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• It cannot be denied that to this day the papacy has continued to be what it has
always been. 108
Adolf Hoenecke agrees in his Evangelical Lutheran Dogmatics: “The papacy, and the papacy
alone, fits all of these indications excellently, and is therefore the Antichrist.” 109
The papacy is the Antichrist
One would find it difficult to identify anyone who has affected and influenced the
Church, the body of believers, more than the papacy. Throughout history the pope has been head
of the Catholic (“universal”) Church. This is the church that claims to be the church of God.
The pope has always claimed a significant role in doctrine and religious matters. Likewise he
has played a significant role in society.
Throughout much of history the papacy has been clearly identified as the Antichrist.
Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon indicted the papacy as the fulfillment of 2 Thessalonians
2:1-12. Martin Luther outlined his reasons according to the marks of the Antichrist taken from
Scripture.
But the pope in our midst is the real Antichrist. His is the exalted, subtle, fine, polished
devil, who sits in the midst of Christendom and allows the Holy Scripture, Baptism, the
Lord’s Supper, the keys, the Catechism, and marriage to remain. As St. Paul says: He sits
(that is, rules) in the temple of God (2 Thess. 2:4), that is, in the Church of Christendom,
in the midst of the people who are baptized and have the Lord’s Supper, the keys, the
Holy Scripture, and God’s Word. And yet he rules in such masterly fashion that he at the
same time elevates his decretals,…his human teaching, above the Word of God, so that
Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the keys, the Gospel, and Christ Himself no longer do the
Christians any good; for those over whom he rules are obliged to believe that they are
saved through their own works. 110
Philip Melanchthon also recognized the marks of the Antichrist as found in the papacy. He
wrote:
First of all, the head of the ass is a description of the pope. For the church is a spiritual
body, assembled in spirit. Therefore, it cannot and ought not have a man as its head, but
only the Lord Jesus…. Nevertheless, the pope has made himself the visible and outward
108 Francis, Pieper, D.D., Christian Dogmatics vol. III (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1953),
463-466.
109 Adolf Hoenecke, Evangelical Lutheran Dogmatics vol. IV (Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Publishing
House, 1999) , 233.
110 Ewald Plass, What Luther Says. Vol. I. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959), 29.
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