Quote:
Originally Posted by Esaias
(6) And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. You already know what prevents the rise and revealing of this man of sin.
(7) For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. The hidden secret of lawlessness (rebellion against God's divine laws) is already working, but there is something preventing this mystery of lawlessness from coming into full fruition. But until that preventive force is removed, the secret plot of lawlessness and rebellion will continue working behind the scenes.
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I now want to address the issue of the restrainer a bit. A lot of theories have been put forward by various persons as to who or what this is. One of the more recently popular views is that the restrainer is the either church, or the Holy Spirit. I say "more recently popular views" because this view is wholly a product of dispensational ratpurism which did not exist prior to the 1830s.
That the restrainer is the Holy Spirit is easily debunked by simply thinking about it: How can the Holy Spirit be "taken out of the way"? He can't. You can't take God out of the way.
That the restrainer is the church, "taken out of the way" via a supposed rapture, is also easily debunked by the very teaching of Paul here in this chapter.
First of all, Paul stated the coming of the Lord, and our gathering together unto Him, occurs AFTER the man of sin is revealed. If the church is the restrainer that is taken out of the way by rapture, then there is a palpable and obvious contradiction. The man of sin is revealed AFTER the rapture and the church is removed, according to dispensationalism, but according to Paul the church is resurrected and gathered to Jesus ("raptured") AFTER the man of sin is revealed and during his destruction! So obviously dispensational rapturism fails, and fails hard.
Secondly, the man of sin sits in the naos of God, a term Paul only uses for the church. If the church was removed or taken out of the way, then the man of sin could not sit in the naos of God, for it would be gone! Again, dispensationalis rapturism fails, and fails hard.
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