Mag. Claudia R. Wintoch
Pauline Epistles II
J.D. King
World Revival School of Ministry
1. Introduction
2. Definition
3. Millennialism
3.1.
Historic Evidence
3.2.
Scriptural Interpretation
4. Conclusion
5. Bibliography
1. Introduction
After Jesus’ ascension to heaven,
the early believers lived in the constant expectation of Jesus’ imminent return
in their lifetime – the Parousia.
Since then every generation has believed to be the one Jesus will return in.
Today, 2000 years later, different elaborate views of what the Second Coming of
Jesus is going to look like abound, each one supposedly based on the Word of
God. This paper is looking at the question of chronology regarding the events
surrounding the Parousia of the Lord, especially in regards to the possibility
of a millennial reign of Christ.
2. Definition
The word parousίa (parousia)
occurs in the New Testament 24 times, nearly half of these in the Pauline
epistles. We understand the Lord’s Second Coming by that term; however, Plevnik
(1997:4) makes an interesting observation: “In the authentic Pauline epistles
it is employed for Paul’s coming or for the coming of his associates more
frequently than for the coming of the Lord.” Paul always qualifies whose coming
he is referring to, adding “of the Lord” (1.Thess 4:15) or “of Christ” (1.Cor
15:23) and the like.
The New Testament employs the term
“day of the Lord” more frequently than parousia, including Paul who uses
that phrase in every one of his letters. He seems to use the two terms
interchangeably, implying the Lord’s mighty return and the judgment day to be
one and the same day.
3. Millennialism
The return of the Lord is closely
related to the question of the millennial reign. Will Christ reign a thousand
years before the final Judgment Day? Hill (2001:5) explains that millennialism
signifies “belief in a temporary, earthly, Messianic kingdom to be realized
sometime in the future: temporary, for although it covers an extended period of
time, it is not viewed as the ultimate state of things; earthly, as it takes
place on this earth, typically with Jerusalem as its capital; and Messianic, as
an individual deliverer(s) plays a central role in it.” In contrast,
amillennialists believe in “an eschatological return of Christ and his kingdom
to earth for a final judgment of the quick and the dead, ushering in the ultimate
and eternal state of salvation or ruin for humanity, with no intervening,
earthly, golden age” (ibid. p. 6).
3.1. Historic Evidence
Historic writings seem to indicate
that a millennialist view was predominant in the early church. However, there
are indications today that a good number of church fathers were actually
amillennialists, like Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria, maybe even Ignatius,
Polycarp and others[1]. Hill states
that semitic Christians in Israel actually “appear never to have embraced chiliasm[2]”.
It is in Asia Minor that the first indication of millennialism appears, which
is spread by Papias and Irenaeus, while amillennialism was still the dominant
understanding. Hill (ibid. p. 253) summarizes:
“A solidly entrenched and conservative, non-chiliastic eschatology was present in the Church to rival chiliasm from beginning to end. The discovery of this factor, moreover, has stemmed from an “inner” analysis, one made by a participant in the controversy, namely, Irenaeus.”
3.2. Scriptural Interpretation
The foremost Bible passage talking
about a thousand-year reign is Revelation 20, which has been the basis for
millenialists’ argumentation. However, an early amillennialist interpretation
has been discovered which means that the “easy assumptions about chiliasm being
“canonically formulated” in John’s Revelation can no longer stand” (ibid. p.
270). They understand the passage as describing a heavenly kingdom where
believers go between their death and resurrection, as opposed to the
millennialist understanding of a literal thousand-year reign on earth between
the Lord’s return and Judgment Day. Millennialists also understand the martyrs
naturally being the first ones with Christ because of the persecution of the
early church, participating in heaven “in his ruling and judging and serving
the heavenly altar as priests in the heavenly sacerdocy” (ibid. p. 267).
Clement of Alexandria wrote:
“For those who are changed from men to angels are instructed for a thousand years by the angels after they are brought to perfection…Thus afterwards, in the prescribed periods, they are brought to the proper angelic state of the body” (ibid. p. 265).
4. Conclusion
Whether there will be a literal
thousand-year reign before Judgment Day, or whether it is one day when Christ
will return triumphantly to judge the living and dead, does ultimately not
matter. What matters is that Jesus is coming back for us, and we are to be
ready at all times for that glorious day of His Parousia. Paul admonished those
who had thought that day had already come, and those who thought His return was
very imminent, to live a life worthy of Christ and their high calling, without
focusing on the tomorrow but looking to today. The church has invested much
effort into determining what Christ’s return will look like and how it will
happen, defending its particular viewpoint even at the cost of brotherly love
and unity. We would do well to not major on the minors but look to our glorious
Savior and King in whom we are one and who will come back in glory to be united
with His bride.
5. Bibliography
Buckley, James J, and L. Gregory Jones (eds.), Theology and Eschatology At the Turn of the Millennium, Blackwell Publishers: Oxford 2001
DeMar, Gary, End Times Fiction. A Biblical Consideration of the Left Behind Theology, Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville, TN 2001
Hill, Charles E., Regnum
Caelorum. Patterns of Millennial Thought in Early Christianity, William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids, MI 2001
Holleman, Joost, Resurrection and
Parousia. A Traditio-Historical Study of Paul’s Eschatology in 1 Corinthians 15,
E. J. Brill: Leiden 1996
Moore, A. L., The Parousia in the
New Testament, E. J. Brill: Leiden 1966
Plevnik, Joseph, Paul and the
Parousia. An Exegetical and Theological Investigation, Hendrickson
Publishers: Peabody, MASS 1997
Russell, J. Stuart, The Parousia.
The New Testament Doctrine of Our Lord’s Second Coming, Baker Books: Grand
Rapids, MI 1999