The term apostasy comes from the Greek word apostasia meaning defection, departure, revolt or rebellion, it is a disloyalty to or a defection from that which one previously held a loyalty to. In secular Greek the word “apostasy” is used to describe a political coupe or a revolt from a military commander. In the Bible apostasy is the deliberate and conscious rejection of the truth by one who formerly professed it. This word is used twice in the New Testament (Acts 21:21; 2 Thessalonians 2:3).
Apostasy is an insidious infiltration into the Church by the arch enemy of God. Both the life and teaching of Jesus shows apostatizing professors and persevering saints exist together in the life of the Church. Judas existed among the disciples. Apostasy is a characteristic of the Kingdom of God on earth; the apostate and the true saint “grow together” in the visible church (Matthew 13:30). The apostate is one whom Satan has planted in the Church of Christ (Matthew 13:24-30, 33-43); • Either for the destruction of his own soul • Or for the deception of the Church (or both).
James speaks of a “withering” (1:11). In Hebrews the writer speaks of those who are “slow to learn” (5:11); “lazy” (6:12); “weak” (12:12). John Bunyan deals with apostasy in a couple of different areas of the Pilgrim’s Progress. He shows the gradual process of apostasy in nine steps and refers to it as backsliding (backsliding and apostasy are closely linked in the Old Testament) which ends in everlasting punishment apart from the grace of God to prevent it.
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Aaron Dunlop, who is originally from Northern Ireland, graduated from the Geneva Reformed Seminary, SC. He pastored for ten years in Victoria, British Columbia and is currently preparing to move to Kenya with his family to work with the FAME Reformed Theological College.
