"Apostasia" (the "falling away") is not the Rapture

"Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day [Day of the Lord] will not come unless the falling away comes first..."  2 Thessalonians 2.3

The "falling away" in this verse is the Greek word "apostasia" which could also be translated "departure."  Our English word "apostasy" comes from this word.   

The "apostasia" will precede the Day of the Lord.  The Apostle is saying to these people that that "Day" has not come because the Apostasia must come first.  The concern is that if the Day of the Lord had come, then they missed the "gathering together" to Christ, if they understood that gathering as the "rapture" and the Day of the Lord as coming after that, being the time of God's wrath upon the earth.

The apostasia has been normally understood as it is translated in most translations as a "falling away" or “rebellion” in some spiritual sense, such as from the faith or sound doctrine.   Later in the chapter, the Apostle writes: "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle."  This statement would support the idea of a falling away, if they did not "stand fast and hold the traditions" they were taught.   A falling away could be translated "departure," if understood as a departure from the faith or sound teaching.  

A few have tried to understand this apostasia as a physical (spatial) departure and not a spiritual one.  They have tried to promote the idea that this apostasia is the rapture itself.  By doing this, they can place the Day of the Lord at an earlier time in the scheme of things.  They can also place the rapture at or before the time when they think the revealing of the "son of perdition [destruction]" takes place, which is the other thing that must occur before the Day of the Lord.

I saw a poll taken in a discussion group recently where it was asked if the apostasia is the rapture, and quite a number believed it was.  Are they taking this view because it supports their view of end time events?

The word apostasia only appears twice in the New Testament.  The other time it is used is in Acts 21:21 "but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs."

The word "forsake" translates apostasia.  This is written concerning the Apostle Paul, being accused of teaching Jews among the Gentiles to forsake Moses.  This is about a departure from certain customs, just like the Thessalonians were exhorted to stand fast and hold the traditions, for a forsaking of them would be an apostasia.  It would be best to understand apostasia by how it is used elsewhere in Scripture.

The word apostasia appears in the Greek translation of the Old Testament and is used in the sense of a spiritual kind of departure.   Joshua 22.22b, 23 reads: "if we have transgressed before the Lord before by apostasy, let him not deliver us this day, and if we have built to ourselves an altar so as to apostatize from the Lord our God."  2 Chronicles 29.19: "and all the vessels which king Ahaz polluted in his reign; in his apostasy, we have prepared and purified."   Jeremiah 2.19: "Thine apostasy shall correct thee, and thy wickedness shall reprove thee and see, that thy forsaking me has been bitter to thee, saith the Lord thy God."  

Alan Kurschner, a prewrath rapturist, quotes pretribulation rapture scholar Paul Feinberg: “If one searches for the uses of the noun “apostasy” in the 355 occurrences over the 300-year period between the second century B.C. and the first century A.D., one will not find a single instance where this word refers to a physical departure.”  

Kurschner also points out, “The classical Greek Liddell and Scott lexicon lists the primary meaning of apostasia as “defection, revolt”; and “departure, disappearance” as a secondary meaning. The only example of this secondary meaning of spatial departure is found five centuries later after the New Testament. It is sloppy and simply fallacious to read back not only an obscure meaning but one that is five centuries after the New Testament!”

The uses of Apostasia in the scriptures is not for a physical departure but a defection or spiritual departure.  And there are all the occurrences between a period of 300 years of which the word is not used for a physical departure.  The overwhelming evidence is that apostasia in 2 Thessalonians 2 is a defection, a spiritual falling away. 

 A falling away is something the Scriptures warn about within the church and something the church has anticipated in the last days.  First Timothy 4.1:  “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will  depart   from  the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons…”  Second Timothy 3.1-5:  “3:1  But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:  2  For men will be lovers  of themselves,  lovers  of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,  3  unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,  4  traitors, headstrong, haughty,  lovers  of pleasure rather than  lovers  of God,  5  having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”