(This is a guest post by Dr. Dean Furlong)
Latin Vulgate: “ne quis vos seducat ullo modo quoniam nisi venerit discessio primum et revelatus fuerit homo peccati filius perditionis” (2 Thess 2:3)
I want to thank Dr. Alan Kurschner for inviting me to write a guest post on Jerome’s translation of the Greek word apostasia (usually translated “falling away”) with discessio in Jerome’s Latin Vulgate.
According to Thomas Ice, the word apostasia in 2 Thes. 2:3 refers to a physical departure, which he interprets to be the rapture. After noting that many early English versions translated apostasia with “departure,” he goes on to claim:
In fact, Jerome’s Latin translation known as the Vulgate from around the time of A.D. 400 renders apostasia with the “word discessio, meaning ‘departure.’*
Ice’s comment might give the impression that Jerome thought that apostasia in Greek referred to a physical departure. While the word discessio in Latin can refer to a physical departure (e.g. Acts 20:29 in the Vulgate, where it translates the Greek aphixis), it can also refer to a falling away from something (Acts 21:21, where it translates the Greek apostasia).
So what did Jerome think the apostasia/discessio might be?
See other related posts:
Does Apostasia in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Refer to a ‘Physical Departure’ (i.e. the Rapture)?
