ViaCrucis
Confessional Lutheran
- Oct 2, 2011
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If Matt 24:15, Mark 13:14 and Luke 21:20 are speaking of the Roman armies surrounding Jerusalem, and that this is the fulfilment of Dan 9:27b “And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”, then what is 2 Thes 2:1-4 speaking of, in particular “So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”?
These may not be related passages of Scripture. It may be tempting to try and synthesize doctrinal positions by linking Scripture together--but it may be healthy to always take a step back and ask if this particular text actually is related to another particular text.
The man of sin the Apostle speaks of in 2 Thessalonians may be related to what the Lord said in the Olivet Discourse, but there is no reason to make that assumption right off the bat.
To that end, Paul's words here in 2 Thessalonians, like many other things in Scripture, are fraught with disagreement and speculation. Opinion about what the Apostle is talking about here has been quite diverse throughout history. Ancient commentators weren't even sure whether the Apostle meant "temple" here to refer to the Temple in Jerusalem, or rather a reference to the Church (which is the new Temple of God on account that we are the Body of Christ). The man of sin could be Nero, it could be someone else who was similar to Nero, it could be some kind of Antichrist. All are opinions that have existed throughout the centuries.
If one did want to connect this to the Olive Discourse, I would imagine one would then look more closely at the events surrounding the Jewish-Roman War that culminated in the capture and destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Though none of the Zealots who occupied the Temple and slaughtered the priests prior to the Roman siege and capture of the city literally proclaimed himself divine.
I believe that the Lord's words in the Olivet Discourse refer to the events that happened in 70 AD. I'm not convinced though that that is what Paul is talking about in 2 Thessalonians.
I actually don't have any particularly strong opinions on the subject and consider this an area of biblical study that we have to let ourselves say we just don't know.
-CryptoLutheran
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