Page 247 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

The Rapture Question: Revised and Enlarged Edition
refute this argument; and while the passage itself is no comfort
to the posttribulationists, they are forced to try to explain it
away.
The usual approach of posttribulationism is to insist that
the word from, which is a translation of the Greek preposition
ek, means “out of the midst of” instead of simply “from.”
Gundry, for instance, cited Luke 21:36, which speaks of es­
caping the Tribulation and has the preposition ek as part of
the verb. This has no bearing on Revelation 3:10-11, however,
because the verb is different, and Gundry was assuming that
those referred to in the passage arc the church.1
Devoting ten pages to his discussion of Revelation 3:10,
Gundry insisted that the preposition means “out from
within.” As a study of any dictionary will show, this is an
arbitrary and limited definition. The fact is that most recog­
nized translations such as the King James Version, the New
American Standard, the Williams translation, the Revised
Standard Version, the New English Bible, and the New Inter­
national Version all translate ck by the word “from.” The
reason for this is obvious. The preposition is joined to a verb
tfreo meaning “to guard" or “keep.” While the preposition ck
may mean “out of the midst of’ in certain contexts, when
coupled with the word “guard" or “keep,” it has the meaning
of “from” rather than “out of the midst of” as illustrated in
practically all the English translations.
While opinions pro and con can be cited, the only parallel
passage in Scripture is found in John 17:15, which is decisive
in confirming the translation “from,” where Christ prayed,
“My prayer is not that you take them out of[e/J the world but
that you protect [tereo] from [e/;] the evil one.” When used
with the word “take” [airo], the preposition ek means “out
of,” but when used with the word “keep” or “protect” [(FreD],
the preposition ek is rightly translated “from.” In other words,
the Christian is protected from the evil one, not taken out of
the midst of evil.
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