Being then, Justified by [Jesus’] Faith

 I want to start this article with a powerful quote from Dean Hough:  

“Either Paul is evangelizing justification as God’s achievement through His Son’s death on the cross, or as our achievement by our believing in Christ.  It is one or the other, not partly one and partly the other (no matter how little our part may be).  Either justification reveals God’s righteousness in making all humans right by not sparing His own Son but giving Him up for the sake of all humanity (both sinners who presently listen and sinners who do not yet believe) or there is no evangel whatsoever.”¹

The points made by Dean Hough are the points I hope to reinforce in this article.  One is the point that the salvation of all (the constituting just, or making righteous of all) is inherent in the evangel (good news) that the apostle Paul was chosen to share.  The second is that because the salvation of all is inherent in the evangel, the constituting just of all is the achievement of God through Christ’s death on the cross, not because one believes.  I also hope to bring some clarification to what Paul means when he says that believers are being justified.  

Paul starts his explanation of the evangel in Rom. 3:21 after describing why this evangel is necessary and coming to the just verdict of vs. 20, that “by works of law, no flesh at all shall be justified in His sight, for through law is the recognition of sin.”  Rom 3:21-23: “Yet now, apart from law, a righteousness of God is manifest (being attested by the law and the prophets), yet a righteousness of God through Jesus Christ's faith, for all, and on all who are believing, for there is no distinction, for all sinned and are wanting of the glory of God.”  The evangel reveals God’s righteousness (Rom 1:17) and this righteousness of God is revealed through Jesus Christ’s faith.  Through Jesus Christ’s faith, which led him to die on the cross in obedience to the will of God (Luke 22:42, Phil. 2:8), God’s righteousness has been procured for all, as all have sinned and are wanting of the glory of God, and God sent Jesus to die for all sinners (Rom 5:8, 1 Timothy 1:15).  This righteousness is on all that believe the evangel, and believers are displays of this righteousness in the current era (Rom 3:26).

What evangel are believers believing? Paul lets us know in Rom 3:24: “Being justified gratuitously in His grace, through the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus.”  This is a different way of expressing the evangel that Paul explicitly states in 1Cor 15:3-4: “For I give over to you among the first what also I accepted, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was entombed, and that He has been roused the third day according to the scriptures.”  The deliverance which is in Christ Jesus is His death for our sins and subsequent entombment and resurrection; through this deliverance God graciously and gratuitously justifies.  This evangel is a proclamation of an achievement, not a conditional invitation.

In Romans 4, Paul puts Abraham up as an example of one that believed God’s promise to him, and God reckoned that belief unto righteousness.  Abraham did not believe the same good news/promise that is Paul’s evangel.  The promise made to him by God was that Abraham (then Abram) would have seed (heirs) as numerous as the stars (Gen. 15:2-5), and that he would be a father of many nations (Gen. 17:4).  Even though at the time the promises were made Abraham had no heir, he believed God: Gen. 15:6 “Now Abram believes on Elohim, and He is reckoning it to him for righteousness.” When we believe God’s promise to us, we believe in the same way Abraham did.  It is in this sense that Paul says we as believers in the evangel are “of the faith of Abraham” and he is the “father of us all”: Rom 4:16-17 “Therefore it is of faith that it may accord with grace, for the promise to be confirmed to the entire seed, not to those of the law only, but to those also of the faith of Abraham, who is father of us all, according as it is written that, a father of many nations have I appointed you -- facing which, he believes it of the God Who is vivifying the dead and calling what is not as if it were - -”  

“Calling what is not as if it were”… In believing God when He says He will justify us gratuitously, we are believing that He will constitute us something that we are not, which is righteous.  Rom 4:5: “Yet to him who is not working, yet is believing on Him Who is justifying the irreverent, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.”  God promises to justify all sinners through the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus.  All sinners are inherently irreverent, but God promises to justify all of them gratuitously in His grace.  The word gratuitously means “unwarranted, freely, without a cause”.  We can get a good idea of what this word means from John 15:25: “but it is that the word written in their law may be fulfilled, that they hate Me gratuitously.”  Those that hated Jesus hated Him without a cause, there was no reason at all to hate Him.  In like manner, there is no reason inherent in ourselves why God should justify us, but God promises to do so.  When we believe the evangel, we are believing like Abraham:  Rom 4:20-22 “yet the promise of God was not doubted in unbelief, but he was invigorated by faith, giving glory to God, being fully assured also, that, what He has promised, He is able to do also. Wherefore, also, it is reckoned to him for righteousness.”  We believe that God will gratuitously justify all sinners (make them right, constitute them righteous, Rom. 5:18-19) through the deliverance in Christ Jesus.  Our faith in this promise is reckoned to us for righteousness.  

This is where things can get confusing, and they have been for me. Believers are not currently constituted righteous, we are reckoned righteousness.  God, through the evangel (that Jesus died for our sins, was entombed and resurrected) has promised to justify all mankind.  In believing this promise, God reckons the righteousness He has promised to all mankind onto the believer’s account. We enter into enjoyment of this promise at believing it earlier than the rest of mankind, because we are able to reckon as God reckons.  We are not justified because we believe, as God has already made the promise to justify gratuitously in His grace (unmerited favor) through the deliverance in Christ Jesus.  Paul using the words “gratuitously”and “grace” removes the thought that one is justified because they believe, as then there would be a cause in the one believing to be justified and the favor would be warranted, thus, the words gratuitously and grace could not be used.  God does not promise to justify if we believe He will justify us.  It was the same with Abraham, God did not promise to make Abraham the father of many nations if Abraham believed God would make him such.  In both Abraham’s case and in the case of the evangel, God has shared good news of something He will not fail to accomplish.   

All will be justified by Jesus’ faith (Rom. 3:22, Gal. 2:16).  It is because of this reason that I cannot agree with anyone that says the evangel is “justification by faith” unless the clarification is made that we are “justified by Jesus’s faith”.  Jesus’ faith in obedience to His God and Father unto death for our sins on the cross is what justifies.  Rom 4:24-25: “but because of us also, to whom it is about to be reckoned, who are believing on Him Who rouses Jesus our Lord from among the dead. Who was given up because of our offenses, and was roused because of our justifying.”  God roused Jesus from the dead because of our justifying.  Jesus died for our sins in obedience to God, and God, in lovingly providing Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins righteously accepts Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf.  Rom 5:8: “yet God is commending this love of His to us, seeing that, while we are still sinners, Christ died for our sakes.” God roused Jesus absolutely guaranteeing that Jesus’ sacrifice will accomplish what it was meant to, life’s justifying for all.²  

Some may ask the question, or one similar to it, “if our faith does not save us or justify us, why did Paul say to the Philippian jailor in Acts 16:31, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved…””  One of the things I love about the Concordant Version, are the study tools provided right in the text.  In Acts 16:31 before the word “saved” a vertical stroke is seen, denoting that “saved” is in the action or incomplete verb form.  I have attached a photo of the explanation of this verb form from the study tools in the CLNT:

In the case of Acts 16:31, the literal reading would be “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be being saved.” This corroborates what we have already covered, that hearing the evangel acquaints us with a promise of God, and believing that evangel allows us to reckon as God reckons, and we will be being saved/justified. The ACT verb form is also used in Rom 3:28 and can literally be read as “For we are reckoning a human to be being justified by faith apart from works of law.”  Again, Paul uses the ACT verb form when writing about our being justified in Gal 2:16: “having perceived that a man is not being justified by works of law, except alone through the faith of Christ Jesus, we also believe in Christ Jesus that we may be being justified by the faith of Christ and not by works of law, seeing that by works of law shall no flesh at all be justified.”  Believing the evangel is believing that one is not being justified by works of law but through the faith of Christ Jesus.  One who is continually working to be justified is never being justified in their own mind.  They are not trusting that their justification has been procured by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, and that God roused Him from the dead because of our justifying.  

