Heritage Lectures, Tyndale Seminary
Dr. Mike Stallard, Dean of Baptist Bible Seminary
September 30 & October 1, 2011
The History of the Doctrine of Eschatology
The Apostolic Fathers (100 to 150 A.D.)
The early church fathers (here called Apostolic Fathers) who wrote and ministered in the first half of the second century can be characterized as primarily chiliasts or millennarians. Philip Schaff in his classical history of the Church makes this comment:
The most striking point in the eschatology of the ante-Nicene age [prior to 325 A.D.] is the prominent chiliasm, or millennarianism, that is the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on the earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general resurrection and judgment. It was indeed not the doctrine of the church embodied in any creed or form of devotion, but a widely current opinion of distinguished teachers.
(History of the Christian Church, II, 614).
It is true that there is no developed system of eschatology in the Apostolic Fathers and in all areas of theology they often appear vague and sketchy. However, many of the elements which make up the mosaic of later modern dispensationalism can be seen in isolation in texts from the Apostolic Fathers.
Some specific examples
· All writers of this period talk about the physical resurrection of believers and do not mention the resurrection of unbelievers.
· The resurrection of believers is usually placed as the Second Advent:
o I Clement 24—at the Second Advent
o Barnabas 5—before the Kingdom (at the Second Advent)
o Didache 16—after the Tribulation but before (at?) the Second Advent
· The Second Advent is viewed with immediacy and is considered to consist of the visible appearing of Christ.
· The Second Advent is associated with the establishment of the Kingdom.
· The time of the establishment of the Kingdom:
o I Clement 50—at the resurrection of believers
o II Clement 1—at the Second Advent
o II Clement 9—at the resurrection
o Barnabas 21— immediately preceding the resurrection
· The purpose of the Kingdom:
o II Clement 6—rest for believers
o II Clement 17— rule of the world by Christ
o Barnabas 6— a time for Christians to rule the earth in holiness
o Didache 9— a time prepared for the Church
· Some of the Apostolic Fathers speak of the "last days" as beginning with the Incarnation (Barnabas 2, Ignatius' Eph. 11, etc.).
The Apologists (150 to 250 A.D.)
· Justin
o Justin was eschatologically oriented in his writings.
o In Justin both the saved and lost would be physically raised from the dead at the Second Advent.
o Justin stresses both the imminency of the Second Advent and the immediacy of the Kingdom. The Kingdom follows a general resurrection.
o Justin teaches that the reign of Christ during the Kingdom is from Jerusalem and for a thousand years.
· Irenaeus
o Irenaeus was the first to clearly teach that human history was divided into seven periods of 1000 years each. He believed that he was in the sixth period.
o The sequence which he established was the following:
1. At the end of the sixth period would be a time of great Satanic
deception and troubling (akin to our views of the Great Tribulation).
2. After this Satanic deception would come the Second Advent of Christ.
3. The first resurrection occurs.
4. The seventh period of earth history begins and lasts for 1000 years.
5. The earth is destroyed at the end of the 7th period.
6. Eternity begins with a new heaven and new earth.
· The School of Alexandria
The school of Alexandria (Clement, Origen, et al) led the charge to replace the chiliastic approach to eschatology with a non-millennial view. The basis for this view was a shift away from literal hermeneutics when prophetic passages, especially those with respect to the future of Israel, were in view. Note the rather lengthy and representative quotation from Origen's Principles, II. XI.2:
Certain persons, then, refusing the labour of thinking, and adopting a superficial view of the letter of the law, and yielding rather in some measure to the indulgence of their own desires and lusts, being disciples of the letter alone, are of opinion that the fulfillment of the promises of the future are to be looked for in bodily pleasure and luxury; and therefore they especially desire to have again, after the resurrection, such bodily structures as may never be without the power of eating, drinking, and performing all the functions of flesh and blood, not following the opinion of the Apostle Paul regarding the resurrection of a spiritual body. And consequently they say, that after the resurrection there will be marriages, and the begetting of children, imagining to themselves that the earthly city of Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, its foundations laid in precious stones, and its walls constructed of jasper, and its battlements of crystal; that it is to have a wall composed of many precious stones, as jasper, and sapphire, and chalcedony, and emerald, and sardonyx, and onyx, and chrysolite, and chrysoprase, and jacinth, and amethyst. Moreover, they think that the natives of other countries are to be given them as the ministers of their pleasures, whom they are to employ either as tillers of the field or builders of walls, and by whom their ruined and fallen city is again to be raised up; and they think that they are to receive the wealth of the nations to live on, and that they will have control over their riches; that even the camels of Midian and Kedar will come, and bring to them gold, and incense, and precious stones. And these views they think to establish on the authority of the prophets by those promises which are written regarding Jerusalem; and by those passages also where it is said, that they who serve the Lord shall eat and drink, but that sinners shall hunger and thirst; that the righteous shall be joyful, but that sorrow shall possess the wicked. And from the New Testament also they quote the saying of the Saviour, in which He makes a promise to His disciples concerning the joy of wine, saying, 'Henceforth I shall not drink of this cup, until I drink it with you new in My Father's kingdom.' They add, moreover, that declaration, in which the Saviour calls those blessed who now hunger and thirst, promising them that they shall be satisfied; and many other scriptural illustrations are adduced by the, the meaning of which they do not perceive is to be taken figuratively. Then, again, agreeably to the form of things in this life, and according to the gradations of the dignities or ranks in this world, or the greatness of their powers, they think they are to be kings and princes, like those earthly monarchs who now exist; chiefly, as it appears, on account of that expression in the Gospel: 'Have thou power over five cities.' And to speak shortly, according to the manner of things in this life in all similar matters, do they desire the fulfillment of all things looked for in the promises, viz., that what now is should exist again. Such are the views of those who, while believing in Christ, understand the divine Scriptures in a sort of Jewish sense, drawing from them nothing worthy of the divine promises.
