When it comes
to the timing of the rapture (the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ and our gathering together unto Him) the
translation of just one word can make a tremendous
difference in what Paul was trying to convey about the
timing of the rapture in his second letter to the
Thessalonians. The Greek “apostasia” can mean a physical
departure or a departure from the faith. The two
translations below convey very different messages.
The Geneva Bible and all other early English translations,
including the Tyndale Bible (1526), the Coverdale
Bible (1535, the Cramer Bible (1539), and the Breeches
Bible (1576), as well as the Latin Vulgate, translate the
Greek “apostasia” as a physical departure. This clearly
implies that the rapture (our gathering together unto Him)
must take place before the “man of sin” is revealed:
Now we
beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and by our assembling unto him, That ye be
not suddenly moved from your mind, nor troubled neither by
spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as it were from us, as
though the day of Christ were at hand. Let no man
deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come,
except there come a departing first, and that that man of
sin be disclosed, even the son of perdition.
(1599
Geneva Bible.)
The King
James version and other modernized versions
translate the word as rebellion, falling away, and
apostasy. This implies that the apostasy or falling away
from the faith will be the definitive sign right before
the rapture:
Now we
beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be
not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by
spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the
day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by
any means: for that day shall not come, except there come
a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the
son of perdition. King James Version
The Rheims Bible(1576) put out by the Catholic Church was
the first translation to use “falling away”. The Rheims
version was translated into English from the Latin Vulgate
(Jerome 4th century). However, Jerome translated the
word “apostasia” as the Latin word for departure. So why
did the translaters of the Rheims version change it to
“falling away”? Some scholars suggest that it had to do
with identifying the Protestant Reformation as “the
apostasy”. Likewise, when the King James was translated by
the reformers, they saw the Catholic Church as the
apostasy from the true Gospel. Yet no revelation of the
“man of sin” occurred after these perceived apostasies. Do
you see the problem with using the “apostasy” as the
definitive sign of the rapture?
It is that the context in which a word is used that must
define which meaning is correct. The context in 2
Thessalonians is clearly the rapture and the “restrainer
who will be taken out of the way” (in verse 7 that
follows) . Departure is a better fit to the context.
“Apostasy” or “falling away” don’t make sense in that
there have been many apostasies and fallings away from the
faith in Paul’s day and throughout church history, so they
cannot be the definitive sign that Paul was referring to.
Yet, the rapture would certainly be the most definitive
sign that the “man of sin” is about to be revealed.
Kevin
John