It looks like this- ἀήρ-and means in Greek:ġ) the air, particularly the lower and denser air as distinguished from the higher and rarer air 2)the atmospheric region In fact, the Greek word for “air” (which many Christian interpreters have associated with “sky”) that Paul uses is interesting in and of itself. Nowhere does this passage make a claim about an escape into the sky. Not an escape into the sky (on this point, see especially 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans 8). Paul’s answer: bodily resurrection at the return of Christ to earth. What has happened to our loved ones who have died before the return of Christ to earth? What is theirs and our ultimate destiny?
This passage, when placed in the larger context of the chapter, is answering questions that Christians in Thessalonica had concerning death. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
The famous “rapture” passage is found in 1 Thessalonians 4.15-17 and reads:Īccording to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. I’m going to invite you to consider whether or not you should believe in the rapture either. Of course, this belief is usually combined with something that gets referred to as the Great Tribulation.Īlthough I won’t have time in a single article, I want to demonstrate what I’ve come to understand of bothJesus and Paul: neither of them taught or believed in something like a rapture. The old mantra goes, “this world is not my home, I’m just passing through.”īut is that true? Are we just sort of stuck here until something apocalyptic happens like the second coming of Christ, the rise of the anti-Christ, and a rapture? This is still one of the most influential beliefs in pockets of Christianity.
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