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“Romans 13”-Quoting-Christians do so oblivious to the key context of the that text: it is addressed to Christians who are called to fear the sword of God-instituted government.
“But if you do wrong, [Christians], be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.”
Paul has just asked these Roman Christians:
“Would you have no fear of the one in authority? Then do what is good…”
The key backdrop, standing behind these verses, involves the Zealots, the 1st Century insurrectionists who picked up the sword against Roman soldiers whenever they found an opportune moment. They sought to overthrow their occupiers, their Roman enemy, and they would bring down the house with the Jewish War which would begin in A.D. 66.*
Paul writes to the Roman Christians in the Year of Our Lord 57, three years after the Jews began their return to Rome following the death of Claudius, who had expelled the Jews from Rome c. A.D. 49, following the insurrections of A.D. 46-48, and the execution of the sons of Judas the Galilean.
Judas had led an insurrection (Acts 5:37) in A.D. 6 when Judea became a Roman Province. Varus crushed that revolt with the sword, and crucified 2,000 Jews around Jerusalem (see Josephus).
In this pain-filled milieu, Paul writes to the Roman Christians, Jew and Gentile:
“Do not be conformed to this world…Bless those who persecute you…Do not repay anyone evil for evil…Do not take revenge…If your enemy is hungry, feed him…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities…”
*A fuller , annotated timeline and text, here.
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Matthew 24
[Text highlighted to show the parallels: came…coming…took…taken…]
The flood ‘came’ and ‘took’ them. “So also” The Son of Man comes and one will be ‘taken’…clear parallels.
[The other clear parallel between the days of Noah and the days of the coming of the Son of Man: people will be going about their normal business.]
Scholars see the “taken” as being “to judgment.” Robert H. Mounce (New International Biblical Commentary), sees this “taken” as parallel with the ‘”taken away” by the flood’ (v. 39). Others think it is ‘left for judgment (e.g. NICNT) [But this seems to be based on some presupposition rather than on the context which seems to be blatantly ignored]. Context makes clear the parallels. But here is the key point–“The coming of Jesus marks a complete and permanent division” (Leon Morris) “. . . the decisive moment.”
“The sayings emphasize the completely unexpected nature of the Man’s coming” (AB).
THIS is the Parousia, “the coming of the Son of Man,” the Second Advent, the final judgment, (vv. 27, 29-31, 44), not some secret “beam me up Scotty!” fiction. This context leaves “Left Behind” out in the cold. [The enigmatic saying about the vultures receives a variety of educated guesses. HERE is the best exposition that I have read.] And the context of the primary passage (which is distorted to fit the modern “Rapture” doctrine) also leaves the fiction behind. See the clear context of 1 Thessalonians– https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/second-coming-rapture-vs-scripture-christian/
4 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.
After the first vision of the exalted Christ caring for and protecting his churches, the revelation of “what must take place after this,“ i.e the coming of God’s Kingdom, begins. This revelation will include the destruction of the powers of evil, of Satan, and death, but before these evil powers are destroyed, they will break forth in a final desperate effort to frustrate the purposes of God by destroying the people of God. However, the terrible conflict that takes place on earth, between the church and the demonic powers embodied in an apostate civilization…are in reality expressions in historical form of a fearful conflict in the spiritual world between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.
John is caught up in a vision to heaven at 4:1…
Verse 2. John heard the voice which had already spoken to him (1:10), summoning him to come up hither to receive further revelations of future events. At once he was in the Spirit;…
There is no reference in 4:1 to the rapture of the church, the language is addressed exclusively to John and refers only to his reception of the revelation of this book.
“Straight way I was in the Spirit.”
The idea of prophetic rapture is widespread in Jewish literature. Micaiah told the king of Israel, “I saw the Lord sitting on the throne, and all the host of heaven…” Amos reports that God does nothing “without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). John views himself as a prophet (1:1), and being “in the Spirit”...There is no basis for discovering a rapture of the church…
—The New International Commentary on the New Testament, The Book of Revelation by Robert H. Mounce
The supposed rapture of the church is to be found nowhere, here, in The New International Greek Testament Commentary, The Book of Revelation, A Commentary on the Greek Text, by G. K. Beale
This invention of the human mind about the “church” not being on earth after Revelation 4:1 is based on a false, supposed ‘exegesis’ of that verse, and on a nonsensical point about the “trumpet” and an argument from silence leaning on the fact that the word ekklesia (church) is not used again until 22:16. But the saints are there throughout (e.g. 6:1; 7:3, 14, 17; 13:7f; 14:12f).
