What have God's people historically believed about the "catching away" of the church, or the "rapture" through the many ages of the Church? Has it always been like today, with two major opposing views, drawing people into one group or another? One group believing in a raptute before the coming tribulation, and one advocating that it will be after? No, absolutely, no.
A warning here before we proceed. After the Bible, which is apostolic and inspired, there is no perfect book. There is no perfect teacher. In the years that followed the death of the apostles, many men began to write, some building as closely as they could on the revelation in existence, from the apostles and prophets, but others veering off from time to time. This "veering off" has left us with a great variety of teachings published in the name of the Lord, making it easy for the promulgator of most any new doctrine down to this day, to establish his cause somewhere in the chaos of those early writers. An appeal to the "church fathers" is often a settlement to an otherwise shaky point.
In spite of individual problems in individual teachers, and it seems even the best of men missed it sometimes, there were streams of thought that continued down to us, both in our Scriptures and in the collected works of the great writers. The Deity of Christ, the Second Coming, salvation by grace through faith, it all was picked up and passed on. God had faithful witnesses who were able to see and communicate necessary truth to the next generations.
Having said that, we now ask, what about the theory of a pre-tribulation rapture historically? Well, it falls far short of verification. It is found only once from the fourth century all the way to the eighteenth century, and not in any substantial body of literature until the nineteenth. This view-point is a newcomer to the world of theology.
The teachers of this doctrine believe they have Scriptural grounds for their beliefs. In another article I will examine Scripture, but for now let's trace the doctrine through history, and I must say, it will be a short journey, for there's not much there.
We go first to the Persia of the Roman Empire days. It is the fourth century. The teacher is a dedicated deacon named Ephraem who seems to have been a most holy man, to the point where he is said to have been a hermit for the last ten years of his life. The record shows he was greatly revered by Syrian, Orthodox, and Nestorian believers, the "denominations" of his day. His writings, evidently quite numerous were read just after the
Scriptures in some churches. One of those writings contains a passage that may indeed be a preview of what will come many hundreds of years later in its fulness.
Now remember, three hundred years have passed since the apostles wrote, and this is the first hint of a pretribulation rapture. Ephraem believed the end of the world was near, and that the Holy Spirit confirmed this to him. In his thinking, there was only one sign which remained, "the advent of the wicked one in the completion of the Roman Kingdom." That actually sounds like a posttribulation view, but several sentences later he adds:
"For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins..."
Ephraem here appeals to logic rather than to revelation. No authority is given for his conclusion, though his statement "makes a lot of sense" . This type of reasoning is the fuel of pre-tribulation thinking. There is much "sense" to it, but no solid Scriptural backing.
There are a couple more historical incidents regarding "pre-trib" that I will share at a later time. Today's point: Though an appeal to history can help make a case for a doctrine, this particular doctrine has such little history that it needs to be re-examined and perhaps rejected.
http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. Just about every day I'm writing a blog featuring some news, a book, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!
And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.
No comments:
Post a Comment