Some of the insights from studying Origen and the school at Alexandria appear to be the following:
1. They are influenced by the Gnostic tendencies which had crept into the Church.
2. They were influenced by Greek (primarily Platonic/Neo-Platonic) philosophy.
3. They were somewhat anti-Semitic in the way they dealt with the kingdom issues.
The Theologians(250 [Cyprian] to 430 [Augustine] A.D.)
During the period of the theologians, Augustine's anti-chiliasm nailed down for the West what the Alexandrian School had done in the East. So the Church as a whole tends to adopt an amillennial stance on the issue of the kingdom leading into the Middle Ages.
When Rome was sacked by the Goths under Alaric in 410 A.D., Augustine responded by writing The City of God. This work is perhaps the most significant work written from the New Testament until the Reformation. In this work, Augustine explains that the sacking of Rome was not judgment from the gods because of the rise of Christianity in the empire. Rather there is at work in the world two kingdoms (two cities), the city of God and the city of Satan. Earthly kingdoms were not to be confused with the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God on earth was the Church. Augustine's scheme actually gives no future kingdom to look for so that he is often called the "Father of Amillennial Theology" although even postmillennialists will claim him as one of their own. Some specifics of Augustine's outline with some additional notes:
· He brought scholarly acceptance to amillennialism.
· The Church = kingdom of God on earth
· The head of the Church is the Vicar of Christ (bishop of Rome).
· He taught the recapitulation view of interpretation for the Book of Revelation.
o This is the view that the book of Revelation can be divided into seven literary parts, each of which begins over again with the First Advent and continues on into the Eschaton. In this scheme, Rev. 20 begins a new literary section which begins again with the First Advent. In that way, the 1000 years of Rev. 20 can be made to begin with the First Advent and constitutes the presence age. That is, the church equals the kingdom (the 1000 years). This is probably still the majority view among amillennialists on handling the tricky passage of Rev. 20.
· As a result, Satan is considered bound now (at least with respect to some areas; see Rev. 20).
· Also as a result, the 1000 years in Rev. 20 commence with the First Advent of Christ. Augustine appeared to take the 1000 years literally although there appears to be some ambivalence in some passages of Augustine’s writings.
· Augustine taught a period at the end of the 1000 years would be unleashed upon the world by Satan (3 and 1/2 years long?).
One of the implications of Augustine's approach overall is that there is only one unified people of God with no distinction made between OT Israel and NT Church.
The Middle Ages(430 to 1517)
During the Medieval Period, Augustine's views held sway in the Western wing of Christendom. However, there is growing evidence of a continuing chiliastic approach in the East. In fact, recent discoveries in 1994 show a very early representation of a two-phase Second Coming much like that developed by Darby in the early 19th century. So in this section I will summarize this particular discovery from the early Middle Ages and review Thomas Aquinas to show the more traditional approach at this lengthy period of time.
· Pseudo-Ephraem – This is a Syriac writing dating somewhere from the late 4th century (A.D.) to the early 8th century. The dating is based upon internal evidence of wars between Rome and the Persians which lasted for centuries. Which war is uncertain—hence, the wide range on the date. The author is thought to be someone writing as though he were the Syriac Church Father Ephraem who was a contemporary of Augustine (late 4th century). This particular writing is a sermon from the early Middle Ages which does two things: (1) it teaches a clear two-phase Second Coming (although the length of the tribulation is not clear – either 3 ½ or 7 years); (2) it shows an interest in the details of prophecy in exactly the same way that modern dispensationalists do, in fact, using the same passages and many of the same issues. This shows a robust premillennialism (and even pretribulationalism) many centuries before Darby (early 1800s). The copy we have of this work is in Latin but it has been translated into English and can be found on the Internet. It is well worth the read and will take you only a short time to do so.
· Thomas Aquinas – This famous scholar from the late Middle Ages (12th century—Scholastic Period) helped to codify the sacramental system for the developing Roman Catholic Church. Perhaps his most significant writing is his voluminous Summa Theologica. Our interest here is Aquinas’ standard amillennial interpretation which is the majority view within Christendom during the Middle Ages. It is at its heart a replacement theology which has no future for Israel and views the church of today as the kingdom of Revelation 20. Of particular interest is Aquinas’ focus on the two main interests of amillennialists of that time: (1) the beatific vision of God (the holy gaze upon God for those who are accepted by Him when they die), and (2) the physical resurrection of Christ at the Second Advent. The interests of amillennialism in a strict eschatological sense are largely limited to these two main issues, although some modern amillennialists (e.g., Poythress, Hoekema) have taken the “new earth” passages more seriously.
The Reformation (1517 to 1648)
Due to the continuing influence of Augustine and the emerging voice of John Calvin, amillennialism continues to be the predominant eschatological view during the Reformation. However, the Reformation emphasis on inductive Bible study, especially formulated in Calvin, opened the door for future meditations upon prophetic passages in a more literal approach. Ironically, the hermeneutics which the Reformers developed and used to respond to Rome led to the rise of eschatological views against their own.