2 Thess 2 Second Coming and Rapture post-tribulational

The Return Of Christ And The Rapture In 2 Thess. 2

By Ed. F. Sanders

Thesis:

In 2 Thess 2:1-5 Paul teaches that the Second Coming and Rapture are not pretribulational and imminent (can happen at any moment) as is popularly taught, but occurs at the Day Of The Lord which is posttribulational!

Discussion:

Paul's teaching about the Second Coming of Christ and the Rapture in 2 Th 2:1-5 is sometimes used by dispensationalists to support their imminent pretribulational Rapture theory. A close look at the passage reveals that it teaches the exact opposite.

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

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; 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.

Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?" (2 Th 2:1-5 KJV)

Commentary:

Consider the following comments on the text (key words emphasized, see footnotes):

2:1 "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming ⁽¹⁾ of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together ⁽²⁾ unto him"

Comment: Paul states his subject: he is talking about the Coming of Christ (Greek �parousia)and our gathering together to Him � the Rapture.

2:2 "That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ⁽³⁾ is "at hand"⁽⁴⁾

Comment: Based on Paul's word it seems that some of the Thessalonian Christians were shaken up and thought they had missed the rapture and had been 'left behind'. Pail corrects them, don't be distressed and don�t think that Day Of Christ has come (KJV "at hand"). The ESV correctly translates "Day Of the Lord has come".

2:3 "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⁽⁵⁾, the son of perdition�.."

Comment: The Coming of Christ and the Rapture will not happen until the Antichrist is revealed, i.e. after the tribulation! (see Mt 24: 3- 22 where Jesus is teaching the same sequence of events that Paul taught!)

2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

Comment: Paul reminds the readers that he has told them this before! Like us many of his 1st century readers are sometimes short.

Notes on the translation:

(1) Coming: παρουσία - parousia;

Thayer's Lexicon: coming, arrival, advent ; the future visible return from heaven of Jesus, to raise the dead, hold the last judgment, and set up formally and gloriously the kingdom of God.
Strong's Lexicon = advent (often -return); coming, presence.

(2) Gathering together, (ἐπισυναγωγῆς, from: ἐπισυνάγω - episunago)

Thayer's Lexicon: Only here and Heb 10:25. The verb ἐπισυνάγειν is used, as the noun here, of the Lord's gathering together his elect at his coming. See Matt 24:31; Mark 13:27.
JFB Commentary: our gathering together unto him--the consummating or final gathering together of the saints to Him at His coming, as announced, Matt 24:31; 1Thess 4:17. The Greek noun is nowhere else found except in Heb 10:25, said of the assembling together of believers for congregational worship.

(3) Day Of Christ: The KJV and NKJV translate "Day Of Christ". The NKJV footnote on 2:2 says "NU-Text reads the Lord". The ESV, HCSB, NASB, NIV, and Amplified Bible translate "Day of The Lord". JFB Commentary "the oldest NT manuscripts have Day Of The Lord". Even the dispensational pretribulational standard Scofield Reference Bible footnote on this verse references Isa 2:12 "the day of the LORD of hosts".

(4) At hand: eνίστημι - enistemi;

"impending" gives a better sense of the time frame for the "coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him" than the word popularly used 'imminent' (pretrib interpretation 'any-moment')

see my article "Imminent Or Impending?"

(5) Revealed: apokalupto - apocalupto;

Strong's Lexicon: to take off the cover, that is, disclose: - reveal

Conclusion:

This passage clearly contradicts the pretribulation interpretation. The Second Coming and Rapture occur at the Day Of The Lord (after the antichrist, i.e. posttribulational). These are the same events that Paul taught in the 1st letter to the Thessalonians! and that Jesus taught in Matt 24:3-22!. No amount of eisegesis and twisting of the text can explain away what Paul and Jesus clearly taught!

Updated 5-6-2006