Another Look At The “Falling Away”
2 Thessalonians 2:3

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away (rapture) COMES FIRST, and the man of sin is revealed (Antichrist), the son of perdition.
2 Thessalonians 2:3

As the world moves closer to another world war, which may include nuclear weapons, some speculate that the Tribulation period has already begun.

Others grow weary of waiting for the Lord’s return. How much longer will Jesus keep us on earth before He comes for us? Is He really going to keep us out of the time of the Lord’s wrath that’s rapidly approaching our world?

Please know that the Bible assures us that the Lord will come for us before the start of the seven-year Tribulation, which begins the moment that Antichrist makes a covenant with Israel. This has not yet happened!

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 provides encouragement regarding our hope in Jesus’ soon appearing. In this passage, the Lord promises that His followers will miss the wrath of the coming Day of the Lord, which includes the whole Tribulation period.

Many Bible students also see 2 Thessalonians 2:3 as verse that confirms the pre-Tribulation Rapture of the church:

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away (departure/rapture) COMES FIRST, and the man of sin is revealed (Antichrist), the son of perdition.

 
The traditional way of regarding “falling away,” has been to regard this as reference to the last day apostasy in the church. The Greek word here, apostasia, normally makes one think of apostasy such as in a spiritual falling away.

I’ve always been uncomfortable with that interpretation for this prophecy because the text does not define what ‘falling away’ means.  How are we supposed to know how and when the falling away happens and what that means? Is this actually the only prophecy in the Bible with no further explanation?

Apostacy or defecting from the faith is not exclusive to the end times. Consider that the churches in Galatia whom the Apostle Paul wrote about leaving the faith (Gal. 1:6) and most of the 7 churches that the Apostle John writes about in Revelation 2-3 had already fallen away. The book of Jude is devoted exclusively to confronting “apostacy,” meaning defection from the true biblical faith (vs. 3, 17). In other words, there has been a “falling away” among individuals and churches since the first century. In fact, by the 7th century, Islam had conquered all the churches of Asia Minor in modern-day Turkey.

While preachers talk about some great apostacy that we’re supposed to be in today it’s worth noting that at this very moment, some of the largest revivals in church history are taking place in unexpected enemy strongholds like Iran, Afghanistan, India and China. And how do we take Christ’s promise that “the gates of hell will not prevail” against the church if this prophecy says otherwise? And what then did Jesus mean when He promised that He would be with us until the end of the age?

In recent years, apostasia has received heightened scrutiny from biblical scholars with many now regarding it as a reference to the Rapture when Jesus comes to take us home to heaven, the physical departure of the church from the earth.

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away (departure/rapture) COMES FIRST, and the man of sin is revealed (Antichrist), the son of perdition.
2 Thessalonians 2:3

 
This aligns with the earliest English translations of the Bible, which often translated apostasia as a ‘departure’ such as a physical exit from a particular location.

Do sound reasons exist for such an interpretation?

I believe they do. Following are reasons to change the long-held viewpoint on this matter to that of regarding apostasia as a reference to the Pre-Tribulation Rapture.

THE WORD APOSTASIA CAN REFER TO A PHYSICAL DEPARTURE AND POINT TO THE RAPTURE

The first question to ask is this: Is it possible for apostasia to refer to a physical departure such as the Rapture? Yes, it can.

In his book, The Falling Away, Dr. Andy Woods provides evidence regarding the use of the Greek word apostasia in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 as a physical departure rather than a “falling away” from the faith. He wrote this regarding the basic meaning of the word:

“. . . apostasia simply means to ‘to stand away from’ or ‘to depart.’ Only by examining how this word is used in its immediate context will determine what the departure is from, whether it be a spiritual or physical departure.”

The root verb form apostasia confirms that it can refer to a physical departure from a location. New Testament writers used the verb form of apostasia fifteen times. As Dr. Woods points out:

“. . .  only three times does it mean a spiritual departure. The remaining twelve times, apostasia clearly means a physical departure. For example, Luke 2:37 says, ‘and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four, she never left (apostasia) the temple.”

Since apostasia can refer to either a physical departure or a spiritual falling away, we must rely on the context to determine the proper interpretation.

THE CONTEXT SUPPORTS A PHYSICAL DEPARTURE

Both the immediate and extended context of 2 Thessalonians 2:3 support a physical departure pointing to the Rapture. In fact, the Rapture is the main theme of the Thessalonian epistles.

2 Thessalonians 2 begins with these words, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him (Rapture) . . .” (v. 1). Here Paul introduces 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 with a reference to the Rapture. It seems unlikely that he would switch to a spiritual departure a couple verses later.

The usage of apostasia in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 as our physical departure via the Rapture aligns with both the immediate and overall context of the verse. The context favors the interpretation of apostasia as a physical departure such as the Rapture of the church.

