The doctrine of the Rapture is primary based on the following single verse, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thes 4:16-17). The term “caught up” is translated from the Greek word harpazó (ἁρπάζω), which was translated by Jerome into the Latin word rapiemur, a form of the Latin verb rapturo, from which the term rapture is derived. Rapture literally means to carry off, to snatch away, or to seize by force.
The classical exegesis of this passage is based on Paul’s message to the Thessalonians, who were expecting the quick return of Christ and were experiencing pastoral problems as time went on with no second coming. Since Christ’s return was delayed, the Thessalonians were concerned about the fate of believers who had died in the meantime. Paul therefore uses apocalyptic imagery to equate the eternal condition of dead and believers when Christ returns again in glory at the end of the world.
The idea that believers will be raptured away before a period of tribulation seems to be recent. Michael Svigel writes, “As far as the documentary evidence indicates, the doctrine of the pretribulation rapture of the entire church being caught up prior to a full seven-year tribulation period began with John Nelson Darby.”[i] Darby (1800–1882) developed this view primarily based on his interpretation of Rv 12:5, “And she gave birth to a Son, a male, who is going to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.” Darby interpreted the Son being “caught up to God” as the pretribulational rapture of the Church. Darby’s view of the pretribulational rapture has been popularized through both dispensational theology and popular media such as the Left Behind book series and film adaptations. But it is only taught by dispensational theology, is rejected by all other theological systems, and was not even conceived as an interpretation until the nineteenth century. All of this does not disprove the idea of a pretribulational rapture, but the amount of attention that this issue receives in both attacks and defenses is perhaps out of proportion.
[Next: The Resurrection of the Dead]
[i] Michael Svigel, “What Child is This? Darby’s Early Exegetical Argument for the Pretribulation Rapture of the Church,” Trinity Journal, Fall 2014: 228.
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