The role of divine action in the discovery of truth is one
that cannot be overstated in my estimation. Yet, most Christians fail to take
this fact into consideration when they interact with unbelievers and even when
they study particular sections of Scripture that seem to make it impossible to
miss. For instance, in the second book that the apostle Paul wrote to the
Thessalonian Christians, chapter two, he refers to an event that must precede
the second coming of Christ. Paul tells us that the return of Christ cannot
take place until the apostasy comes first. To be sure, the intent of Paul’s
language is meant to reassure the Christians that false teachings to the
contrary should be rejected.
The use of the term apostosia
is interesting. Surely it is a term that the Thessalonian Christians would have
understood since it was used in such a context, that is, as a sign that will
precede the return of Christ. The only other place that it is used in the NT is
in Acts 21:21 where Paul is accused of instructing the Jews that live among the
Gentiles to forsake the Law of Moses. In common parlance, the word has taken on
the meaning of “the great falling away.” Louw-Nida defines it as “to rise up in
open defiance of authority, with the presumed intention to overthrow it or to
act in complete opposition to its demands—‘to rebel against, to revolt, to
engage in insurrection, rebellion.’”[1]
BDAG defines it as defiance of established system or authority, rebellion, abandonment, breach of faith.[2] Based on the word group, aphistemi carries with it the idea of
departing, withdrawing, and even defecting. But this is not quite the target at
which I am aiming today. My target is at least a layer or more in back of the
apostasy. You see the apostasy is the result of something very peculiar.
According to Paul, the apostasy is the result of God’s wrath. Because
unbelievers love wickedness rather than the truth, they are open to deluding
influences that it make impossible for them to distinguish truth from error.
Light is required if knowledge of truth is to exist.
However, the unenlightened mind resides in darkness making it impossible for it
to discern genuine truth, especially divinely revealed truth. The curse left
men epistemologically cut off from divine truth. Unless man is willing to
submit his entire being to the Creator who made him, knowledge will surely
evade him. His only curse is that he cannot eradicate the knowledge that God
has placed within him by way of the imago
dei. This theme is repeated over and over throughout Scripture.
Man’s love for wickedness and his outright rebellion against
truth coupled with his insistence on relying on his own autonomous reason has
left him epistemologically bankrupt. Paul tells us that God rewards such
arrogance with a deluding influence, resulting in the impossibility of true
knowledge. This scenario is also borne out in Romans 1 where Paul says that
because men rejected true knowledge of God, God gave them over to a depraved
mind so that they would pervert something as basic as human sexuality. 2 Cor.
4:4 informs us that the god of this world has blinded the minds of the
unbelieving. They cannot see the light of the gospel of Christ. Eph. 4:17
commands Christians not to conduct their lives like the Gentiles do, in the
futility of their own minds.
Fallen, sinful men are epistemologically hopeless. Yet, we
often forget this in our dealings with the unbeliever. So many times I hear
atheists and agnostics talk about the complete lack of evidence for Christian
theism. I just smile. Christian theism is not at any lack for evidence. There
are piles of superior historical evidence and even existential evidence for the
truth of Christian theism. Christians do not believe despite the lack of
evidence and we do not believe against the lack the evidence. Rather, we
believe because of the irrefutable nature of the sort of evidence we do
possess. What sort is that you might ask? It is the sort that the empiricist
and the rationalist reject. It does not qualify as evidence according to their
standard. But in the grand scheme of things, their standard lacks the kind of
evidence they seek as well. This they will never admit. Instead, they accuse us
presuppositionalists of playing mind games or word games with them. The reason
they resort to such rhetoric is because they are entirely out of argumentation
at this point. So they resort to name-calling and juvenile tactics in many
cases. The point is that unbelievers will by nature always reject the sort of
evidence for Christ, for God, for truth because they are lost in every way, and
that includes epistemologically as well as spiritually and rationally.
Concerning the apostasy then, is it a great falling away
from the Christian faith or is it something else? Paul had discussed this with
the Thessalonians on previous occasions while present. The underlying
assumption of modern interpretations is that there will be large majority of
Christians (by appearance at least) who will defect from the faith. In some
instances, western churches and especially American churches read their current
situation into the text. I am not convinced that these views rightly understand
Paul. His concern was not the apostasy itself, but the confidence of the
Thessalonian Christians who had apparently been led to believe that Christ had
already returned. And this was simply not the case. The point of this post has
been to focus on the fact that God’s wrath takes the willing blindness of men
who love wickedness and increases that blindness so that he can bring them
under judgment. What is the application? It is simple: “So then, brethren,
stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of
mouth or by letter from us.” 2 Thess. 2:15
[1]
Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English
Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United
Bible Societies, 1996), 495.
[2]
William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian
Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 120.
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