“waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” (Titus 2:13 ESV).
This verse is part of a larger sentence:
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, (12) training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, (13) waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, (14) who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” (Titus 2:11-14 ESV).
My intent here is not to provide a full exegesis of this passage, but instead to comment on just a couple of elements in v. 13.
The pretribulational interpretation of this verse finds its origin in the misleading rendering found in the King James Version:
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” (Titus 2:13 KJV).
Notice the KJV rendering indicates that the “blessed hope” and the “glorious appearing” are two separate events. So pretribulationists in the past two centuries have interpreted the blessed hope being the secret rapture, and the glorious appearing as Christ at Armageddon.
The Greek, however, will have none of that. It reads:
προσδεχόμενοι τὴν [the] μακαρίαν ἐλπίδα [blessed hope] καὶ [and] ἐπιφάνειαν [appearing] τῆς δόξης τοῦ μεγάλου θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, (Titus 2:13).
There is a rule in Greek grammar that says:
“when two nouns are connected by kai [“and”] and the article precedes only the first noun, there is a close connection between the two. That connection always indicates at least some sort of unity. At a higher level, it may connote equality. At the highest level it may indicate identity.” Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, p. 270.
This is precisely what we have in Titus 2:13. The literal Greek reads: “the blessed hope and appearing.”
So what is this relationship between blessed hope and the appearing? The grammatical rule can only tell us that there is a unity, but it cannot tell us what exactly that unity is. However, we can be informed by the meanings of the words themselves, and theological context.
It is my contention (and the vast majority of Greek scholars) that the referents of “blessed hope” and “appearing” are referring to the same thing, that is, the latter is a clarification of the former: The appearing is the blessed hope itself. First you have an abstract notion or desire (“blessed hope”), then followed by a concrete event (“appearing”). The object of hope is the appearing of Christ. The blessed hope is not the rapture in itself—it is the result of the rapture, being present with our Lord with our newly resurrected bodies.
It could be rendered more precisely as “the hoped-for blessed manifestation.” The New English Translation (as does the ESV and NIV) brings this out best by identifying the hope as the glorious appearing:
“as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13 NET).
Theologically, we know from other passages from Jesus, Paul, Peter, and John who identify our waiting for this hope with the appearing of Christ:
“Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt 24:30).
“to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,” (1 Tim 6:14).
“Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing” (2 Tim 4:8).
“Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming” (1John 2:28).
“When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col 3:4).
“And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory” (1 Pet 5:4).
“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
Notice that all these passages teach that the Church will be on earth at the Appearing of Christ.
There will also be someone else on the earth with the Church when Christ appears:
Antichrist: “Then that lawless one [Antichrist] will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming” (2 Th 2:8).
Therefore, since the Church and the revealed Antichrist will be present at the Appearance of Christ, (1) the rapture cannot be imminent, since the Antichrist must be revealed prior to Christ’s Appearing, and (2) the Church will be here during Antichrist’s rule.
The pretribulational secret rapture is not a glorious event, since it disconnects the blessed hope from the glorious appearing of our Lord. The Return of Christ will be glorious because as the world is hating and putting to death his Church, our Great Rescuer will blast through the sky and deliver his people! And subsequently, the Lord will pour out his wrath upon this wicked world—that is a glorious Return! Not this secret pretrib rapture that robs Christ of his glorious rescue and vindication.
Finally, I want to address a hackneyed pretrib objection that I hear from time to time. It goes something like this: “I am looking for the true Christ, not the Antichrist.” They think that since we have an exhortation to look for the blessed hope, therefore we will not have to endure persecution, such as the Antichrist persecution against the Church.
I don’t have much to say about such an inane false piety. According to the thinking of pretribulationists, apparently the persecuted underground Chinese Church cannot look forward to the blessed hope, since they are being persecuted! But of course, that is absurd.
(Keep in mind that the escapist theology of pretribulationism is a very recent British/American teaching that originated in the early 19th century. And if it is found in other parts of the world, it is only because it has been exported by American pretribulational missionaries and their literature.)
It is actually more of a blessed hope to look forward to Christ’s Return if the Church is in the midst of persecution. Knowing that difficult times are coming would intensify our hope to be with the Lord. Tell me: Which group of believers will have more expectancy for the Lord’s Return: Complacent believers sitting on a couch in front of a television stuffing their face with Twinkies? Or, believers standing for their faith in the Lord undergoing persecution from the Antichrist during the Great Tribulation? I think the answer is clear.
Jesus said, “in the world you will have tribulation.” As well as Paul’s teaching of persecution at the Lord’s blessed Appearing (2 Thess 1; 2 Th 2:8).
Pretribulationism is not only misguided on a Biblical level, but also on a basic logical level:
It confuses Expectancy with Imminency. Titus 2:13 teaches the former. At the beginning of the month of December, I can sincerely express my desire to see the New Year, and I can genuinely express its nearness and its expectancy. But at the same time, I know for a fact that it is not imminent. There are intervening events. The remaining weeks of December must transpire, and Christmas, for example, must precede the New Year. So at the same time that I can be expectant for the coming New Year, it is not imminent.
And I can look forward to being a parent, but a few things sort of have to happen first, unless a stork imminently comes along.
