I have been challenged today to provide “Chapter and verse please?” for the doctrine of the Pre-tribulation Rapture. I provided Bible citations from three different Roman Catholic translations because this discussion has been with some Roman Catholic participants who claim the Roman Catholic Church does not teach this doctrine, but that this doctrine is a recent Protestant innovation not even believed or taught by most Protestants.
Here is my response:
Here is the chapter and verse you requested:
1Th 4:17 (4:16) Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ, into the air: and so shall we be always with the Lord. (DRB, Douay-Rheims Bible)
1Th 4:16 Only after that shall we, who are still left alive, be taken up into the clouds, be swept away to meet Christ in the air, and they will bear us company. And so we shall be with the Lord for ever [Note 4: This verse gives possibility, though not certainty, to the view that those who are alive at the second Coming will not experience death.] (Monsignor Ronald Knox translation and note.)
1Th 4:17 Afterwards we who are alive, who survive, shall be caught up with them on clouds into the air to meet the Lord, and so we shall continue in the Lord’s company forever. (James A. Kleist S.J. Joseph L. Lilly, C.M. translation)
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (KJV, King James Version)
The doctrine of the Pre-tribulation Rapture is taught in this verse and its immediate context. “Rapture” is based upon the underlying Greek text which uses the word “harpadzo.” “Harpadzo” is translated by the English words “taken up” (DRB & Knox), “caught up” (Kleist and Lilly & KJV).
The Rapture is clearly Pre-tribulational because Paul’s stated purpose is to comfort (immediate context, 1 Thessalonians 4:18, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words”).
The Rapture is clearly Pre-tribulational because Paul in his order of discussion places it BEFORE he mentions the Day of the Lord when the Great Tribulation takes place (near context: 1 Thessalonians 5:2, “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.”).
Paul states this identical order in his corrective discussion (related context: 2 Thessalonians 2:1, “And we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and of our gathering together unto him:” (DRB); “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,” (KJV). This is the coming at the Pre-tribulation Rapture. In Scripture there are no Resurrection/Rapture passages which speak of the Great Tribulation (in terms of the Rapture occurring during the Great Tribulation period), and no Great Tribulation passages which speak of a COMBINED resurrection of the dead in Christ AND rapture and translation of living believers.
Paul references the Rapture in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 by the words “our gathering together unto him,” alluding to what he had written in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (“caught up together with them”).
Note the order of discussion Paul writes here: first the rapture (2 Thessalonians 2:1) then he mentions the day of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 2:2):
2Th 2:1 Now regarding the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to be with him, we ask you, brothers and sisters,
2Th 2:2 not to be easily shaken from your composure or disturbed by any kind of spirit or message or letter allegedly from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. (NET Bible)
These are the FACTS directly stated in Scripture which place the Pre-tribulation Rapture BEFORE the Day of the Lord and its Great Tribulation.
You rightly and kindly asked for “chapter and verse please.” I just furnished two such references which establish the order of events pertaining to the Pre-Tribulation Rapture.