Christ will come as a thief in the night.
Naw man, garee, we talked about this.
That is not what the text STATES when it speaks of "JESUS HIMSELF [HIS OWN PERSON]"; but instead states "Behold,
I come
AS A THIEF. [PERIOD!]" (Armageddon-timing; aka "His Second Coming
to the earth" aspect of the "CHRONOLOGY"; Rev16:15-16)
When the words
"IN THE NIGHT" are added to this phrase (thus saying "shall so come
as a thief IN THE NIGHT"),
THAT is speaking of the arrival of the TIME-PERIOD which will PRECEDE His-OWN-Arrival/2nd-Coming-
to-the-earth, and which TIME-PERIOD (preceding His "RETURN"
to the earth) commences when He will "
STAND to JUDGE" (Isa3:13; Rev5:6 [Lam2:3-4
parallel the wording of 2Th2:7b-8a]) at the
START of the 7-yr trib (
while He is STILL IN HEAVEN opening SEAL #1 aka the INITIAL birth PANG [SINGULAR; 1Th5:
2-3, Matt24:
4/Mk13:
5 "G5100 -
tis -
'A CERTAIN ONE' (i.e. A CERTAIN ONE
bringing DECEPTION; aka the "
whose COMING" [2Th2:9a (Dan9:27a[26])] of the
"man of sin" IN HIS TIME, the "
IN THE NIGHT"/
DARK/DARKNESS time-period, which will unfold
upon the earth over time, and consist of MANY MORE "birth PANG
S [PLURAL]" that will FOLLOW ON from that INITIAL birth
PANG [SINGULAR]!)
If you will keep these two distinct things "defined" as they properly are spelled out to be, then you will begin to grasp the "CHRONOLOGY" issues.
A "TIME-PERIOD [arrival of]" is
NOT the same thing as "HIS PERSON [arrival of]"!
Don't "ADD" the words where they are NOT FOUND in the actual TEXT. This becomes PROBLEMATIC and blurs two entirely distinct issues into one big mish-mash of MUSH that only serves up "confusion" (if one were to actually trace everything out to its conclusion, by doing so... many ppl just don't! and tend to simply REPEAT an INCORRECT PHRASE either because THEY HEARD SOME DUDE say it, or because of being careless with the text themselves, in their own study of this. Don't do dat
)
____________
Moving on to
another passage oft misinterpreted/misapplied... I made some posts some time back, regarding
2 Corinthians 13:5 :
[quoting various posts I've made on that]
2 Corinthians 10-13 (at least that entire section [and really the entire epistle]) is in the context of Paul vindicating his apostleship.
In the passage you refer to
[2Cor13:5], he is saying, "don't simply test me [and judge me as a non-apostle as compared to the high-talkin' impressive guys you're tempted to "follow" instead], test your own selves and see whether you are in
THE FAITH... because
if you are [and
you know you are (
note: he *knows* this is their internal response, and is using this as part of his argument/defense/reasoning to the point)], then I, who imparted these truths to you, am indeed a genuine apostle... even though you are inclined to think otherwise [coz I'm somewhat of a weak speaker, so to speak, and not much to look at (2Cor10:1,7a, esp.v.10, etc)]."
The passage has nothing to do with some certain-level-standard of "good works" they were to discover, and test themselves against, in order to tell
whether or not they were "still saved," or "on the verge of losing it," or "part-way gone, and 1/4 of the way-to-go, gone," or maybe "90%-still-ON-TARGET-but-with-A-LITTLE-MORE-EFFORT-can-get-probably-still-make-it!," etc.
"Looking [away and only] unto Jesus the author and finisher of
THE FAITH" Hebrews 12:2; and, "Christ in you, the [
sure] hope of glory" Colossians 1:27. ["THE faith" = "that body of truth" as found in the NT which includes the VITAL ASPECT of "His Resurrection"!]
[and]
They are questioning Paul's apostleship, and he is responding with the "proof of it"... THEM (the-saved/Christ-in-them... unless they are willing to say He's not in them). He's saying, don't merely test me (my apostleship, or lack thereof), test THE PROOF of it! --->
YOU, YOURSELVES! (are the proof!!)
THIS is the context / setting of the words in v.5.
[end quoting those posts]