Greek word · G646

ἀποστασία

apostasia

apostasy

A late form of the classical apostasis. It means defection, revolt or rebellion: breaking away from an authority one owed loyalty to. It is used of political revolt (subjects against a king, provinces against Rome) and, in Jewish Greek, of religious revolt against God and his law.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

άποστασία, -ας, ἡ

(ἀφίστημι), [in LXX for מַעַל, etc. ;]

defection, apostasy, revolt; in late Gk. (MM, Exp., viii; Lft., Notes, 111; Cremer, 308) for cl. ἀπόστασις, frequently in sense of political revolt, in LXX (e.g. Joshua 22:22, 2 Chronicles 29:19, Jeremiah 2:19) and NT always of religious apostasy: Acts 21:21, 2 Thessalonians 2:3.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 2 Thessalonians 2:3

Range of meaning

A late form of the classical apostasis. It means defection, revolt or rebellion: breaking away from an authority one owed loyalty to. It is used of political revolt (subjects against a king, provinces against Rome) and, in Jewish Greek, of religious revolt against God and his law. BDAG: 'defiance of established system or authority, rebellion, abandonment, breach of faith.'

Against the English

KJV 'falling away' and NASB 'apostasy' point to abandoning faith. BSB, ESV, NIV and NLT have 'rebellion', which keeps the active, defiant edge. To a modern ear 'falling away' sounds gradual and passive, like losing interest. The Greek word describes a deliberate break of loyalty, something closer to mutiny.

How it drifted

'Apostasy' became a technical church word for a person abandoning the Christian faith, so readers tend to think of individual believers quietly leaving church. In Paul's day the word kept its political sense of revolt. The 16th-century English Bibles' 'departing' (Tyndale, Geneva) meant departing from the faith, but it has since been read by some as a physical departure.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX: Joshua 22:22 (rebellion against the LORD); 2 Chronicles 29:19 (Ahaz's unfaithfulness); Jeremiah 2:19 ('your apostasy will rebuke you'); 1 Maccabees 2:15, where the Seleucid king's officers come to Modein 'to enforce the apostasy', meaning they compelled Jews to abandon the Torah and sacrifice to idols. Josephus, Life 43, uses it of the Jewish revolt against Rome. Acts 21:21 (the only other NT use): Paul accused of teaching 'apostasy from Moses'. Jewish apocalyptic writings expected a great final rebellion before the end: Daniel 11:30–36; Jubilees 23:14–21; 1 Enoch 91:7 and 93:9 (surviving in Ge'ez); 4 Ezra 5:1–2. Jesus' end-time teaching has the same pattern (Matt 24:10–12: 'many will fall away… lawlessness will increase').

Similar words

Where it appears

Acts · 1

  1. Acts 21:21 ἀποστασίαν apostasy

    But they are under the impression that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or observe our customs.

2 Thessalonians · 1

  1. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 ἀποστασία apostasy

    Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness—the son of destruction—is revealed.

    Here: An open revolt against established authority, here God's. In Jewish usage it meant the end-time breaking of loyalty to God that the prophets and apocalyptic writers expected before the final judgment.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.