"The Rapture is not in the Bible" objection

You hear this phrase repeated often by those who have been taught that there is no rapture of believers or the church in Scripture.

However this is a position incorrect in several clear ways:

First, nearly all Bible believing, orthodox scholars believe there is a “catching up” or in Latin, rapture, of believers because it is plainly stated in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 by Paul.  

"Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord."

The Greek word harpadzo is translated "caught up." It is simply a matter of when this catching up of believers happens, or in some cases whether it is the same event as described in Matthew 25:31 (the gathering of the sheep and goats) or not.


As to when, many believe the 1 Thess. 4:17 “catching up” happens prior to the event of what Jesus calls the Tribulation (Matthew 24:21, 29).  


Others believe this happens at the mid-point of the Tribulation.

And some believe it is at the end of the Tribulation right as Jesus is descending in the sky visibly at His return to rule the earth (Matthew 25:31). In that case, the saints would literally make a quick ascent and then a U-turn to follow Jesus as He returns visibly to rule. If so this is not documented in Matthew 25 whereas considerable detail is given to the gathering of the “nations” (ethos or Gentiles) and their separation into sheep and goats for judgment.  And Paul does not mention it either in 1 Thess. 4.


Finally, some see 1 These. 4:17 as the same event as the gathering described in Matt. 25:32-33 of sheep and goats. However the details are quite different from 1 Thess. 4:17. In Thessalonians, Jesus is “in the air” and that is where the believers meet Him and “remain forever.” There is no mention of following him to earth, being on earth, or a judgment following being "caught up," or of two groups sheep and goats, some of whom will be condemned! And in Matt. 25:31 Jesus is already “seated” on His throne and then the gathering happens. He is not in the air. Those gathered in Matthew 25 are "the nations" which is the Greek word, ethnos, or Gentiles.  In Thessalonians it is "believers" mentioned only. These are important differences that makes it impossible to conflate these two gatherings as the same event or just different perspectives on it.

Second, the Greek word harpadzo in 1 Thess. 4:17 means to “catch up” or “snatch up” and is used over a dozen times in the New Testament.  It was translated into the Latin version (the Vulgate) with the Latin word “rapture” just as we translate it with the English word(s) “catch up” or “snatch up.”

Some other New Testament uses of harpadzo:  

• Matt. 13:19 the birds “snatching up” the seed on the path.  
• John 6:15 Jesus perceiving the crowd wanted to “take him by force” and make him king.  
• Acts 8:39 Phillip the Evangelist being “snatched away” by the Spirit after baptizing the eunuch.  
• Acts 23:10 of Paul being “taken away” from the rioters by the Roman troops to safety.  
• 2 Cor. 12:2 and 4 Paul of his own being “caught up” to the third heaven.  
• Jude 1:23 of saving others by “snatching” them out of the fire.  
• Rev. 12:5 of the woman’s male child being “caught up” to God and to His throne

So you might as well say that “catch up” is not in the Bible because it is not a Greek word and the New Testament was written in Greek.  You could say the same for English words such as church, boat, lake, city, man, woman, and so on. None of those words are “in the Bible” in the same sense that “rapture” is not in the Bible because it is a Latin word. But that does not matter because the original Greek word harpadzo is what we use for all translations into other languages.

And, you could accurately say Paul got “raptured” twice already! Once in Acts 23 and once in the event of 2 Cor. 12! He knew what the word harpadzo meant when he used it in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.