Who is restraining the man of lawnesses?

[Blien]

I have heard explainations about this but what do you think.... who is holding back the Antichrist?

2 Thessalonians 2:1-6

1 Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. 2 Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. 3 Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction. 4 He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.

5 Don’t you remember that I told you about all this when I was with you? 6 And you know what is holding him back, for he can be revealed only when his time comes.

[Guest yod]

Up to this point it had been conservatives...but the devil is loose now

[exrockstar]

I have heard explainations about this but what do you think.... who is holding back the Antichrist?

2 Thessalonians 2:1-6

1 Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. 2 Don

[OneLight]

It is true that there is no person known as the Anti-Christ. Scripture speaks of the spirit of anti-christ, not a person, and that spirit has been around for a very long time. When the man of perdition, or the man of lawlessness arrives, it will be after his restraints are lifted. Some say that it is the Holy Spirit that is restraining him, whether by Himself or through the indwelling of His body, while others say an angel is restraining him. Scripture is not clear and we are left with only educated guesses, unless someone can point us to scripture where it clearly states who the restrainer is ...

[Blien]

Yeah, I heard that it was the HOLY SPIRIT through the body of believers. I think that is more correct than one angel holding back the Anti-Christ. We are the salt of the earth right? And when we are taken away, the whole world is going to fall apart because there will be no one to restrain sin.

But regarding the term "The Anti-Christ"... there is an Anti-Christ and there are spirits of Anti-Christ. Scripture does indeed define this, check it out..

1 John 2:18-19

18 Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. 19 These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.

Back to the topic though, I wonder why some people though it could be an angel? The angels sometimes need help too. I remember Daniel (chapter 4 I think) when Micheal the Arch-Angle had to help Gabriel because of the spirit price of Persia who was restraining him.

[Guest man]

The only One who can truly restrain evil is God.

[Bold Believer]

I have heard explainations about this but what do you think.... who is holding back the Antichrist?

2 Thessalonians 2:1-6

1 Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. 2 Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. 3 Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction. 4 He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.

5 Don’t you remember that I told you about all this when I was with you? 6 And you know what is holding him back, for he can be revealed only when his time comes.

The first thing that you have to do is get rid of the notion that the man of sin and 'the antichrist' are one and the same. They are not. Antichrist is a spirit which embodies Gnostic teachers and causes them to teach that Jesus did not come in the flesh. The man of sin comes in the flesh...the man of sin is all ABOUT flesh. He believes that man IS 'god'. The man of sin is present today; most precisely anthropos anomia or man of lawlessness. He does whatever he likes because he doesn't believe in any God/god but himself; the man of sin has bought Satan's original lie "You shall be as God, determining good and evil." Paul even says this in so many words later in the chapter when he tells the readers that God allows these evil people to be deceived because they believe 'the lie'.

The second notion you need to get rid of is that Paul is referring to single individual. He's actually speaking of a category of people who will arise in the latter days (i.e.-our time). His use of the word they further down in the chapter is a dead giveaway. Now some will say, why then does he use the singular? Technically, he doesn't. The word anthropos can mean either man OR men. Likewise with the word 'autos' later on. Autos can mean himself, herself, themselves or itself. Paul is referring to the TYPE of people who will be alive at the time of the Parousia.

The third thing you must do is make the link to Revelation 20. In Revelation 20, it is SATAN who is restrained. The man of sin cannot be revealed UNTIL HIS SPIRITUAL DADDY IS RELEASED FROM PRISON. Satan is the energizer of the man of sin, Paul tells us this later in the chapter. Satan is bound until the end of Christian pre-eminence (the thousand years, as opposed to the mikros chronos or short time of Satan mentioned in Rev 20.) So then, Satan's binding is what holds back the man of sin. Once Satan is released, and I believe he has been, he gathers Magog from the four corners of the earth and leads them as Gog, their spiritual leader, from behind the scenes. Magog will not acknowledge the existence of Gog, oddly enough. They don't believe in the very devil who leads them straight to Gehenna!{/i]

[Bold Believer]

Yeah, I heard that it was the HOLY SPIRIT through the body of believers. I think that is more correct than one angel holding back the Anti-Christ. We are the salt of the earth right? And when we are taken away, the whole world is going to fall apart because there will be no one to restrain sin.

But regarding the term "The Anti-Christ"... there is an Anti-Christ and there are spirits of Anti-Christ. Scripture does indeed define this, check it out..

1 John 2:18-19

18 Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. 19 These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.

Back to the topic though, I wonder why some people though it could be an angel? The angels sometimes need help too. I remember Daniel (chapter 4 I think) when Micheal the Arch-Angle had to help Gabriel because of the spirit price of Persia who was restraining him.

There is no definite article in this sentence. It should read, "You have heard Antichrist is coming." IN many Bibles, you will have a footnote which reads 'text omits the

[EricH]

There is no way to know for sure. It was probably clear to the original reader

[OneLight]

Yeah, I heard that it was the HOLY SPIRIT through the body of believers. I think that is more correct than one angel holding back the Anti-Christ. We are the salt of the earth right? And when we are taken away, the whole world is going to fall apart because there will be no one to restrain sin.

But regarding the term "The Anti-Christ"... there is an Anti-Christ and there are spirits of Anti-Christ. Scripture does indeed define this, check it out..

1 John 2:18-19

18 Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. 19 These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.

Back to the topic though, I wonder why some people though it could be an angel? The angels sometimes need help too. I remember Daniel (chapter 4 I think) when Micheal the Arch-Angle had to help Gabriel because of the spirit price of Persia who was restraining him.

The KJV, and those bibles that follow the same manner, capitalize the word "antichrist" where the original does not. The word does mean of one who opposes Christ, yet God does not call him one person. but a man who is a complete antichrist. There is a difference and today's theology has taken this word and placed it on the man or lawlessness, which scripture does not. We need to be careful ... Satan is the only true antichrist, and he gives his power to others. Satan does not come to the scene himself and take on the form of a man, but gives his power to a man who is already born.