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Bible Dictionaries
Apostasy
Morrish Bible Dictionary
or Though the word 'apostasy' does not occur in the A.V., the Greek word occurs from which the English word is derived. In Acts 21:21 Paul was told that he was accused of teaching the Jews who were among the Gentiles to apostatise from Moses. Paul taught freedom from the law by the death of the Christ and this would appear to a strict Jew as apostasy. The same word is used in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 , where it is taught that the day of the Lord could not come until there came 'the apostasy,' or the falling from Christianity in connection with the manifestation of the man of sin. See ANTICHRIST.
Though the general apostasy there spoken of cannot come till after the saints are taken to heaven, yet there may be, as there has been, individual falling away. See, for instance, Hebrews 3:12; Hebrews 10:26,28 , and the epistle of Jude. There are solemn warnings also that show that such apostasy will be more and more general as the close of the present dispensation approaches. 1 Timothy 4:1-3 . Now a falling away necessarily implies a position which can be fallen from, a profession has been made which has been deliberately given up. This is, as scripture says, like the dog returning to his vomit, and the sow to her wallowing in the mire. It is not a Christian falling into some sin, from which grace can recover him; but a definite relinquishing of Christianity. Scripture holds out no hope in a case of deliberate apostasy, though nothing is too hard for the Lord.
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Morrish, George. Entry for 'Apostasy'. Morrish Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/mbd/a/apostasy.html. 1897.