Because all will be justified gratuitously in God’s grace through Jesus Christ’s faith, boasting that we in ourselves have contributed in any way to our justification is debarred:  Rom 3:26-27 “toward the display of His righteousness in the current era, for Him to be just and a Justifier of the one who is of the faith of Jesus. Where, then, is boasting? It is debarred! Through what law?”  We, like Abraham, have nothing to boast in: Rom 4:2-3 “For if Abraham was justified by acts, he has something to boast in, but not toward God. For what is the scripture saying? Now “Abraham believes God, and it is reckoned to him for righteousness.””  If we were justified because we believe, we would have position to boast, saying I have believed and now God will justify me because of it.  But the evangel itself debars this line of thought, as God has already promised to gratuitously justify in His grace through the deliverance in Christ Jesus.  

Yes, it takes faith to believe the evangel that we will be justified through Christ's faith, but any faith we have to believe this evangel has been given to us by God.  Before his in-depth explanation of the evangel begins in Rom. 3:21, Paul made sure to make known that all are under sin (miss the mark) and “that “Not one is just” -- not even one. Not one is understanding. Not one is seeking out God.” (Rom. 3:10-11).   The fact that not one (of us humans) seeks out God under our own volition does away with the idea that one can choose to seek God or conjure up faith within ourselves to believe the evangel.  Any faith we have is a gift from God: Eph 2:8-9 “For in grace, through faith, are you saved, and this is not out of you; it is God's approach present, not of works, lest anyone should be boasting.”  Our faith is given to us by God, and it is given in different measures based on God’s plan for the individual (Rom 12:3).  

When God gives us the faith to believe the evangel, He does so through His spirit: 1Cor 2:12 “Now we obtained, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we may be perceiving that which is being graciously given to us by God,”  God’s spirit is what allows us to be able to perceive the truth of the evangel, the promise that He will gratuitously justify all in His grace.  Unbelievers remain ignorant of this truth:  Eph 4:18: “their comprehension being darkened, being estranged from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the callousness of their hearts,”  The promise that all mankind will be constituted just gratuitously in God’s grace is still true even though most remain ignorant of it (through God’s intention, of course).  God designates beforehand those whom He is going to call to believe this evangel and become members of the body of Christ (Rom 8:29-30, Eph 1:5).  There are absolutely no grounds for anyone to say they have a part in their own justification.  All truly is of God (2 Cor. 5:18).

Tit 3:4-7: “Yet when the kindness and fondness for humanity of our Saviour, God, made its advent, not for works which are wrought in righteousness which we do, but according to His mercy, He saves us, through the bath of renascence and renewal of holy spirit, which He pours out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Saviour, that, being justified in that One's grace, we may be becoming enjoyers, in expectation, of the allotment of life eonian.”  This passage is a great description of what we have been talking about, God’s kindness and fondness for humanity is revealed in the evangel, that promise that He will gratuitously justify all in His grace through the deliverance in Christ Jesus, not through works.  God saves believers by pouring His spirit on us richly through Jesus Christ, so that being justified, reckoning as God does, we can enjoy in expectation the allotment of life eonian, which God promises to those who believe.  

Romans 5:1-2 is similar to the passage in Titus 3 above, and comes right after Paul wrote that Jesus was given up because of our offenses and roused by God because of our justifying in 4:25:  “Being, then, justified by faith, we may be having peace toward God, through our Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom we have the access also, by faith, into this grace in which we stand, and we may be glorying in expectation of the glory of God.”  “Being, then justified by faith”… This literally reads “out of faith”, and it is out of Jesus’s faith, for our faith ( a callback to Rom 1:17³).  We are being justified through belief in the evangel, and we may have peace toward God, through our Lord, Jesus Christ (not because of anything we have done, but because of the knowledge of what God has done through Christ).  By faith (by believing) we have access to the grace (the promise which is the evangel) in which we stand (by believing), and we may be glorying in expectation of the glory of God (again, we can glory in expectation because we are believing God, that in His glory He will do what He has promised).  

We have seen that the evangel is the good news that God will justify all in His grace through the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus (Jesus’ death for our sins, burial and resurrection).  This makes the  salvation of all is indeed inherent in the evangel itself.  The fact that the justification of all mankind is a foundational part of the evangel destroys any idea that one is justified because they believe.  Like the quote from Dean I began this article with, it is either God’s achievement or ours, and it cannot be partly one and partly the other.  The wonderful truth is that our justification is God’s achievement through Christ’s sacrifice.  We have also seen what it means for a believer to be being justified in believing the evangel, reckoning as God reckons, as the evangel is out of Jesus’ faith for our faith.  All are saved (absolutely) because of Christ’s sacrifice, believers are being saved currently through belief in the evangel and all will be saved (constituted just), with believers being vivified and constituted just earlier than the rest of humanity.   

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1.  This quote is from Unsearchable Riches Volume 116, pg. 185, in the article titled “The Evangel of Which Paul is not Ashamed”.  You can read this article for yourself HERE by scrolling down and clicking on volume 116.

2.  Rom 5:18-19: "Consequently, then, as it was through one offense for all mankind for condemnation, thus also it is through one just award for all mankind for life's justifying. For even as, through the disobedience of the one man, the many were constituted sinners, thus also, through the obedience of the One, the many shall be constituted just."

3.  Rom 1:17: "For in it God's righteousness is being revealed, out of faith for faith, according as it is written: "Now the just one by faith shall be living.""

Drew Costen has a great article going into how “for our sins” phrase in the evangel proves that the evangel contains and promises the salvation of all, you can read it HERE.

All scripture is quoted from the Concordant Literal Version

The Faithful (Trustworthy) Saying of Paul in 2 Timothy 2:11-13

 2Tim 2:11-13: "Faithful is the saying: "For if we died together, we shall be living together also; if we are enduring, we shall be reigning together also; if we are disowning, He also will be disowning us; if we are disbelieving, He is remaining faithful -- He cannot disown Himself.""

The faithful saying expressed by Paul here in 2 Tim 2:11-13 has given rise to fear in some who read it.  Sometimes, religious baggage clouds our minds when we read passages like this and causes us to misunderstand what is being said.  This faithful saying is meant to be a profound encouragement to Timothy and all those in the body of Christ that read it.  My hope is that this encouragement will become clear as we go through it.  

This faithful saying seems to follow a structure, in more than one way.  In the original Greek, this saying had a rhyming structure as explained by BibleRef: “The two words translated "died" and "live" in this verse rhyme in the original Greek: synapethanomen and syzēsomen. The same rhyming pattern is found in the next verse as well.”  The other way this faithful saying is structured is that the first and last clause have to do with the eonian life promised to believers by God, while the two center clauses concern our service in the Lord.  In this way, the saying begins and ends with the faithfulness of God, keeping our minds on that all encompassing truth.  Each clause is a promise from God that one can take to be trustworthy or faithful. 

The first clause “For if we died together, we shall be living together also;” is a reference to the member of the body of Christ’s belief in the evangel, and God’s promise of eonian life to the believer: Rom 6:8 “Now if we died together with Christ, we believe that we shall be living together with Him also.”  Those that believe the evangel believe and understand that they have died with Christ and trust they are justified through the faith of Christ (Gal 2:16-21) and will be vivified at the snatching away to live with Christ during the coming two eons (Rom 6:22-23, Titus 1:2, 3:7).  Paul does not want those that believe the evangel to be ignorant of the fact that they have died with Christ and that their old humanity was crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:3-5).  Paul is encouraging Timothy and other believers here, if they believe and trust they have died with Christ, they can believe and trust that they will live with Christ during the coming eons also.  Eonian life is promised as an allotment to those that believe they are justified gratuitously through Christ Jesus: Tit 3:6-7 "which He pours out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Saviour, that, being justified in that One's grace, we may be becoming enjoyers, in expectation, of the allotment of life eonian." Also see Rom 3:24.

