The Text
Apostasy Defined
In these words we have two things: a caution against the error set afoot at that time concerning Christ’s sudden coming to judgment, and the confutation of it. The confutation is by two antecedents and forerunners of his coming — a general apostasy, or a defection of the visible church from the true state of Christianity, and the revelation of Antichrist, described by his names and proper titles: that man of sin, and son of perdition.
Apostasy is any defection from him to whom we owe and have performed subjection — a falling from that Lord to whom we owe fealty. In religious matters it importeth a defection from our right and proper Lord. The apostasy mentioned in this text was not civil, the falling away of many kingdoms from the Roman empire, but an apostasy of the visible church from him who is Lord of the church. It is a defection from our proper Lord, and a spiritual defection, not a civil.
The proper Lord of the Christian church is Jesus Christ, who hath purchased it with his blood and died and rose again and revived that he might be Lord of dead and living (Romans 14:9). His authority is undermined when others presume to usurp his place without his leave. Therefore, to superinduce a universal head of the visible church, which Christ never appointed, is manifestly to usurp his authority; though the party so intruding should pretend to hold his sovereignty from Christ and under him, yet this is treason against Christ, for here is an authority set up without, and therefore against, his consent.
The Kingdom of Christ Corrupted
If these things had remained pure — the faith of the gospel, the worship of the gospel, the discipline of the gospel — Antichrist had never risen. Christ’s institutions would have preserved his interests in the world. But as these were corrupted, the apostasy prevailed. When the faith of the gospel was turned into dead opinions and curious questions, if not direct errors; and the worship of the gospel was corrupted by giving divine honour to saints and angels, and turned into a theatrical pomp and the pageantry of empty ceremonies which eclipse the majesty and splendour of it; and the discipline of the church into a temporal domination — then certainly there is an apostasy and a defection from Christ.
The gospel kingdom is a kingdom of light, life, and love. Opposite to light is ignorance and error; to life, a religion that consists of shows, dead rites, and empty ceremonies; to love, uncharitableness and cruelty. All these are to be found in the Roman apostasy. Ignorance they have cultivated and maintained: keeping the Scriptures from the people, conducting worship in a tongue the people cannot understand, forbidding the laity the cup. Empty ceremonies they have multiplied beyond counting. And cruelty — as history abundantly testifies — has been the instrument by which they have maintained their dominion over the consciences of men.
The Pope as the Usurping Head
And thus the Pope is the usurping head of a rebellion against Christ. Where did Christ institute him to take this office? Tu es Petrus is such a stale pretence, so often baffled and defeated, that it is endless to pursue the absurdities of this impertinent allegation. The argument holdeth the more strongly when the Pope condemneth all the churches that will not be his subjects, however holy, good, and obedient to the laws of Christ they may be. Surely, if anything, this is an apostasy or a revolt from our rightful Lord; and to consent to this rebellion and usurpation is to be drawn into a conspiracy against Christ, to submit to the head of the most pernicious schism that did ever rend the church of Christ, and to betray the liberty of the people of our Lord to a tyrannical usurpation.
The Names of Antichrist
The Holy Ghost points out Antichrist by his names and titles. He is called that man of sin — wherein he is resembled to Antiochus, who by force and power changed the laws and ordinances and compelled men to his abominations. And he is called son of perdition — wherein he is resembled to Judas, who betrayed Christ by a kiss for worldly gain, being one who in pretence was an apostle but in deed a real adversary to Christ.
Antichrist then is like Judas — in profession, a disciple of Christ; in office, a governor of the church; but in practice, a traitor. As was said of the blind man in John 9:9, some said, This is he; others, He is very like him. The Pope boasteth that his seat is apostolical, his chair is Peter’s chair, and that he is the successor of the apostle. And yet the whole history of the papacy is a history of corruption, bloodshed, ambition, and the systematic destruction of everything Christ established in his church.