Please put your thinking cap on as we study and digest the first 8 verses of 2Thessalonians 2 in Parts 3 and 4 of this now enlarged 12-Part Study Series.  

We are herein considering the fact that the Rapture is undeniably to occur Pre-Tribulation. As you will see, carefully noting ‘Context’ is of extreme importance in Bible hermeneutics (method of interpretation). (You may want to first read how best to determine ‘context’ by reading “THE MECHANICS of Effective Bible Study” at http://www.artlicursi.com/articles/session-2-%E2%80%93-mechanics-effective-bible-study )

The context Paul sets up in 2Thes. 2:1-2 causes us to differ from the ‘spiritual falling away’ interpretation of 2Thes. 2:3 (KJV). Verses 1-2 clearly refer to the Lord’s coming to gather His grace believers at the Rapture. Here in the first three verses of 2Thesalonians chapter 2 (below), Paul is replying to how that the Thessalonian believers had become “shaken,” and “troubled.” These Gentiles had first believed only about a year earlier and been converted to Paul’s “gospel of the grace of God” that promises the Rapture. They were clearly taught the truth of the Rapture by Paul as seen in 1Thes 4:13-18. But now they were “shaken” by a forged letter as if it was from Paul (v2), which contradicted Paul’s earlier teaching. Thus, in 2Thes. 2:1-8 Paul is correcting the lies by reiterating the truth to correct their understandings concerning ‘The Order of Events to Come’ relative to the Rapture coming FIRST, BEFORE the “man of sin being revealed” in the Tribulation period.

Inappropriately, the text of verse 3 as seen in the KJV does not clearly represent Paul’s intent, which is clearly seen by verses 1 and 2 and verse 3 in its Greek text and considered in its Context seen below. I struck out the words ‘A Falling Away, needing correction as noted in the [red parenthesis] that follows.

“¹ Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him [unto Christ at the Rapture], ² That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit [a lying spirit], nor by word [lies being preached], nor by [a forged] letter as [if] from us [as if from Paul and company], as [saying] that the ‘day of Christ’ is at hand. [that day of “the wrath of the Lamb]” (cf. Rev. 6:16)

“³Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [the Tribulation Period] shall not come, except [until] there come A Falling Away [the physical departure] First, and that man of sin [Antichrist] be revealed, the son of perdition;” (2 Thes. 2:3 (KJV)

What Paul is trying to say in 2Thes. 2:3 is that “FIRST,” BEFORE “the man of sin [Antichrist]” is revealed,” and BEFORE the ‘Tribulation period’ begins… there will be the ‘physical departure of the church,’ the church called “the body of Christ,” by our Rapture to dwell with Christ “eternal in the heavens” (2Cor 5:1b KJV).

Paul is writing to these beleaguered Thessalonians who had become “deceived” (v3a) due misinformation [LIES] from forged letters allegedly from the Apostle Paul indicating that the “Day of the Lord” (The Tribulation period) Had Already Begun.

In 2Thes. 2:3 Paul explains how they could not possibly be in the Tribulation period because 1) They Were Still Here On Planet Earth and, 2) “the man of sin” had NOT yet been revealed. In other words, the Thessalonians were NOT in the Tribulation period because the Tribulation period itself will NOT take place until there is “FIRST” the Physical Removal of The Church from Planet Earth to Heaven via the Rapture.

Verse 3 presents an important point of contention among some Bible scholars. For the past 100 years or so theologians have misinterpreted the Greek word “apostasia” in 2Thes. 2:3, translating it as “a falling away, first” as seen in the KJV and most Bibles Since The KJV. But as we proceed you will see how the Greek “apostasia proton” is more correctly translated to mean “the departure first,” which is how it was translated in the seven earliest English language translations.

The reliable Greek ‘Received Text,’ upon which the KJV is based is correct. But the issue is a matter of interpreting the Greek “apostasia proton” in its full context. It has been mistranslated in the KJV as if it were ‘a spiritual falling away of the church first,’ as an apostasy, a ‘spiritual falling from the doctrinal truth of the faith.’ Yes, certainly today’s Christendom has hugely become spiritually apostatized even more over the past 75 years. They have forsaken the truth of the Pauline pure grace “gospel of the grace of God” just as men did even in Paul’s day. Paul, as “the Apostle to the Gentiles” wrote telling us how that “all men” had forsaken him and his Christ-given revelations for the Gentiles.

“¹⁴ Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:
¹⁵ Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood Our Words. ¹⁶ At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. 2 Timothy 4:16 (KJV)

There were those lying wolves who “overthrew the faith of some” grace age believers.

“But shun [preaching that is] profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. ¹⁷ And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; ¹⁸ Who concerning the truth have erred, SAYING THAT THE RESURRECTION IS PAST ALREADY; and OVERTHROW THE FAITH OF SOME.” (2 Tim. 2:16-18 (KJV)

“Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I [Paul] have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.” (1 Timothy 1:20 (KJV)

The question we are addressing is this;

Is the Greek “apostasia proton” merely ‘a spiritual falling away from the faith’ by the church at large, as most observe. Or, is it referring to … “the physical departure, first” of the members of “the body of Christ” by our Rapture to heaven with Christ?

Considering the early (Pre-KJV) English language Bible translations below will help and inform us. Dr. Tommy Ice wrote that all of the first seven Old English language translations rendered the noun ‘apostasia proton’ in 2Thes 2:3a as either “the departure first” or “the departing first.” The seven English Bibles are listed as follows:

Wycliffe Bible (1384); Tyndale Bible (1526); Coverdale Bible (1535); Cranmer Bible (1539); Breeches Bible (1576); Beza Bible (1583); Geneva Bible (1608, the Bible the Pilgrims used).⁷

All of these supports the belief that the word “apostasia proton” actually speaks of a “the physical departure first.” In fact, even Jerome’s Latin translation from around the time of A.D. 400, known as ‘The Latin Vulgate,’ also renders the Greek “apostasia” using the Latin word ‘discessio,’ meaning ‘departure.’”⁸  (See https://www.pre-trib.org/pretribfiles/pdfs/Ice-TheDepartureIn2Thess2-3.pdf for Dr Ice’s summary.

You might then ask;

Why did the King James Version stray from the already well-established English translation standard of “the departure first”?

The answer is that the KJV translators were making a polemic [controversial] retaliation against the Catholic Rheims Bible of 30 years earlier. The Catholics had translated the Greek “apostasia” as “a revolt” in order to accuse the Protestant Reformers of ‘revolting’ against the authority of the Catholic church.

It was about 30 years after the Catholic Rheims Bible of 1586 had translated the Greek “apostasia” as “a revolt,” controversially referring to ‘the revolt of the Protestant reformation’ that we then have the KJV in 1611.

The KJV was launched controversially translating the 2Thes 2:3 Greek “apostasia proton” as “a falling away first,” thereby referring to the Catholic church’s ‘falling away from the core doctrinal truth of ‘salvation by grace through faith alone’ (cf. Eph. 2:8-9).

Note that while the underlying Greek text is the same for the KJV and the several earlier English language translations; i.e., Wycliffe, Coverdale, Geneva, et al, … the politics of the day appears to have entered into the KJV translation, by ignoring the context that is set by Paul in 2Thes 2:1-2 concerning “our gathering together unto Him” at the Rapture.