I have spent over an hour trying to find this article on the internet. I had decided to end the search, and I said to the Lord, "Okay, Lord, I'll click on one more link, and if you don't want me to find it....so be it." I clicked on one last link, and there it was! And so ... here it is. (All of the highlighting, etc. is Dr. Northrup's.)
[10] Op. Cit. p.485
The Rapture in Second Thessalonians
by Dr. Bernard E. Northrup
Paul's Clearest Pretribulation Rapture Statement!
Because Paul’s first
letter to the Thessalonian church is such a treasure house of
information about the rapture, other passages that teach about the
rapture tend to receive less attention by the expositor. After all, 20
out of the 88 verses in First Thessalonians directly teach or allude to
the rapture of the church. That means that reference to or allusion to
the rapture is found in more than one quarter of the verses of that
great book that was written to a troubled church.
Paul indicates in I Thessalonians 3:3 that he was concerned "... that no man should be moved by these afflictions...." He had been deeply concerned when he had still been with these believers. He reminds them that "... we told you before that we should suffer tribulation...”
(I Thessalonians 3:4). As a result, the book contains much information
that assures the Thessalonian church that, even though believers were
suffering tribulation, the glorious coming of Christ in the rapture
would deliver believers from these trials.
In the book of II Thessalonians, is obvious from the first chapter that these believers at Thessalonica were facing sore "...persecutions and tribulations..."
(1:4). Paul says in II Thessalonians 1:7-8 that they had begun to
conclude that they already were in the great tribulation with its
terrible climax
(7) ". . . when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, (8) in flaming fire taking vengeance on those that do not know God, and that do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."
In
this second book that Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church there are
16 verses that in some way are related to the fact that resurrected or
raptured believers will not be involved in the judgments of the terrible
tribulation period that begins the day of the Lord.[1]
On the other hand there are just as many of the 47 verses in the book
that have something to do with the great tribulation, the initiation of
the day of the Lord. This phrase, including the great and terrible Day
of the Lord (Joel 2:31 Engl.) is found five times in the little
prophetic book of Joel. I conclude that this terrible period climaxes
after seven years with the great and terrible day of the Lord. This is the glorious arrival of the Israel's Messiah to earth when He delivers Israel
from the nations that are seeking to destroy His chosen people. It is
the time when He judges the nations that have persecuted His chosen
people, the nation of Israel (Joel 2:32-3:17).
A
major purpose of II Thessalonians was to assure that church that they
most certainly were not in the tribulation and that they would not be
going through that beginning of the Day of the Lord. Second
Thessalonians 2:3 is the most crucial and valuable verse that denies any
attempt to explain the rapture as a post-tribulational event, an
interpretation that is so popular today.
But
the major problem of recognizing the contribution in this verse is the
fact that this most crucial verse in the Bible that is intended clearly
to teach that believers will not pass through the initial stages of the
day of the Lord, the great tribulation, usually has been mistranslated. "Apostosia," the most crucial word in the verse, in several contexts does mean "apostasy." It is a verse that teaches that we will be delivered from that by the "up-gathering-together" (II Thessalonians 2:1), the rapture of the church.
The Precise Timing of the Rapture
Found in II Thessalonians 2:1-3
In
a remarkable way II Thessalonians 2:1-2 describes the deliverance of
the Church of Jesus Christ from the terrible time of tribulation that is
described in the first chapter of II Thessalonians. Paul describes that
deliverance in this way:
(1) "Now, brethren, we beseech you, with regard to the [previously mentioned] coming [to earth in judgment] of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our up-gathering-together (episunagoogees) unto Him, (2) that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled … as that the day of the Lord is present."
I
have translated the first verse in this way because Paul's language in
the original Greek text very strongly differentiates between the "up-gathering-together"
of believers in the rapture and the previously mentioned (in chapter
one) coming of the Lord Jesus to earth in the judgment of unbelievers in
great violence. There is a use of the article here (and also in verse
three) that must not be ignored by the exegete. The article that
introduces the phrase, "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," frequently, as here, points directly back to a previous mention of something that precedes this use of the article.
