The Rapture in Pseudo-Ephraem
Dr. Thomas Ice
All the saints and elect of God are gatheredtogether before the tribulation, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord,in order that they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelmsthe world because of our sins. -Pseudo-Ephraem (c. 374-627)
Critics ofpretribulationism sometimes state that belief in the rapture is a doctrinaldevelopment of recent origin. They argue that the doctrine of the raptureor any semblance of it was completely unknown before the early 1800s and thewritings of John Nelson Darby.[1] One of the most vocal and sensational criticsof the rapture is Dave MacPherson, who argues that, "during the first 18centuries of the Christian era, believers were never 'Rapture separaters'[sic]; they never separated the minor Rapture aspect of the Second Coming ofChrist from the Second Coming itself."[2]
A second critic, JohnBray, also vehemently opposes a pretribulational rapture, writing,"this teaching is not a RECOVERY of truth once taught and then neglected. No,it never was taught-for 1800 years nearly no one knew anything about such ascheme."[3] More recently, pre-trib opponent Robert VanKampen proclaimed, "The pretribulational rapture position with its dual parousias was unheard of in church history prior to 1830."
Christianreconstructionists have also consistently and almost universally condemnedpremillennialism and pretribulationism, favoring instead, postmillennialism. One sample of their prolific and often vitriolic opposition can be seen in GaryNorth's derisive description of the rapture as "the Church's hoped-for EscapeHatch on the world's sinking ship," which he, like MacPherson, believes wasinvented in 1830.[6]
How to Find the Rapturein History
Is pretribulationism astheologically bankrupt as its critics profess, or are there answers to thesecharges? If there are reasonable answers, then the burden of proof andhistorical argumentation shifts back to the critics. Rapture critics mustacknowledge and interact with the historical and theological evidence.
Rapture critic WilliamBell has formulated three criteria for establishing the validity of ahistorical citation regarding the rapture. If any of his three criteria aremet, then he acknowledges it is "of crucial importance, if found, whether bydirect statement or clear inference." As will be seen, the Pseudo-Ephraemsermon meets not one, but two of his canons, namely, "Any mention that Christ'ssecond coming was to consist of more than one phase, separated by an intervalof years," and "any mention that Christ was to remove the church from the earthbefore the tribulation period."[7]
Pseudo-Ephraem's Rapture Statement
Ivividly remember the phone call at my office late one afternoon from Canadianprophecy teacher and writer Grant Jeffrey.[8] He told me that he had found an ancient pre-trib rapturestatement. I said, "Let's hear it." He read the following to meover the phone:
All the saints and elect of God are gatheredtogether before the tribulation, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord,in order that they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelmsthe world because of our sins.
Isaid that it sure sounds like a pre-trib statement and began to fire at him allthe questions I have since received many times when telling others about thestatement from Pseudo-Ephraem's sermon On the Last Times, the Antichrist,and the End of the World.[9] Grant's phone call started me on journey through many of thesubstantial libraries throughout the Washington, D.C. area in an effort tolearn all I could about this historically significant statement. The moreinformation I acquired, the more it led me to conclude that Grant is right toconclude that this is a pre-trib rapture statement of antiquity.
Who is Pseudo-Ephraem?
Theword "Pseudo" (Greek for false) is a prefix attached by scholars tothe name of a famous historical person or book of the Bible when one writesusing that name. Pseudo-Ephraem claims that his sermon was written by Ephraemof Nisibis (306-73), considered to be the greatest figure in the history of theSyrian church. He was well-known for his poetics, rejection of rationalism,and confrontations with the heresies of Marcion, Mani, and the Arians. As apoet, exegete, and theologian, his style was similar to that of the Jewishmidrashic and targumic traditions and he favored a contemplative approach to spirituality.So popular were his works that in the fifth and sixth centuries he was adoptedby several Christian communities as a spiritual father and role model. Hismany works, some of doubtful authenticity, were soon translated from Syriacinto Greek, Armenian, and Latin.
It is not at allunreasonable to expect that a prolific and prominent figure such as Ephraemwould have writings ascribed to him. While there is little support for Ephraemas the author of the Sermon on the End of the World, Caspari and Alexander have demonstrated thatPseudo-Ephraem was "heavily influenced by the genuine works ofEphraem."[10] What is more difficult, though secondary to themain purpose of this article, is determining the exact date, purpose, locationof, and extent of subsequent editorial changes to the sermon.
