Most of the Prewrath Rapture guys and myself agree on what constitutes most of the rapture passages. But what they try to do is connect Christ's appearance and His coming for the saints at the rapture with the fact that the antichrist will be around, and thus the church is here during the first part of the tribulation. They use 2 Thessalonians 2:8 to prove their point. The passages reads: "And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming."
They camp on the words "appearance" and "coming" (parousia). Since many rapture passages use these words this proves that 2 Thessalonaians 2:8 is a rapture verse in their minds. But they are clearly wrong by the context. And it is true the word "coming" (parousia) can be used in both rapture and second coming verses.
Only rarely can you make doctrinal connections simply by the use of the same word(s). The most compelling key to interpretation is Context, Context, Context! And the context of this passage is clearly not a rapture context!
In the verses (2:1-7) leading up to 2:8 one must read carefully as to what Paul is saying. The Thessalonian church thought they might be in the tribulation, the Day of the Lord, because of the suffering they were undergoing. But Paul makes it clear that this was not so.
When the apostle gets to 2:8 he is writing not about the rapture but about the second coming of Christ. The Prewrath guys would make the verse about the rapture, thus when He comes (in the rapture), the verse would show that the church will be here during antichrist's reign! But most Prewrath advocates would say the church is raptured before the wrath of Revelation 16. Yet more happens in the winding down of the tribulation as seen from Revelation 17-20. The Prewrath guys have it all balled up! It is not until the very, very end of the tribulation that the beast (antichrist) is cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20) and then Satan is finally defeated (20:1-3).
In Paul's entire conversation about the antichrist in 2 Thessalonians 2 there is no mention of the church being around or seeing the antichrist! This is a false leap by the Prewrath guys!
Also what smashes their deficient view is the fact that the "restrainer" is taken out of the way before the antichrist is revealed (vs. 6-7). It is a settled issue that the restrainer is the Holy Spirit. I will not go into all the arguments on that issue here. It is certainly well argued that He leaves with the church. The antichrist would then begin his dirty work well before when he makes the covenant with the Jewish people that starts the seven year tribulation.
The Prewrath idea was initiated not by good Bible study but it came out of the brain storm of a layman by the name of Robert Van Kampen. He convinced Marvin Rosenthal of this deficient view for motives other than biblical! Van Kampen's ultimate motive was from the fact that he just plain did not like dispensationalism and the pretribulational biblically proven rapture. To fully answer in a thorough way, one must get Dr. Renald Showers' book The Pre-wrath Rapture View (Kregel). It is considered the classic in answering this false idea!
-- Dr. Mal Couch
Only rarely can you make doctrinal connections simply by the use of the same word(s). The most compelling key to interpretation is Context, Context, Context! And the context of this passage is clearly not a rapture context!
In the verses (2:1-7) leading up to 2:8 one must read carefully as to what Paul is saying. The Thessalonian church thought they might be in the tribulation, the Day of the Lord, because of the suffering they were undergoing. But Paul makes it clear that this was not so.
When the apostle gets to 2:8 he is writing not about the rapture but about the second coming of Christ. The Prewrath guys would make the verse about the rapture, thus when He comes (in the rapture), the verse would show that the church will be here during antichrist's reign! But most Prewrath advocates would say the church is raptured before the wrath of Revelation 16. Yet more happens in the winding down of the tribulation as seen from Revelation 17-20. The Prewrath guys have it all balled up! It is not until the very, very end of the tribulation that the beast (antichrist) is cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20) and then Satan is finally defeated (20:1-3).
In Paul's entire conversation about the antichrist in 2 Thessalonians 2 there is no mention of the church being around or seeing the antichrist! This is a false leap by the Prewrath guys!
Also what smashes their deficient view is the fact that the "restrainer" is taken out of the way before the antichrist is revealed (vs. 6-7). It is a settled issue that the restrainer is the Holy Spirit. I will not go into all the arguments on that issue here. It is certainly well argued that He leaves with the church. The antichrist would then begin his dirty work well before when he makes the covenant with the Jewish people that starts the seven year tribulation.
The Prewrath idea was initiated not by good Bible study but it came out of the brain storm of a layman by the name of Robert Van Kampen. He convinced Marvin Rosenthal of this deficient view for motives other than biblical! Van Kampen's ultimate motive was from the fact that he just plain did not like dispensationalism and the pretribulational biblically proven rapture. To fully answer in a thorough way, one must get Dr. Renald Showers' book The Pre-wrath Rapture View (Kregel). It is considered the classic in answering this false idea!
-- Dr. Mal Couch