 The second and third clauses of the faithful saying go as follows: “if we are enduring, we shall be reigning together also; if we are disowning, He also will be disowning us;”  This is the section of the faithful saying that has caused fear in some believers, but I do not believe that Paul meant for this to cause fear in the hearer.  It is meant to be an encouragement, and produce endeavor on the part of the one who hears as Paul tells Timothy shortly after he shares the faithful saying:  "Endeavor to present yourself to God qualified, an unashamed worker, correctly cutting the word of truth." 2 Tim 2:15

The letter of 2 Timothy is a letter of encouragement to Timothy (and us as believers) to endure in faithful service and suffering for Christ and the evangel.  Paul wants Timothy to be unashamed. The use of the word ashamed in 2 Tim 2:15 is the fourth time Paul has used the word in this letter.  The first time is here, in 2Tim 1:8:  "You may not be ashamed, then, of the testimony of our Lord, nor yet of me, His prisoner, but suffer evil with the evangel in accord with the power of God,"  Paul encourages Timothy to not be ashamed of the evangel or of Paul, Christ’s chosen apostle and herald of the evangel.  This is after Paul has reminded Timothy to rekindle the gracious gift of God and that God gives him (and us) not a spirit of timidity, but of power and of love and of sanity (2 Tim 1:6-7).  Paul gives the absolute perspective of the matter (all is of God, any ability we have to endure comes from Him) before telling Timothy he may be unashamed and suffer evil with the evangel (1:8) because of this ability given to him by God.  Paul then reminds Timothy that God saves us not in accord with our acts, but according to Gods own purpose and grace (1:9).  Paul is making sure to set the stage with the fact that all is of God; our calling and our ability to be unashamed is according with God’s purpose and His grace.

Paul gives himself as an example of one who is unashamed of his sufferings 2Tim 1:12: "For which cause I am suffering these things also, but I am not ashamed, for I am aware Whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to guard what is committed to me, for that day."  Our apostle Paul was an unashamed worker in the evangel, which he proved through his sufferings for the Lord.  Paul encouraged Timothy to follow his example later in this letter: 2Tim 3:10-11: "Now you fully follow me in my teaching, motive, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings, such as occurred to me in Antioch, in Iconium, in Lystra: persecutions such as I undergo, and out of them all the Lord rescues me."  Paul was not ashamed of the evangel as he tells us in Rom 1:16-17: "For not ashamed am I of the evangel, for it is God's power for salvation to everyone who is believing -- to the Jew first, and to the Greek as well. For in it God's righteousness is being revealed, out of faith for faith, according as it is written: "Now the just one by faith shall be living."" Paul wants Timothy to imitate him just as he told the Corinthians in his corrective letter of 1 Corinthians - 11:1 “Become imitators of me, according as I also am of Christ.”

After giving himself as an example of one who is not ashamed of the evangel, Paul gives examples of those who were ashamed of both him and the evangel:  2Tim 1:15: "Of this you are aware, that all those in the province of Asia were turned from me, of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes."  This is a very interesting statement made by Paul.  The Roman province of Asia contained the cities of Philadelphia, Colosse, and Ephesus.  Paul wrote the letters of Philippians, Colossians and Ephesians to the believers in these respective cities.  At the beginning of each of those letters, Paul addresses the  saints (believers) in each of these cities (Eph 1:1, Phil 1:1, Col 1:2).  This letter of 2 Timothy is widely believed to be one of the last, if not the last letter (in the scriptures) that he wrote.  This is backed up by Paul’s own statements later in the letter, that he had “finished his career” (4:7) and “the period of my dissolution is immanent” (4:6). If this is true, Paul is relaying the fact that all of the believers in those three cities in the province of Asia (among others in the province) turned from Paul.  Paul does not give us more details, but in the context of 2 Timothy, Paul is using “all those in the province of Asia” and “Phygellus and Hermogenes” as examples of believers who did not endure, but were ashamed of Paul and the evangel, in essence disowning Christ, the evangel, and Paul the apostle of that evangel.  

Giving credence to this view is the fact that Paul immediately gives another example of one who was not ashamed, in contrast to those who were.  2Tim 1:16-18: "May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshes me and was not ashamed of my chain, but, coming to be in Rome, he seeks me diligently and found me. May the Lord grant to him to be finding mercy from the Lord in that day! And how much he serves in Ephesus you know quite well."  Onesiphorous is mentioned by Paul as one who is not ashamed of Paul or of his chains and why Paul is suffering (for the evangel).  Onesiphorous is another example of one who endured and does not disown Christ.

Later in the letter, Demas is given as another example of one who does not endure and forsook Paul: 2Tim 4:10 "for Demas, loving the current eon, forsook me and went to Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia."  Demas was a believer, and in his letter to Philemon, Paul describes him as a fellow worker (Phlm 1:24).  He is also mentioned in Col 4:14.  Demas was a believer who at one time was a fellow worker with Paul, but did not endure in that work with him and in essence disowned Paul and the evangel like those mentioned earlier in the letter.  

After mentioning Onesiphorous, Paul goes on to encourage Timothy before he relays the faithful saying, telling Timothy to be “invigorated by the grace which is in Christ Jesus” (2:1), to “suffer evil with [Paul], as an ideal soldier of Christ Jesus” (2:3), and to “remember Jesus Christ, Who has been roused from among the dead” (2:8).  Paul again reminds Timothy he is suffering evil unto bonds and enduring all, with those chosen to believe the evangel  on his mind, that they may be saved for life eonian (2:9-10).  Paul then relays the faithful saying, after giving examples of those who do endure and those who do not and those who disown and those who do not.  

The promise to those that endure is that they will reign.  The promise to those that disown, is that they will be disowned (will not reign), as again these two clauses are related to service, not the promise given to all believers of being vivified unto eonian life.  The Greek term translated “reign” in 2 Tim 2:12 is basileuo and is defined as “exercise a king’s sovereignty” in the CLNT Greek-English Keyword Concordance.  The term translated as “kingdom” in the CLNT elsewhere used by Paul is the Greek word basileia.  These two Greek words are very closely related.  Paul mentions an “allotment of the kingdom of God” multiple times in his letters, warning that those that are habitual in works of the flesh will not be enjoying the allotment of the kingdom of God, or reigning in the kingdom.  Here is one such passage: Gal 5:19-21: "Now apparent are the works of the flesh, which are adultery, prostitution, uncleanness, wantonness, idolatry, enchantment, enmities, strife, jealousies, furies, factions, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkennesses, revelries, and the like of these, which, I am predicting to you, according as I predicted also, that those committing such things shall not be enjoying the allotment of the kingdom of God."

The allotment of the kingdom is not to be confused with the allotment of life eonian, which we see in Titus 3:7: "that, being justified in that One's grace, we may be becoming enjoyers, in expectation, of the allotment of life eonian."  The allotment of life eonian is promised to all believers in the evangel of the grace of God, that they are justified gratuitously through the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus.  This seems to be corroborated by Paul in Rom 8:17: "Yet if children, enjoyers also of an allotment, enjoyers, indeed, of an allotment from God, yet joint enjoyers of Christ's allotment, if so be that we are suffering together, that we should be glorified together also."  The “allotment from God” is the allotment of life eonian, promised to all believers and “Christ’s allotment” is a reference to an allotment in the kingdom of God (reigning) promised to those that suffer together with Christ (endure and do not disown Him).  

When Paul uses the word allotment, it is not necessary that he is always mentioning the same allotment.  As we have seen, the context of each passage gives us the understanding as to what allotment Paul has in mind.  One thing that Paul is consistent in, however, is that he always solidifies the expectation of the allotment of life eonian before mentioning the allotment of the kingdom of God.  The allotment of life eonian (the special salvation that believers will enjoy) is entirely given through Christ’s faith unto death on the cross.  Of this we can be absolutely assured.  

