And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be
revealed in his time. For the mystery doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be
taken out of the way (II Thess. 2:6-7).
COMMON GRACE
ARGUMENT:
Appeal has been made to this text by
exponents of the theory of common grace for proof of a general operation of the
Holy Spirit whereby the progress of corruption is checked within man’s fallen nature.
The
interpretation of the passage is that “what withholdeth” is the power of common grace; and “he who
now letteth and will let” is the Holy Spirit. Hence, the conclusion is that the
development of the power of antichrist, to which the text refers, is restrained
by the power of common grace and the influence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts
of sinful men.
(I)
Prof. Herman C. Hanko
[Source:
Common Grace Considered]
If
one is to find in this passage a reference to the gracious restraining power of
the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the unregenerate, then some sort of
interpretation similar to the following would have to be given: The apostle is
speaking here of the rise of antichrist at the end of time. Antichrist is
called “the man of sin” in the context. He is part of the “mystery of iniquity”
that is present in the world (I John 2:18). But this rise of antichrist is
graciously restrained by the Holy Spirit, for that which “withholdeth” is
supposed to be a reference to the gracious operations of the Holy Spirit. The
Holy Spirit will graciously restrain sin in the hearts of the reprobate,
particularly in the antichristian development of antichrist in history, and
enable those who stand in this historical development of antichrist to do good
throughout most of the new dispensation until the man of sin, the antichrist,
is revealed “in his time.”
This
is strange exegesis indeed. The objections against such a view are compelling.
1)
The apostle tells the Thessalonians that they knew that which was withholding.
Now if the reference is to the gracious inner working of the Holy Spirit in the
unregenerate, the apostle could not have said that the Thessalonians knew of
this work of the Holy Spirit. How could they? In all the apostle’s writings
there is no other mention of any such thing. Apart from the fact that this
expression, “what withholdeth” is a strange way to speak of the Holy Spirit,
found nowhere in Holy Scripture, this interpretation presupposes that the
Thessalonians knew about common grace and knew about that aspect of it that
involved the restraint of sin almost 2000 years before it became a doctrine
sanctioned by the church.
2)
The idea of the restraint of sin emphasizes that this restraint is in the
hearts of all men in general to restrain all kinds of sin and to enable sinful
man to perform good works. But here in this text the expression is limited to
the development of the antichrist. In fact, it would seem to me to follow that
this restraint of sin is to be found in Antichrist himself, that he is the object
of grace, that the Spirit graciously restrains him, and that he is able to do
good in the eyes of God.
3)
If the Holy Spirit and His work is the reference here, then the last line of
the text would have to read this way: “But the Holy Spirit who restrains sin
will continue to restrain sin until “he be taken out of the way.” The cessation
of the work of the Holy Spirit is ended when the Holy Spirit is “taken out of
the way.” What a strange and unbiblical way to speak of the Holy Spirit. It
ought to be clear to anyone with a modicum of understanding of Scripture that
this interpretation cannot possibly be correct.
[…]
Whatever
the apostle may be referring to in the text, someone or something, known to the
Thessalonians, was preventing a premature appearance of antichrist and would be
taken out of the way at God’s time, that is, when in God’s time the time of
Antichrist had come. And, therefore, no restraint of the Holy Spirit can
possibly be referred to. Such an interpretation of the text is foisted on the
text in such an unnatural way that no one can accept it as true.
---------------------------------------
(II)
Herman Hoeksema (1886-1965
(a)
[Source:
The Protestant Reformed Churches in
America (1947), pp. 375-376]
26. What may be said of this interpretation?
That it is extremely arbitrary and
far-fetched, to say the least. Certain it is that the text does not speak of
common grace as the withholding power, nor as the Holy Spirit as the One who
now letteth and will let. At the very best, the interpretation is a mere
conjecture and invention of ingenuous minds. Besides, it presupposes that the
Thessalonians had already become acquainted with the doctrine of common grace;
we conjecture it must also be supposed that the apostle had taken pains to
instruct them in this wonderful theory. For he writes to them: “And now ye know what withholdeth.”
26. But is this interpretation not probably
correct?
On the contrary, this explanation or
conjecture is probably very incorrect. For first of all, it is very improbable
that the Thessalonians knew that it was the power of common grace that was withholding the man of sin. How strange it
would be that the apostle should presuppose knowledge on the part of the
Thessalonians of a doctrine of which he himself never writes in his epistles!
In the second place, it is entirely safe to say that, if the apostle had meant
to refer to the Holy Spirit in this
passage, he would have mentioned Him by name, for he always does. He would certainly
not have expressed himself so cryptically, that all might have their guess as
to what he really meant. And in the third place, Scripture would not write of
the Holy Spirit: “until he be taken out of the way.” For all these reasons, the
conjecture of synod is very improbable if not quite impossible.
28. What is a far more plausible interpretation
of this text?
That the apostle is referring to a
definite power and person, known to the Thessalonians, that in those days stood
in the way of the full realization of the antichristian kingdom. We know not
what person and what power the apostle had in mind, neither need we know. Every
attempt to determine this must needs be mere conjecture. But this power and
person certainly is a type of all
those historical powers and persons and circumstances that prevent the ultimate
manifestation of the kingdom of antichrist before God’s own time.
(b)
The tacit
assumption … [is] that “he who now letteth” is the Holy Spirit who restrains
sin so that the man of sin cannot yet be revealed. This explanation is
impossible, because Scripture would not write of the Holy Spirit, “until he be
taken out of the way.” Yet this refers to the same person as the expression “he
who now letteth.” Berkhof in his booklet forgets to mention this text and
offers no explanation.
My conviction is
that the apostle had in mind a definite person known to the Thessalonians, who
stood in the way of the full realization of the antichristian power and
kingdom. We know not, neither need we conjecture who that particular person
“who now letteth” was. That person of Paul’s time was a type of all those persons,
powers, and circumstances that throughout history prevent the realization of
the antichristian kingdom before God’s time. However, the text certainly does
not refer to the Holy Spirit and his general operation whereby he checks the
progress of corruption in man’s nature.
---------------------------------------
(III)
More to come! (DV)
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