PAUL IS REFERRING TO A DEFINITE EVENT

Paul’s use of the definite article “the” in front of apostasia tells us he has a specific event in mind, either a particular instance of apostasy or a definite occasion such as the Rapture. Because he does not further explain the event, this indicates the apostle was referring to an event that his readers would readily recognize.

The only apostasia of which his readers would have been aware of is that of the Rapture. They had no framework leading them to assume it meant a spiritual departure or a falling away from the faith by the church in the last days. There is no evidence that Paul even talked about falling away from the faith until much later. At the time, he assumed he would be alive at the time of the Rapture for the church.

The apostle has a definite event in mind and “the departure,” as the Rapture, is something his readers would readily recognize. On the other hand, Paul never refers to spiritual apostasy in either of his epistles to the Thessalonians and offers no additional clarifying information in the text or anywhere else.

PAUL DOES NOT MENTION SPIRITUAL APOSTASY IN EITHER EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS

As we look at 1 and 2 Thessalonians, we see repeated references to the Rapture, but Paul never mentions a falling away from the faith.

Why would Paul cite a spiritual departure from the faith as a key indicator of the Day of the Lord with no other mention of it in either book that he wrote to his readers? And if he had not yet mentioned it to them, we would expect to see an explanation.
However, he provides no such background to his reference.

Paul does not specifically prophecy of any spiritual apostasy of the church in the latter days. The Apostle, when reaching the end of his life and realizing he may not see the Rapture in his lifetime, lays down signs of the world’s decline and the characteristics of depravity in the last days with much supporting detail in two locations (1 Tim. 4:1-5; 2 Tim. 3:1-7).

THE SENSE OF PHYSICAL DEPARTURE IS CONSISTENT WITH VERSES 7-8

In 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 Paul writes,
“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”

These verses tell us that the revealing of Antichrist cannot happen until the Holy Spirit’s restraining power is taken out of the way. The ‘Restrainer’ points to the Holy Spirit and thus to the Rapture which is the time His special restraining work leaves the earth along with the church.

Notice the more consistent parallels with verse 3 if we assume apostasia refers to a physical departure. Let’s summarize:

1. In verse 3, Jesus removes His church via the Rapture first and then we have the revealing of the “man of lawlessness.”
2. In verse 7, the Lord takes away the restraining work of the Holy Spirit that keeps Antichrist from making himself known to the world.
3. In both verses 3 and 7, Antichrist steps onto the world scene after a “departure” (Rapture) and after the removal of the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit through the church.
4. On a side note… the Holy Spirit Himself does not leave the world only His restraint to allow the coming of Antichrist.

AN EXAMPLE FROM CHURCH HISTORY

We have an example from early church history as evidence of apostasia as a physical departure or the rapture. A key leader at the time referred to what we now call the Rapture as a “departure.” Cyprian, a bishop in the city of Carthage during the third century AD, wrote this:

We who see that terrible things have begun, and know that still more terrible things are imminent, may regard it as the greatest advantage to depart from it as quickly as possible. Do you not give God thanks, do you not congratulate yourself, that by an early departure you are taken away, and delivered from the shipwrecks and disasters that are imminent?

Cyprian (AD 200–258) used the words “depart” and “early departure” to refer to the Lord’s appearing to take His church away before a time of “shipwrecks and disasters.” While this by itself doesn’t confirm the translation of apostasia as “departure,” it lends considerable support to our interpretation of the word as a reference to the Rapture.

Please also note that Cyprian believed the church would depart before a time of great trouble on the earth (the Tribulation).

THE RAPTURE IS CONSISTENT WITH THE EXPECTATION OF THE THESSALONIANS

The young believers in Thessalonica expected the Lord to come for them before the start of the day of the Lord. Their response to an errant message telling them this time had already begun confirms this. They panicked when they received the mistaken communication.

In response to their concerns, Paul told them “not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed” (2 Thess. 2:2).  To be “alarmed” signifies a feeling of “fright” with its usage here conveying a “state of alarm.”

Paul’s main purpose in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 was to comfort and assure the Thessalonian believers that the Day of the Lord (the Tribulation) had not yet started.

SINCE APOSTASIA REFERS TO A PHYSICAL DEPARTURE, THE RAPTURE MUST OCCUR BEFORE THE SEVEN-YEAR TRIBULATION

If apostasia refers to the Rapture in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, and we have many reasons to believe that it does, then we can know with certainty that Jesus will appear before the seven-year Tribulation to take us to heaven.

Paul is telling his readers that they could know that the Day of the Lord hadn’t yet started because they were still here on earth. This applies to the church today in that we cannot be in the Tribulation now because we are still here on earth.

This study and conclusion is not wishful thinking, but rather the result of a careful study of word usage as well as the context of 2 Thessalonians 2:3.

If apostasia signifies the physical departure of the church from the earth, then Paul is teaching the Rapture must occur before Antichrist arrives and before the start of the Tribulation.

Are YOU Ready?

The Rapture is the next event on God’s prophetic calendar.

Keep watching and enduring until the glorious day Jesus comes!