Addendum: From The New International Greek Testament Commentary, “The tribulations of 8:6-12 are executed…at all times during the church age..”
G. E. Ladd, noted evangelical Prof. of NT and Exegesis, Revelation: “…chapter seven pictured the fate of the church in this fearful period….the two multitudes, which picture the fate of the church in the time of tribulation….the plagues of divine wrath fall upon the rebellious…but…the church, which has been sealed with the protective seal of God, is somehow spared from the sufferings of those plagues.” [Think, the blood on the doorposts in Egypt.] “But the church in the tribulation will be the victim of persecution and martyrdom as she has been throughout her entire history.”
Against today’s subjectivism (‘what this verse means to me’), we must clearly declare, “knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20). READ (link)
We Christians need to maintain our integrity. Cast off sloth and hubris. Study and know God’s word in context: https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/of-ponds-and-pitfalls/
Left Behind enthusiasts, when told that First Thessalonians does not teach their Left Behind scenario, quickly respond with half of a verse taken from its whole context which they left behind:
“God did not appoint us to wrath”–1 Thessalonians 5:9a.
But here is the context! –This is The Day of the Lord when he comes to bring his wrath on the unbeliever and salvation for his people.
Paul began this letter with the affirmation that we “await His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead–Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath”–1 Thess. 1:10. This is “the second coming” (NICNT)*…”The Advent (Parousia) of Christ” (F. F. Bruce).** This is “the day of Christ’s revelation in glory, when he comes to vindicate his people and judge the world in righteousness (cf. Acts 17:31)”–Bruce. There lies the ground of our “hope.”
Matthew 24
And here is the context of 1 Thess. 5:9a, quoted at the start, above. “Paul proceeds to speak of salvation negatively and positively. God’s purpose for us is not wrath…On the contrary, he purposed that they should obtain salvation…” (NICNT)
8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of our hope of salvation. 9 For God has not appointed us to suffer wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.…
Rahab let down the red cord and her house was saved in the midst of the judgment on Jericho which fell.
God’s people in Egypt put blood on their doorposts and were saved from the judgment on their neighbors brought by the angel of death.
We have the blood of the Lamb on our doorposts.
Paul ends this section as he began it. Reassuring those Christians that:
“whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.…”
He began, at 1 Thess. 4:13, by addressing a concern of those Christians at Thessalonica:
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope…”
The exposition continues here (link). https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/second-coming-rapture-vs-scripture-christian/
*New International Commentary on the New Testament, Leon Morris, 1991.
**Word Biblical Commentary, F. F. Bruce, 1982.
All standard translations use the word “debts.” The New Living Translation has “forgive us our sins…”
Our liturgical use of the Lord’s Prayer uses “forgive us our trespasses…”
What we miss in all of these is that “forgive” and “debts” share the same root word. Forgiveness is the cancellation of our debt. What we also miss is the clear context that Jesus gives this line from the Lord’s Prayer.
Forgiveness is granted to the one who asks for it in his Parable of the Unmerciful Servant which follows Peter’s famous question,“Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?…”–Matthew 18:21.
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy times seven!
Because of this, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants….
So, a servant was brought before his master who owed a debt that was impossible to pay. (This is our state, too.) The servant’s pleas moved the master to compassion. [This was not something the master was doing for himself.] He canceled the debt. But then this servant went out and demanded payment from a fellow servant who could not pay his debt. This fellow servant, too, pleaded for compassion, but received none from the forgiven servant.
When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and recounted all of this to their master.
Then the master summoned him and declared, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave all your debt because you begged me. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should repay all that he owed.
That is how My heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
Today, the world sells forgiveness as some sort of self therapy, something we do for ourselves, rather than following Jesus’ teaching that began this section, Matthew 18: If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over….
AND, Matthew 5:23: So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
The focus here, too, is on the offender:
Reconcile quickly with your adversary, while you are still on the way to court. Otherwise, he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
While sitting with my bed-ridden mother during the afternoon, I outlined First Thessalonians after reading her a Psalm.
Paul ends this letter, “I charge you before the Lord to have this epistle read to all the brethren.”