Chamberlain says "The article often refers to something just mentioned. This is called the 'Anaphoric use.’[2] I prefer to refer to this use of the article as 'an article of previous reference.' This
use of the article to point back to something previously mentioned in
the passage is not uncommon. Here its use should be obvious. Chapter one
of II Thessalonians powerfully has described that glorious day of
Christ the Messiah's arrival at earth at the end of the great
tribulation. That arrival is referred to twenty times in the Old
Testament as "the day of the Lord." It also is referred to many other times by expressions like "that day, those days, that time, the day, the day of vengeance" and other synonyms. While the expression, "the day of the Lord" is found only four times in the New Testament, the doctrine of the Day of the Lord is found permeating many chapters.”[3]
The Day of the Lord Distinguished
From the Rapture in
II Thessalonians 2:3
First of all, it is crucial that the interpreter must recognize that the expression, "our up-gathering-together unto Him" is
a precise reference to the rapture of the Church. Furthermore, he must
recognize that, in these first two verses of II Thessalonians 2, the
rapture carefully is distinguished from the glorious coming of the
Savior to earth in great judgment that has been described in chapter
one. Otherwise it is very easy to miss Paul's precise explanation in
verse three that absolutely denies the conclusion held by many that the
rapture does not occur until the end of the Great Tribulation.
A
second major factor that the exegete must recognize is the fact that
multitudes of words in different languages require the careful
consideration of the context in which they are used in order to be sure
of the exact meaning of those words. This is as true in English as it is
in Greek. For example, the English word "plug" has upwards of 40
different meanings, entirely dependent upon the context in which the
word is used.
The
word will mean something entirely different to different people. To a
plumber it probably will refer to a device that "plugs" a pipe. A farmer
may be referring to an old horse, like the blind old horse that we used
to plow our one acre garden when I was a boy in Missouri. Something totally different will come to the mind of an electrician when he hears the word "plug."
Another
major factor that has obscured the great contribution of II
Thessalonians 2:3 to the question of the timing of the rapture is the
way that the term, "the departure" variously has been translated in different versions as "a falling away" [KJV, omitting the article], "the falling away," "the rebellion" [RSV], "the apostasy" [NASB, NWT], “the great revolt" [TNT, Williams], and transliterated "la apostosia" in
Spanish [LBDLA and VRV]. The translation problem faced here is the fact
that most words in the Bible have their meaning modified directly by the context
in which they are used. (The same problem is true in English, where the
word "plug" has at least 40 different meanings, entirely depending upon
the context in which the word is being used. For a very limited
example, the English word "plug" can refer in different contexts to "an
old horse," "a wad of chewing tobacco," "an electrical connection" or to
an item used by a plumber to block the flow of liquid.)
Now it is true that in most uses in the New Testament, the term, "he apostasia," does refer to "departure from the faith." But the basic meaning of the Greek word, from which the specific meaning of "the apostasy" is derived in specific contexts, simply is "the departure." The word was used in Classical Greek a millennium before Christ meaning "standing off from," "departure from," with usages like "distance, interval," and "a place where things are stored away."[4]
That simple "departure" is the basic meaning of the word "apostosia" readily can be seen in the examination of the use of this verb root in the following verses in Biblical Greek. Apostasion, a
derivative of this root, is used of divorce and repudiation. In the
context of Matthew 19:3-9 the Pharisees, tempting Christ, used the word
in Matthew 19:7.
(3) "The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?' (4) And He answered and said to them, 'Have you not read that He Who made them at beginning 'made them male and female,' (5) and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? (6) So then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man divide." (7) They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce [apostasiou] and to divorce her?" (8) He said to them that Moses, because of your hardheartedness permitted you all to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been this way. (9) But I say to you all that whosoever divorces his wife [and] not for fornication and marries another woman commits adultery. "
Mark 10:2-9 reports the same conversation, again using the Greek word apostasiou of a bill of divorce. In Matthew 5:31-32 Christ is also seen teaching about divorce. There also He uses the Greek word apostasion to refer to a divorce certificate.
(31) "Now it has been said that 'Whosoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce [apostasion]. (32) But
I say to all of you that whosoever divorces his wife, except for the
maUer of fornication, makes her to commit adultery, and whosoever
marries a divorced woman [divorced for the above reason] commits adultery."
Thayer reports that the word apostasion was used in classical Greek of “defection, of a freedman from his patron."[5] Deuteronomy 24:1, 3[6] above references to the certificate of divorce.
(1) "When
a man takes a wife and marries her, and it comes to pass that she finds
no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and
he writes a certificate of divorce [apostasion], puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, (2) upon leaving, she goes and becomes another man's wife, (3) if the second husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce [apostasiou],
and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the
latter husband has died who took her as his wife, then her first husband
who had divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she
has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Eternal Lord…”
As far as I know, Kenneth S. Wuest is the only translator in his "The New Testament an Expanded Version,"[7] who meaningfully and contextually renders the words he apostosia. He properly translates apostasia as "departure" in the light of the previous context of II Thessalonians 2:3.
