Chapter # 2 Paragraph # 1 Study # 2
November 15, 2015
Dayton, Texas
(034)
1769 Translation:
3 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;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [
will let], until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 [
Even him], whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
1901 ASV Translation:
3 let no man beguile you in any wise: for [
it will not be,] except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition,
4 he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or
that is worshiped; so that he sitteth in the
temple of God, setting himself forth as God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know that which restraineth, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season.
7 For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work:
only [
there is] one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord
Jesus shall
slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of his
coming;
9 [
even he], whose
coming is according to the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying wonders,
10 and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that
perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie:
12 that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
- I. The Warning Against Deception.
- A. The word translated "deceive" is used in highly critical settings, indicating a massive consequence (Romans 7:11; 2 Corinthians 11:3).
- B. The caution includes the word translated "means" or "wise"; it signifies a "manner" by which a thing is done. It is often translated "as" when it means "in like manner".
- C. The straightforward implication is that there will be a serious effort to undermine the timing of the Rapture in terms of the Day of the Lord. That effort will spare no approach that seems to have some hope of producing the desired deception. This makes the issue one of the most important doctrinal issues in the New Testament. And, apparently, it has worked in that the pre-tribulational rapture doctrine is in a very minor position in our current religious context.
- II. The "Falling Away".
- A. The term translated "a falling away" is literally "he apostasia" and has the root meaning of "the departure from". Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon actually lists, as the second meaning, "departure", or "disappearance".
- 1. It is used three times in the Septuagint to refer to "departures from God" and is found twice in the New Testament; once in Acts (21:21) where Paul is accused of teaching Jews to "forsake" Moses and once in 2 Thessalonians (our current text).
- 2. It is probable that the translators translated it "a falling away" because of these biblical texts.
- 3. It is problematic, however, to automatically assume Paul's teaching of a latter day apostasy when that teaching does not show up until just prior to his own execution (2 Timothy 3:1).
- 4. The presence of the definite article before the word indicates a specific "departure". It is not, as the Authorized Version says "a" falling away; it is "the" falling away.
- 5. Additionally, translating the word "falling away" is neither etymologically accurate, nor exegetically accurate. Exegesis requires some textual association of meanings and etymology makes the word to mean "to position something away from something else".
- B. The question is this: where would the Thessalonians have gotten the understanding of "the departure"?
- 1. It is either to be found in Paul's statement in 2 Thessalonians 2:5 ["Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?"], or it is to be found in his previous letter. Since there is no telling what Paul might have "told" them while he was with them, it is highly unlikely that he has not said anything in our current context that would enable his readers to understand even though they be not Thessalonians.
- 2. The previous letter contains a very specific doctrine of "the departure", but it is not an "apostasy". It is, rather, a departure called "our gathering together unto Him" in our current text (2 Thess 2:1). The question is: would Paul have called The Rapture "he apostasia", given the prejudicial sense given that term in the Septuagint and Acts? There are two issues: one, the uses in the Septuagint and Acts (a book not written at the time of this letter under our consideration) are very few and indeterminate; and two, it is likely that our English word "apostasy" (taken into English as a transliteration) is actually more prejudicial than it should be.
- 3. It is more than likely that Paul's "the disappearance" refers to The Rapture or, as he says in the immediate context, "our gathering together unto Him". His "problem" in this context is not some "latter day apostasy"; it is the Thessalonian's confusion about the timing relationship that exists between "our gathering together unto Him" and "the Day of the Lord". Thus, his declaration is that "the Day of the Lord will not come unless the Rapture has taken place and the Lawless Man has been unveiled".