One Little Nail
Puritan Board Sophomore
2 Thess 2:3-4 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God
This puts an unnecessary dual or multiple fulfilment on a specific Prophesy, it cannot be both the anti-messianic development of the covenant people of Israel & the Papacy, it has to one or the other, & as it can't be the first it is the latter.
Paul himself refers to the Christian or believing Jew/Gentile as the Temple of the Lord it is not an allegorical interpretation as you say, but is a Spiritualised Interpretation, nevertheless it is not an arbitrary Interpretation either it is there in the Text.
The Antichrist will be seated in the Outward Professing Christian Church or the New Testament Temple of Paul, have you not heard it written that
The Jews had already in Jesus' day excommunicated those who had Believed on Jesus, they had rejected His message & that of his Apostles, they had already Apostatized by the time Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians, roughly 50-53AD, and Paul mentions that the Apostasy had not as yet occurred which casts doubt on it referring to the Jews, Paul says it in reference to the Lord's Second Coming, that the Second Coming hadn't occurred yet, nor could
Unfortunately this becomes a Fulfilled Pretarist Interpretation, not only does it distort the Exegetical Interpretation of the above mentioned Scriptures it changes the Confessional Protestant view
that The Papacy is The Antichrist, which is the Historicist more sure Word of Prophecy, & it also basically aligns itself with the other notorious Counter-Reformation Pretarist Scheme of the
Neronic Antichrist, that is Emperor Nero as an already Fulfilled First Century Antichrist/Man of Sin/ Son of Perdition because it has a First Century Fulfillment.
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God
"Antichrist" and "man of sin," in the eschatological context of the New Testament, strictly and properly refer to the anti-messianic development of the covenant people of Israel after the fulfilment of the promise to the fathers in the coming of Christ. The Papacy is the Christian counterpart of it, so that these appellations are appropriately attributed to the Papacy in relation to the Christian church.
This puts an unnecessary dual or multiple fulfilment on a specific Prophesy, it cannot be both the anti-messianic development of the covenant people of Israel & the Papacy, it has to one or the other, & as it can't be the first it is the latter.
Paul is definitely refering to the Christian Church, & not Isreal (after the flesh) as he says in 1 Cor 3:16-17
Such is an allegorical interpretation, which would only be necessary where the proper and literal referent did not make sense. The passage makes excellent sense when temple is understood to be the temple which symbolised Israel's sacred privileges.
Paul himself refers to the Christian or believing Jew/Gentile as the Temple of the Lord it is not an allegorical interpretation as you say, but is a Spiritualised Interpretation, nevertheless it is not an arbitrary Interpretation either it is there in the Text.
16Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
17If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
and also in
1 Cor 6:19What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
The Antichrist will be seated in the Outward Professing Christian Church or the New Testament Temple of Paul, have you not heard it written that
Rev 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
the 1st Century was still to early for the Great Apostasy to have occurred,
According to Romans 11, it was happening before the apostle's eyes. V. 12, "the fall of them." V. 15, "The casting away of them."
The Jews had already in Jesus' day excommunicated those who had Believed on Jesus, they had rejected His message & that of his Apostles, they had already Apostatized by the time Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians, roughly 50-53AD, and Paul mentions that the Apostasy had not as yet occurred which casts doubt on it referring to the Jews, Paul says it in reference to the Lord's Second Coming, that the Second Coming hadn't occurred yet, nor could
evidentally this falling away or Apostasy had not occurred yet, but has since Paul's day being seen in the Apostasy of the Catholic Church both Eastern & Western branches. Of which Paul also wrote about inexcept there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
& to the Ephesian Elders he remarked1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Act 20:29-30 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
The apostle is speaking of the revelation of a covenanted nation as an apostate and lawless people, who nevertheless still claim divine privileges on account of the temple.
The Old Testament prophesied of the day of the Lord as a time in which God would shake the existing order and bring in something new. Altering the Jew-Gentile separation was fundamental to that change. The final result of that change would be the man of sin, which would be revealed as a consequence of the apostasy of covenanted Israel. In Ephesians 2 God makes of Jew and Gentile believers one new covenanted man in Christ. That which has been de-covenanted is the man of sin.
Unfortunately this becomes a Fulfilled Pretarist Interpretation, not only does it distort the Exegetical Interpretation of the above mentioned Scriptures it changes the Confessional Protestant view
that The Papacy is The Antichrist, which is the Historicist more sure Word of Prophecy, & it also basically aligns itself with the other notorious Counter-Reformation Pretarist Scheme of the
Neronic Antichrist, that is Emperor Nero as an already Fulfilled First Century Antichrist/Man of Sin/ Son of Perdition because it has a First Century Fulfillment.