Revisiting W. Robertson Nicoll
About 25 years ago I had the 5 volume set of W. Robertson Nicoll’s Expositor’s Greek Testament. I don’t not remember what happened to them, but you can get the PDFs on Internet Archive, here.
I wanted to revisit the verses about the great falling away in 2 Thessalonians 3-10 for obvious reasons. Nicoll interprets the Greek writing of the apostasy as somewhat abstract, as a “phenomenon,” and that the man of sin is not royal or divine, but just a man of lawlessness that is involved in Jerusalem and believes he is God in the way the carries his authority. Nicoll also says that what Paul is saying is warning that both Jews and Pagans (or non-Jews, gentiles) will follow this man of lawlessness alike.
As I have mentioned here before, I wrote my master’s thesis on the Hebrew Bible. However, I spent years studying the Christian Bible. Over time, back when I believed in the Abrahamic God, I eventually found my beliefs closer aligned to Reform Judaism with the exception that I have always believed that Israelis oppress Palestinians which was not at all universal in any denomination. However, I was highly aware of the both the Christian interpretations of the collective biblical holistic collective verses compared to the Jewish version and what has always frightened me is that the Christian version, in all is horror, is what more closely resembled reality because of that very horror. Please believe me when I am saying I do not believe that either one is right. I believe in a God that does not has a religion or a teaching with any specific writing.
Though I am not so vain or arrogant to think that I couldn’t be wrong. Of course, there have been many dark periods in history when it would have been appropriate for God to interfere, to visit and set things straight, to judge as it were. This time is no different. Of course, probably like a lot of people I do wish God would visit and stop all this, but I remember the bible and what I consider wisdom literature at best, that we should not wish for God to visit and judge, for it will be a dark day. On a personal note, and a note that will probably get me in trouble with God, I do think too many people think they are on the right side of God and would escape judgment if such a thing would occur. Myself included most likely.