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The Ancient World Behind the Text: Ideas

The customs, offices and ideas a first reader knew without being told, what each meant then, and the nearest thing you already know.

Antichrist and the lawless one

Daniel's king who exalts himself above every god and defiles the sanctuary became a pattern Jews saw again in Antiochus, Pompey and Caligula. Paul's man of lawlessness, who sets himself up in God's temple claiming to be God, belongs to that line.

Jewish life and lawWhat people were waiting for

First, in plain English

Every generation has a tyrant who seems to fit the old description a little too well. The book of Daniel describes a king who exalts himself above every god, speaks against the Most High and defiles the sanctuary. Jews saw that picture come true in Antiochus Epiphanes, who desecrated the temple, and saw it again in the Roman general Pompey, who walked into the Holy of Holies, and in the emperor Caligula, who ordered his own statue set up in the temple. Paul tells the Thessalonians that before the day of the Lord a man of lawlessness will set himself up in God's temple and claim to be God, and that something, or someone, is holding him back for now. Paul does not say who the restrainer is, and scholars have never agreed.

What it meant then

A general future antichrist appears mainly in later Jewish texts. Writers of the time described past and present rulers in such terms, among them Daniel's evil kings. The pagan king who makes himself a god is an old theme (Isaiah 14:13-14; Ezekiel 28:2). The Dead Sea Scrolls speak of a man of lies, and Roman emperors lent themselves to the part. Paul's picture comes especially from Jesus' saying about the abomination (Matthew 24:15), which draws on Daniel (11:36-37). Wright and Bird name Antiochus Epiphanes, Daniel's boastful horn, and Pompey, who entered the Holy of Holies. Wilkins adds Pilate bringing the emperor's images into Jerusalem in AD 26. Caligula, Josephus writes, "asserted his own divinity, and insisted on greater honors to be paid him by his subjects than are due to mankind". He ordered the governor Petronius to set up his statue in the temple, by consent or by war. Only his murder in AD 41 prevented disaster, Wright notes. In AD 70 the Romans carried their standards into the temple court, Josephus says, "and there did they offer sacrifices to them". Heiser adds that many read Gog of Ezekiel 38-39 as a template. In his account, Second Temple writers saw "Sennacherib of Assyria or Antiochus or a Roman emperor" as prototypes of the enemy. Nero became the next model. After his death in AD 68 rumor said he was alive or would return, and impostors appeared. Jewish oracles and later Christian writers cast him as the antichrist. Many Jewish thinkers also expected widespread apostasy just before the end.

The bridge to today

An analogy: a wanted poster sketched from witnesses to several past crimes. Each new suspect who matches the sketch is measured against it, though the sketch was never a photograph of one man.

What it changes in the reading

Because Daniel's self-exalting king had been seen again in Antiochus, Pompey and Caligula, the abomination Jesus warns of in Matthew 24:15 and the man of lawlessness of 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 would sound to first hearers like a known pattern rather than a riddle. 1 John 2:18 speaks of many antichrists already come.

Where the analogy breaks

Not a hunt for one suspect to arrest. A wanted poster exists to catch a single man. Paul gives no name and says the Thessalonians already knew what held the lawless one back, and Christian interpreters have read the fulfillment in at least four different ways.

Where scholars disagree

Who or what restrains him, a thing in verse 6 and a person in verse 7. Keener lists the gospel preached to all nations, God's own restraint, Michael, the Jerusalem believers and the emperor. Many church fathers said the Roman Empire. Keener rejects the church as restrainer, while the CSB Study Bible prefers the Holy Spirit, perhaps working through the church. Wright and Bird report Augustine's confession that he did not know. Second, which temple. The ESV Study Bible lists the church, the heavenly temple, the Jerusalem temple or a figure modeled on Antiochus. The CSB Study Bible suggests a future rebuilt temple, Keener and Wright the Jerusalem temple Caligula threatened. Third, how it is fulfilled. Keener lists a tribulation still future, the war of AD 66-70, the whole course of history, or language reused in several true ways. Wilkins and the Zondervan dictionary read a person still to come. Fourth, whether Nero stands behind the beast of Revelation 13 and 17. Keener says most commentators think so. Carson, Moo and Morris find the legend a poor fit, and Heiser doubts Nero for 666, since the count needs juggled spellings.

