[Reiwa]

dictated but not read

The same embarrassment is evident a century later, when Augustine comments in The City of God on II Thessalonians 2:7.

"Some think that the Apostle Paul referred to the Roman empire, and that he was unwilling to use language more explicit, lest he should incur the calumnious charge of wishing ill to the empire which it was hoped would be eternal; so that in saying, 'For the mystery of iniquity doth already work,' he alluded to Nero, whose deeds already seemed to be as the deeds of Antichrist. And hence some suppose that he shall rise again and be Antichrist. Others, again, suppose that he is not even dead, but that he was concealed that he might be supposed to have been killed, and that he now lives in concealment in the vigor of that same age which he had reached when he was believed to have perished, and will live until he is revealed in his own time and restored to his kingdom. But I wonder that men can be so audacious in their conjectures" (XX.19.3).

In the City of God (AD 413-425), Augustine affirms that Jesus Christ will destroy Antichrist at the time of the second advent, before going on to affirm the impossibility of knowing when, exactly, this will occur. He cautions that human conjecture cannot add anything to Scripture.[34] According to Augustine, Paul’s discussion of the “Man of Sin” is a reference to Antichrist and the time of final judgment, but he’s not sure what Paul means when he mentions the temple (the Jerusalem Temple or the church). He goes on to describe a number of views, including the Nero redivivus theory, which he dismisses. Augustine says what is clear from the biblical text is that Antichrist will not appear until Satan is loosed from the Abyss (Revelation 20:1-10), for this is what gives Antichrist his power to deceive.[35] This, says Augustine, is what Daniel predicted, for the kingdom of Antichrist will assail the church before Christ returns to rescue his people. The ten kings and kingdoms mentioned by Daniel may or may not refer to Rome, but more likely symbolizes the entirety of the inter-advental age (City of God, 20.23). Augustine also finds it reasonable to believe that the Roman Empire must fall so that Antichrist might be revealed.[36]