Most Protestant theologians through the centuries have regarded this as a prophecy of the growth of the Papacy, the great Roman Catholic power.
In his general comments on this passage, Wesleyan theologian Adam Clarke states:
“The general run of Protestant writers understand the whole as.jpg)
referring to the popes and Church of Rome, or the whole system of the papacy.”
“The mystery of iniquity was already working; the seeds of corruption were sown, but they were not grown up to maturity. . . . The foundations of popery were laid in the apostle's days.”
Protestant historians are generally agreed that the roots of Roman Catholicism can be found in the early Second Century, at the latest. The eminent church historian, Schaff declares:
“The first example of the exercise of a sort of papal authority is found towards the close of the first century in the letter of the Roman Bishop Clement to the bereaved and distracted church of Corinth.”—History of the Christian Church (8th ed., 1903), vol. 2, p. 157.
“He [Clement] speaks in a tone of authority to a sister church of apostolic foundation, and thus reveals the easy and as yet innocent beginning of the papacy.” Ibid., p. 646.
Paul died a martyr at Rome about AD. 68. Clement, bishop of Rome, was a disciple of Paul and died circa AD. 102.
“The general run of Protestant writers understand the whole as
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“The mystery of iniquity was already working; the seeds of corruption were sown, but they were not grown up to maturity. . . . The foundations of popery were laid in the apostle's days.”
Protestant historians are generally agreed that the roots of Roman Catholicism can be found in the early Second Century, at the latest. The eminent church historian, Schaff declares:
“The first example of the exercise of a sort of papal authority is found towards the close of the first century in the letter of the Roman Bishop Clement to the bereaved and distracted church of Corinth.”—History of the Christian Church (8th ed., 1903), vol. 2, p. 157.
“He [Clement] speaks in a tone of authority to a sister church of apostolic foundation, and thus reveals the easy and as yet innocent beginning of the papacy.” Ibid., p. 646.
Paul died a martyr at Rome about AD. 68. Clement, bishop of Rome, was a disciple of Paul and died circa AD. 102.
Schaff describes “the interval between Clement and Paul” as a “transition from the apostolic to the apocryphal, from faith to superstition.” - Ibid."
F.D. Nichols
