I sorta disagree with Thomas Ice here (if I read the article correctly?)
The apostasy in 2 Thess 2:3 is NOT the rapture.
I (briefly) taught a Bible study using Mr. Ice and Mr. Lahaye's study materials and they tried to make the claim that the Apostasy in 2 Thess 2:3 is "the Rapture".
I disagree.
They used some VERY weak reasoning and they did not compare scripture with scripture. They used the ROOT word of apostasia, rather than quoting the only other reference to the Greek word in the NT:
Please note that the only other time this word is used in the NT is in Acts 21:21:
Acts 21:21 And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake (apostasia) Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.
In other words, the word apostasia is NEVER used as a good thing in the NT...it is always BAD.
It means a falling away, defection.
Not a good thing.
Perhaps we could say, "divorce"?
Apostasia is the feminine of the word apostasion, and apostasion means divorce.
Ice and Lahaye take it further down to the root word:
aphistēmi which means remove, withdraw, etc.
Still, in each of these words, it seems the "departER" is responsible/performing the act of departing as opposed to be being TAKEN by someone else.
SO...I disagree with Ice and LaHaye on this use of the word in 2 Thess. 2:3.
IN FACT:
I discovered that they even have a CHART in their study materials (in the very same book!) that agrees with me...so they end up contradicting themselves.
FWIW: I like quite a bit of what LaHaye and Ice write, but on this point, I disagree and it does my (our?) cause no good at all to use such a shaky foundation.
There are plenty of other references in the NT for the Rapture, but 2 Thess. 2:3 is not describing the rapture, it is describing what must happen BEFORE the rapture...two things that must happen FIRST.
There are plenty of other references in the NT for the Rapture, but 2 Thess. 2:3 is not describing the rapture, it is describing what must happen BEFORE the rapture...two things that must happen FIRST.
Well, that's not the way I read it here. There is a problem in that these Thessalonians thought that they were in the Tribulation period because of some false letter to them, that letter being pretense, as if it was from Paul. Paul says, basically, not to be fooled or shaken from some fake letter, as if it were from him, that this time had come. Paul reminds them of what he said while he was with them.
He says that the apostasia comes first, and as I was pointing out in the other article, that can be rendered as the "taking away". And it was translated that way in other versions of the Bible before the King James version ever came out.
So, the two things that happen are (1) the taking away, and (2) the revealing of the Antichrist. When you see those happen, then you know you're in the Tribulation period of time, that last 7 years.
2 Thessalonians Chapter 2 1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.