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( ὁ ἃíèñùðïò ôῆò ἁìáñôßáò ), an impersonation of the sinful principle spoken of by the apostle Paul in an emphatic manner (2Th_2:3). The context (2Th_2:3-4) gives the following attributes or synonymous titles:
(1.) apostasy ( ἡ ἀðïóôáóßá , “a [rather the] falling away”), which precedes ( ðñῶôïí ) the appearance ( ἀðáêáëõöèῇ );
(2.) son of perdition ( ὁ õἱὸò ôῆò ἀðùëåßáò , i.e. one sprung from the fall (compare “that wicked”), and doomed to its penalty (comp. 2Th_2:8);
(3.) a persecutor ( ὁ ἁíôéêåßìåíïò ), especially of God's cause and government;
(4.) a blasphemer ( ὑðåñáéñüìåíïò , etc.), i.e. one arrogating divine honors, and claiming to work miracles (2Th_2:9-10). This is evidently an assemblage of the most striking characteristics of former Antichrists in Scripture, especially the “little horn” of Daniel. As that prophecy referred particularly to Antiochus Epiphanes, this passage must be understood as employing the conventional Scriptural language symbolically to indicate a then (and perhaps still) future effort on the part of some hostile power to overthrow Christianity, and induce its professors to renounce it. Such a peril is clearly intimated in several other passages of the N.T. (e.g. Mar_13:22; 2Ti_3:1; 2Ti_3:13; Rev_20:8). But we are not to confine the prophecy to any one type of Antichrist; “in whomsoever these distinctive features are found — whoever wields temporal or spiritual power in any degree similar to that in which the Man of Sin is here described as wielding it-he, be he pope or potentate, is beyond all doubt a distinct type of Antichrist” (Ellicott, note, ad loc.). For a history of opinion on this passage, see Alford, Gr. Test. 3, proleg. p. 55 sq. SEE ANTICHRIST.