Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - APOSTASIA

                                                                                                

                                                                                                       APOSTASIA

The above word is from the Greek language and is composed of two root words “apo” which means “to depart from” and “stasis” which means “the stand or state of.” So, apostasia means to depart from one’s stand or state. In the Bible, it is translated as “falling away.”

In 2 Thessalonians, it is written:

 

Let no one deceive you by any means; 

for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, 

and the man of sin is revealed… 

(2:3)

This falling away is often considered to refer to the abandonment of faith and the Word of God with ramifications that are mentioned in other parts of Scripture.

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:

For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, 

boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, 

unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, 

slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 

traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than 

lovers of God. 

(2 Timothy 3:1-4)

And for these reasons, we are told to:

…take up the whole armour of God, 

that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, 

and having done all, to stand. 

(Ephesians 6:13)

But the falling away does not just mean the departure from the faith in the moral and spiritual sense but it also refers to the falling away from ones’ state or stature. Our place in creation has been defined by God as revealed in His Word and, therefore, as we fall away from the Word we also tend to fall away from our state in creation. As the Bible states:

…God created man in His own image; 

in the image of God He created him; 

male and female created He them. 

(Genesis 1:27)

Thus, the further we fall away from the word, the further we fall away from the state in which we were made. As Jonathan Cahn puts it:

“…there will not only be a falling away from faith, but a falling away from being…

the departure of men from the stasis or state of manhood, 

the departure of women from the stasis or state of womanhood, 

of fathers from the state of fatherhood, of mothers from the state of motherhood, 

and of man from the stasis and state of humanity.”*

Man was created by the Word and is supposed to live by that same Word. As we fall away from the Word, we tend to lose our state and become among other things - more lovers of ourselves and money; lacking in self-control and morality. A true apostasia.

When you look at today’s world, it is not hard to see how we are fast approaching the falling away mentioned in scripture.

That should be enough to make us think seriously about it.

*The Apostasis, The Book of Mysteries by Jonathan Cahn (p.g. 270)