Suggestionson the date of the writing of the original sermon range from as early asWilhelm Bousset's 373 date,[12] to Caspari's estimation of sometime between 565and 627.[13] Paul Alexander, after reviewing all theargumentation, favors a date for the final form similar to that suggested by Caspari,
Pseudo-Ephraem's Sermon
The sermon consistsof just under 1500 words, divided into ten sections and has been preserved infour Latin manuscripts. Three of these date from the eighth century andascribe the sermon to Ephraem. A fourth manuscript from the ninth century,claims not Ephraem, but Isidore of Seville (d. 636) as author.
What is most significantfor present-day readers is the fact that the sermon was popular enough to betranslated into several languages fairly soon after its composition. The significance of the sermon for us today is that it represents a propheticview of a pre-trib rapture within the orthodox circles of its day.
Thesermon is built around the three themes of the title On the Last Times, theAntichrist, and the End of the Worldand proceeds chronologically. The fact that the pre-trib statement occurs insection 2, while the antichrist and tribulation are developed throughout themiddle sections, followed by Christ's second coming to the earth in the finalsection supports a pre-trib sequence. This characteristic of the sermon fitsthe first criteria outlined by William Bell, namely "that Christ's secondcoming was to consist of more than one phase, separated by an interval ofyears." Thus, phase one is the rapture statement from section 2; the intervalof 3 1/2 years, 42 months, and 1,260 days, said to be the tribulation insections 7 and 8; the second phase of Christ's return is noted in section 10and said to take place "when the three and a half years have beencompleted."[18]
Why Pseudo-Ephraem's Statement isPretribulational
Afterlearning of Pseudo-Ephraem's rapture statement, I shared it with a number ofcolleagues. My favorite approach was to simply read the statement, free of anyintroductory remarks, and ask what they thought. Every person, whether pre-tribor not, concluded that it was some kind of pre-trib statement. A few thoughtit was a statement from such pre-trib proponents like John Walvoord or CharlesRyrie. Most noted the clear statement concerning the removal of believersbefore the tribulation as a reason for thinking the statement pre-trib. Thisis Bell's second criteria for identifying a pre-trib statement from the past,namely, "any mention that Christ was to remove the church from the earthbefore the tribulation period." Note the following reasons why thisshould be taken as a pre-trib statement:
1)Section 2 of the sermon begins with a statement about imminency: "Weought to understand thoroughly therefore, my brothers, what is imminent [Latin "immineat"] or overhanging."[19] This is similar to the modern pre-trib view of imminency andconsidering the subsequent rapture statements supports a pre-trib scenario.
2)As I break down the rapture statement, notice the following observations:
•"All the saints and elect of God are gathered . . ." Gathered where?A later clause says they "are taken to the Lord." Where is theLord? Earlier in the paragraph the sermon speaks of "the meeting of theLord Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion. . ." Thus themovement is from the earth toward the Lord who is apparently in heaven. Onceagain, in conformity to a translation scenario found in the pre-trib teaching.
•The next phrase says that the gathering takes place "prior to thetribulation that is to come. . ." so we see that the event ispretribulational and the tribulation is future to the time in whichPseudo-Ephraem wrote.
•The purpose for the gathering was so that they would not "see theconfusion that is to overwhelm the world because of their sins." Here wehave the purpose of the tribulation judgments stated and that was to be a timeof judgment upon the world because of their sin, thus, the church was to betaken out.
3)Finally, Byzantine scholar Paul Alexander clearly believed that Pseudo-Ephraemwas teaching what we call today a pre-trib rapture. According to Alexander,most Byzantine apocalypses were concerned with how Christians would survive thetime of severe persecution by Antichrist. The normal approach given by otherapocalyptic texts was a shortening of the time to three and a half years,enabling the survival of some Christians.[20] Unlike those texts, this sermon has Christians being removed fromthe time of tribulation. Alexander observed:
It is probably no accident that Pseudo-Ephraemdoes not mention the shortening of the time intervals for the Antichrist'spersecution, for if prior to it the Elect are 'taken to the Lord,' i.e.,participate at least in some measure in beatitude, there is no need for furthermitigating action on their behalf. The Gathering of the Elect according toPseudo-Ephraem is an alternative to the shortening of the time intervals.