The final clause of the faithful saying is this: “if we are disbelieving, He is remaining faithful—He cannot disown Himself.”  This is a great encouragement to all believers.  All believers in Paul’s evangel are members of the body of Christ, and thus cannot be cast out (disowned) of this position.  Their allotment of life eonian is secured.  Christ will not disown a member of His own body even if we disbelieve, do not endure, or disown the evangel or Christ.  The believers in Asia that turned from Paul, Phygellus, Hermogenes, Demas and any other believer that does not endure need not worry at all that they will “lose their salvation” or not enjoy the allotment of life eonian.  This is promised and guaranteed by God through Christ.  Believers are sealed with the spirit of promise: Eph 1:13 "In Whom you also -- on hearing the word of truth, the evangel of your salvation -- in Whom on believing also, you are sealed with the holy spirit of promise".  This seal will never be never be taken away, though we can cause sorrow to the holy spirit of God in us (Eph 4:30).   

Does this mean that a believer should worry about “losing out” on an allotment of reigning with Christ during the coming eons?  No, we must always remember that if God has chosen us to reign with Christ, He will enable us to endure: Col 1:12 "at the same time giving thanks to the Father, Who makes you competent for a part of the allotment of the saints, in light.”  God does not want us to worry about anything (Phil 4:6), and we need not worry about reigning during the coming eons because all is of God in the absolute perspective.  In the relative God encourages us contend the ideal contest (1 Tim 6:12, 2 Tim 4:7).

Will those that do not reign during the coming eons be unhappy or jealous of those that are? No, eonian life is always described as being enjoyed by those to whom it is graciously given.  Reigning is simply a requital to those God has chosen for this position (2 Cor 5:10).  Exercising the sovereignty of a kingdom requires structure, and the coming kingdom will definitely be structured under the rule of Christ.  God has given us some insight on how He is going to fill that structure out, while encouraging us to desire to be a part of that structure.  God uses Paul to encourage us in this way many times in his letters, one example is in another faithful saying found in Tit 3:8: "Faithful is the saying, and I am intending you to be insistent concerning these things, that those who have believed God may be concerned to preside for ideal acts. These things are ideal and beneficial for humanity."  Ideal acts can safely be understood to be those motivated by love, and not the acts of the flesh that Paul warns about (Gal 5:19-21).  Paul, who contended the ideal contest, showed us that suffering for the evangel is also an ideal act.

It cannot be emphases enough that Paul is not teaching “salvation by works” here.  Eonian salvation is promised to all believers in Paul’s evangel.  Reigning during the coming eons is not salvation, it is an allotment within the allotment of life eonian.  

What does it mean to endure?  I think enduring in the context of our service to the Lord is best summed up by Paul in 2Tim 4:7-8: "I have contended the ideal contest. I have finished my career. I have kept the faith. Furthermore, there is reserved for me the wreath of righteousness, which the Lord, the just Judge, will be paying to me in that day; yet not to me only, but also to all who love His advent."  Those that love Christ’s advent will be found enduring, and not disowning Christ or the evangel.  Enduring will look different for each member of the body of Christ, just as we suffer in very different ways for the evangel.  Paul does not give us a prescription for certain sufferings or a certain set of plans that our lives must follow.  He simply encourages us to endure, to not be ashamed of the evangel or of Christ.  

Paul mentioned that day in the above passage when he says the Lord will be paying him with the wreath of righteousness, Paul mentions that day two other times in this letter in 1:12 and 1:18.  This day is the day of Christ mentioned by Paul in 1 Cor 5:5 and Phil 1:6,10, 2:16.  The day of Christ is also known as the dais of Christ which Paul mentions in Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10.  Here is 2Cor 5:10: "For all of us must be manifested in front of the dais of Christ, that each should be requited for that which he puts into practice through the body, whether good or bad."  This passage and the others listed above concerning the day of Christ all fit perfectly with the faithful saying we have covered in this article. 

I hope that this article on the faithful saying in 2 Timothy 2:11-13 has helped you to understand this passage better, and realize that encouragement is really the reason for Paul including it in his letter to Timothy (and to us as believers).  This entire letter of 2 Timothy is meant to be an encouragement to not be ashamed of Christ Jesus and the evangel of the grace of God.  All is of God, and God is faithful.

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For a great talk by Dean Hough on the topic of distinct allotments for the body of Christ CLICK HERE

Is Penal Substitutionary Atonement Scriptural?

What Jesus accomplished when he died for our sins is an important question, and it has long been a question wrestled with by theologians.  Penal substitutionary atonement is a popular theory used to explain what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross, especially in more recent history.  Let’s examine this theory by comparing the two major components of this theory with what scripture says about Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for our sins.

Some Important Groundwork -

It will greatly help us in understanding what Christ accomplished when dying for our sins if we first understand why we sin, and what God said would be the consequence of Adam’s sin.  

Genesis 2:17: “But from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you must not eat from it; for in the day you eat from it, to die you shall be dying.”  “To die you shall be dying” means that once Adam disobeyed God, he would begin to die and this would eventuate in his death.  Adam would become mortal, as well as Eve and all of their progeny (all humanity).  Paul gives us some helpful clarification on this in Rom 5:12: “Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, and thus death passed through into all mankind, on which all sinned —“ This is a key passage for us in understanding why we sin (miss the mark); through Adam’s sin he became mortal and passed that mortality on to the rest of humanity.  Because of this inherent mortality in all of humanity, we cannot help but sin.  We sin because we are dying, not because of a supposed “sin nature”.  The scriptures further support this truth: 1Cor 15:56a: “Now the sting of Death is sin...”  Note, the scriptural truth is not that the sting of sin is death, but the other way around.  This also gives us more insight into why “death” is our greatest enemy: 1Cor 15:26: “The last enemy is being abolished: death.”

Being humans born under Adam we inherit death, and sinning is a part of the package.  Note that God did not tell Adam that the consequence of his disobedience would be eternal conscious torment, but death.  It is also important that we understand what death really is.  Death is not life somewhere else, or life as a spirit, or any other false explanation that denies death’s reality.  The truth is the dead know nothing (Eccl. 9:5), the sensations of the dead have ceased, as they have ceased to be a living soul when their spirit returned to God and their body returns to the soil (Gen. 2:7).  Scripture and the Lord Jesus liken the state of the dead to those that are asleep: John 11:11,14: “He said these things, and after this He is saying to them, “Lazarus, our friend, has found repose, but I am going that I should be awakening him out of sleep.” ... Jesus, then, said to them with boldness then, “Lazarus died.”  Scripture never describes the state of the dead as a state of awareness, or likens it to “being awake”.  

This true death is what Christ Jesus has come to save us from, and sin will be done away with as death is, as they are a package deal. We become worthy of death as mortals who cannot help but sin, but we must keep in mind the scriptural truth that we sin because we are first dying/mortal.  I must add in here, that God had purposed and intended that Adam eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.  Rom 11:32: "For God locks up all together in stubbornness, that He should be merciful to all." God’s plan required that all humanity become sinners, so He could reveal His love to and for all.  

Penal Substitution  -

The definition of penal is “of, relating to or involving punishment”, and substitution means “the act of putting one thing or person in the place of another”.  The idea proposed by this theory is that God punished Christ for our sins instead of us (in place of us) when Christ suffered and died on the cross.  

Do we have a passage of scripture that states that God punished Jesus on the cross in our place?  I contend that there is not.  There are many passages that describe Jesus dying for our sakes and dying on behalf of sinners.  We know that Christ was made a sin offering for our sakes: 2Cor 5:21: "For the One not knowing sin, He makes to be a sin offering for our sakes that we may be becoming God's righteousness in Him." Christ dying for us and being made a sin offering for our sakes is very different than Him being punished instead of us.  In fact, it was a sin (a missing of the mark) from the relative point of view that Christ was sacrificed on the cross as one who had never sinned (or missed the mark) himself.  Christ was not deserving of death, but was obedient unto death (Phil 2:8).  From the absolute point of view, Christ’s sacrifice was not a sin.  His sacrifice was perfectly planned by the Father as the antidote for sin and death.  

Punishment was not the driving factor in God sending Jesus, His Son, to die for our sins.  I would say that punishment was not a factor at all.  Love is the driving factor.  The love of God for sinners in providing a sin offering and the love of Christ in giving Himself up as a ransom for all.  To quote James Coram: “What Divine love readily provides, Divine righteousness readily accepts.”  The lambkin (Christ) was slain from the disruption of the world in the mind of God (Rev. 13:8).  From the moment sin entered God’s universe (by His own intention) at the disruption, God had in His mind His plan through which He would reconcile all back to himself, and that plan is through the blood of Christ: Col 1:20 "and through Him to reconcile all to Him (making peace through the blood of His cross), through Him, whether those on the earth or those in the heavens."

