What is Apostasy?

Some of the critics of the Church like to claim that “apostasy” means “standing apart,” implying a mere insignificant different of opinion.  It does not.  It means “rebellion.”  According to the third edition of the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, the standard scholarly dictionary of the Greek New Testament, it means “defiance of established system or authority, rebellion, abandonment, breach of faith” (p. 120).  (See the usage in Josh 22:22; 2 Ch 29:19; 1 Macc 2:15; Acts 21:21; 2 Thess. 2:3)