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I see that I must omit many of the statements of the gospels and
epistles about this last judgment, that this volume may not become
unduly long; but I can on no account omit what the Apostle Paul
says, in writing to the Thessalonians, "We beseech you, brethren,
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," etc.
No one can doubt that he wrote this of Antichrist and of the day of
judgment, which he here calls the day of the Lord, nor that he
declared that this day should not come unless he first came who is
called the apostate, apostate, to wit, from the Lord God. And if
this may justly be said of all the ungodly, how much more of him? But
it is uncertain in what temple he shall sit, whether in that ruin of
the temple which was built by Solomon, or in the Church; for the
apostle would not call the temple of any idol or demon the temple of
God. And on this account some think that in this passage Antichrist
means not the prince himself alone, but his whole body, that is, the
mass of men who adhere to him, along with him their prince; and they
also think that we should render the Greek more exactly were we to
read, not "in the temple of God," but "for" or "as the temple of
God," as if he himself were the temple of God, the Church. Then
as for the words, "And now ye know what withholdeth," i.e., ye
know what hindrance or cause of delay there is, "that he might be
revealed in his own time;" they show that he was unwilling to make an
explicit statement, because he said that they knew. And thus we who
have not their knowledge wish and are not able even with pains to
understand what the apostle referred to, especially as his meaning is
made still more obscure by what he adds. For what does he mean by
"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now
holdeth, let him hold until he be taken out of the way: and then shall
the wicked be revealed?" I frankly confess I do not know what he
means. I will nevertheless mention such conjectures as I have heard
or read.
Some think that the Apostle Paul referred to the Roman empire, and
that he was unwilling to use language more explicit, lest he should
incur the calumnious charge of wishing ill to the empire which it was
hoped would be eternal; so that in saying, "For the mystery of
iniquity doth already work," he alluded to Nero, whose deeds already
seemed to be as the deeds of Antichrist. And hence some suppose that
he shall rise again and be Antichrist. Others, again, suppose that
he is not even dead, but that he was concealed that he might be
supposed to have been killed, and that he now lives in concealment in
the vigor of that same age which he had reached when he was believed to
have perished, and will live until he is revealed in his own time and
restored to his kingdom. But I wonder that men can be so audacious in
their conjectures. However, it is not absurd to believe that these
words of the apostle, "Only he who now holdeth, let him hold until
he be taken out of the way," refer to the Roman empire, as if it
were said, "Only he who now reigneth, let him reign until he be
taken out of the way." "And then shall the wicked be revealed:" no
one doubts that this means Antichrist. But others think that the
words, "Ye know what withholdeth," and "The mystery of iniquity
worketh," refer only to the wicked and the hypocrites who are in the
Church, until they reach a number so great as to furnish Antichrist
with a great people, and that this is the mystery of iniquity, because
it seems hidden; also that the apostle is exhorting the faithful
tenaciously to hold the faith they hold when he says, "Only he who
now holdeth, let him hold until he be taken out of the way," that
is, until the mystery of iniquity which now is hidden departs from the
Church. For they suppose that it is to this same mystery John
alludes when in his epistle he says, "Little children, it is the
last time: and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now
are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been
of us, they would no doubt have continued with us." As therefore
there went out from the Church many heretics, whom John calls "many
antichrists," at that time prior to the end, and which John calls
"the last time," so in the end they shall go out who do not belong to
Christ, but to that last Antichrist, and then he shall be revealed.
Thus various, then, are the conjectural explanations of the obscure
words of the apostle. That which there is no doubt he said is this,
that Christ will not come to judge quick and dead unless Antichrist,
His adversary, first come to seduce those who are dead in soul;
although their seduction is a result of God's secret judgment already
passed. For, as it is said "his presence shall be after the working
of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with
all seduction of unrighteousness in them that perish." For then shall
Satan be loosed, and by means of that Antichrist shall work with all
power in a lying though a wonderful manner. It is commonly questioned
whether these works are called "signs and lying wonders" because he is
to deceive men's senses by false appearances, or because the things he
does, though they be true prodigies, shall be a lie to those who shall
believe that such things could be done only by God, being ignorant of
the devil's power, and especially of such unexampled power as he shall
then for the first time put forth. For when he fell from heaven as
fire, and at a stroke swept away from the holy Job his numerous
household and his vast flocks, and then as a whirlwind rushed upon and
smote the house and killed his children, these were not deceitful
appearances, and yet they were the works of Satan to whom God had
given this power. Why they are called signs and lying wonders, we
shall then be more likely to know when the time itself arrives. But
whatever be the reason of the name, they shall be such signs and
wonders as shall seduce those who shall deserve to be seduced,
"because they received not the love of the truth that they might be
saved." Neither did the apostle scruple to go on to say, "For this
cause God shall send upon them the working of error that they should
believe a lie." For God shall send, because God shall permit the
devil to do these things, the permission being by His own just
judgment, though the doing of them is in pursuance of the devil's
unrighteous and malignant purpose, "that they all might be judged who
believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
Therefore, being judged, they shall be seduced, and, being
seduced, they shall be judged. But, being judged, they shall be
seduced by those secretly just and justly secret judgments of God,
with which He has never ceased to judge since the first sin of the
rational creatures; and, being seduced, they shall be judged in that
last and manifest judgment administered by Jesus Christ, who was
Himself most unjustly judged and shall most justly judge.
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