God informs us that love was his motivation in sending Jesus to die for our sakes, not punishment:  Rom 5:6-8 "For Christ, while we are still infirm, still in accord with the era, for the sake of the irreverent, died. For hardly for the sake of a just man will anyone be dying: for, for the sake of a good man, perhaps someone may even be daring to die, yet God is commending this love of His to us, seeing that, while we are still sinners, Christ died for our sakes."

If the theory of penal substitution was scriptural, it would require this passage to read something like this: “because of God’s great anger toward His creation that has sinned, an anger that must be satisfied through punishment, God sent Jesus to be punished instead of the sinner.”  I pray that the reader can see how wildly different the thought is between what the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5 above and what I wrote.  

God didn’t send Jesus to be punished instead of us, He sent Jesus to die for sin for our sakes, or on our behalf, and He did this out of love.  God sacrificed His only Son, who was sinless and not at all deserving of death, to die for our sins and redeem/ransom us from death.  To punish Christ in any way would be unrighteous, as Christ was sinless.  God is always well pleased with His Son.  “God’s indignation educates, but it does not save.  It is not the goal and does not achieve the goal” -Dean Hough

We are included in Christ’s obedience unto death, like we were included in Adam’s disobedience.  This is beautifully summed up by Paul in 1Cor 15:21-22: "For since, in fact, through a man came death, through a Man, also, comes the resurrection of the dead. For even as, in Adam, all are dying, thus also, in Christ, shall all be vivified."  Christ is called the “last Adam” in this same chapter, reinforcing the fact we are included in Christ as we were included in Adam: 1Cor 15:45: "If there is a soulish body, there is a spiritual also. Thus it is written also, The first man, Adam, "became a living soul:" the last Adam a vivifying Spirit."  After Paul tells us that we sin because we inherit death through Adam in Romans 5, he again emphasizes the fact all are included in Christ’s sacrifice and that Christ’s sacrifice and the grace extended through it goes far and beyond what Adam’s disobedience brought in:  Rom 5:16,18-19 "And not as through one act of sinning is the gratuity. For, indeed, the judgment is out of one into condemnation, yet the grace is out of many offenses into a just award. ... Consequently, then, as it was through one offense for all mankind for condemnation, thus also it is through one just award for all mankind for life's justifying. For even as, through the disobedience of the one man, the many were constituted sinners, thus also, through the obedience of the One, the many shall be constituted just."

God’s righteousness (His justice) is not revealed in “punishment for sin”.  What does the scripture say reveals God’s righteousness?  Rom 1:16-17: "For not ashamed am I of the evangel, for it is God's power for salvation to everyone who is believing -- to the Jew first, and to the Greek as well. For in it God's righteousness is being revealed, out of faith for faith, according as it is written: "Now the just one by faith shall be living.""

God’s righteousness is revealed in the evangel, and through the evangel God shares how He will make everything right. Paul again tells us that this good news (the evangel or gospel) manifests God’s righteousness, and God’s righteousness is what rescues us (not punishes us) from the fact none can be justified through law: Rom 3:21-24 "Yet now, apart from law, a righteousness of God is manifest (being attested by the law and the prophets), yet a righteousness of God through Jesus Christ's faith, for all, and on all who are believing, for there is no distinction, for all sinned and are wanting of the glory of God. Being justified gratuitously in His grace, through the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus"

God’s righteousness in manifest through the evangel, that we will all be justified gratuitously in His grace, through the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus - His death for our sins, for our sakes on the cross and his subsequent resurrection.  I want to repeat James Coram’s quote: “What Divine love readily provides, Divine righteousness readily accepts.”  God’s righteousness demands that all that Christ ransomed on the cross be eventually saved from death, and Christ died for all sinners: 1Tim 2:3-6 "for this is ideal and welcome in the sight of our Saviour, God, Who wills that all mankind be saved and come into a realization of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator of God and mankind, a Man, Christ Jesus, Who is giving Himself a correspondent Ransom for all (the testimony in its own eras),"  

God guaranteed the justification (making righteousness) of all sinners Christ died for when God resurrected Christ from the dead: Rom 4:25; 5:1 "Who was given up because of our offenses, and was roused because of our justifying. Being, then, justified by faith, we may be having peace toward God, through our Lord, Jesus Christ,"

The website gotquestions.org in their article “What is the doctrine of penal substitution?” begins with this statement: “In the simplest possible terms, the biblical doctrine of penal substitution holds that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross takes the place of the punishment we ought to suffer for our sins. As a result, God’s justice is satisfied, and those who accept Christ can be forgiven and reconciled to God.” 

I have already shown how Christ’s sacrifice was not a punishment in our place, but I want to point out how the writers at gotquestions.org don’t understand the implications of what they have written above.  According to gotquestions.org in many of their other articles, the punishment humans must undergo for their sin is eternal conscious torment in a place called hell.  Jesus was not, and is not being eternally and consciously tormented in a place called hell, so by their own admission,  Jesus was not punished like humans are supposed to be.  They then say that because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, God’s justice is satisfied.  Except, in their belief, God’s justice is not at all satisfied, because whoever God has not given faith to believe that Jesus died for them will still be eternally and consciously tormented in a place called hell……   Remember, the evangel is what reveals God’s righteousness, not “punishment”.

Proponents of penal substitution do not actually understand what they are promoting, and do not see the contradictions inherent to the view.  This is beside the fact that it is unscriptural, contradicted by the many passages shared in (but not limited to) this article.  

 A common passage of scripture used as a proof text for  penal substitution is 1 Peter 2:24, as the above gotquestions.org article also does: 1Pet 2:24: "Who Himself carries up our sins in His body on to the pole, that, coming away from sins, we should be living for righteousness; by Whose welt you were healed."  In this passage, Peter, in partially quoting Isaiah 53:5 is reminding the Israelites of the dispersion (1 Peter 1:1) that Christ had to die for sin to be taken away.  Christ’s suffering on the cross unto death, His blood being spilled, is what cleanses from sin and heals (Hebrews 9:22).  What this passage does not say is that Christ was punished in our place as our substitute, that notion must be read into the text.  No where in scripture is every sinner required to be punished by dying on a cross.  The sinless Jesus Christ could never be our “substitute”, we as sinners could never be a spotless sacrifice for our own sins, not to mention the rest of humanity.  To call Jesus our mere “substitute” is to grossly degrade His death on the cross for sin as the spotless and perfect, undeserving sacrifice that ransomed all.  

[Paul, through the knowledge of his evangel given to him through the risen and glorified Christ Jesus goes into much more detail than Peter and reveals the scope of what Christ’s blood will accomplish, as we saw in Col. 1:20 and the other passages shared above.]

Atonement -

Was Christ’s sacrifice an “atonement”?  

The word atonement is found in English translations of the Hebrew Scriptures as a translation for the Hebrew word kaphar, which means to cover, or to make a protective covering.  We can see the word take on this meaning in Genesis 6:14 NASB: “Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.”  In this passage, both the words cover and pitch are translations of the Hebrew word kaphar.  The Concordant Literal Translation demonstrates that they are the same word in its translation of shelter/sheltering at both occurrences in this verse: “…and you will shelter it from the inside and the outside with with a sheltering coat.” Shelter conveys the idea of a protective covering and fits well elsewhere the word kaphar is used, such as Leviticus 16:6: “Aaron will bring near the young bull of the sin offering which is for himself, and he will make a propitiatory shelter about himself and about his house.”  The KJV translated kaphar as pitch both times in Genesis 6:14, and as atonement in Leviticus 16:6.  Only cover and shelter really fit the meaning of kaphar in all use cases. 

