This tradition is by no means a vague one. We first find it mentioned by Irenaeus [St Irenaeus, 140-203 CE, Bishop of Lugdunum (Lyon) --- Ed.], the disciple of Polycarp [St Polycarp, fl. 2nd century CE, Greek Bishop of Smyrna --- Ed.], who was himself the disciple of St John; so that we get it on the authority of one who had been instructed by a personal friend and acquaintance of the apostles, and we may therefore feel assured that in this tradition we have a correct statement of what St Paul had said regarding the nature of the hindrance to which he alludes in this epistle.

Cause of Hindrance

The existence of the Roman Empire, then, was doubtless the outward and immediate cause of this hindrance to the coming of Antichrist; but we must remember that at the back of the external and visible circumstances which are instrumental in the history of the world there are mental and spiritual causes, and so the matter goes further and deeper than any existing political conditions. It is a question of spiritual principles, a question of causes; and so long as any given cause is at work, its effects will continue to show themselves, though the particular form they will assume will vary with the conditions under which the manifestation takes place.

Therefore we may look deeper than the political conditions of St Paul's time to find the spiritual and causal nature of the hindrance to which he alludes. He tells us that at the time when he wrote, the spirit of Antichrist was already working, but that its