The restrainer

I'm this post I'm going to discuss the identity of the restrainer in 2 Thes 2:6-7. At the bottom of the post I will handicap a number of interpretations I reject. But I don't want to wade through all the competing interpretations before discussing my own proposal

1) There are two extremes we need to avoid when considering endtime prophecy. One is to become too confident and committed to a very specific identification. Endtime prophecy is a snare for cocksure Christians. Don't quit your job or sell your house. Don't pour your life savings into an underground, survivalist bunker in the backwoods to hunker down for the reign of the Antichrist. 

But the opposite danger, which is sometimes an overreaction to millenarian speculation, is to avoid speculation altogether. Many amils accept a degree of futurism. They aren't preterists. Yet their futurism tends to be vague and hypothetical.

For instance, I think Beale wrote a magnificent commentary on Revelation, and I also like his commentary on Thessalonians. Beale is masterful at tracing literary allusions. Documenting subtextual allusions. Sleuthing background material.

But when it comes to the follow-up question–what is this future oracle about? What type of future scenario does it correspond to?–he doesn't take the next step. 

Even though he believes some of these prophecies await a future fulfillment, he confines himself to the text. He has an exclusively textual focus. He never gets outside of the text to ask what the future referent will resemble. 

Obviously we should begin with the text. But if the text refers to something outside itself, then we should make a conscientious effort to correlate endtime prophecies with real-world referents.

I'm not suggesting we can pinpoint the fulfillment. But it's good to explore what kinds of ways it might play out. Complement intertextuality with extratextual events. 

Otherwise, it's an awful lot like treating future prophecy as if it was self-referential fiction, viz. Perelandra. It begins and ends within the world of the text. That self-enclosed story. 

2) The identity of the restrainer in 2 Thes isn't something we can construe in isolation. How we answer that question is bound up with how we construe the identity of the Antichrist, or the time and place of fulfillment. These are interlocking answers, for the restrainer and the Antichrist are roughly synchronized. Likewise, their respective careers must be coordinated with a particular place and period. So we must have consistent interpretations of the players and the stage. 

This isn't necessarily an attempt to pinpoint their identity. Indeed, I think that can be a fool's errand. Instead, I'm considering plausible profiles for the restrainer and the Antichrist. Not singling out a particular individual or timeframe, but the kind of individual who fits the profile. 

Likewise, if this prophecy lies in the future, then we should take into account what the future might look like. Had the Antichrist come in the 5C AD, or the 13C AD, the background details would be different. But that's no longer a live option.

3) One of the best interpretations views the restrainer as the Archangel Michael (e.g. Beale, Marshall, Nicholl, Shogren).  This identification has a number of things in its favor. Paul's depiction of the Antichrist alludes to Daniel (as well as Ezekiel). Given that Danielic background, it makes sense if the restrainer has a Danielic counterpart as well (Dan 10:13,20-21). 

This identification has other advantages. An angel can restrain another angel. An angel can be God's agent. By the same token, God can remove the angel after he's served his purpose. Since both heavenly and fallen angels are immortal, this would explain the longevity of the restraint, reaching back to Paul's time, but still in force 2000 years later and counting. 

So the angelic interpretation may well be right. At the same time it has some limitations:

i) Dan 11:36 is prophetic in a way that Dan 10 is not. At best, Dan 10 would set a precedent. 

We need to guard against reducing prophecy to a literary construct. That runs the risk of making prophecy a fiction, modeled on literary allusions. Truth turns on whether the background material is prophetic (or typological) in its own right. 

ii) Dan 10 has a different dynamic. In Dan 10, Michael sidelines a fallen angel. But if the restrainer is Michael, then Michael is sidelined to make way for the Antichrist, who's the agent of a fallen angel. So the relation is nearly the opposite of Dan 10.

4) I'd like to consider one other interpretation. This is useful in part because it's good to be on the alert for different possibilities. If you expect the enemy to come in one direction, he may come from behind to catch you offguard. So look around. It's prudent to prepare for different eventualities.  

i) What are different ways in which evil men are temporarily restrained? At one level, there can be external impediments. But there can also be psychological impediments.

For instance, some professing Christians commit apostasy, yet they keep that to themselves, or lead a double life, because they have a devout wife or mother, and they wish to spare their loved one's feelings. Or because they don't wish to disappoint their pious loved one. They value their esteem. 

If, however, the wife or mother dies, then they are free to express themselves. They no longer feel the need to conceal their true identity. Their pious wife or mother was a restraining influence on them.

