apostasia

Semantic range

1. 1political rebellion or defection
2. 2abandonment of a former loyalty or faith

2 Thessalonians 2:3 warns that the day of Christ will not come "except there come a falling away first." The word is apostasia — the ordinary Greek term for a revolt. Paul is describing a defection from within, not persecution from without.

The New Testament contains a striking volume of similar warning: grievous wolves entering the flock (Acts 20:29–30), men turning from sound doctrine to fables (2 Timothy 4:3–4), and the transgression of an everlasting covenant (Isaiah 24:5). Latter-day Saints read these together as forecasting the Great Apostasy, which makes a restoration — rather than a reformation — the necessary remedy.

See also

• ἀποκατάστασιςapokatastasis
• οἰκονομίαoikonomia
• ἐκκλησίαekklēsia