LET'S TALK ABOUT IT.
In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul says the “man of sin” cannot yet be revealed because something is restraining him. He reminds the believers, “And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time,” and then says, “only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed.” Paul also adds, “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?” So the Thessalonian church already knew the identity of the restrainer from Paul’s oral teaching, even though he does not state it openly in the epistle.
That is what makes the early church testimony so important. Paul had already told the church what restrained the rise of the man of sin, so when early Christian writers discussed this passage, they were not speaking in a vacuum. They were preserving an early line of interpretation. And when we turn to those writers, the testimony is striking. John Chrysostom, in his Homily 4 on 2 Thessalonians, states plainly: “when the Roman empire is taken out of the way, then he shall come.”
Tertullian speaks with the same force. In On the Resurrection of the Flesh, after citing 2 Thessalonians 2, he asks: “What obstacle is there but the Roman state, the falling away of which, by being scattered into ten kingdoms, shall introduce Antichrist upon (its own ruins)?” That is difficult to misunderstand. Tertullian does not merely suggest Rome as one possibility. He identifies the Roman state as the obstacle and says its breakup into ten kingdoms would make way for Antichrist.
This fits naturally with Daniel 7, where the little horn—the same antichrist power—arises only after the breakup of the fourth kingdom. Daniel says, “The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them.” So the little horn does not arise before Rome, or while Rome still stands in its united strength, but after its division.
Taken together, the sequence is clear: Paul had already told the church what restrained the rise of the man of sin; the early church preserved that understanding; and those early witnesses pointed to pagan Rome as the restraining power. When Rome was removed and divided, the way was opened for the rise of the antichrist power — the Roman Catholic Papacy.
In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul says the “man of sin” cannot yet be revealed because something is restraining him. He reminds the believers, “And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time,” and then says, “only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed.” Paul also adds, “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?” So the Thessalonian church already knew the identity of the restrainer from Paul’s oral teaching, even though he does not state it openly in the epistle.
That is what makes the early church testimony so important. Paul had already told the church what restrained the rise of the man of sin, so when early Christian writers discussed this passage, they were not speaking in a vacuum. They were preserving an early line of interpretation. And when we turn to those writers, the testimony is striking. John Chrysostom, in his Homily 4 on 2 Thessalonians, states plainly: “when the Roman empire is taken out of the way, then he shall come.”
Tertullian speaks with the same force. In On the Resurrection of the Flesh, after citing 2 Thessalonians 2, he asks: “What obstacle is there but the Roman state, the falling away of which, by being scattered into ten kingdoms, shall introduce Antichrist upon (its own ruins)?” That is difficult to misunderstand. Tertullian does not merely suggest Rome as one possibility. He identifies the Roman state as the obstacle and says its breakup into ten kingdoms would make way for Antichrist.
This fits naturally with Daniel 7, where the little horn—the same antichrist power—arises only after the breakup of the fourth kingdom. Daniel says, “The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them.” So the little horn does not arise before Rome, or while Rome still stands in its united strength, but after its division.
Taken together, the sequence is clear: Paul had already told the church what restrained the rise of the man of sin; the early church preserved that understanding; and those early witnesses pointed to pagan Rome as the restraining power. When Rome was removed and divided, the way was opened for the rise of the antichrist power — the Roman Catholic Papacy.
LET'S TALK ABOUT IT.
In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul says the “man of sin” cannot yet be revealed because something is restraining him. He reminds the believers, “And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time,” and then says, “only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed.” Paul also adds, “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?” So the Thessalonian church already knew the identity of the restrainer from Paul’s oral teaching, even though he does not state it openly in the epistle.
That is what makes the early church testimony so important. Paul had already told the church what restrained the rise of the man of sin, so when early Christian writers discussed this passage, they were not speaking in a vacuum. They were preserving an early line of interpretation. And when we turn to those writers, the testimony is striking. John Chrysostom, in his Homily 4 on 2 Thessalonians, states plainly: “when the Roman empire is taken out of the way, then he shall come.”
Tertullian speaks with the same force. In On the Resurrection of the Flesh, after citing 2 Thessalonians 2, he asks: “What obstacle is there but the Roman state, the falling away of which, by being scattered into ten kingdoms, shall introduce Antichrist upon (its own ruins)?” That is difficult to misunderstand. Tertullian does not merely suggest Rome as one possibility. He identifies the Roman state as the obstacle and says its breakup into ten kingdoms would make way for Antichrist.
This fits naturally with Daniel 7, where the little horn—the same antichrist power—arises only after the breakup of the fourth kingdom. Daniel says, “The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them.” So the little horn does not arise before Rome, or while Rome still stands in its united strength, but after its division.
Taken together, the sequence is clear: Paul had already told the church what restrained the rise of the man of sin; the early church preserved that understanding; and those early witnesses pointed to pagan Rome as the restraining power. When Rome was removed and divided, the way was opened for the rise of the antichrist power — the Roman Catholic Papacy.
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