In days gone by, when we received a letter in the mail from family or friends, we read the whole thing. When we pick up our Bibles and turn to any epistle, we should first read the whole thing before we begin a piecemeal reading of it.
Context makes clear the mistakes of that special sect of fellow American evangelicals who find their “Left Behind” drama and movies here in Thessalonians.
Paul had waited eagerly for news about his Thessalonian converts. That is why they sent Timothy to them, 3:1,2.
This news prompts Paul to “pray to see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith” (3:10).
His prayer ends:
“…so that He may strengthen your hearts that you may be blameless and holy in his presence when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.”
This is the New Testament hope, the Parousia, the Second Coming of Christ.
Then, Paul begins, “Finally…” (4:1) with exhortations on how to live. The last of these exhortations begins in chapter 4 at verse 13, encouraging them
NOT “to grieve like the rest of men who have no hope.”
THAT is the key concern of this section which begins at 4:13 and ends at 5:10, which points to Christ “who died for us, so that whether we live or die, we will live together with him.”
“Therefore encourage one another…”
The news which Timothy brought (3:6) must have included the concerns of some of those Christians at Thessalonica regarding fellow believers who had already died. Would they be at some disadvantage at the Coming of the Lord?
Addressing this concern is Paul’s focus in that section, where he writes about the Second Coming, the Parousia, (NOT the ‘Left Behind’ modern teaching).
The exposition of this section is here (link) 1 Thessalonians 4
.Be an honest student/disciple and read it in context. [Social Media stats show that almost no one follows through to read that text in context. That is the state of discipleship, today.]
“…no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20). Link
Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth. –2 Timothy 2:15
While the Greek word for church, εκκλεσια, ecclesia, is not mentioned after Revelation chapter three, the saints, which are the church, certainly are mentioned after Revelation chapter three. Those saints are mentioned at least fifteen times after Revelation chapter three.
Church, Ecclesia
There is an argument in some circles, that since the word ‘church’ is not mentioned in Revelation after chapter three, the church is absent during that period. This type of argument is known as an argument from silence. That is a rhetorical fallacy that uses the absence of evidence as actual evidence in support of the argument. Article Continues here (link)
Left Behind. “The videos sit on my desk with a note to my family so that when I am taken they will know what happened and have another chance to be saved.” (Unless they were on that airplane which crashed into the ocean when the Christian pilot was taken.)
“As soon as the coin in the coffers ring, the soul from purgatory springs.”
Tetzel’s jingle has been replaced by the cash register’s ring, to the tune of best selling Left Behind books and movies. With “sales total over 80 million copies, according to publisher Tyndale House” (2016). Yet, a host of those readers have never read Thessalonians. Most do not read a whole letter, but just out-of-context, cherry-picked verses.
“Left Behind: The Rise of the Antichrist” movie, which shows a world where Christians have already been taken, gives the church a prime teaching moment to point Christians BACK TO THE BIBLE.
A significant sect of fellow evangelicals will invest hours and days reading the books and watching the movies. It is clean entertainment. But they will never sit for an hour, diligently study, and read the Bible in context. The context is clear. The letters to the Thessalonians teach us that Christ returns for his own AFTER the Antichrist rises.
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled…that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition…
…THEN the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
…Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught,…—Second Thessalonians 2
That “coming” (parousia) and “gathering” are one event as the single article (the) makes plain. “Indeed, they are the two parts of one great event.”–Leon Morris, New International Commentary on the New Testament.
John Calvin on Second Thessalonians 1:1,2–
The meaning therefore is, “As you set a high value on the coming of Christ, when he will gather us to himself,…
…I earnestly beseech you by his coming not to be too credulous, should any one affirm, on whatever pretext, that his day is at hand.”
Second Thessalonians 2:1 is a “reference to the event described in 1 Thess. 4:17.”–F. F. Bruce, Word Biblical Commentary.
First Thessalonians teaches us about that coming (parousia) and gathering. Read it, here (link). (This is where the Left-Behinders bring more confusion.) Do it. Be a disciple. Do not settle for the bane of memes and memory verses (link). Read God’s word in context.
The Left-Behinders want us to accept their special, extra-biblical knowledge which divides this event and gives us two separate, non-biblical comings.
Contrary to brother Brainard, We have had the blessing of the First Advent. We await the Second. (link) Maranatha
TextsInContext 