テサロニケの信徒への手紙二2:9-12 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12,
彼らが滅びるのは、自分たちの救いとなる真理を愛そうとしなかったからです （二テサロニケ2:10）
「自分たちの救いとなる真理」とは、言うまでもなくキリストの真理です。イエス・キリストを信じる者が罪赦されて、永遠の命を受けるという真理であります。ヨハネによる福音書の3章20節には「悪を行う者は皆、光を憎み、その行いが明るみに出されるのを恐れて、光の方に来ない」という御言葉があります。世の光であるイエス・キリストに魂を照らされて自分の罪を知り、キリストが私たちのために十字架の上で死んで復活してくださったことを信じる人は、罪赦され永遠の命を受けて救われます。ところが、世の光であるキリストに魂を照らしされることを拒む人々がいます。キリストに魂を照らされるならば、自分の罪を明らかにされるので、闇の中にいて罪が明らかにされない方を好むからです。このように、人間が救われるか裁かれるかという重大なことは、真理であり光であるキリストをどのように受け止めるか、すなわち愛するのか拒否するのか、キリストに向き合うのか背を向けるのか、という目に見えない深いところで決まります。これはとても不思議なことです。ある人は、キリストの十字架を愛し、ある人は、キリストの十字架を拒否します。一体どうしてそのような違いが生じるのでしょうか？そこまで考えると、私たちはもはや一切を神様におゆだねするしかないと言わざるをえません。
この問題について、宗教改革者のカルヴァンは、アウグスチヌスの言葉を引用して、「それは深淵である。十字架の深淵である。私は感嘆して叫ぶことはできる。けれども、議論によって証明することができない」と記しました(『キリスト教綱要』3篇2章35)。どうして真理を愛する人とそうでない人がいるのか、その理由は私たちが説明することのできないことです。その理由はただ神様だけがご存知です。そして、神様は、真理を愛さない人々を裁かれます。どのように裁かれるかということは、今日の聖書の箇所の11節と12節に記されています。「それで、神は彼らに惑わす力を送られ、その人たちは偽りを信じるようになります。こうして、真理を信じないで不義を喜んでいた者は皆、裁かれるのです。」真理を愛さない人々に、神様は「惑わす力」を送られて、その結果、その人たちは偽りを信じるようになるということです。ここでも、偽りを信じること自体が既に裁きであることが教えられています。 （12月31日の説教より
What to believe and live by is a matter that must be handled with care, because it is a matter that lies deepest in the human heart. For Christians, it is an important ministry to witness and proclaim Jesus Christ, but we also need to listen carefully to what the other person believes, and on what basis. However, we must not allow our own position to be swayed by listening to what the other person says. Rather, it is better to listen to what the other person believes in order to witness appropriately to them, while we firmly believe and confess our faith in Christ. By listening to the other person’s belief, we may see that they are good things with which to dialogue. Conversely, there may be cases where it is clear that the other person has been misled into believing something that is only false. If it is clear that the person is on the path of believing false teachings that are leading him to evil and destruction, we must encourage him to turn away from those teachings and to seek the true salvation that the Bible teaches. However, even if we encourage them to do so, whether or not the other person accepts it is not what we can manipulate. When a Christian bears witness to Christ, he or she has to leave the outcome to God. And if the other person believes false teachings and stubbornly follows them, this itself can be considered as God’s judgement.
In John 3:16 we read the gracious words, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” However, this gracious words are followed by surprisingly harsh words of judgement. Let me read John 3:17-21.
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Here we see that “whoever does not believe is condemned already,” and that “this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” These are very harsh teachings. It is not only that if you do not believe in Christ, God’s only Son, you will be judged in the future, but that not believing now is already God’s judgement in itself. And it is also taught in today’s Bible passage that not believing in Christ and believing in falsehood is itself a judgment from God. In other words, not only will you be judged if you believe falsehood, but believing falsehood itself is God’s judgement. I would like to consider this matter carefully on the basis of today’s Bible verses.
In order to correct the false assertion in the Thessalonian church that the Last Day had already come, Paul stated in 2:3 of this letter that “the man of lawlessness” will arise just before the Last Day, according to the teachings of Daniel in the Old Testament and Jesus Christ in the New Testament. And, as we see in verse 4, this “man of lawlessness” will suppress and persecute all faiths except worship of himself, and will go on to rule the world temporarily by declaring himself to be God. However, according to verses 6 and 7, this “man of lawlessness” will emerge at the appointed time, until which time God’s power will restrain “the man of lawlessness.” The reason for this is that the gospel of Christ may be preached to all nations. After the gospel has been preached to all nations, the restraining power is removed and “the man of lawlessness” is said to emerge. Finally, at the Second Coming of Christ and the Last Judgement, “the man of lawlessness.” will be judged and the history of salvation will be completed.
“The man of lawlessness” who will appear just before the Last Day will try to mislead many people into believing him. The first half of verses 9-10 reads as follows. “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” That those who deceive people will appear just before the Last Day is also stated by Christ himself in the Gospel. In Matthew 24:23-24 we read as follows.
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.”
