Page 231 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

The Rapture Question: Revised and Enlarged Edition
which would explicitly place the Rapture before the day of the
Lord, and his evidence is quite convincing. Although English
is joined by the Greek scholar Kenneth S. Wucst,6 their view
has not met with general acceptance by either pretribu-
lationists or posttribulationists. While a number of pretribu-
lationists have interpreted the apostasy in this way as the
departure of the church, there is some evidence against
this translation. In this instance Gundry, seconded by Ladd,
is probably right: the word probably refers to doctrinal defec­
tion of the special character that will be revealed in the day of
the Lord. In this finding, prctribulationists can agree with
posttribulationists without agreeing with their conclusions on
the passage as a whole.
The error into which the Thessalonians had fallen, ac­
cording to Gundry, was one of two possibilities; “First, the
Thessalonians, unaware of a prctribulational rapture, were
led to believe that they had entered the tribulation, which they
thought was part of the day of the Lord. . . . Second, the Thes­
salonians thought that a pretribulation rapture had already
occurred and that they had been left behind in the tribulation,
which (as in the preceding view) they believed to be a part of
the day of the Lord.”’
Gundry’s second hypothesis—that the Thessalonians
feared they had been left behind in the Tribulation—makes
sense only if the Thessalonians had been taught pretribu-
lationism. If they were posttribulationists, there was no reason
for concern; thus Gundry rejected that second hypothesis and
its pretribulationist implications and adopted the view that the
Thessalonians believed they had entered the tribulation period.
Gundr)’ seems quite blind to the problem this creates for him as
a posttribulationist. If the Thessalonians had been taught post-
tribulationism, why were they so upset when evidence of the
Lord’s soon return seemed to be indicated in their experience of
persecution? If posttribulationists are correct, the Thessalo­
nians had no need for alarm. It seems, however, that their
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