“The Rapture” is a pretty popular subject right now. With the new Left Behind movie coming out in October and the T.V. show The Leftovers currently airing.

In both cases “The Rapture” is portrayed as an end of the world apocalyptic event, that is more nerve-racking than comforting.

But when Paul wrote about “The Rapture” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 is this what he had in mind? And is this how the Christians he was writing to understood it?

New Testament scholar N.T. Wright provides a few good reasons why it is likely that Paul’s original audience understood “The Rapture” very differently than the current media portrayal.