THE PAROUSIA

A Critical Inquiry

into the new testament doctrine of

OUR LORD’S SECOND COMING

Ὀυ γὰρ σεσοφισμένοις μύθοις έξσκολουθήσαντες ἐγνωρίσαμεν ὐμῖν τὴν το͂υ Κυρίου ἠμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δύναμιν καὶ παρουσίαν.—2 Peter 1:16.

hypotheses non fingo.’—sir isaac newton

LONDON

DALDY, ISBISTER & CO.

56, LUDGATE HILL

1878

The right of translation is reserved.

PREFACE

No attentive reader of the New Testament can fail to be struck with the prominence given by the evangelists and the apostles to the Parousia, or ‘coming of the Lord.’ That event is the great theme of New Testament prophecy. There is scarcely a single book, from the Gospel of St. Matthew to the Apocalypse of St. John, in which it is not set forth as the glorious promise of God and the blessed hope of the church. It was frequently and solemnly predicted by our Lord; it was incessantly kept before the eyes of the early Christians by the apostles; and it was firmly believed and eagerly expected by the churches of the primitive age.

It cannot be denied that there is a remarkable difference between the attitude of the first Christians in relation to the Parousia and that of Christians now. That glorious hope, to which all eyes and hearts in the apostolic age were eagerly turned, has almost disappeared from the view of modern believers. Whatever may be the theoretical opinions expressed in symbols and creeds, it must in candour be admitted that the ‘second coming of Christ’ has all but ceased to be a living and practical belief.

Various causes may be assigned in explanation of this state of things. The rash vaticinations of those who have too confidently undertaken to be interpreters of prophecy, and the discredit consequent on the failure of their predictions, have no doubt deterred reverent and soberminded men from entering upon the investigation of ‘unfufilled prophecy.’ On the other hand, there is reason to think that rationalistic criticism has engendered doubts whether the predictions of the New Testament were ever intended to have a literal or historical fulfilment.

Between rationalism on the one hand, and irrationalism on the other, there has come to be a widely prevailing state of uncertainty and confusion of thought in regard to New Testament prophecy, which to some extent explains, though it may not justify, the consigning of the whole subject to the region of hopelessly obscure and insoluble problems.

This, however, is only a partial explanation. It deserves consideration whether there may not be a fundamental difference between the relation of the church of the apostolic age to the predicted Parousia and the relation to that event sustained by subsequent ages. The first Christians undoubtedly believed themselves to be standing on the verge of a great catastrophe, and we know what intensity and enthusiasm the expectation of the almost immediate coming of the Lord inspired; but if it cannot be shown that Christians now are similarly placed, there would be a want of truth ...

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About The Parousia: A Critical Inquiry into the New Testament Doctrine of Our Lord’s Second Coming

Late nineteenth-century theologian James Stuart Russell’s study of the second coming, first published anonymously in 1878, has become a classic in eschatology. Russell—who viewed AD 70 as the time of the second coming, and the beginning of the millennium—examines “whether there may not be a fundamental difference between the relation of the church of the apostolic age to the predicted Parousia and the relation to that event sustained by subsequent ages.”

Russell posits that “there must therefore be some grave misconception on the part of those who maintain that the Christian church of today occupies precisely the same relation and should maintain the same attitude towards the ‘coming of the Lord’ as the church in the days of St. Paul.” This volume is an attempt to “clear up this misconception and to ascertain the true meaning of the Word of God on a subject which holds so conspicuous a place in the teaching of our Lord and his apostles.” His work presents a thorough and tightly-reasoned case for Preterism.

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