About 2 years ago I did an 8 part series on the word "apostacia" in 2 Thess 2:3.  I recently discovered that the link to the Greek website I quoted in that series has since gone away, and decided to not only update it, but expand upon an my earlier examination of how Greek speaking Christians view this word is this verse and document;

• How Greek speaking Christians interpret 2 Thess 2:3.
• What percentage of Greeks are pre-trib vs post-trib, etc.
• How both pre-trib and post-trib Greek argue their position.

METHOD NOTES: I was looking explicitely for web sites written by Greeks in Greek, and not web pages translated into Greek by people who speak another language.  So I put "site:.gr" in my Google search to only get Greek web pages.  Sometimes web pages from other domains popped up anyway, and I tried to ignore them when they did.  Some legitimately Greek ".co" web sites came up, but I ignored any ".com", ".net", ".org" or other American based domains because I was looking for web sites by native Greek speakers.

 

The Mixture

While specifically looking for web pages about the rapture, I counted the first 24 web pages that popped up as to whether they were pre trib or post trib or whatever.  I did not find ANYONE promoting a partial trib position.  This was slow going since I had to stop and READ each web site for content in order to find out if they were pre- or post- trib.

Of the first 24 I read, 20 were post trib and 4 were pre-trib, with 1 of the 4 turning out to not meet my criteria of being originally Greek.   I had seen the website before in English on a .com site, and here it was again, in Greek, on a .gr site, but it was originally written in English. That's 5-1 post-trib or 83% post-trib or really 20-3 (87%) since 1 of 4 was really written by an English thinker.  I might investigate this some more because I'd like to get some more info on how pre-trib Greeks argue their case.  I got plenty of examples of how post-trib Greeks argue their case but I'd like to see more on how pre-trib Greeks argue their case and 4 may not be enough.  But of the ones I found, it is not that radically different than in English and there wa still a trend, but I'd still like to find more.

This is actually a higher percentage of pre-trib websites than what I found a few years ago.  Last time I think I checked more websites than that and came up empty.

 

How do Greek Christians interpret 2 Thess 2:3?

I could find no debate among Greek speaking Christians on how to interpret this verse.  They all interpret "apostacia" in 2 Thess 2:3 to mean "apostacy".  The post-trib Greeks use it to support their case that Yeshua won't return until Armageddon and there is no pre-trib rapture.  I have yet to see a pre-trib Greek quote it; they have stayed away from this passage so far.

But here is one web site, originally written in Greek, analyzing this text...

"The apostacy, a sign of the coming End Times, is mentioned by the Apostle Paul in II Thessalonians.  The tribulations will not happen "Unless the Apostacy come first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed"...The apostacy is called a sign of the times...The apostacy will somehow lead to the Antichrist and the Antichrist will be a product of apostacy, or rather the termination thereof....The apostacy will be expressed primarily as a general discount of morals and increase in wickdeness and exploitation....the legalization of abortion, prostitution, adultery, pornography, homosexualty, and promoting euthanasia are all examples of this trend."
(English translation of excerpts from http://www.agioritikovima.gr/perizois/item/8478-i-apostasia-os-simeio-ton-kairon )

Note that he is open as to how the connection is made; Whether apostacy is the cause, effect, or both.  But you can't replace the word "apostacy" here with "rapture" and make any sense of what is being said.  If "apostacia" in 2 Thess 2:3 meant rapture and not apostacy, a Greek speaking Christian would not be saying this to other Greek speaking Christians.  Yes, it makes sense for a Greek speaking Christian to say this to other Greek speaking Christians if "apostacia" means "apostacy", like nearly every Greek dictionary tells and and like nearly every English translation has translated this.

This is just one of many similar examples.  At http://www.gec.gr/beee/Kyrigmata/2007/2007-08-12.htm is a Greek Christians who uses the obvious fact that "apostacia" could NOT mean rapture to argue for the post-trib position by saying,

He Quotes 2 Thess 2 and says, "According to the most widespread version of the doctrine of the secret rapture ... Since the church leaves in the rapture ... you will not see him revealed, because you are already in heaven. And of course, the question arises: What is wrong?  The mistake is that the text before us does not support this scenario ... You will see the apostasy, then you will see the man of sin, and then will come the presence of the Lord." (English translation of http://www.gec.gr/beee/Kyrigmata/2007/2007-08-12.htm)

The overall flow of the logic here is that if the rapture is pre-trib, we would expect to see "Rapture" in 2 Thess 2:3 where we see "apostacy", but we don't.  If "apostacia" even COULD mean "rapture" in Greek, this argument would not make any sense.  It is only because "apostacia" means "apostacy" and CANNOT mean "rapture" to Greek speakers that this person is making this argument.

Here's another example;

• ""the apostasy will come first, revealing the man of sin, the son of perdition ..." (Ap. Paul Thess. Vv.3) ie. will be preceded by the apostacy of the coming of Antichrist, and indeed this is the main church sign. Already in 2000, the Church faces too many heretical groups apostacizing from it..." (English translation of http://www.imdleo.gr/htm/nwo-orthodoxia.htm )

I was unable to find a single example of a Greek speaking Christian, writing in Greek, advocating a different interpretation than what these 3 men agree on.

 

How do Greek Christians argue in favor of the pre- or post- trib position?

PRE-TRIB: I have not had an easy time of finding pre-trib Greek websites. But the ones that do tend to have a common theme; the argument that God has not appointed us to wrath, and the only way that can be accomplished is for the rapture to occur before the tribulation.  I have not seen any Greek pre-trib supporters quote 2 Thess 2 in their arguments in favor of a pre-trib rapture.  I did come across one pre-trib web site that quoted 1 Thess 4:15-18, and said that it says, "comfort one another with these words" and it could only be comforting if the rapture happens before the tribulations.

One post-trib web site says Rev 7:10 is quoted a lot by pre-trib advocates.

PARTIAL PRE-TRIB: I could not find any examples of this.

POST-TRIB or ARMAGEDDON TIMING: In the many examples of post-trib I've seen, the common thread is that most, if not all web sites I have come across argue against the pre-trib position by quotingc 1 Thess 4:15-17 and 2 Thess 2:3-8.  The primary arguments are:

• "we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep" (1 Thess 4:15).  This is often quoted, followed by the argument that since the resurrection is a twinkle before Armageddon (Har Megido), that the rapture must be too.
• 2 Thess 2:3-8 is often quoted followed by the logic that since 2 Thess 2:3 says the "apostacia" / "apostacy" comes first, but omits any mention of something that could be interpreted as a "rapture" (and since "apostacia" cannot), then the rapture cannot be pre-trib. 

These 2 arguments, or some variation, appear in nearly every post-trib website I encountered, with perhaps only a few exceptions.

Summation

So in summary

• ALMOST 90% of the websites I found in Greek that discussed the rapture were post trib.
• I found no argument over the idea that "apostacia" in 2 Thess 2:3 means "apostacy" not "rapture"
• Most Greek pre-trib believers argue that the rapture will be pre-trib in order for us to escape wrath.  Most post-trib Greek writers quote 1 Thess 4:15-17 and 2 Thess 2:3-8 to argue against the pre-trib position.

Many on this forum believe in the partial trib theory. I could find no Greek websites discussing that concept, but personally see no reason linguistically for grounds for objecting to it. It is more of an interpretation issue. I see room to explain a harmony between Thess and the partial theory, but I don't see where Greek Christians have examined that concept the way many of us have discussed it on this forum.

Shalom,

Joe