Conclusion
Regardlessof what else the writer of this sermon believed, he did believe that allbelievers would be removed before the tribulation-a pre-trib rapture view. Thus, we have seen that those who have said that there was no one before 1830who taught the pre-trib rapture position will have to revise their statementsby well over 1,000 years. This statement does not prove the pre-trib position,only the Bible can do that, but it should change many people's historical viewson the matter.
[1]Portionsof this article will appear in an expanded form in the July 1995 edition of BibliothecaSacra in an article entitled "theRapture and an Early Medieval Citation."
[2]DaveMacPherson, The Great Rapture Hoax (Fletcher,NC: New Puritan Library, 1983), 15. For a refutation of MacPherson's chargessee Thomas D. Ice, "Why the Doctrine of the Pretribulational Rapture DidNot Begin with Margaret Macdonald," Bibliotheca Sacra 147 (1990): 155-68.
[3]John L.Bray, The Origin of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Teaching (Lakeland, FL.: John L. Bray Ministry, 1982), 31-32.
[4]RobertVan Kampen, The Sign (Wheaton, IL.:Crossway Books, 1992), 445.
[5]ThomasIce, "Is The Pre-Trib Rapture A Satanic Deception?" Pre-TribPerspectives (II:1; March 1995):1-3.
[6]GaryNorth, Rapture Fever: Why Dispensationalism is Paralyzed (Tyler, TX.: Institute for Christian Economics, 1993),105.
[7]WilliamE. Bell, "A Critical Evaluation of the Pretribulation Rapture Doctrine inChristian Eschatology" (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1967mm 26-27.
[8]For moreinformation on the Pseudo-Ephraem statement see Grant R. Jeffrey, FinalWarning (Toronto: Frontier ResearchPublications, 1995). Forthcoming, Timothy Demy and Thomas Ice, "TheRapture and an Early Medieval Citation" Bibliotheca Sacra 152 (July 1995): 300-11. Grant R. Jeffrey, "APretribulational Rapture Statement in the Early Medieval Church" in ThomasIce and Timothy Demy, ed., When the Trumpet Sounds: Today's ForemostAuthorities Speak Out on End-Time Controversies (Eugene, Or: Harvest House, 1995).
[9]GrantJeffrey found the statement in Paul J. Alexander, The Byzantine ApocalypticTradition, by (Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press, 1985), 2.10. The late Alexander found the sermon in C. P.Caspari, ed. Briefe, Abhandlungen und Predigten aus den zwei letztenJahrhunderten des kirchlichen Altertums und dem Anfang des Mittelaters, (Christiania, 1890), 208-20. This German work alsocontains Caspari's commentary on the sermon on pages 429-72.
[10]Paul J.Alexander, "The Diffusion of Byzantine Apocalypses in the Medieval Westand the Beginnings of Joachimism," in Prophecy and Millenarianism:Essays in Honour of Marjorie Reeves,ed. Ann Williams (Essex, U.K. : Longman, 1980), 59.
[11]Paul J.Alexander, "Medieval Apocalypses as Historical Sources," AmericanHistorical Review 73 (1968): 1017. Inthis essay Alexander addresses in-depth the historical difficulties facing theinterpreter of such texts. To these difficulties, issues of theologicalinterpretation and concern must also be added.
[12]W.Bousset, The Antichrist Legend,trans. A. H. Keane (London: Hutchinson and Co., 1896), 33-41. An early date isalso accepted by Andrew R. Anderson, Alexander's Gate: Gog and Magog and theEnclosed Nations. Monographs of theMediaeval Academy of America, no. 5. (Cambridge, MA.: Mediaeval Academy ofAmerica, 1932):16-18.
[13]Caspari,437-42.
[14]Alexander,Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition, 147.This leaves the possibility that the work may have been altered or revisedprior to the date of the extant manuscripts.
[15]Ibid.,145. Earlier, he writes: "All that is certain, is as Caspari pointed out,that it must have been written prior to Heraclius' victories over Sassanid Persia,for the author talks repeatedly of wars between Rome and Persia and suchdiscussions do not make sense after Heraclius' victories and the beginning ofthe Arab invasions" (144).
[16]Ibid.,136-37. The only critical edition is Caspari's which suffers a lack ofobjectivity in that he relied upon only two of the four extant manuscripts.
[17]Ibid.,140-44.
[18]Caspari,219. English citations are taken from a translation of the sermon provided byCameron Rhoades, instructor of Latin at Tyndale Theological Seminary, Ft.Worth, TX.
[19]Ibid.,210.
[20] Alexander, 209.
[21]Ibid., 210-11.