"Rapture" not in the Bible?

Often times, whether in internet chat rooms long ago or personal conversations, I’ve heard the claim that the word “rapture” is not in the Bible. And I confess if reading the English Bible alone, one will likely not find the word “rapture.” It actually isn’t an English word in origin. It comes from the Latin rapio, and this word is in the Bible—although in the Vulgate edition. As the text in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 states:

deinde nos qui vivimus qui relinquimur simul rapiemur cum illis in nubibus obviam Domino in aera et sic semper cum Domino erimus

The Latin rapiemur is simply a conjugated form of rapio and corresponds to ἁρπαγησόμεθα as appearing in the Greek New Testament of this same verse:

ἔπειτα ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι ἅμα σὺν αὐτοῖς ἁρπαγησόμεθα ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ κυρίου εἰς αέρα· καὶ οὕτως πάντοτε σὺν κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα.






The King James Bible rendered it as such: "Then we which are alive and remail shall be caught up together with them in the coulds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

Therefore, the rapture is simply the “catching away” into the clouds that 1 Thessalonians 4:17 describes—this is where the concept appears in Scripture. And it is specifically called “rapture” according to the Latin version.

Hotel Flight

Commisioned Officers Training

Summer 2005 - Maxwell Air Force Base

Why "Philology without Mercy"?

In case you're wondering about the strange name for this blog, let me explain. When I was at Army bootcamp, the Drill Sergeant would ask the company, "Delta Company, what makes the green grass grow?" Our reply was: "Blood, blood, blood makes the green grass grow!"

When we entered into the bayonet phase of our basic combat training, the Drill Sergeant would then ask the question: "Delta Company, what's the spirit of the bayonet?" Our reply in one accord was, "Kill, kill, kill without mercy! Hooah!!" It was almost like being at a football rally in high school in which everyone cheered in unison, "We've got spirit, yes we do; we've got spirit, how about you?" Yes, soldier's yell stuff like cheerleaders to keep themselves motivated through all the grunt work of combat training.

After bootcamp, I headed off to the Armed Forces School of Music to study trumpet performance in preparation for my MOS as a bandsman. There one of the saxophone instructors had a sign on his office door with a unique twist: "Jazz without mercy!"

I have since adopted this concept into my syllabus for a Greek course I teach at Master's College to define my philosophy of education: "Greek without mercy!" Furthermore, it is now the name of my blog.