The Man of Sin
Is the infamous man of sin someone in the future…or has he already come?
“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day [second coming] will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thess. 2:3–4).
There are Scriptural and historical reasons to conclude this happened in the first century.
Regarding the temple, this temple was standing when Paul wrote Thessalonians in approximately AD 51–52. This was the temple that Jesus called a den of thieves (Matt. 21:13). This was the temple Jesus called “desolate” because God had departed it (Matt. 23:38). And this was the temple that Jesus said (in AD 33) would be destroyed within a generation (Matt. 24:2, 34). There is no biblical reason to think this passage is referring to any other temple besides this one, the one standing in Paul’s day, and the one that was destroyed in AD 70!
Who, then, was the man of sin/man of lawlessness (depending on which Bible version you read)?
This man–and Paul does call him a man–was alive in Paul’s day. We know this because Paul said the man of sin was “already at work” and “being restrained” (2 Thess. 2:6–7). Moreover, Paul said that his audience, the Thessalonians, knew who/what was restraining him. “And now you [Thessalonians] know what is restraining [him], that he may be revealed in his own time” (v. 6). The man of sin was likely a high-ranking Jewish leader, such as the high priest, whom Paul did not want to mention by name for fear of reprisals from the Jewish establishment. Remember, the Jewish establishment was persecuting Christians in this time period.
As to the identity of the restrainer…The restrainer likely refers to the Roman government (or someone within the Roman government) who for a time restrained the Jews from killing Christians. For example, the Romans prevented the Jews from killing Paul when he was being transported to his trial (Acts 23:12–22). The Jews were not permitted to put anyone to death without permission from the Romans (John 18:31), and that was not always easy to get, especially against Christians, whom the Romans viewed as just another Jewish sect (at least at first). The Romans, therefore, restrained the man of sin from harming Christians–that is, until the time of Nero in the mid-60s, which is when the Romans unleashed their official, systematic persecution of Christians (see my book, The End Is Here).
Another reason we know the man of sin was alive in Paul’s day is that Paul described him in the present tense. Paul said the man of sin “opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thess. 2:4). The man of sin was alive in Paul’s day! So unless there is a two thousand year old man of sin still walking the earth somewhere, he must have died long ago.
Paul also said the Lord would kill this man of sin at his second coming (v. 8), which means the second coming must have happened within the lifetime of this first-century man. This timing matches perfectly with all those other time statements in which Jesus said he would come again within the lifetimes of his audiences (Matt. 10:23, 16:28, 24:30–34, 26:64; Rev. 22:12).
Compare, also, Paul’s description of the man of sin and the manner in which he would be killed to the description of another corrupt Jewish leader, Herod Agrippa, and the manner in which he was killed:
Man of Sin: “[He] opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God…The Lord will consume [him] with the breath of His mouth and destroy [him] with the brightness of His coming” (2 Thess. 2:4, 8).
Herod Agrippa: “So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne [in the temple] and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, ‘The voice of a god and not of a man!’ Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died” (Acts 12:21).
Both men would die claiming to be God, and both men would be killed by the Lord. The point of this comparison is simply to point out that the manner in which the man of sin would be killed–by the Lord–is not all that unusual. It had happened before.
Possible objection: Paul said the man of sin would display supernatural powers: “The coming of the lawless one [man of sin] is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish” (2 Thess. 2:9–10, italics mine). However, such a man of wonders had not appeared in Paul’s day.
Response: First, notice that Paul calls this “deception” and “lying wonders.” These were false miracles, not real ones. They were cheap parlor tricks, similar to what any talented magician can do at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Only God and his representatives can do real miracles. If Satan and his minions could do real miracles, then all the “signs and wonders” throughout the Bible would be nothing more than interesting sideshows; they would confirm nothing. God parted the Red Sea? Big deal. So could Satan. Jesus healed people? Big deal. So could Satan’s disciples. Jesus rose from the dead? Big deal. So could Satan’s minions.
Yet the biblical prophets and apostles clearly believed that supernatural signs and wonders proved that God was on their side–precisely because Satan cannot do real miracles. When Elijah challenged the 450 false prophets of Baal, he proved God was on his side by calling down supernatural fire from heaven, which the false prophets could not do (1 Kings 18). Jesus and the apostles, too, said supernatural signs and wonders confirmed God’s real prophets (Heb. 2:4, John 10:38, Mark 2:10, Matt. 11:3–6).
Jesus repeatedly used supernatural signs and wonders to prove he was who he claimed to be. For example, Jesus proved he could forgive sins by healing a paralytic (Mark 2:5–11). Likewise, Jesus proved he was the light of the world by healing a blind man (John 9:5–7). And Jesus proved he was “the resurrection and the life” by raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:25, 42). If Satan could do such miracles, then all these signs and wonders would confirm nothing. Yet Jesus clearly believed these miracles proved he was sent by God. “Believe the works [miracles], that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me” (John 10:38)…”Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works [miracles] themselves” (John 14:11, italics mine).
Second, men of sin (false prophets) were not all that uncommon in Paul’s day. For example, there was Simon the sorcerer, who “astonished the people of Samaria” with his trickery (Acts 8:9–10). There was also the Egyptian who led four thousand men into the wilderness (Acts 21:38). And there was Theudas, who led about four hundred men after himself; and Judas of Galilee, who drew away many people after himself (Acts 5:33–39). The New Testament mentions many such men of sin.
The first-century historian Josephus, too, confirms there were many false messiahs in Paul’s day who “deceived and deluded the people under pretense of Divine inspiration, but were for procuring innovations and changes of the government; and these prevailed with the multitude to act like madmen, and went before them into the wilderness, as pretending that God would show them signals of liberty.”[1]
While there were many men of sin in the first century, none of them could do real signs and wonders like Jesus and the apostles. Only God’s true representatives can do real miracles.
For more about these issues, get my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament’s Prophecies Were Fulfilled.
Alex Polyak, The Bible Fulfilled 2/17/24
[1] Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book 2, Chapter 13, Paragraphs 4–5.
