The King James Bible uses the term “falling away”
in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, but I was taught that it should say “departure.” Can you explain why it makes a difference?
2
Thessalonians 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, the son of perdition;
It makes a difference because
“falling away” and “departure” don’t mean exactly the same thing. A study
of the scriptures can help you find the meaning of the more descriptive phrase
“falling away.”
In 2 Thessalonians 2:3, Paul is
speaking about the time of “Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7),
the time in the future when Israel (not the body of Christ) goes through the
tribulation period.
1
Thessalonians 5:9
For God hath not
appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Study God’s word to discover why he
chose not to say “departure” rather than “falling away.” Let’s look at Jeremiah 37 for an
example. This is a time in Jeremiah’s
life when the people of Israel thought that he had betrayed the nation by being
complicit with the Chaldeans/Babylonians who were coming to take over the
nation of Israel.
Jeremiah
37:13-14
And when he was in the
gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the
son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet,
saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans. Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall
not away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took
Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.
They believed that Jeremiah left
their nation and his allegiance to his own people and became aligned with the
enemy. That falling away had to do with
Jeremiah supposedly leaving Israel to align himself with the Chaldeans. They suspected him of committing treason, but
he denies it.
Let’s look at a couple of other
passages from prophecy.
Luke
8:11-13
Now the parable is this:
The seed is the word of God. Those by
the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the
word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they, which, when they
hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while
believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
The Lord says that there is a time
of temptation and they fall away (go back, leave, or you could say “depart”). But the Greek word means more than just to depart. It was a departure in the sense of treason
like Jeremiah was accused of. It is a ‘departure’
with dire consequences. It is more than just a general leaving.
What happened to Jeremiah? He was put in prison and they sought to put
him to death. The falling away in the parable in Luke 8 was a bad departure that
affected their eternity.
Hebrews
6:4-6
For it is impossible for
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were
made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the
powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them
again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh,
and put him to an open shame.
They didn’t just depart, they fell
away. They experienced a taste of the
kingdom blessings to come, like in early Acts, and then they fell away. It was not just a departure; it is a ‘falling
away’ with dire consequences. They fell!
They’re done! They’re gone! Hebrews will be done if they ‘fall away’ from
Jesus Christ to follow the anti-Christ.
Look what Paul says about Israel:
Romans
11:11
I say then, Have they
stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come
unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
Falling means that they had a high
status but fell from it – like falling off a cliff.
2 Peter
3:17
Ye therefore, beloved,
seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away
with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
They are holding on to the truth and
they should be wary of falling from it. So
you can see that falling away is a departing, but with grave or eternal
consequences. There is a departure that
is good and that is the word God uses to describe it.
2 Timothy
4:6
For I am now ready to be
offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
Philippians
1:23
For I am in a strait
betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is
far better:
To depart this world to be with the
Lord is a good thing. But each time ‘falling
away’ is used, it carries with it grave consequences, which is why the KJB used
that term. How does one learn that? Just like I did – by studying out the
verses.
2 Timothy
2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Hopefully this
helps...Maranatha!
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