No Greek speakers at no time has ever understood "APOSTACY" / "apostasia" to mean "rapture".  The Greek word "apostacia" / "apostasia" is not used in ANY early Church Greek writings to refer to the rapture.  Nor is it understood that way today.  "Rapture" just isn't even on the radar-scope of what "apostacia" could mean in Greek.

 

At http://agiooros.freeforums.org/viewtopic.php?t=3383&f=50 , you can read a blog where Greek speaking people discuss in Greek the meaning of 2 Thess 2:3.  They debate things like whether we are in the age of apostacy today, or is the word "apostacy" referring to some future religious defection yet to come.  But no one jumps in to argue that it could mean "rapture".  It's only because this is an English speaking forum that there's even any debate on this issue .  But rest assured, it's pretty much the same as the English "apostacy".  For example, at http://agiooros.freeforums.org/viewtopic.php?t=3383&f=50 , one Greek speaker says (translated to English here for your readability),

 

"And so the historical time we see the apostasy ("apostasia") in the form of restoration of ancient religion and rituals and customs that accompany it." 

 

He's obviously not talking about a "rapture" here, and there's no question he's using the Greek word "apostacia" to mean what we call "apostacy" in English.   Here's how a Greek web site explains the word "apostacy" in Greek to Greek speakers (translated into English so you can understand it):

 

 

Greek	English Translation thereof
Η αποστασία (προερχόμενη από τις λέξεις από και στάσις, δηλαδή κατα λέξη, απομάκρυνση) είναι όρος που περιγράφει την αποκήρυξη εκ μέρους ενός ατόμου της θρησκείας του, ειδικά όταν θεωρείται ότι υποκινείται από ποταπά κίνητρα.	" Apostacy (derived from the words apo (away from) and stasis (distance), ie word removal) is a term that describes the renunciation by a person of their religion, especially when considered motivated by evil motives.
Από τεχνικής άποψης, κατά τη χρήση του όρου στην Κοινωνιολογία χωρίς την υποτιμητική απόχρωση του όρου, ο όρος αναφέρεται στην αποκήρυξη και την άσκηση κριτικής ή εναντίωσης προς την θρησκεία στην οποία ανήκε προηγουμένως το άτομο.	Technically, when using the term in common speech without degrading the color of the word, the term refers to renunciation and criticism or opposition to the religion which the person had formerly belonged.
Το άτομο που διαπράττει την αποστασία ονομάζεται αποστάτης , εκείνος ο οποίος αποστατεί	The person who commits apostacy is called an apostate, or one who spaces. [That is , puts space between him and his former beliefs]
Στην παλιότερη Δυτική φιλολογία, ο όρος αναφερόταν τυπικά στους βαφτισμένους Χριστιανούς οι οποίοι εγκατέλειψαν την πίστη τους.	In previous Western literature, the term formally addressing baptized Christians who have abandoned their faith.

I found this in the Greek version of Wikipedia, and nowhere in the entire page was the rapture even mentioned as a possible alternative meaning to the word.  That possibility isn't even on the radar scope.  The part underlined was added for clarity, not translated.

 

A few English speakers have looked at the etymology (apo + stasis) and concluded, "Well maybe it COULD mean "rapture", simply because the word "apostacy" is being explained by deriving an analogy to geography.  But if Greek speakers have never and do never use that word to mean anything but "apostacy", why would God choose it to talk about the rapture?  It makes no sense.  The only thing that could drive anyone to concluding that this could be talking about the "rapture" is a personal agenda bent on making that word mean the desired outcome.  At least, that's the only conclusion I can come to. 

 

I put "αποστασία" into Google in unicode and got 113,000 web pages.  Most were Greek web pages from Greek speakers.  a small number were in English trying to analyze a Greek word.  When I put both the Greek words for "apostacy" and "rapture" (apostacia and arpage) into Google, I got a whopping 3 Greek web pages, none of which talked about the rapture.  The laws of chance would lead me to suspect I'd get at least a few web pages that would switch from one topic to the next, and thereby have both words in the same web page.  But nope.  It appears that 113,000 Greek speaking web pages from people who speak Greek can get posted using the word "αποστασία" and not a single one of them has the topic of the rapture even on the radar screen. 

 

Just to ensure I hadn't goofed, I put "apostacy" and "Jesus" in (In Greek unicode, of course) and got 32,000 Greek speaking web pages and Google took care of all the various inflections as well.  Most of the 81,000 that went away were political web pages concerning the "Apostacy of 1965", a military overthrow of the Greek government, leaving me with the normal religious usage of the term "apostacy".  I checked many of those web pages and every usage of the Greek term "αποστασία" I found involved apostacy, with no mention of any kind of rapture.  So if "apostacia" can mean "rapture", then why is it that people who speak Greek on a daily basis make absolutely no connection between the word "apostacia" and the rapture?  If those who think 2 Thess 2:3 is talking about the rapture, then I guess the Greek speaking world needs to take lessons on how to speak Greek from English speaking folks who don't know Greek!!!! 

 

Trying to find a writing by anyone from any time period in which a connection has been made by a Greek speaker, writing in Greek, between the word "apostacia" (as used in 2 Thess 2:3) and the concept of the rapture is a fruitless endeavor because there's just no connection.  And if 2 Thess 2 was written in Greek and Elohim was trying to tell us about the rapture there, why would He use a word that Greek speakers don't connect to the concept of the rapture in any fashion whatsoever?

 

I know there's an agenda out ther by some folks to re-write 2 Thess 2:3 to make it sound like it's talking about the rapture, but it just won't work.  Oh....an English speaker can put out a Bible in English that's translated that way in order to better suit their theology based on the idea that the word "apostacy" is built from the word "distance" and a rapture involves a distance, but really, you can't rewrite millions of works by Greek speakers who continuously have used the word "apostacia" to mean "apostacy" and never to mean "rapture". 

 

So this is how Greeks view the word "Apostacia".  Are we to tell them they got it wrong?

 

Joe

www.messiahalive.net