What is a common characteristic of these coverings/shelters that kaphar describes in the Hebrew Scriptures? It is the fact that all of these protective coverings were temporary in nature.  The protective covering on the ark protected Noah and his family inside for over a year, but it would not have protected indefinitely.  The sacrifices that Aaron and the other priests of Israel offered had to be renewed year after year.  Even then, only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies without being killed.  These sacrifices failed to do what many claim the definition of atonement is : at-one-ment, making a person at one with God.  What they did was provide a temporary shelter for the people of Israel, pointing toward the final and efficacious sacrifice of Christ’s blood: Heb 10:10-12 "By which will we are hallowed through the approach present of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time. And every chief priest, indeed, stands ministering day by day, and offering often the same sacrifices, which never can take sins from about us. Yet This One, when offering one sacrifice for sins, is seated to a finality at the right hand of God,"

The high priest could only enter God’s presence once a year, after making a sin offering for himself while bringing in a blood sacrifice for the people of Israel.  We, through Christ’s sacrifice offered once for all time, have direct access to God (Eph. 2:18). 

The KJV uses the word atonement in one place in the Greek Scriptures, Romans 5:11: “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”  This is a very poor translation, and most later English translations have reconciliation here.  But this too fails to convey the true thought Paul was expressing when he used the Greek word katallage.  The best translation of katallage is conciliation, not reconciliation.  The keyword concordance of the CLNT has the English elements of katallage as DOWN-CHANGE and can be best defined as “a change that comes from tearing something down”.  A shorter definition is “to appease”.  In contrast, reconcile is the best translation of the Greek word apokatallasso, the English elements of which are FROM-DOWN-CHANGE.  This can be understood as “to fully reconcile, meaning both sides of an estrangement are at peace with each other.”  When two parties are both conciliated to each other, there is reconciliation.  One party can be conciliated to the other, while the other is not conciliated in return.  In such a scenario, there is no reconciliation.  Apokatallasso is found in Colossians 1:20,22 and reflects God’s ultimate goal of reconciliation with all, as well as Eph. 2:16 regarding the body of Christ.

Here is the proper translation of Romans 5:11 from the CLNT: "Yet not only so, but we are glorying also in God, through our Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom we now obtained the conciliation."  What is this conciliation that believers have obtained?  It is the fact that God sent His only perfect Son to die for His enemies in proof of His love for them: Rom 5:8,10 "yet God is commending this love of His to us, seeing that, while we are still sinners, Christ died for our sakes. ... For if, being enemies, we were conciliated to God through the death of His Son, much rather, being conciliated, we shall be saved in His life."  The greatest expression of love is to sacrifice your life for someone else: John 15:13 "Greater love than this has no one, that anyone may be laying down his soul for his friends."  God cannot die, so to express His love He sent His Son Jesus to die for the sin of all.  This is the ultimate action of appeasement, showing that He is not mad with His creation, but at peace with it.  

God, through the death of Christ for sin, tore down the enmity between us and God that was created when Adam sinned.  This enmity was demonstrated when Adam and Eve hid from God after eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Adam and Eve had to leave the garden of Eden because of this enmity, but not until God had sacrificed an animal to make clothing for them, pointing toward God’s ultimate solution for sin and death, the death of His own Son.  

2Cor 5:18-19: "Yet all is of God, Who conciliates us to Himself through Christ, and is giving us the dispensation of the conciliation, how that God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself, not reckoning their offenses to them, and placing in us the word of the conciliation." God was not reckoning the offenses of the world to them when He sacrificed His Son Jesus for their sins.  God was not appeasing Himself or His own justice, through punishing His Son in our place on the cross.  His was appeasing (conciliating) the world, through the grand display of His love for it, while they were yet enemies of (carrying enmity toward) Him!  That is what conciliation means.  That is what those that understand and believe the evangel are given as ambassadors to share with the world:

2Cor 5:20-21: "For Christ, then, are we ambassadors, as of God entreating through us. We are beseeching for Christ's sake, "Be conciliated to God!" For the One not knowing sin, He makes to be a sin offering for our sakes that we may be becoming God's righteousness in Him."

God has always been propitious and at peace with His creation.  His conciliatory work in sending His Son to die for His enemies is the proof of this.  Now, true ambassadors of God and Christ entreat “Be conciliated to God!”  The righteousness of God demands that He save all sinners, as God is ultimately responsible for its introduction into His universe (and He has to be, as the Supreme Diety, otherwise another god of equal power was able to bring in sin and death without God being able to prevent it).  The righteousness of God is that God works all together for good, centered on God giving His Son for sinners. Rom 8:28: "Now we are aware that God is working all together for the good of those who are loving God, who are called according to the purpose"  Believers are aware of this now, and all will believe this in the future as they come to understand in God’s time what He has done for them in his act of conciliation.  All will love God when they are conciliated toward God and there is reconciliation.  All will understand that everything God has done is for their good, whether in His purpose they were vessels of indignation or vessels of honor during the eons (Romans 9:20-23).  

Remember God’s ultimate plan, that He will accomplish through His Son Christ Jesus: 

Rom 11:32: "For God locks up all together in stubbornness, that He should be merciful to all."

Col 1:20: "and through Him to reconcile all to Him (making peace through the blood of His cross), through Him, whether those on the earth or those in the heavens."

Can God’s purposes fail? 

Why did God require Israel to make covering sacrifices and follow the rest of the law? The apostle Paul informs us what the purpose of the law was: Rom 5:20: "Yet law came in by the way, that the offense should be increasing. Yet where sin increases, grace superexceeds,"  God used Israel to show themselves and the rest of creation that no one is able to be justified through law, what law does is bring an awareness of sin, or as A.E. Knoch puts in his commentary of this verse, “It’s [law] effect was to alter the character of sin so that it became an offense.”  The law didn’t come to decrease sin, it increases it.  God uses this to make people aware of how much they need a Saviour, which God is happy to provide.  

So, Christ’s death for sin accomplished so much more than an “atonement”.  It was conciliation that Christ accomplished. Christ’s blood is worth so much more than those of bulls and goats; to say they accomplished the same thing is to grossly degrade Christ’s sacrifice. The apostle Paul gives us this information concerning the accomplishments of God through Christ, as it is in his (Paul’s) evangel that these wonderful truths are revealed.  

Conclusion-

I believe the scriptural evidence makes it abundantly clear that theory of penal substitutionary atonement fails in every measure to describe what God through Christ accomplished on the cross.  Christ’s sacrifice was not penal, God was not punishing His Son, expressing indignation, but love as Jesus was made a sin offering for our sakes.  Christ’s sacrifice was not substitutionary, Christ did not die “instead” of us but for us and we were included in Him the second Adam, just as all were included in the first Adam. Christ Jesus is our Champion.¹  Christ’s sacrifice was not an atonement, His death does not merely provide a temporary protective covering, but it accomplished conciliation.  Through His sacrifice God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself.

Here is a quote from Stephen Hill’s video series The Bloody Truth: “Why did Jesus have to die to save us?  It was the best possible way for the Father to demonstrate his love for us and to glorify his Son.  Christ is worthy of all headship and Lordship, offering his sinless life for all.”  Christ will accomplish the justification and reconciliation of all as Lord of all. As Lord of all, Christ Jesus has the authority to vivify (make alive beyond the reach of death) all sinners, thus all will be saved from our greatest enemy, death.  

Be conciliated to God!

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1.  See Stephen Hill’s video series and book The Bloody Truth where Stephen refutes penal substitutionary atonement and explains how Christ is our Champion:  Video 1, Video 2,  Chapter 1 of his book can be      found Here and the rest can be found Here.

 A great talk by Guy Marks titled “Atonement contrasted with Conciliation” from the Concordant Publishing Concern is a very worthwhile listen.

An excellent series by Aaron Welch in which he comprehensively refutes Penal Substitutionary Atonement: A refutation if the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement (part one) 

All scripture references are from the Concordant Literal New Testament or Old Testament unless otherwise indicated.

What was Paul referring to when he used the word "apostasy" in 2 Thessalonians 2:3?

