2 Thess 2:3-4
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;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
KJV
-------------------------
After hearing Drs. Andy Woods and Tommy Ice preach on 2 Thessalonians 3 & 4, I tend to agree with them that "THE falling away first" was the KJV "mis-translation" of the Greek apostasia which could mean the physical departure (i.e. the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of real Christians) of the Church rather than a spiritual departure from the truth. In the Greek, the key word preceding apostasia is "THE" which refers to a SPECIFIC event. Since the Church was first formed on the day of Pentecost 10 days after Jesus was caught up to Heaven to be with His Father, spiritual declension was setting in the assemblies of believers.
Now, when Post-Tribbers ask me where in the Bible does it teach a Pre-Tribulation Rapture, I point them to 2 Thessalonians 3 & 4 and say the Apostle Paul first taught this vital doctrine and not John Nelson Darby. Notice the chronology:
1. That day (i.e. 7-year Tribulation Period) shall not come until:
2. The falling away "apostasia" (the Pre-Tribulation Rapture) first happened:
3. Then that man of sin (i.e. THE Antichrist) be revealed.
Post-Tribbers cannot differentiate between the "appearing" of Christ in the air and Jesus's physical return to Earth seven years after the Tribulation Period. Jesus's appearing in the air above Earth to snatch us up to the Father's house of many mansions = our blessed hope.
FUNNY SCHOLARSHIP.