The Man of Sin or Man of Lawlessness is a figure referred to in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, who is usually equated with the Antichrist.
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In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10, the "Man of Sin" is described as one who will be revealed before the Day of the Lord comes. The Codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus have the reading, "Man of Lawlessness," and Metzger argues that this is the original reading.[1] Codices such as Alexandrinus, Boernerianus and Claromontanus have "Man of Sin".
This Man of Sin "will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God," and "set himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God" (verse 4). Something is said to be "holding him back" (verse 6), though that will be "taken out of the way" (verse 7). A "lawless one" will be revealed (verse 8), whom Jesus will destroy "by the splendor of his coming."
The Man of Sin is also described in verse 3 as the Son of Perdition (translated in the NIV as "the man doomed to destruction"). This phrase is used of Judas Iscariot in John 17:12.
Nearly all commentators, both ancient and modern, identify the Man of Sin in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 as the Antichrist, even though they vary greatly in who they view the Antichrist to be.[2] The "man of sin" is variously identified with Caligula,[3] Nero,[4][5] and the end times Antichrist. Some scholars believe that the passage contains no genuine prediction, but represents a speculation of the apostle's own, based on Dan 8:23ff; 11:36ff, and on contemporary ideas of Antichrist.[3][6]
The Man of Sin is able to access God's Temple (2:4). The epistles do not mention the second temple's destruction in AD 70 by the armies of Titus, so it would appear that the temple Paul refers to is the only temple of Jerusalem that was in existence at that time, i.e., the second temple of his own day. The fact that none of the epistles, including 2 Thessalonians, mentions the temple's destruction shows either a lack of knowledge of its destruction, or more likely, that the temple had not yet been destroyed. For if the temple were destroyed, surely Paul, who was constantly in the know of the major events of his community of Christians, Jews and Romans, would have mentioned such a monumental devastation at least once. But the fact that he, nor any of the other authors of the epistles, ever mention its destruction can only lead us to conclude that Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians prior to AD 70. As such, the temple Paul refers to seems to be a still-standing second temple. In this case, the Man of Sin Paul speaks of must have had access to the temple in some form or another.
Although this could well be the held beliefs of many, specifically historians and other objective studiers of the biblical text, another interpretation can be and seems more frequent in modern Christian thinking—one that is supported more substantially by New Testament writing, specifically the epistles. This ideology stems from Paul's other writings, especially those written to the church in Corinth. According to the belief that communion with God is no longer performed by the high priest in the "holy of holies" (that is, the inner sanctum of the Temple where God was said to dwell), but through the death of Christ Jesus and the flow of his blood (taken primarily from the tearing of the curtain at Jesus' death [7]) and that Paul was a Jewish convert who appears to no longer hold the temple of Jerusalem as the dwelling place of God, it is unlikely for him to be referring to this temple in the 2 Thessalonians passage. Instead, it is more likely that Paul was referring to his current beliefs on the dwelling place of God. Paul suggests in 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 2 Corinthians 6:16, that we (the Body of Christ, and those who hold to the Christian faith) are the temple of God, the dwelling place of His spirit. In both these passages, Paul uses the imagery of the temple to describe the dwelling place of God as with his people, the church. Thus, it is more likely that when Paul says, "[the Man of Sin] sets himself up in God's temple" (2 Thess. 2:4, NIV), Paul intends the passage to be understood that the Man of Sin would set himself up in God's temple, the people of the Christian faith, not the physical building that was destroyed in AD 70 nor a possible Third Temple.
The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions consider the Man of Sin to come at the End of the World, when the katechon, the one who restrains, will be taken out. Katechon is also interpreted as the Grand Monarch or a new Orthodox Emperor, inaugurating a the rebirth of the Holy Roman Empire.
Various Protestant and anti-Catholic commentators have linked the term and identity to the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope. The "temple of God" is here understood to be the church; the restraining power the Roman empire.
Dispensationalists view this as a reference to a coming world ruler (Antichrist) who will succeed in making a peace treaty with Israel for 7 years (Daniel's 70th week) guaranteeing some sort of Middle East peace settlement with the Arab nations. This will occur after the rebuilding of the Third Temple in Jerusalem and the restoration of temple sacrifices. He will break his peace treaty with Israel 3 1/2 years into the plan, enter the "rebuilt Third Temple" and perform the Abomination of Desolation by setting up an idol of himself in the Temple and declare himself God.