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It means to be caught up in Latin. I thought I'd check on everyplace this word or it's derivatives appear in the Vulgate, and came up with some interesting results...

Luke 18:11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: `God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers (raptores), evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector"

Acts 19:29 "The people seized (rapto) Gaius and Aristarchus"

2 Cor 12:2..4 "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up (raptum) to the third heaven...he was caught up (raptus) to Paradise."

1 Thess 4:17 "After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up (rapiemur) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."

Rev 12:5 "She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up (raptus) to God and to his throne"

(Note: You can click on the above verses to read them in Latin)

Now the translation I have for the Latin "Rapto" is ....

To snatch away, seize, destroy, pillage

This is interesting when you consider Y'shua said he would "come like a thief." The correlation of these words in Latin makes it easy to see how Latin thought might have made a connection between coming "like a thief" and the "rapture". But the scriptures weren't written in Latin, but I start with this because it is easier to see since we use the word "rapture" in English. The Greek texts also share the same roots in each of these verses...

Luke 18:11 " I thank you that I am not like other men--kidnappers (arpages), evildoers, adulterers--or even like this publican"

Acts 19:29 "The people seized (synarpasantes) Gaius and Aristarchus"

2 Cor 12:2..4 "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up (arpagenta) to the third heaven... caught away (erpagé) to Paradise."

1 Thess 4:17 "After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up (arpagesometha) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." Now note here that Thessalonians uses the same word as in Luke 18:11 and Acts 19:29 - just like the Latin version does. It is grammatically conjugated a little different, but same root word.

Rev 12:5 "She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up (erpasthé) to God and to his throne"

The Aramaic versions makes the same connection. This link is important, since it is believed by many that Aramaic was the original language of the Book of Revelation. I'll post something on this in a separate email. Also, Paul thought in Aramaic / Hebrew, not Greek, so the Greek versions of his letters might sometimes be better understood if we study the variances between the Greek and Aramaic versions to help restore the "original thoughts" that were in his head.

Luke 18:11 " I thank you that I am not like other men--kidnappers (chatufa), evildoers, adulterers--or even like this publican"

Acts 19:29 "The people seized (chatfu) Gaius and Aristarchus"

2 Cor 12:2..4 "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up (chataf) to the third heaven... caught up (chataf) to Paradise."

1 Thess 4:17 "After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up (natchatuf) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." Now note here that Thessalonians uses the same word as in Luke 18:11 and Acts 19:29 - just like the Latin version does.

Rev 12:5 "She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up (chataf again) to God and to his throne"

So in all 3 of these early languages, we see a connection that does not come through in English, but may have contributed to the thought process of the early believers. Now if we take a look at three versions of 2 Thess 2:3 we have...

Jerome's Latin, 5th century "Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the apostasy (discessio) occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction." - This is very different from the "raptos" we get in most verses dealing with a "snatching away" of some sort.

Greek "Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the apostacy (apostasia) occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction."

Aramaic "Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion (merud) occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction."

We get "rapture" from Latin, but the Vulgate uses "discessio" here, which means "withdrawal" or "dispersal". The Aramaic version says "rebellion", giving the traditional understanding of "apostacy". In fact, the Aramaic word is the root for the name "Nimrod", which means "rebel".

But in all cases, we are using a different word for "apostacy" than for "rapture". Why would Paul use "apostacia/merud" to refer to a rapture when "erpagé/chatuf" was the common term? It would seem that 2 Thess 2:3 is talking about something different - an apostacy - not a rapture.

Many people do read "rapture/erpagé/chatuf" into 2 Thess 2:3, because IN THEIR THEOLOGY, the false prophet won't be revealed until the rapture happens. And if they could just change that one word, they could prove it to everyone else. But instead of trying to fit how we interpret the wording of the original language to our theology, we should fit our theology to match the wording of the language.

Shalom,

Joe