Passages where it appears

{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2thessalonians-2-1-12\/","n":"2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, The man of lawlessness and the restrainer","s":"Paul tells a church unsettled by claims that the day of the Lord has already come that the rebellion must come first and the man of lawlessness be revealed, who sets himself up in God's temple claiming to be God; something holds him back for now, and the Lord Jesus will destroy him by the breath of his mouth.","r":"2 Thessalonians 2:1-12"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1timothy-4-1-5\/","n":"1 Timothy 4:1-5, Deceiving spirits, no marriage, no foods","s":"The Spirit warns that later on some will desert the faith for deceiving spirits and demonic teaching, banning marriage and certain foods, though God made food to be eaten with thanks.","r":"1 Timothy 4:1-5"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2timothy-3-1-9\/","n":"2 Timothy 3:1-9, Terrible times, homes entered, and Jannes and Jambres","s":"Paul warns that the last days will bring terrible times and people who love themselves, money and pleasure, having a form of godliness but denying its power; some worm their way into homes and win over gullible women, opposing the truth as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses.","r":"2 Timothy 3:1-9"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1john-2-18-27\/","n":"1 John 2:18-27, The last hour and many antichrists","s":"It is the last hour: the readers heard that antichrist is coming, and many antichrists have already come. They went out from the community, which shows they never belonged; whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ is the liar and the antichrist. The readers have an anointing from the Holy One and need no one else to teach them.","r":"1 John 2:18-27"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2john-7-13\/","n":"2 John 7-13, Deceivers at the door, paper and ink","s":"Many deceivers who refuse to confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh are abroad in the world; such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Whoever runs ahead and does not keep to Christ's teaching does not have God, and the readers are not to take such a person into the house or greet him. The elder would rather not use paper and ink, and hopes to talk face to face.","r":"2 John 7-13"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-13-1-10\/","n":"Revelation 13:1-10, the beast from the sea","s":"A beast with ten horns and seven heads rises from the sea, built from Daniel's leopard, bear and lion, and the dragon gives it his power. One head seems to have had a fatal wound that healed, the whole earth follows it in awe, and it is allowed to blaspheme and to make war on God's people for forty-two months.","r":"Revelation 13:1-10"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-17-7-18\/","n":"Revelation 17:7-18, seven hills and seven kings","s":"The angel explains the woman and the beast: the beast once was, now is not and will come up from the Abyss; its seven heads are seven hills and also seven kings, five fallen, one living and one still to come, and the beast is an eighth who belongs to the seven. Its ten horns are ten kings who will make war on the Lamb, and in the end the beast and the horns turn on the woman, the great city that rules the kings of the earth, and burn her.","r":"Revelation 17:7-18"}

Beings in the Gods of the Bible

{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/gods-of-the-bible\/the-man-of-lawlessness\/","n":"The man of lawlessness","s":"An end-times figure Paul describes and refuses to explain.","r":"2 Thessalonians 2:3-12"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/gods-of-the-bible\/belial-beliar\/","n":"Belial \/ Beliar","s":"A Hebrew word for worthlessness that hardened into a name for the enemy of God.","r":"2 Corinthians 6:15"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/gods-of-the-bible\/satan-ho-satanas\/","n":"Satan (ho satanas)","s":"The name the New Testament gives the chief adversary, a role that had become a name.","r":"Matthew 4:10"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/gods-of-the-bible\/the-beast-from-the-sea\/","n":"The beast from the sea","s":"The empire-beast of Revelation carrying the famous number.","r":"Revelation 13:1-10"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/gods-of-the-bible\/the-beast-from-the-earth-the-false-prophet\/","n":"The beast from the earth \/ the false prophet","s":"The second beast of Revelation, which looks like a lamb and talks like a dragon.","r":"Revelation 13:11-18"}

In the Divine Council Index

{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/divine-council-index\/daniel-10-13-20-21\/","n":"Daniel 10:13, 20-21","s":"A prince of Persia resists for twenty-one days, a prince of Greece is coming, and Michael fights for Israel.","r":"Daniel 10:13, 20-21"}

Sources

Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, 2:6-7 and 2:8
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 and 2:6-7
ESV Study Bible, study notes on 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 2:4 and 2:5-7
CSB Study Bible, notes on 2 Thessalonians 2:4 and 2:6-7
N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians, comment on 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
N. T. Wright, Paul: A Biography, ch. 9, Corinth I
N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 18, The Argument of 2 Thessalonians, and box Blast from the Past: Tertullian on the Restrainer
Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm, ch. 40, Foe from the North, and its endnotes
Michael S. Heiser, Reversing Hermon, ch. 10, The Antichrist Figure, the Watchers, and the Nephilim
Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 14.4.4, 18.8.2 and 19.1.1, trans. William Whiston
Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 6.6.1, trans. William Whiston
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 1 Timothy 4:1
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on 1 Timothy 4:1
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to Revelation 13:1-10 and on 13:7
N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 34, note 30
Michael J. Wilkins, Matthew, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Matthew 24:15
J. D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entries antichrist and Thessalonians, Letters to the
Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness, ch. 12, Ongoing Hostility and One Final Rebellion
D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 14, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, The Contribution of the Thessalonian Epistles
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, article A New Nero
D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, chapter on Revelation, Date (The existence of a Nero myth)
Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entry animals (beast)
Michael S. Heiser, Revelation 13: The Two Beasts: From the Sea and the Earth, video lecture (Naked Bible Revelation series)
Michael S. Heiser, Naked Bible Podcast, Revelation series, audience question-and-answer episodes (about 401-406)

All ideas