With this week’s probable selection of the next Pope, I thought it would be helpful to review what theologians of the past have said about the papacy. Our age is an ecumenical one, and thus it is likely that many are ignorant of the fact that until about 50 years ago, most Protestant leaders viewed the Pope as the anti-Christ.
Prior to dispensational theology (to which I largely subscribe), there was not a focus among theologians of identifying a singular antichrist. It was widely if not universally held that anyone who opposed the gospel was an antichrist. But based on the the in 1 John 2:22 and 1 John 4:3 (“the antichrist”), as well as the prophecy of “the man of lawlessness” (2 Thess 2:3), church leaders for the last 500 years have generally held that whomever the Pope was at the time, that person fills the roll of the antichrist. It was not believed that there necessarily was a once for all antichrist, as Revelation implies, but rather the focus was on the leader of those who oppose the gospel. And it would be difficult to think of a group that has opposed the gospel (salvation by faith alone in Christ alone, through grace alone) to the extent of the Catholic Church. Continue Reading…
These are some of the final words of one of the great reformers and theologians of themodern era, J. Gresham Machen. Their simplicity, truth, and earnestness summarize his life and ministry quite well. Refusing to heed the warnings of his friends, Machen added a trip to North Dakota in December, 1936, to his already harried calendar. He wanted to help a struggling new church plant – a relatively small group of Christians – and while there he contracted pneumonia and died on New Year’s Day, 1937. 76 years ago, this month.
