[TDW] 2) in Greek the definite article serves a couple of purposes; for one, to point BACK to something PREVIOUSLY mentioned in the text (not something further down in the text); V.1's [definite] event "fits" snugly...
Indeed it does. Contrarily, the notion of a vast failing of the Church does NOT fit. At all.
In fact this idea of "falling away from the faith" does not jive with the overall tone and tenor of 1st or 2nd Thessalonians.
Departure = rapture is the proper treatment here.
Correct!
What many folks do not realize, is that Paul (
in these two epistles) references our Rapture (or its effects, etc)
something like 8-9 TIMES (not merely
in the ONE verse that most acknowledge to be referring to it:
1Th4:17! ['caught-up']).
Paul, in these two epistles,
is covering the subject of "an eschatological salvation"
("the
One delivering *us* out-of THE WRATH COMING" and "For God hath not appointed *us* to wrath,
but to obtain salvation [an eschatological 'salvation'] by [by means of] our Lord Jesus Christ"--and the phrase "[putting on...] for an helmet,
the HOPE [sure-HOPE] of salvation"... which phrase many folks mistakenly mangle to *mean*: "Boy, I sure HOPE to [one day--in the end] have salvation, but we can't be sure... we have to make certain *we [/I]* endure unto the end, and after I die, I'll find out if I did 'good enough' to have merited this 'salvation'." But this ISN'T what this phrase in the bold MEANS. The phrase
"the HOPE of salvation" is an
ESCHATOLOGICAL reference... to the fact of "our Rapture" event!)
When the reader examines his SECOND epistle to the Thessalonians, a curious thing is evident... where Paul USUALLY opens his letters with
"faith, love, hope," in 2Th we notice that the word
"HOPE" is MISSING from the intro. This is because Paul is going to be addressing THAT ASPECT
in particular in this second letter
(esp. because of a "false claim" circulating [or that could ever be circulating, even] "THAT [/purporting that]
THE DAY OF THE LORD [
time-period of JUDGMENTS unfolding upon the earth (what WE call "the TRIB yrs")]
IS PRESENT / IS ALREADY HERE"
2Th2:2--which would have been a REASONABLE thing for them to have been persuaded was *true* [tho false] BECAUSE of the "tribulations and persecutions YE ENDURE" 1:4 in their present and ongoing VERY NEGATIVE *experiences*. They
weren't going to fall for something which had
ZERO EVIDENCE in their surroundings / experiences... these people were not *buffoons*, in other words. lol)
So, a COUPLE of time (at least) in the wording PRECEDING 2Th2:3 (and the Greek word under present discussion there),
Paul had ALREADY made reference to our Rapture:
--[1:7] "[ye who are troubled]
REST WITH US IN THE REVELATION OF the Lord Jesus FROM HEAVEN WITH HIS
*MIGHTY* angels [think: 7 Trumpets / 7 Vials]
IN FLAMING FIRE [see parallel language
in Lam2:3b--and note what it was concerning--speaking of A DURATION OF TIME, not a split-second moment of time]
INFLICTING VENGEANCE ON [note how the wording
in Luke 18:8 corresponds
with Rev1:1's "[things which must come to pass]
IN QUICKNESS [NOUN]" (re: "vengeance" and re: "the 7 yr period" from 4:1 onward to chpt 19)...," that is,
"ON" the SAME people that
2Th2:10-12 ALSO speaks about (when "God
shall SEND TO THEM strong DELUSION,
SO THAT *they* should
BELIEVE THE LIE / THE FALSE / THE PSEUDEI"--
during the SAME [TRIB]
TIME PERIOD that chpt 1:7 was just referring to--not a split-second MOMENT of time)--IOW, *this* [God doing this] is an aspect of His "WRATH"]";
--[2:1]
"OUR episynagoges UNTO HIM" (and we already know from his first letter that this is "
TO the meeting of the Lord
IN THE AIR" when the entire Church WHICH IS HIS BODY will be "SNATCHED" in ONE-SINGULAR "snatch-action" [and where 1Th3:13 is its "destination-location," per CONTEXT]--distinct in every way from that of "
Matt24:29-31 / Isaiah27:9,12-13" and
THEIR "gathering" TO JERUSALEM!!! [
AFTER the 70ad "scattering"--"and they shall be
LED AWAY CAPTIVE into ALL THE NATIONS" per Lk21:12-24a,b--i.e. OPPOSITE ends/outcomes, in the passages
re: THEM])
Bottom line: where the
"definite article ['THE']" is used with this word
in 2Th2:3 ("
THE departure"), the definite article serves (for one thing) TO POINT BACK to something PREVIOUSLY referred to in the text (not something further down in the text), and Paul had already referred to the SUBJECT surrounding our Rapture... by
1) leaving off the word "HOPE" (coz that's going to be his SUBJECT in this 2nd letter--i.e. the FACT of "our Rapture");
2) by referring to "REST WITH US IN..." (and using language commensurate with other scriptures speaking of time-periods of JUDGMENT unfolding); and
3) by 2:1's reference to "OUR
episynagoges UNTO HIM" (not to mention, the NUMEROUS references to it
already in his first letter to them!)
[and this is besides the point that, even before (and without) v.3,
verses 1 and 2 ALONE *already* MAKE THE POINT (pre-trib Rapture), and are SUFFICIENT to grasp this, *IF* people would properly define the phrases used therein, which often times they do not, but end up CONFLATING them as I saw one particular well-known speaker do in his video that someone posted here awhile back. *sigh* lol]
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