For that matter, some professing Christians become apostates because they lost a loved one. They blame God for failing to protect their loved one. So long as their pious loved one was alive, that restrained them from committing apostasy or coming out of the closet. 

ii) Let's take one or two illustrations, which don't necessarily involve apostasy, but do involve restraint. Henri de Navarre assumed the French throne. His mother (Jeanne d'Albret) was a pious Protestant, but as a condition of his ascension to the throne, he had to renounce the Protestant faith and convert to Catholicism. That was a crippling blow to the Protestant movement in France. Yet Henri had a very lenient policy towards French Protestants. He promulgated the Edict of Nantes. That was probably in deference to his mother. Had his mother been someone like Catherine de Medici, I doubt he'd show the same restraint.

Mikhail Gorbachev had a pious Russian Orthodox mother. Although he himself is an atheist, perhaps his mother had a moderating influence which made him less ruthless than Lenin, Stalin, Putin, or Brezhnev. 

iii) Apostates are some of the most virulent opponents of the Christian faith. They take Christianity very personally. Having lost their faith, they attack their former faith to rationalize their loss of faith. So it wouldn't be surprising if the Antichrist will be an apostate.

iv) In an earlier post I speculated that the Antichrist might be a sorcerer. In that connection, I'd note that some professing Christians lose their faith in connection with the occult. That can be a catalyst or hardening factor. Michael Sudduth seems to be one example. 

And Aleister Crowley is another. Crowley was raised in the Plymouth Brethren. At the time a very conservative Protestant denomination. But for whatever reason, he lost his faith. Homosexual inclination may have been a precipitating factor. He became steeped in the occult. And he actually viewed himself as the Antichrist. He saw himself as the Beast of Revelation. Ironically, his upbringing in a Millenarian denomination exposed him to endtime prophecy and seized his imagination. 

But he didn't make the cut. He wasn't Satan's anointed. Must have been a terribly letdown! 

iv) I'm just considering profiles for the restrainer and the Antichrist. These are correlative. 

Commentators typically assume that the restrainer is identifiable. After all, there's a sense in which you can't identify the restrainer with someone you've never heard of. So you sift through a list of the usual suspects. Pick a candidate from someone or something in the public domain.

But what if the restrainer is somebody few people have ever heard of in advance of the fact? Some individuals only become well-known in association with another well-known figures. If Bess Truman or Mamie Eisenhower hadn't married to famous men, no one would remember them. It's possible that the restrainer is a private individual who only becomes identifiable after the Antichrist rises to power. 

5) Finally, let's run through some alternative identifications:

i) Some scholars think the verb (katecho) doesn't mean "restrain" or "hold back," but "possess" or "hold sway." Up to a point, that's an appealing interpretation, although it's been challenged on linguistic grounds. That the Antichrist is a demoniac certainly fits the profile. That's the source of his power. 

But over and above the linguistic objections, even if that works for v6, it's hard to square that with v7. Why is the demotion of Satan a prerequisite for the promotion of the Antichrist? Why would Satan initially restrain his agent? Why must Satan be restrained for his agent to take power? Don't they rise and fall together? 

Likewise, vv6-7 involve a contrast, which makes more sense if the distinction is between the presence and absence of restraint, rather than the presence or absence of possession. If the Antichrist is only free to come into his own after the katecho is removed, then that suggests the katecho was holding him back. 

ii) Some scholars think it refers to the Roman state and Roman emperor. One advantage of that interpretation is that it accounts for Paul's distinction between neuter and masculine participles. But there are problems with that interpretation:

a) Perhaps Paul's grammatical distinction is merely a stylistic variation. Moreover, grammatical genre is an arbitrary convention, not to be confused with the actual gender (if any) of the referents. The neuter form may emphasize a particular quality of the restrainer. 

b) How can Rome be both the agent of restraint and the agent that removes the restraint? How does Rome remove itself? The emperor wasn't independent of the state or vice versa. 

c) Likewise, the Antichrist is an opponent of God, not an opponent of Rome. A religious rebel, not a political rebel. 

d) Given Caligula's abortive plot to desecrate the temple in Jerusalem, thereby reprising the role of Antiochus, it's hard to believe Paul would view the Roman state as an obstacle to the Antichrist. Likewise, Pompey actually desecrated the temple. 

e) Finally, the fall of the Roman Empire didn't usher in the reign of the Antichrist. 

iii) Warfield thought it referred to the Jewish regime. As long as Judaism was a religio licita, Christianity could shield itself from official persecution by sheltering under Judaism, as just one more Jewish sect. Yet there are basic problems with that identification:

a) Jews instigated Roman authorities to persecute Christians.   

b) After the First Jewish Revolt (67-70), Christian association with Judaism would be politically hazardous to Christians. 

c) The Antichrist didn't rise to power after the destruction of the Jewish regime–whether we date that to the First Jewish Revolt or the Bar-Kokhba Revolt. 

iv) Some interpreters think it refers to God. 

a) But it's quite incongruous to suggest that God is sidelined. By whom? 

b) Moreover, as Paul goes onto to discuss, God continues to be very active in this situation (vv9-11).