The Apostasy
Email This Post | Print This Post
The second chapter of 2 Thessalonians has always been riddled with difficulty for Bible students. When reading the passage it seems clear that Paul is reminding the Thessalonians about things he had previously talked about, information not recorded for us. We see this point made by Paul in verse 5, “Don’t you remember that when I was still with you I told you about this” This is a problem for us because we do not know what Paul said to the Thessalonians while he was still with them. The knowledge that the Thessalonians had concerning what Paul was talking we simply do not have. Notice what Paul says in verse 6, “And you know what currently restrains him….” Another reason why this is important to notice is that it should be clear to us that the events Paul is referring to must have been coming in the lifetimes of the Thessalonians. If not, why would Paul bother talking about these things while he was with them?
But though we do not have the information from the previous discussion Paul had with the Thessalonians, I think we can understand what Paul is talking about by relying upon the descriptions found in this text and the parallels to other known biblical passages. As with any study concerning difficult passages, let us set aside any preconceived notions about what we may think the passage is teaching and simply attempt to understand Paul’s words about the apostasy and the man of lawlessness. It is also important to state that the writing of this letter is considered to have been at approximately 54 AD.
A Problem for the Thessalonican People
It is important for us to gather as much of the context as possible to attempt to place ourselves in the minds of the Thessalonians as they would receive this letter. In chapter 1 of 2 Thessalonians we read Paul commending the Thessalonians for their faith in the midst of the persecutions and afflictions they are enduring. Paul points out that those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ will pay the penalty of everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). It seems that Paul is continuing his remarks about what will take place at the end, just as he did in his previous letter to the Thessalonians in chapter 4.
In the first verse of chapter 2, Paul talks about “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him.” The word “coming” is the same word used by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:15 where Paul was describing the second coming of the Lord. In the first letter Paul encouraged the Thessalonians to be ready for the coming day of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:2). However, it seems since the writing of the first letter, some have claimed to have a message from the apostles that the day of the Lord had come. In light of receiving this message, it seems that some of the Thessalonians had stopped working and had become busybodies in the affairs of other people (2 Thessalonians 3:6-15). Thus, Paul is explaining to the Thessalonians when the day of the Lord would come and how they should not be deceived by those claiming to have a message from the apostles (2 Thessalonians 2:2).
Two events must first come
In verse 3 Paul tells the Thessalonians that he does not want them to be so easily deceived. Thus, he tells them that there are two events that must take place before the day of the Lord can come. First, the apostasy must come. Second, the man of lawlessness must be revealed.
Unfortunately, it seems that Paul spends most of his time talking about the “man of lawlessness” being revealed and does not going into any detail about “the apostasy.” Before we spend our time trying to understand these two phrases, let us be sure to understand that Paul seems to be setting some time markers for the people to be watching for to know that the return of the Lord could come at any time. Just as Jesus established some signs that would come before the destruction would take place (Luke 21:5-19; Matthew 24:1-14), Paul is giving events that must happen before the second coming of Christ can occur. In other words, these must be visible or knowable events so that the Thessalonians could know that these two events have happened and be ready for the coming day of the Lord.
Apostasy-understanding the word
The various Bible versions have translated this word a couple of different ways. The New American Standard and Holman Christian Standard translate this word “apostasy.” The New Revised Standard, New International Version, and English Standard Version translate this word “rebellion.” Finally, the King James, the New King James, and the American Standard translate this word “falling away.” The Greek word is apostasia and Thayer says the word means “a falling away, defection, apostasy.” Vine’s defines apostasia similarly as “a defection, revolt, apostasy.”
There are a couple of reasons why understanding the exact nature of this word in this context is difficult. The Greek word apostasia only occurs in one other place in the New Testament, that is, Acts 21:21. What is interesting to me is that when Jesus spoke in Matthew 24:10 about the many that would fall away in the times leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus used the Greek word skandalizo and not apostasia. What this tells me is that Paul is not referring to a general falling away or a general lawlessness that will come over the world as time would pass away. In fact, the definite article exists in the manuscripts, thus reading the passage “the apostasy” or “the falling away” or “the rebellion.”
Consider what A.T. Robertson says concerning this word apostasia: “Apostasia is the late form of apostasis and is our word apostasy. Plutarch uses it of political revolt and it occurs in 1 Macc. 2:15 about Antiochus Epiphanes who was enforcing the apostasy from Judaism to Hellenism. In Josh. 22:22 it occurs for rebellion against the Lord. It seems clear that the word here means a religious revolt and the use of the definite article (heœ) seems to mean that Paul had spoken to the Thessalonians about it.”
John MacArthur agrees, “The language indicates a specific event, not general apostasy which exists now and always will. Rather, Paul has in mind the apostasy. This is an event which is clearly and specifically identifiable and unique, the consummate act of rebellion, an event of final magnitude” (The MacArthur Bible Commentary; pg. 1767). These explanations seem to be agreeable to the word usage. If Paul had mean just a general falling away, it seems likely that Paul would have used the Greek word skandalizo. The Greek word apostasia does not seem to indicate a spiritual rebellion or spiritual falling away as the Greek word skandalizo does.
The Revolt
Many have read this passage to speak about a spiritual apostasy that would take place. But I believe there are difficulties with this interpretation. First, what apostasy would that be? People have turned their hearts away from the Lord for the last 2000 years. Second, Robertson does well to point out that this word refers to religious and political revolts, not to spiritual rebellion to God. We studied that distinction ourselves earlier in this lesson.
There is only one political or religious rebellion that has any significance in the scriptures, particularly in prophecy: the Jewish revolt against the Romans. In about 66 AD the Jews led a revolt against the Roman occupation of Jerusalem and the Judean region. This revolt caused the Romans to come up against the Jews in Judea, killing over 1 million Jews.
This was the prophecy that Jesus was giving in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. Jesus warned that “not one stone would be left upon another” (Matthew 24:2). This prophecy still had to come to pass before the Lord would be able to return in judgment. All of God’s word had yet to be fulfilled and therefore Paul tells the Thessalonians that this rebellion had to happen first before the day of the Lord could come.
Daniel also prophesied of this revolt in the vision of the 70 weeks in Daniel 9:24-27. Verse 24 begins, “Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city.” This beginning verse shows us that the prophecy is about the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem. The prophecy continues, “The people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will come with a flood, and to the end there will be war; desolations are decreed” (vs. 26). The New Living Translation gives an accurate picture of this prophecy, “and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end” (vs. 26).
Paul says “the rebellion” or “the apostasy” must come first. But how do we know that Paul is speaking about the Jewish rebellion against the Romans and not another nation’s rebellion, like the barbarians against the Romans? Verse 4 validates are view that the man of lawlessness will sit in the temple of God. Paul is picturing the destruction of the Jewish people in depicting the man of lawlessness sitting in the temple.
Please continue this study by reading the next article “the man of lawlessness” in this section.
