2 Thessalonians 2:4

“Who opposeth, &c.] Or is an opposer, an adversary of Christ, the antichrist; who opposes him in his kingly office, styling himself the head and spouse of the church, assuming to himself all power in heaven and in earth, taking upon him to dispense with the laws of Christ, and to make new ones; who opposes him in his priestly office, by pretending to offer him up again in the sacrifice of the mass, and by making angels and saints departed, intercessors and advocates; and also in his prophetic office, by teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, and setting up unwritten traditions before the word of God, requiring the worshipping of images, angels, and saints, when Christ requires that…”

“th2 2:4Dan 11:36-37 is here referred to. The words used there as to Antiochus Epiphanes, Paul implies, shall even be more applicable to the man of sin, who is the New Testament actual Antichrist, as Antiochus was the Old Testament typical Antichrist. The previous world kingdoms had each one extraordinary person as its representative head and embodiment (thus Babylon had Nebuchadnezzar, Dan 2:38, end; Medo-Persia had Cyrus; Greece had Alexander, and Antiochus Epiphanes, the forerunner of Antichrist); so the fourth and last world kingdom, under which we now live, shall have one final head, the concentrated embodiment of all the sin and lawless iniquity which have been in pagan and papal Rome.…”

“Who opposeth - That is, he is distinguished as an opposer of the great system which God has revealed for human salvation, and of those who would serve God in purity in the gospel of his Son. No Protestant will doubt that this has been the character of the papacy. The opposition of the general system to the gospel; the persecution of Wycliffe, of John Huss, of Jerome of Prague, of the Waldenses and the Reformers; the Inquisition, the cruelties in the reign of Mary (Queen of Scots), and the massacre of Bartholomew in France, are obvious illustrations of this. And exalteth himself above all that is called God - That is, whether among the pagans or the Jews; above a false God, or the true God.…”

“2:4 exalt himself: Like other Roman cities, Thessalonica constructed temples for the worship of the emperor. This cult was the prototype of the worship described here. • He will even sit in the temple of God: The profaning of the Temple in Jerusalem by Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 BC (see Dan 9:27; 11:31; 12:11) may have prefigured the event predicted here (Matt 24:15; Mark 13:14). Or it may refer to the attempt of the emperor Caligula, called “the new god manifest,” to erect his own image in the Temple in AD 40. Alternatively, the temple may be an imperial temple (of God could be of the god) erected in honor of the lawless man and not necessarily a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. • claiming that…”

“and exalteth: Isa 14:13; Eze 28:2, Eze 28:6, Eze 28:9; Dan 7:8, Dan 7:25, Dan 8:9-11, Dan 11:36; Rev 13:6 called: Co1 8:5 sitteth: Dan 8:12-14, Dan 11:45; Rev 13:6, Rev 13:7 2 Thessalonians 2:5”