Ver. 13. We are bound to give thanks.—The same form of expression as in ch. i. 3, save that here “we” is expressed separately and emphatically.

Ver. 15. Stand fast.—Ready for any shock which may come unexpectedly through the insidious methods of Antichrist. Hold the traditions.—As of the apostle said, keep a strong hand on them. Tradition is that which is handed over from one to another. Compare 1 Cor. xi. 23. “I received of the Lord . . . I delivered unto you . . . He was betrayed.” Here the words “delivered” and “betrayed” represent a doing, of which the word for “tradition” is the act completed. Paul handed over that which his Lord charged him to transmit; Judas handed over Christ to the Jews.

Ver. 16. Everlasting consolation and good hope.—Consolation, or comfort, is ministered by the Paraclete (John xiv. 16; Acts ix. 31), who abides for ever with those who are Christ’s.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 1–12.

Antichrist Portrayed.

Various interpretations of this remarkable paragraph have been attempted. Some modern German critics would divest it of any prophetic significance and treat it as a representation of the writer’s own personal feelings and forebodings. Others would restrict its application to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and to persons, principles, and events that preceded that catastrophe. The commonly received Protestant interpretation is to identify the Man of Sin and his doings with the Papacy; and there are certainly many points of that interpretation that accord very remarkably with the prophecy. But there are serious objections to all these views. We believe the revelation of the Antichrist here depicted is yet future, though the elements of his power are now in preparation. From the whole passage we gather the following suggestions:—

I. That Antichrist will be embodied in some living personality.—He is called “that man of sin, the son of perdition”: “that Wicked”—the lawless one (vers. 3–8). The fathers of the early Church, for at least three centuries after the apostolic age, while differing on some minor details, seemed unanimous in understanding by the Man of Sin, not a system of deceit and wickedness, or a succession of individuals at the head of such a system, but some one man, the living personal Antichrist, the incarnation of Satanic craft and energy, who should put forth his power to weaken and destroy the Church.

1. He will arrogantly assume Divine prerogatives.—“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, showing himself that he is God” (ver. 4). In these words we note Antichrist’s intrusion into the special dwelling-place of God, his usurping session there, and his blasphemous and ostentatious assumption of Divinity. The wildest excesses of pride and audacity cannot exceed this.

2. His advent will be accompanied with remarkable displays of Satanic power.—“Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” (ver. 9). Antichrist as the masterpiece of Satan will be endowed with extraordinary qualities. The devil will tax his prodigious abilities to the utmost in making this great adversary of the Church as potent for mischief as possible. We know how readily the man of science can impose upon the ignorant with his experiments. And how easy it is for Satan, with his vast knowledge and resources, to delude thousands with his simulations of the miraculous! The advent of Antichrist is to be a fiendish caricature and audacious mockery of the glorious coming of the Son of God!

II. That Antichrist will work deplorable mischief in human souls.—1. He seeks by secret methods to promote apostasy from the Church of God. “A falling away first” (ver. 3). “The mystery of iniquity doth already work” (ver. 7). Here we detect the germs and preparation of the antichristian curse that is to work such havoc. The primitive Church of apostolic times was not such a model of perfection as we sometimes imagine. The leaven of iniquity, of lawlessness, the essence of all sin, was already working. Observe the sorrowing references of the apostles to the many evils of the different Churches: Tit. i. 11; 1 Tim. vi. 5; 2 Cor. xi. 26; Philem. 9; 2 Tim. i. 15; 1 John ii. 18–20; 2 John 7; 3 John 9. Passim. The most disastrous apostasies have been the result of long, secret endeavours.