Whether “false christs and false prophets” referred to in the Gospel are the same as “the man of lawlessness” in Thessalonians may be a matter of debate. However, since the teaching about the Last Day is given in symbolic terms, it would not be appropriate to interpret it too literally and distinguish between “the man of lawlessness” and “false christs and false prophets” as being distinct from each other. It would be more appropriate to interpret Paul’s “man of lawlessness” as also having the character of “false christs and false prophets” referred to by Christ. Paul clearly states in verse 9 that the appearance of “the man of lawlessness” is due to the work of Satan. Then, in the second half of verse 9 and the first half of verse 10, he says that “the man of lawlessness” deceives people “with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing.” This passage reminds us that we are not to be preoccupied with visible miracles and wondrous deeds. In general things other than ourselves, perhaps we are not so easily inclined to believe in miracles. But when it comes to ourselves, i.e., when we are ill or when we are stuck, we are likely to look for a miraculous solution. And while there are certainly cases where God does provide a miraculous solution, there are also cases where the wicked, who are not God, deceive those seeking salvation under the guise of miracles. Especially before Last Day, “the man of lawlessness” will teach people that they will be saved if they worship him, and will perform “false signs and wonders,” Paul says. Therefore, we should firmly believe in the salvation of Christ, which is invisible, and not be deceived by visible, temporary, false miracles.
As verse 10 says, “with all wicked deception for those who are perishing,” it is “those who are perishing,” who are deceived by “the man of lawlessness.” “Those who are perishing” is the present participle form of the Greek verb apollumi (ἀπόλλυμι), which in the original Greek New Testament means “to perish.” It is sometimes questioned whether this word carries the meaning “destined to perish.” The previous Japanese translation of the Bible translated it as “those who are doomed,” giving the nuance “doomed to destruction.” The Revised English Bible also takes the meaning “those doomed to destruction.” However, the original Greek word is better understood as meaning “those who are on the verge of perishing,” or “those who are already experiencing the process of destruction.” Japanese Bible which we use now translates it as “those who are perishing,” and the newer Japanese Bible also translates it as “those who are perishing.” The English Standard Version also translates it as “those who are perishing.” And this translation is consistent with the message of today’s Bible passage, which says that believing falsehood itself is already in the process of perishing under God’s judgement.
The second half of verse 10 gives the reason why they have become “those who are perishing.” It says: “because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” “The truth” is, of course, the truth of Christ. It is the truth that those who believe in Jesus Christ are forgiven of their sins and receive eternal life. In the Gospel of John 3:20, quoted at the beginning of today’s sermon, we read: “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” Those who have their souls illuminated by Jesus Christ, the light of the world, and know their sins, and believe that Christ died on the cross and rose again for us, are forgiven of their sins and receive eternal life and are saved. However, there are those who refuse to have their souls illuminated by Christ, the light of the world. This is because they prefer to remain in darkness, where their sins are not exposed, because if their souls are illuminated by Christ, their sins will be exposed. Thus, the crucial matter of whether a man is saved or judged is determined by the unseen depths of how he receives Christ, who is the truth and the light, whether he loves or hates, whether he faces Christ or turns his back on him. This is a very mysterious thing. Some people love the cross of Christ, others hate the cross of Christ. How on earth can such a difference arise? When we think about it, we have to say that we have to leave everything to God.
On this issue, the Reformer John Calvin quotes the ancient Church Father Augustine as follows.
“Wherefore is it given to the one, and not to the other? I am not ashamed to say, This is one of the deep things of the cross. From some unknown depth of the judgments of God, which we cannot scrutinise, all our ability proceeds. I see that I am able; but how I am able I see not: -this far only I see, that it is of God. But why the one, and not the other? This is too great for me: it is an abyss, a depth of the cross. I can cry out with wonder; not discuss and demonstrate” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 3, Chapter 2, 35).
Why some people love the truth and others do not is something we cannot explain. Only God knows the reason. And God will judge those who do not love the truth. How he judges is described in verses 11 and 12 of today’s Bible passage as follows. “Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” It means that God sends “a strong delusion” to those who do not love the truth, and as a result, they will believe falsehood. Again, we are told that believing falsehood is itself already a judgement.
A similar idea is found in the first chapter of Romans. That is, in the first chapter of Romans, Paul points out the wretchedness of human sin so severely that he writes in 1:28: “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.” God judges those who does “not see fit to acknowledge God” by “giving them up to a debased mind.” The result is, as in Romans 1:29-31:
They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
This means that they will think and do various evil things. It can be seen from this that God knows the thoughts in man’s mind that refuse to acknowledge God, and that he judges man by making him think and do evil thoughts and deeds in accordance with those thoughts in his mind.
As we learn more about God’s judgement in this way, we realise that what is described in today’s Bible passage relates to the judgement of the Last Day, but it is also relevant to us today. What this means is that God’s judgement has already begun when a person has a certain thought in his or her mind. For example, if a person has a self-centred thought that only seeks his own benefit and satisfaction, God sees this and judges him. Then God sees this and misleads the person to go further down the path of evil, to the point where the person’s evil becomes apparent to many people. And finally, God will give him a decisive judgement. Therefore, let us remember that the judgement of the God has already begun in our hearts. If we turn our backs on God and let our hearts be drawn to empty things, then God’s judgement has already begun. Let us realise this and always return to Christ, our true salvation. We want to be aware of our sins and continually turn to Christ’s grace in our daily lives. When we live in this way, we will be able to rightly discern the hearts of those around us and bear powerful witness to Christ to those around us.