Jan51
Well-Known Member
I just had a thought today on this verse, and the apostasy, also found in other translations as the falling away, the departure, the rebellion, a great rebellion.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 (NASB) Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
I believe that the primary meaning is the departure of the church--the rapture. Many believe it speaks of a falling away from the truth within the church, which I think is also possible although not primary. But actually the church has been plagued with false teaching from the very beginning. The Bible often speaks on more than one level at the same time, with none contradicting the others.
Why must it speak of the church though, or be limited to the church? I don't really see that in the context. Might it not be speaking of the world also? Just looking around us, is not the world falling away, departing, from truth, from right, from logic, from reality, from civilized values? The dominoes are falling so fast, one thing leading to another, that the world does seem to me to be falling away before our eyes.
Maybe it is all three. Churches are departing from truth, the world is departing from any semblance of truth, and the bride is about to depart with the bridegroom.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 (NASB) Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
I believe that the primary meaning is the departure of the church--the rapture. Many believe it speaks of a falling away from the truth within the church, which I think is also possible although not primary. But actually the church has been plagued with false teaching from the very beginning. The Bible often speaks on more than one level at the same time, with none contradicting the others.
Why must it speak of the church though, or be limited to the church? I don't really see that in the context. Might it not be speaking of the world also? Just looking around us, is not the world falling away, departing, from truth, from right, from logic, from reality, from civilized values? The dominoes are falling so fast, one thing leading to another, that the world does seem to me to be falling away before our eyes.
Maybe it is all three. Churches are departing from truth, the world is departing from any semblance of truth, and the bride is about to depart with the bridegroom.