
coming and the kingdom of God are still impending in the future,
so too are the occurrences which immediately precede these, viz., the
universal falling away, the appearance of Antichrist, and his de-
structive agency. Among the interpretations which find the fulfil-