Written by Seth Stark

March 24^th, 2000

Paul, in this passage, uses figurative language to give to us signs to look for concerning the antichrist, the man of sin. The one point that I would like to address in this paper is the phrase "temple of God". I intend to show that Paul does not refer to the physical temple in Jerusalem as some believe but rather is referring to the church.

The phrase "Temple of God" is used nine times in the whole of the Bible. Once in the Old Testament, eight times in the New Testament. The OT reference in is 2 Chronicles 23:9 and refers to Solomon's temple. The first time it is used in the NT is in Matthew 21:12 when Jesus cleansed the temple. The second is in Matthew 26:61, where Jesus is accused of saying he would destroy the physical temple of God and in three days rebuild it. The third and fourth times "temple of God" is used are in 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 17. Here, twice, Paul specifically tells the church in Corinth (and the church universal) that the church is the "temple of God". The fifth instance is in 2 Corinthians 6:16, where again Paul says quite plainly that the church is the temple of God. The sixth occurrence is the much-debated passage in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 where Paul says the man of sin will sit in the temple of God. The last two references in the NT are in Revelation chapter 11. The first is verse 1 where John is told to measure the temple of God in heaven and the second is in verse 19 where John says he saw the temple of God opened in heaven.

So what temple was Paul referring to in 2 Thessalonians 2? We can discount the verse in 2 Chronicles, since Solomon's temple had long since been destroyed. We are then left with the eight NT references. The two in Revelation can also be set aside since they refer to a heavenly temple and it is absurd to believe that the man of sin would come from or go to a temple in heaven. We are now down to just 6 passages that use the phrase "temple of God". Four passages written by Paul and two by Matthew. Since it is Paul who wrote 2 Thessalonians, shouldn't we look at how Paul uses "temple of God"? Three of the four times Paul writes "temple of God" he makes it quite clear that he is referring to the church, the fourth time being 2 Thessalonians 2:4. Having now these evidences, how can one come to the conclusion that the man of sin, the son of perdition would sit in the Jerusalem temple? It is quite clear that he would sit in the church, showing himself that he is God.