The apostle Paul uses the word apostasy (as translated by the Concordant Literal New Testament) only once in his letters, and it is found 2 Thessalonians 2:3.  Here is the passage in which Paul uses this word:

2Ths 2:1-5 CLNT: "Now we are asking you, brethren, for the sake of the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to Him, that you be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be alarmed, either through spirit, or through word, or through an epistle as through us, as that the day of the Lord is present. No one should be deluding you by any method, for, should not the apostasy be coming first and the man of lawlessness be unveiled, the son of destruction, who is opposing and lifting himself up over everyone termed a god or an object of veneration, so that he is seated in the temple of God, demonstrating that he himself is God? Do you not remember that, still being with you, I told you these things?"

Before we dive into this passage, I want to attempt to get a good handle on how Greek speakers contemporary to Paul used this word, or at least speakers that are more contemporary to Paul than we are today.  Fortunately, we have a good resource for this: the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, called the Septuagint, which most agree was completed by 132 BCE.  Analyzing the use of this word in the Septuagint should give us a good idea of what Paul was referring to in a scriptural context. 

The Greek word ἀποστασία, transliterated apostasia carries this definition from Strongs: Apostasy, rebellion, defection, falling way. The Greek-English Keyword Concordance in the back of the Concordant Literal New Testament tells us the English elements of the word apostasia are FROM-STANDing. This fits in with what BibleHub's helps word-studies says the the word is derived from here.

In the Septuagint, apostasia is used in at least 3 passages, those for sure being Jeremiah 2:19, Joshua 22:22 and 2 Chronicles 29:19. Lets look at Joshua 22:22 from Young's Literal Translation (YLT) first:

"The God of gods -- Jehovah, the God of gods -- Jehovah, He is knowing, and Israel, he doth know, if in rebellion, and if in trespass against Jehovah (Thou dost not save us this day!)"

And also from the Concordant Version of the Old Testament (CVOT):

"El, Elohim, Yahweh, EL. Elohim, Yahweh, He knows, and let Israel itself know: If we acted in revolt or in offense against Yahweh, do not save us this day!"

Here is where things get slightly challenging for me as someone that does not speak or read Greek or Hebrew.  From what I can tell using a couple of Greek to English interlinears of the Septuagint, the words rebellion and revolt from the YLT and CVOT respectively is where the translators of the Septuagint used the the Greek word apostasia.  One interlinear I am using places distancing; departure in English underneath apostasia.  The other interlinear places defection below apostasia.  The Septuagint and the above English versions are translations of the original Hebrew, so what Hebrew word is being translated in these ways in these two languages?  Using a Hebrew to English interlinear, we see that these translations are from the Hebrew word mered (h4777).  Strongs defines mered as: rebellion, revolt.  

Let's examine our next passage, 2 Chronicles 29:19 from the YLT:

"and all the vessels that king Ahaz cast away in his reign -- in his trespass -- we have prepared and sanctified, and lo, they [are] before the altar of Jehovah."

And from the CVOT:

"We have also prepared and hallowed all the furnishings that king Ahaz in his offense had cast off during his reign; there they are before the altar of Yahweh."

Again, using Greek to English interlinears, the words translated as trespass in the YLT and offence in the CVOT is where the Greek translators chose to use the word apostasia in the Septuagint. The interlinears I am using again place defection and distancing; departure underneath apostasia in English. The Hebrew to English interlinear tells us the Hebrew word being translated in these cases is maʿal (h4604) which Strong’s defines as: treachery, i.e. sin:—falsehood, grievously, sore, transgression, trespass.

What is interesting is that this word maʿal is also found in Joshua 22:22 that we looked at above. It is translated as trespass in the YLT and offence in the CVOT, just like it is in this verse. What did the translators of the Septuagint translate it as in in Joshua 22:22? The best I could find is this: ἐπλημμελήσαμεν which is defined as: to make a false note in music, to offend, err.

Now for Jeremiah 2:19, YLT:

“Instruct thee doth thy wickedness, And thy backslidings reprove thee, Know and see that an evil and a bitter thing [Is] thy forsaking Jehovah thy God, And My fear not being on thee, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah of Hosts.”

And from the CVOT:

“Let your evil discipline you, And your backslidings, let them reprove you; Know then and see how evil and bitter it is when you forsake Yahweh your Elohim And you have no awe of me, averring is the my Lord Yahweh of hosts.”

The best I can tell, the word backslidings, in both translations above represent the same word that the Greek translators translated as apostasia in the Septuagint. Again, the interlinears I am using place defection and distancing; departure below apostasia. The Hebrew word mᵊšûḇâ (h4878) is what is being translated here and Strong’s defines it as: apostasy:—backsliding, turning away.

There is one more Old Testament verse I want to look at, and that is Jeremiah 29:32 YLT:

“Therefore, thus said Jehovah, Lo, I am seeing after Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and after his seed, he hath none dwelling in the midst of this people, nor doth he look on the good that I am doing to My people -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- for apostacy he hath spoken against Jehovah.”

CVOT:

“therefore thus says Yahweh, Behold, I shall call Shemiah the dreamer to account and his seed. Not a man shall remain for him dwelling in the midst of this people; not one shall see the good I shall do for My people, averring is Yahweh, for he has preached stubbornness against Yahweh."

Above, I said that apostasia was used three times in the Septuagint for sure and I listed those verses and we took a look at them, but on this page, under the Thayer’s Greek lexicon section, Jeremiah 29:32 is listed as having apostasia (or a form of it) in it as well (among some others), and when I consulted this interlinear I did find a form of the word there, with defection again being placed underneath it. The other interlinear I have been using cuts the verse short, and I am not sure as to why. The English words apostacy (YLT) and stubbornness (CVOT) in Jeremiah 29:32 quoted above are translations of the Hebrew word sārâ (h5627), which Strong's defines as: apostasy, crime; figuratively, remission. I believe apostasia in the Septuagint is the Greek translation of this word sārâ, though I cannot be absolutely sure because the one interlinear I have been using cut the verse short. If anyone has a more reliable and easier to use Greek to English interlinear of the Septuagint, I would be interested in knowing about it.

What can we glean from the information we have gathered here? It should be obvious by now that what we are doing here is not an exact science, but we are trying to get an idea of what a Greek speaker thought of when the word apostasia was used in a scriptural context.  The verses we have looked at so far have used the word as describing Israel, or certain Israelites departing or defecting from the law of God, or worshiping other gods entirely.  Israelites were under covenant to follow God's law in these contexts, and trespassing, trangressing, committing offense, rebelling, revolting, falling away - all definitions we have seen as we investigated the words above - point to Israel departing from God's law and the covenant He made with them at Mt. Sinai.  

Before we circle back and look into 2 Thessalonians 3, there is another use of the word apostasia in the Greek scriptures, in Acts 21:21 CLNT: “Now they were instructed concerning you that you teach all the Jews among the nations apostasy from Moses, telling them not to be circumcising their children, nor yet to be walking in the customs."  Believing Jews in Jerusalem were being told by those of the Circumcision (those of James that Paul had to defend his evangel against in Galatians) that Paul was teaching apostasy from Moses or departing from the law of Moses.  Paul was teaching Jews among the nations departure from the law of Moses when he preached his evangel of the Uncircumcision to them, but these Jewish believers of the Circumcision were zealous for the law (Acts 21:20) and later tried to kill Paul for what he was preaching among the nations as they did not understand Paul's evangel.  It is clear to me that the usage of apostasia in this verse and context matches up very well with how the word was used in the Septuagint, taking on the meaning of Israelites departing from the law of Moses (God). 

 2Ths 2:1-5 CLNT: "Now we are asking you, brethren, for the sake of the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to Him, that you be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be alarmed, either through spirit, or through word, or through an epistle as through us, as that the day of the Lord is present. No one should be deluding you by any method, for, should not the apostasy be coming first and the man of lawlessness be unveiled, the son of destruction, who is opposing and lifting himself up over everyone termed a god or an object of veneration, so that he is seated in the temple of God, demonstrating that he himself is God? Do you not remember that, still being with you, I told you these things?"

