VIEWS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS ON 2 THESS. II.
By John Nevins Andrews
Dowling in his "History of Romanism" makes an extended comment on 2 Thess. ii. He shows that the "man of sin" is the papacy, and that that which "hindered" was the Roman heathen or pagan government. In proof of this last point he says: "There is a remarkable passage in Tertullian's Apology [chap. xxxii] that may serve to justify the sense which Protestants put upon these verses; and since it was written long before the accomplishment of the prediction, it deserves the more attention. 'Christians,' says he, 'are under a particular necessity of praying for the emperors, and for the continued state of the empire; because we know that dreadful power which hangs over the world, and the conclusion of the age, which threatens the most horrible evils, is restrained by the continuance of the time appointed for the Roman empire. This is what we would not experience, and while we pray that it may be deferred, we hereby show our good will to the perpetuity of the Roman state.'" Hist. Romanism, pp. 28, 29. Mr. S. Bliss in explaining 2 Thess. ii, 2-8, after stating that this scripture had been uniformly applied to the papacy by Protestant writers, remarks as follows: "That power began early to be manifested, but its full development was 'let,' i. e., hindered, by the continuance of the western empire which had to be taken out of its way. Tertullian, near the close of the second century, in expounding those words, says: 'Who can this be but the Roman state, the division of which into ten kingdoms will bring on antichrist?' And he gives as a reason why the Christians of his time prayed for the Roman empire, that the greatest calamity hanging over the world was retarded by the continuance of it. Cyril of Jerusalem in the fourth century applied the passage in the same manner." Commentary on the Apocalypse, p. 196.
J. N. A.