Originally published in "The Lord's Coming Herald & Wesleyan Bible Prophecy Advocate," Summer Edition 2000
What John Wesley Believed About The Restraining Force Of II Thessalonians 2:6-7
Dispensationalists universally assume that the Holy Spirit is the restraining force in II Thessalonians 2:-6-7, and that his removal before the man of lawlessness is revealed implies a pretribulation rapture of the church.
The following quotation from the renowned
evangelical fundamental Bible scholar, the late J. Barton Payne, sets forth the
exegetical ambiguity and logical incongruence of this whole notion: "Even if its identification of the restraint were to be accepted, the being
'taken out of the way' would require no rapture, but simply a ceasing to
restrain. It could mean no more than that 'the Holy Spirit would gradually
recede in his active conviction of the sons of men.' . . . More fundamental,
however, are the intrinsic improbabilities of the whole theory. Context suggests
nothing about the Holy Spirit nor why such veiled language would have been used
if he were the one really meant. The Holy Spirit, though he may well do so, is
never mentioned in Scripture with the function of restraining lawlessness: and
verses like John 16:8, Eph. 6:18 and I John 4:4 cannot be adduced as germane to
such activity. . . . Scripture, moreover, gives no hint of the Holy Spirit's
ever being removed from the world. . . . Even dispensationalists admit that the
Holy Spirit continues in the world after the rapture, convicting men of sin and
judgment, and opening their hearts to the message of salvation; that the only
thing really removed is his presence as indwelling the church (which looks
suspiciously like an interpretation dictated by pretribulationists
preconceptions); and that the passage presents "many difficulties" (The
Imminent Appearing of Christ, p. 111).
The majority view for nearly eighteen hundred years of Church
history was that the text of II Thessalonians 2:6-7 refers to Rome: when Rome
falls, then the end will come. This was the position of John Wesley, whose
comment on this passage runs thus: "only he that restraineth—That is, the
potentate who successively has Rome in his power. The emperors, heathen or
Christian: the kings, Goths or Lombards: the Carolingian or German emperors" (Explanatory Notes On the New Testament, p. 535).
That the fall of Rome is an apocalyptic sign of the end-time
is well documented in the legends of the Christian church, though modern
dispensationalists are nearly totally ignorant of this fact. The following
partial quotations from the early Church fathers, John Chrysostom (A.D.
347-470), and Lactantus (A.D. 260-330), respectively, are only two examples from
a large body of ancient Christian teaching that could be cited:
"Only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken
out of the way, that is, when the Roman empire is taken out of the way, then he
shall come." [Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers. 13:389] . . . "the Roman name, by which the world is now ruled, will be taken away from the
earth, and the government return to Asia; and the East shall again bear rule,
and the West be reduced to servitude" [Anti-Nicene Fathers,
7:212].
Adam Clarke predicted that the Roman world dominion would
last until the year 2015. If he is right that is only ten years away. Given how
slowly peoples' ideas are given to change, MAYBE it's enough time to get a
majority of evangelicals out of Darbyism and awake to what the Bible REALLY
teaches about the end-time!
For further detailed information on the meaning of II Thessalonians chapter 2 we refer the reader to our approved Masters Degree thesis entitled St Paul's Primitive Understanding Of the Delay Of The Parousia, (Indiana Wesleyan University, 1982).
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