Does what we have found in our study above concerning the word apostasia and its use fit into the context of 2 Thessalonians?  I believe it does, and in a powerful way.  Paul wrote this letter to the Thessalonians to comfort them, and assure them that the day of the Lord was not present.  How does Paul comfort them?  By emphasizing that the coming day of the Lord concerns Israel, and not the body of Christ at all.  The day of the Lord concerns Israel, the apostasy concerns Israel and the man of lawlessness concerns Israel.  These things are part of the seventy sevens segregated for the people of Israel and Jerusalem, the holy city (Daniel 9:24), and specifically the final seven of those seventy sevens.  Is this apostasy mentioned in 2 Thessalonians prophesied  in scripture?  I believe it is the covenant that the majority of Israelites will agree to at the beginning of the last seven with the governor (who is not anointed, in contrast to the Annointed governor, Jesus Messiah, Daniel 9:26) mentioned in Daniel 9:27.  This (unannointed) governor that is the master of a covenant with many in Israel is the man of lawlessness:

Daniel 9:27 CVOT "Then he will be a master of a covenant with many for one seven, he shall cause to cease the sacrifice and the approach present; on a wing of the sanctuary shall be desolating abominations. Until the conclusion of the era the decided conclusion shall be poured forth on the desolation."

This governor/king which is the man of lawlessness, committing these desolating abominations, also exalts and magnifies himself over every el (god) as described in Daniel 11:36 and reiterated by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5.  This is the man that Jesus warns Israel about in John 5:43. What must come before the man of lawlessness commits these desolating abominations, and thus unveiling him explicitly as the man of lawlessness? It is the making of a covenant for seven years with Israel, by the man that comes in his own name, not in the name of God the Father (John 5:43), as the governor that is not annointed by God. This is the culmination of Israel's apostasy as they accept the man of lawlessness.  

I want to share with you an excerpt from Vladimir Gelesnoff's booklet The Coming Conflict, that got me started on this study, from pg. 37:  

"Still another time-mark is afforded by the general characteristic, "when the transgressors are to come to the full" (Daniel 8:23).  Israel's past career has been strongly marked by prevalence of transgression. But its culmination has not yet been reached.  Every movement, individual or national, is two-sided.  There is departure from something and a turning toward something else; and the former necessarily precedes the latter.  Apostasy is no exception to the general law governing the affairs of men and nations.  Israel's apostasy attains its zenith when the one coming in his own name will be acclaimed as deliverer.  The inception of Israel's national apostasy was when they desired a king like unto the nations; and it will become full blown when they enter into covenant with the horn.  God cures the folly of His people by granting them the things on which their hearts are set.  Israel wanted flesh: He gave them flesh.  They wanted a king: He gave them a king.  They have been following the nations: He will give them into the hands of the nations.  The vision relates to the time when the measure of apostasy will be filled."

I looked up the Hebrew word translated as transgressors in Daniel 8:23, and it is transliterated pasha. It is defined as: to rebel, transgress - Meaning: to break away, trespass, apostatize, quarrel. Here is Daniel 8:23 CVOT: “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors come to an end, there shall stand up a king of strong presence and understanding problems.” I believe this verse parallels with 2 Thessalonians 2:3 quite well: “No one should be deluding you by any method, for, should not the apostasy be coming first and the man of lawlessness be unveiled, the son of destruction.” I do not find it far fetched that "the apostasy" mentioned  by Paul could be an indirect reference to the "when the trangressors come to an end" of Daniel 8:23 and "the man of lawlessness being unveiled" being an indirect reference to "there shall stand up a king of strong presence and understanding problems". I do not doubt that the apostle Paul knew the book of Daniel very well, and used it in explaining these things to the Thessalonians.

 

With this interpretation of what Paul meant by apostasy in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, some may think that this lessens or otherwise damages the expectation of the body of Christ, specifically the expectation of being snatched away before the day of the Lord is present. I wholeheartedly disagree with that, and I believe it actually reinforces this expectation of the body of Christ. 

 From A.E. Knoch's Concordant Commentary on the New Testament for 2 Thess. 2:1:

"The controlling thought in this section of the epistle is based on the teaching of the first letter. Had they fully accepted and understood what he had already written to them they never would have been led to believe that the day of the Lord was already present. In the meantime it seems that Paul has been misrepresented in this matter, perhaps by a forged letter (3:17). He now gives two of the salient signs which will be present when the day of the Lord comes: the apostasy and the man of lawlessness. Neither of these was present at that time."

Paul had already told the Thessalonians that the body of Christ, both the living and the dead would be snatched away at the same time to meet the Lord in the air at His descending from heaven for them (1 Thess. 4:13-18).  This resurrection of the dead at the same time as the Lord's descent for them precludes this from being the resurrection of faithful Israelites prophesied by Daniel in Daniel 12, as that resurrection occurs 75 days after Jesus' return for Israel.  Paul also told them that the day of the Lord would not overtake them like a thief, because they are sons of light and sons of the day, and being of the day, they are not appointed to indignation at all (1 Thess. 5:1-11), with God’s indignation being a highlighting characteristic of the day of the Lord.  This is reiterated by Paul at the beginning of his second letter to them when he reminded them they would be at ease at the unveiling of the Lord Jesus from heaven (2 Thess. 1:7)

Let’s more at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

2Ths 2:6-10: "And now you are aware what is detaining, for him to be unveiled in his own era. For the secret of lawlessness is already operating. Only when the present detainer may be coming to be out of the midst, then will be unveiled the lawless one (whom the Lord Jesus will despatch with the spirit of His mouth and will discard by the advent of His presence), whose presence is in accord with the operation of Satan, with all power and signs and false miracles and with every seduction of injustice among those who are perishing, because they do not receive the love of the truth for their salvation."

After coming to understand 2 Thess. 2:1-5 in the way I have described above, have I now changed my mind about the detainer mentioned in verses 6 and 7 being the saints of the body of Christ? No, I have not, and I believe the apostasy being exclusive to Israel supports this understanding.  The apostasy is associated with the man of lawlessness' own era, an era in which the body of Christ has no part. Again, from Knoch's Concordant Commentary on the New Testament, for verse 7:

"The influences which will bring about the great apostasy of the end time have been at work from the beginning, but have been restrained by another, counteracting force. What is this? Some have supposed it to be the Spirit of God. But the Spirit of God will continue to work throughout the apostasy, enabling a few to endure to the end, and empowering others to be faithful unto death. It has been suggested that Satan "holds fast" his place in the celestial spheres, for when he is cast out the apostasy commences. His ejection does mark the crisis between the secret and open manifestation of the apostasy, but that which is restrained is evidently the apostasy, not a place in the celestial realms. The apostasy is restrained by the presence of the saints. When we are taken out of the midst by our assembling with Christ in the air, then the apostasy and all its terrible train of afflictions will deluge the earth with fire. Thus the apostle proves that their own presence on earth is conclusive evidence that they were not enduring the afflictions of the Lord's day."

 

In conclusion, many in the body of Christ have adopted the interpretation that the word apostasy in 2 Thess. 2:3 would be better translated as departure, with departure being a reference to the physical snatching away of the body of Christ.  Though departure may be a fine translation of apostasia, a physical departure was not the emphasis of the word in any of the other scriptural contexts in which the word apostasia was found in our study.  The emphasis was consistently on Israel departing from the law of God (Moses), and their abandonment of the covenant Israel made with God at Mt. Sinai. Therefore, I believe that is also what Paul was referring to 2 Thess. 2:3, and more specifically, he is referring to the apostasy that Israel commits when they accept the man that comes in his own name, and not in the name of the Father. The apostle Paul was familiar with the Septuagint, and quoted from it many times in writing his epistles.  I believe he was also aware of how the word apostasia was used in the Septuagint and the general meaning it carried.  

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In this talk by James Coram on 2 Thessalonians, James brings up many interesting points that further corroborate the findings I have presented here.   This is talk number 323 under the free audio tab on the Concordant.org website.