Quote:
Originally Posted by BroGary
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The 'man of sin' is a general term, contraposed to the 'man of God'. When Paul speaks of 'the man of God' he does not refer to a specific individual, but to a class of people who are submitted to God and - more importantly for this discussion - who serve as ministers in the ekklesia of God.
Paul routinely refers to the ekklesia as the Temple of God. There are two words translated 'temple', and the word Paul used is, if I remember correctly, never used of the physical temple in Jerusalem, but only of the church.
The man of sin, then, would sit in the temple of God - ie the church - showing himself (putting himself forward) as GOD.
It is unlikely THE CHURCH would ever accept such a thing, unless the deception were very cunning and subtle. Which seems to be Paul's description of it. It is tied to the 'mystery of iniquity', ie lawlessness, ie disobedience to God.
The man of sin is called 'the son of perdition', an appellation applied elsewhere only to Judas, the apostle of Christ who betrayed him for money.
So, to find the man of sin, we look for a class of ministers in the ekklesia of God, who would be the product of a hidden campaign of lawlessness (disobedience to God's word and the doctrine of Christ), who would deceive multitudes, who would be a JUDAS character 'betraying the body of Christ'...
Paul identified those who partake of the Lord's supper in a manner that harms the church as being a 'judas', ie as being guilty of the body of Christ. As Judas himself betrayed the physical body of our Lord, so the one who despises his fellow brother in the church betrays the mystical Body of Christ, ie he defiles the temple of God.
So then it appears the man of sin that Paul warned about was the rise of the hierarchical and sacerdotal priesthood which culminated in the papacy. The 'minister/priest' becomes 'God in the church', for it is the priest which forgives sin, dispenses communion (required for eternal life), baptises (required for remission of original sin), grants indulgences and orders penance, etc. This rise coincided with and was buttressed by the reported 'miracles' so often associated with relics, apparitions of dead saints etc. The history of medieval christianity is replete with such strange 'miracles' which led to the deceiving of MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS of people.
This sacerdotal religiosity found its highest expression in the the pope of Rome, who claimed to be 'vicar of Christ' and who it is recorded in history were sometimes actually guilty of claiming to be 'God in the church' or 'God on earth'.
Such a powerful antichristian force could not rise until the civil power of Rome had fallen - thus 'he who prevents will prevent until he be taken out of the way'. Once the IMPERIAL RULER (emperor of Rome) had fallen, the bishop of rome (pope) assumed the temporal powers of the Roman government and was declared 'king of kings and lord of lords'.
Now, I am not saying the 'man of sin' is ONLY limited to the papacy, for if 'man of sin' is a class of persons then it extends to far more than Rome. It applies to ANYONE who, in the church, attempts to replace the direct leadership of the Holy Ghost with their own 'authority', thus setting themselves up as if they were God in the church, betraying the body of Christ (like Judas) while holding the position of minister of Christ.
Thus, the creation of sacerdotal christianity is the mystery of iniquity, whether Roman catholic, Protestant, or otherwise. ANY congregation of believers in Jesus Christ that is led by man and not the Spirit, that follows the template and pattern of man's carnal theories of how church should be run and organised, that rejects the actual recorded teachings of the apostles of Christ (the Bible) in favor of man made theories of religion, that elevates any human to a position Scripturally reserved for Jesus Christ alone... is being led by the 'man of sin' rather than the 'man of God'.