Page 238 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

The Raplure in 1 Corinthians
rally nothing to the posttribulational concept of the Rapture,
and posttribulationists have to deal with this passage mostly
to refute any possible use of this revelation by pretribu-
lationists.
This discussion of the Rapture comes at the close of a
great theological passage dealing first with the death and
resurrection of Christ, then the resurrection of believers and
the necessity of it. Having established the doctrine of resurrec­
tion, the discussion in 1 Corinthians 15:51-58 is, in large
measure, a presentation of the fact that the Rapture is the
major exception to the normal rule of death followed by resur­
rection. It is Paul’s revelation that a whole generation of
Christians will not die but will be raptured and given bodies
that will last forever, exactly like the bodies of those who were
resurrected from the grave. On the major facts of the revela­
tion, pretribulationists and posttribulationists are agreed.
Discussion of their differing points of view centers in some
of the major terms used in this passage. The Rapture is intro­
duced in 1 Corinthians 15:51 as a mystery: “Listen, I tell you
a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.”
The word mystery occurs twenty-seven times in the New Tes­
tament, most frequently from the pen of Paul. As George Ladd
defines it, “This glorious event, the Rapture of the Church, is
a mystery (1 Cor. 15:51). A mystery is a divine truth, pur­
posed by God ages ago, but revealed to men only in due time
(Rom. 16:25-26).
Generally speaking, posttribulationists agree that the
Rapture is a mystery, that is, a truth not revealed in the Old
Testament. Having properly defined this truth as a mystery,
however, most posttribulationists attempt to minimize the
force of this truth. Their problem is that the resurrection of the
saints is not a mystery, as it is clearly taught in the Old
Testament. Why, then, is the rapture of the church, including
both resurrection and translation, declared to be a truth re­
vealed in the New Testament but not in the Old Testament?
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