"Do not allow anyone to lead you astray in any way, because that day [the day of the Lord that begins with the tribulation and ends when the Day of God begins] shall not come except the aforementioned departure [of the Church to Heaven] comes first and the man of the lawlessness is disclosed [in his true identity…]"
Wuest does make a serious error in his translation of II Thessalonians 2:1 when he translates kai as "even." Whereas the first part of the verse clearly refers back to the coming described in II Thessalonians chapter one by using the article of previous reference,[8] making it clear that "the coming" in
II Thessalonians 2:1 refers back to the immediately preceding
description of Christ's coming in great glory and judgment at the end of
the great tribulation. And it must be recognized that the meaning of
these words varies according to the context in which it is found. That
meaning, for example, is found in II Timothy 4:1, “Now the Spirit speaks expressly that, in the latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons.”
But what is the context in which this word (he apostosia) is found used in II Thessalonians 2:3? The article he preceding apostosia in
this verse, often has been omitted in translations. .It functions here
in precisely the same way as the article that is found in II
Thessalonians 2:1 in the phrase, "the [previously mentioned in chapter one] coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
In both places the article is an article of previous reference,
pointing back to something in the immediately preceding context. That is
one of the ways that the Greek article frequently is used. However, it
also must be recognized that, in each of these two verses, the article
of previous reference is found pointing back to a totally different
context.
To
answer the above question concerning its use in II Thessalonians 2:1,
it must be recognized that there is no mention of spiritual apostasy or
simply "a departure" anywhere in the previous context of II
Thessalonians chapter one. What about the way that the article is used
to point to a previous context in II Thessalonians 2:3?
Now
there is a direct mention in II Thessalonians 2:3 of a very important
departure. .It is that departure of God's saints, both of those who will
be resurrected from the dead and those that still will be alive,
surviving to that glorious event. That event is "our up-gathering-together to Him" of
Church age saints! The previous context obviously is not pointing to a
departure from the faith! Rather the immediately preceding context in
verse one does refer to a very important departure, "our up-gathering-together…" of church age saints in the rapture.
This requires the translator to render in translation the context of II Thessalonians 2:3 in this way:
"Now, brethren, we beseech you, concerning the [previously mentioned] coming [to earth in judgment] of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our up-gathering-together [episunagoogees] unto Him, that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled…. [thinking] that the day of the Lord is present. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day, [the day of the Lord], will not come, except there first comes the [previously mentioned][9] departure [of the Church], and [then the day of the Lord will come] and that man of sin, the son of perdition will be revealed."
Wuest also correctly translates verse three in this way: "Do not allow anyone to lead you astray in any way, because that day [the day of the Lord] shall not come except the aforementioned departure [of the Church to Heaven] comes first…”[10]
One needs to understand that concerning which the Apostle Paul had reminded the Thessalonians in his words that follow. "Don't you remember that, when I yet was with you, I told you these things? (I
Thessalonians 2:5). Then the interpreter of this verse plainly can
grasp that which Paul had taught his spiritual offspring in II
Thessalonians 5:2.
"For you know perfectly that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. For then they [the unsaved] shall say, Peace and safety,' then sudden destruction will come upon them like travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, [the second person pronoun clearly refers to believers] are not in darkness, with the result that [the] day [of the Lord] should overtake should overtake .you like a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. You are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore, let us [the first person plural also refers to all believers] not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober-minded, for they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that are drunk, are drunk in the night. But let us who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and, for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us so that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also you do" (I Thessalonians 5:2-11).
[Bernard E. Northrup earned his B.A. degree in New Testament Greek from Westmont College
(1950), his Th.M. and Th.D.degrees in Old Testament and Semitic
Languages from Dallas Theological Seminary (1955, 1961). He has taught
in Bible Colleges
and Graduate Seminaries for many years. He also served as a missionary,
checking new Bible translation work done by tribal pastors in 17
different tribal languages in India, the Philippines and Africa. He has written several books and many articles. His e-mail address is bernarden@shasta.com] (NOTE: Dr. Northrup is now with the Lord. CMR)
[1] Bernard E. Northrup, "Joel's Concept of the Day of the Lord" (Th.D. dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1961). 276 pp.
[2] Chamberlain, William Douglas, An Exegetical Grammar of the Greek New Testament. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1948. p.55
[3] Op. Cit., p.35-36
[4] Liddell, Henry George and Robert Scott, A Greek English Lexicon. Eighth Edition. New York, American Book Company. 1775 pp. (p.199).
[5] Thayer, Joseph Henry, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. New York. American Book Company, 727 pp. (p.67).
[7] Wuest, Kenneth S., The New Testament: An Expanded Translation. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Reprinted September, 1983.
[9]
Dana explains (p. 141) that the article can be used "To Denote Previous
Reference. The article may be used to point out an object the identity
of which is defined by some previous reference made to it in the
context. . . . He illustrates: 'Whence hast thou the living water’” [referring to Christ's statement in verse ten, "…He would have given you living water].
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