Paul's "Anti-Christology" in 2 Thessalonians 2:3–12 in Canonical Context

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the church's reception of 2 Thess 2:3–12 the "man of lawlessness" has traditionally been identified with the figure of "Antichrist" as part of an "anti-Christology" often characterized by the development of a strict parallelism between Christ and Antichrist, where one is the reverse replica of the other. Irenaeus develops this parallelism using a basic interpretive framework of double recapitulation. The purpose of this article is to show that certain textual features of 2 Thess 2:3–4, when situated within the larger Pauline corpus and interpreted in light of an intertextual OT trajectory that epitomizes human arrogance as it is embodied by archetypal kings (e.g., Ezek 28), suggest that this basic interpretive pattern of double recapitulation is on the mark. More specifically, the article demonstrates that there is indeed a canonical logic, a Pauline narrative and conceptual pattern (seen particularly in comparing 2 Thess 2:3–4 to Phil 2:6–11 and to passages from Romans), that reveals that the man of lawlessness represents the pinnacle of what Christ reverses. On that basis, the man of lawlessness is appropriately referred to as "Antichrist" in spite of the reluctance of some modern commentators to do so. As such, he is thereby also antihuman, anti-God, and antiholiness.