The Apostasy

Paul warned of the coming Apostasy and linked it to the unveiling of the Man without Law when he takes his seat in the Church. Paul responded to misleading claims about the imminent commencement of the Day of the Lord by declaring that it will not begin until the Apostasy occurs and the Son of Destruction is revealed. Disinformation about the return of Jesus was circulating among the members of the Thessalonian congregations.

The Apostle Paul was not the first man of God to warn the saints of a coming apostasy. What sets his exhortation apart is how Paul connects this future event to the Man of Lawlessness.

[Abandoned Church - Photo by Dan Meyers (Oregon) on Unsplash]

This end-time deceiver will be the primary cause of the abandonment of the Apostolic Faith by some, if not many, believers. Paul also uses language from the Book of Daniel originally employed to describe the figure of the “little horn.”

• “Now, we urge you, brethren, concerning the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, that you are not quickly shaken from your mind, neither alarmed, whether from spirit, whether from word or from letter, as by us, specifically, that the day of the Lord is imminent. Let no one seduce you in any respect, because except the apostasy comes first and the man without law, the son of destruction, is revealed; he who opposes and unduly elevates himself above all things that are called god or sacred, so that he sits in the sanctuary of God, presenting himself that he is god” - (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4).

The Greek term translated as “apostasy” in this passage is ‘apostasia’, which means a “falling away, an apostasy, abandonment, defection.” In the Scriptures, it is applied to the abandonment and betrayal of the true faith by the people of God - (Matthew 5:31, Acts 21:21, 1 Timothy 4:1, Hebrews 3:12).

Scriptural references to this future apostasy are frequent, including several warnings from Jesus given to his disciples about coming “lawlessness” or ‘anomia’ (ανομια) that will disrupt the Church. Moreover, before Christ returns, many false prophets and “false anointed ones” will target God’s elect for deception and apostasy. For example:

• “And many false prophets will arise and deceive. And because lawlessness will be multiplied, the love of the many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end, the same will be saved” – (Matthew 24:11-13).

• “For false anointed ones and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect” – (Matthew 24:24).

• “When the Son of Man comes, will he find the faith on the earth?” – (Luke 18:8).

The source of this idea of a final great apostasy and its connection to the Man of Lawlessness is the Book of Daniel. The figure that the Prophet Daniel calls “the little horn” and “the king of fierce countenance” persecuted the saints of Israel and caused many Jews to compromise and betray the ancient faith:

• “And the little horn will speak words against the Most High, and he will exhaust the saints of the Most High” - (Daniel 7:25).

• “And he became great, even to the host of heaven. And some of the host and of the stars he cast down to the ground, and trampled upon them” - (Daniel 8:10).

• “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have come to the full, a king of fierce countenance and a crafty dissembler, will arise. And his power will be mighty, but not by his own power. And he will destroy powerfully, and he will succeed and act effectively. And he will destroy the mighty ones and the holy people. And by his cunning, he will cause deceit to succeed in his hand, and in his own heart, he will magnify himself, and by prosperity, he will destroy many. And he will arise against the prince of princes, but he will be shattered without hand” - (Daniel 8:23-25).

• “And those who are ready to deal lawlessly with the covenant, he will pervert by flatteries. But the people who know their God will be strong and act effectively. <…> And the king will act according to his will; and he will exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and he will speak powerfully against the God of gods” - (Daniel 11:32, 36).

Paul uses this same deceitful ruler described by Daniel as the model for his “man without law, the son of destruction.”

Moreover, just as Daniel predicted that this king would be destroyed “without hand,” so also the coming Son of Destruction will be destroyed by Jesus when he returns (“And the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will consume with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nothing by the manifestation of his arrival” – 2 Thessalonians 2:8).

Paul warned elsewhere in his letters of this coming apostasy. For example:

• “But the Spirit declares expressly that in later times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons” - (1 Timothy 4:1).

• “Indeed, and those who would live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and howling impostors will become worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” - (2 Timothy 3:12-13).

• “For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate to themselves teachers after their own lusts, and they will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside to fables” - (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

The Apostle Peter likewise warned of “false prophets” and “false teachers” who will propagate false doctrines and otherwise cause havoc in the Church, because they will use the saints as the means to enrich themselves - (2 Peter 2:1-3).

Paul’s focus in 2 Thessalonians is on the Man of Lawlessness, and therefore, he provides limited information about the final apostasy. However, he does warn that this master deceiver will be empowered by the Devil with all the tools necessary for misleading God’s elect:

• “Whose arrival is according to the energy of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for those who are perishing, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” - (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10).

The same idea of a malevolent individual who will use supernatural signs to mislead people is found in the Book of Revelation. Satan and his earthly vassals  wage war on the saints through deceit and persecution, against those “who have the testimony of Jesus.” The “beast from the earth,” the False Prophet, will use miracles and economic sanctions to coax and coerce men to swear fealty to the Beast from the Sea and to his image.

• “And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his sight. And he makes the inhabitants of the earth pay homage to the first beast, whose death-stroke was healed. And he performs great signs, that he should even make fire descend from heaven upon the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives the inhabitants of the earth by the signs that were given him to do in the sight of the beast, saying to the inhabitants of the earth that they should make an image to the beast who has the stroke of the sword and lived. <…> And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free man and the slave, that there be given them a mark on their right hand, or upon their forehead; and that no man should be able to buy or to sell, except he who has the mark, even the name of the beast or the number of his name” – (Revelation 13:12-17. See also Daniel 7:21, Revelation 11:7, 12:17, 13:10).

• “But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. And she teaches and seduces my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols” – (Revelation 2:20).

• “Come here! I will show you the judgment of the great harlot that sits upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth became intoxicated with the wine of her fornication. <…> And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” – (Revelation 17:1-6).

We must remember that the warnings and exhortations of 2 Thessalonians are addressed to believers, not to humanity in general. By definition, only believers can ‘apostatize’ from the true faith.

However, Satan cannot simply deceive anyone arbitrarily. He is able to do so when a man or woman refuses to welcome the love of the truth. This is the same idea included in 2 Timothy 4:3, where the Apostle warns of saints abandoning the faith because they no longer tolerate “sound doctrine.”

More ominously, Paul reveals that God will send “strong delusion” to those who reject the truth. They will bring upon themselves deceit, apostasy, and judgment, because instead of truth and sound doctrine, they “were delighted with unrighteousness” – (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).

Fortunately, Paul did not leave us defenseless. We will avoid the lies and threats of the Son of Destruction, and the temptations he will no doubt offer, by remaining faithful to the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles:

• “But we are obligated to thank God continually concerning you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, for God chose you from the beginning for salvation, in sanctification of spirit, and in belief of truth, for which he called you, through our gospel, for an acquisition of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, then, brethren, stand firm and hold fast the instructions that you were taught, whether through discourse, or through our letter” – (2 Thessalonians 2:13-15).

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SEE ALSO:

• Disinformation - (Rumors about the Day of the Lord caused alarm and confusion among the believers of Thessalonica – 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2)

• Two Missing Events - (Two events must occur before the Day of the Lord begins: The Apostasy and the unveiling of the Man of Lawlessness in God’s House)

• Howling Impostors - (The New Testament warns repeatedly of coming deceivers and false prophets who will cause many to depart from the faith)

• L'Apostasie - (Paul a mis en garde contre l'apostasie à venir et l'a liée au dévoilement de l'Homme sans Loi lorsqu'il prend place dans l'Église)

[Note: Text printed in small capital letters represents citations of, or allusions to, passages from the Old Testament]