Who is ?The Man of Lawlessness??

Love_Truth

NOTE: I?d like to ask that only those who have an interest in the Bible, it?s interpretation, and believe it is at least partially inspired of God respond to this:

I?ve always been interested in this Scripture in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 (NIV):

?Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness [1] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, 10 and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.? (Compared to other translations below)

Some have come to the conclusion that the Anti-Christ and the Man of Lawlessness are one and the same, but I see no compelling evidence for that interpretation. I?ve read cross-references, commentaries, etc, on the subject, and it seems to me that the key to understanding what the Man of Lawlessness is, is contained in verse 4: ?He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.? (Compare to 17 other translations here: Reference

It seems to me that the only application one could make, and hence the most likely interpretation to be made of the question ?Who is ?The Man of Lawlessness?? would be atheists. Why? They are the only ones that deny the existence of any gods, which verse four clearly indicates would be a (or perhaps the) defining characteristic of the ?Man of Lawlessness?.

I?d like to hear what interpretations, if any, others who have pondered this question have come up with, as well as how and why you came up with your conclusion?

(And to those who are wondering- NO, I don?t believe we absolutely need to know who the ?Man of Lawlessness? is for our salvation. I?ve just always been curious about it. And it would certainly be to our (Bible believers) benefit to know the answer, or at least have a pretty good idea.)

Special K

I was wondering Love-truth.. because I like reading your posts.. could you use a little bigger size in the print......

or is my print the same little size.

just asking..

sincerely

Special k

shotgun

His print is fine on my computer

Love_Truth

Special K,

It looks good on my screen, a 19" flat screen. I'll increase the size if I can (formatting after posting aways seems to get screwed up). For example, the margin formatting doesn't seem to make a difference. Perhaps someone could clue me in on what I need to do so that one can read this post without scrolling left to right ad nauseum. (I usually compose my posts in MS Word, then cut and paste them into JWD).

Cheers.

Leolaia

believe it is at least partially inspired of God

Hi Love_Truth:

I'm not sure if you desired me not to reply to this thread, since I do believe it is inspired but not in the same literal "God wrote the Bible" sense as you may have.

But there is in fact a large literature on the "Man of Lawlessness" in pre-Christian Jewish tradition (especially the Dead Sea Scrolls), as well as in early extrabiblical Christian tradition -- much of which shows what sort of character this apocalyptic figure has. I hope I've pointed you to some useful information.

Love_Truth

Leolaia,

Thanks!

I'll take a look at that. I'm glad you responded. I merely wanted to keep folks with "the Bible sucks", "Christianity sucks", etc, out of the thread as much as possible. I mean, anyone who has a serious opinion on the subject, and can support their interpretation, is welcome.

Now, What is your interpretation? If you had to write one down today, what would it be? Do you agree that atheists are the Man of Lawlessness? If not, why?

Love_Truth- Looking forward to your reply.

Leolaia

Love_Truth....I'm at work and don't have my resources with me, but I can turn your
attention to the following excellent webpage which gives a solid overview of the OT, NT,
pseudepigraphal, and other Jewish apocalyptic literature on the subject:

http://www.worldofthebible.com/studies2/antichrist.doc

Here is another thread of mine comparing early Christian apocalypses, where you can compare
and contrast the different themes:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/64923/1.ashx

My view is that within early Christianity, the "Man of Lawlessness" was an apocalyptic
figure who comes prior to the return of the Son of Man, either as Belial himself or a
servant used by him, who (earlier on) defiles the temple by installing an idol of himself
or a pagan god and/or (especially in the later period) leads the world in idolatry and
worship of himself and who persecutes the faithful. False messiahs are a related, but
not identical concept. The "antichrist" of the Johannine literature is also not the same.
Much of the expectation and speculation revolved around the Emperor and his cult. It
started with Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century BC who installed an idol
inside the Temple (inspiring all the speculation on the matter in Daniel), then around
A.D. 44, Caligula threatened to install a statue of himself inside the Temple but died before
he had the chance. So expectations ran high during Nero's reign, during the Jewish War,
during Domitian's time, and during the Second Revolt that such a figure (whether Nero
redivivus or someone else) would be unveiled. It does not refer to a class of Christians or
to "atheists" in general, in fact the latter was not a concern -- it was the emperor cult that
was of great concern in Revelation and 2 Thessalonians (which specifically refers to idolatry
in the Temple -- likely alluding to Caligula's unfulfilled threat).

Elsewhere

?Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness [1] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

That would be MegaDude!

JCanon

The Man of Lawlessness must be part of "THE temple of THE God" who makes himself a god in that temple, thus he is part of "God's house" at first. What is God's house, his temple?

It's his recognized anointed followers in the temple organization, which is Jehovah's witness and thus the only entity that could lord over everyone,making himself a god are the leaders of the organization, thus the GB of JWs is this "man of lawlessness".

In practice, since all the anointed are considered "gods" and people of reverence, the Governing Body by creating the entity associated with themselves as the"Faithful and Discrete Slave" has made that entity into a god and mediator between Christ and all the other followers. Sure, they were responsible to give food at the proper time, but not be worshipped.

Thus the apostasy referred to here is the apostasy of the Governing Body who makes itself a god in the organization over the other anointed ones.

J.C.

Special K

Hi Love-truth.

Your second post (on my computer)..the print size is great.

However, now I have to scroll all the way to the right and then all the way to the left to read each line.

Funny, how that is?

I have find I have to do that with some peoples topics and threads. right...then leftt...right left.

But most of the topic threads I don't have to do that at all.

Just a computer clutz I am..

thanks love-truth.

special k

Who is ?The Man of Lawlessness??

Share this