Category: Eschatology

Part I

Part II

What about Medieval Eschatology? There is not much to say about Medieval Eschatology, except to say that a form of Augustinian eschatology was prevalent. Essentially, the institutional Roman Catholic Church was closely linked to the kingdom of God. We would call this Ecclesiocracy. The Church was at the center of all of society. The Church and the Kingdom were one. The Church was not at the center of the kingdom, but it was the kingdom. It had little concern about “interacting with society and culture.”[1] It was basically what we would call today Amillennialism.  It teaches that the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, not interested in transforming culture and civilization.

The Reformation

On October 31, 1517, Luther nailed the ninety-five thesis on the Church door of Wittenberg. That marked the beginning of a new era in Church History. In very general terms, the Reformation reformed the abuses of the Church and once they realized that there would be no change, the Reformers took a path of their own.  In those days the Church persecuted those who disagreed with her. Things have changed quite a bit in the last 400 years.

Also, the Reformation provided a better understanding of the doctrine of salvation. Both Calvin and Luther believed strongly that salvation was first and foremost the work of God in our lives; God saves and He alone (Sola Deo Gloria).

But in the area of eschatology, the Reformers spent little time developing their millennium views.  To the extent that they dealt with eschatology, the Reformers were in general agreements with Augustine. They all agreed that Premillennialism was wrong. But they did not develop much their view of eschatology. How about Luther and Calvin? Were they in agreement on every matter of eschatology? Though they did not write books on eschatology, they did have their opinions. Luther, for example, was very pessimistic about the future of the church. He believed this in large part because of the corruptions of the Catholic Church. Luther did not believe that the Christian had a duty to have dominion over all things. Calvin, on the other hand, differed with Luther. According to Keith Mathison, “Calvin encourages us to have a zeal for daily progress, but he cautions us that the final and full realization of the kingdom of Christ awaits the Second Coming.”[2] Calvin certainly set the precedent for what we call today Postmillennialism.

And we know this because his followers were the Puritans. The Puritans began to develop what it means to have an optimistic eschatology; a hopeful view of history under Christian influence.  So what you have in the beginning of the 18^th century all the way to the founding of Princeton Seminary is an overwhelming Postmillennial position among Reformed and non-Reformed Scholars.

Modern Eschatology

Now we come to the 21^st century and much has changed. As we all know “The Left Behind Series” theology, which is the theology of Pre-Tribulational Premillenialism is the most prominent eschatology of our day.

In closing, what are some reasons Postmillennialism declined in the 20^th century:[3]

a)      In the twentieth century there was the rapid growth of liberal theology. It undermined supernatural assumptions. For Postmillennialism, there was a strong reliance on the supernatural power of God to bring about a godly society. With the rise of liberal theology, there was a decline of postmillennial thought.

b)      Secondly, the social gospel became very pervasive. Instead of bringing the gospel to sinners, people treated the gospel as equivalent to the welfare system.  There was little emphasis on Biblical truth and gospel from the pulpits. This led to a decline of postmillennial thought.

c)       Finally, Postmillennialism declined as a result of the growing pessimistic trends in evangelical preaching. One early preacher said: ‘if the ship is sinking, why polish the brass.” That mentality became a part of the evangelical world and naturally postmillennial thought declined.

This is a brief survey of eschatology throughout church history. Next week, we will look at the Biblical Arguments for Postmillennialism and we will see that when we allow the Bible to interpret our future instead of the newspaper, Postmillennialism will become once again the prevailing eschatological view of the church and Christians can be encouraged by the promises of God that the gospel will prevail in time and in history. Amen.

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[1] Quoted in Mathison, pg. 34.

[2] Postmillennialism: An Eschatology of Hope, pg. 40.

[3] Mainly taken from the writings of my former professor Keith Mathison at RTS; An Eschatology of Hope, pg. 48.

What is Postmillennialism?

A helpful definition of Postmillennialism has been offered by Dr. Kenneth Gentry. He writes:

Postmillennialism is the view that Christ will return to the earth after the Spirit-blessed Gospel has had overwhelming success in bringing the world to the adoption of Christianity.[1]

I would like to focus on eschatology throughout Church History. Next Sunday, we will look at the Biblical Case for Postmillennialism and we will conclude our study answering objections to Postmillennialism and offering the practical implications of this position.

The Eschatology of the Early Church

The early church does not have a robust understanding of the doctrine of eschatology. In fact, when you read the early church fathers like Clement of Rome or Barnabas of Alexandria, one does not get the impression that millennial questions were on their mind. One thing we are sure from the Early Apostolic Church is that they believed that “Christ would return visibly in glory and that the dead would be resurrected for judgment.”[2]

On the other hand, there is no general consensus on the question of when will Christ come again. Is it before the millennium or after? The early church did not have a systematic theology informing them what St. Paul believed about eschatology. However, one patristic father that made his millennial position clear is Papias.[3] Through some of the fragments of his writings, we can reach the certain conclusion that Papias held to a form of Premillenialism.[4] This is what we would call today Historical Pre-Millenialism or post-tribulationism. In other words, Papias believed that Christ’s Second Coming would occur at the end of the seven year Tribulation. Eusebius–who is often referred to as the Father of Church History–wrote in his Ecclesiastical History in the fourth century that Papias’ version of millenarianism was “bizarre.” (Ecclesiastical History, 3.39.11)[5]

How about the second and third century apologists? What did they think about the millennium? There were many who dealt with millennium questions, but J.N.D. Kelly summarizes their understanding of the millennium in the following manner: “(these doctrines)…were held together in a naïve, unreflective fashion with little or no attempt to work out their implications or solve the problems that they raise.”[6]

In essence, what you have is a maturing church in the early church learning and growing in their understanding of the millennium. You will find, however, a more mature explanation of the millennium question in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. For instance, in Athanasius you begin to find a note of optimism in the future of the world. In his book On the Incarnation you get a glimpse of his faith in the victory of Christ’s gospel:

Since the Savior’s Advent in our midst, not only does idolatry no longer increase, but it is getting   less and gradually ceasing to be…while idolatry and everything else that opposes the faith of Christ is daily dwindling and weakening and falling, see, the Savior’s teaching is increasing everywhere!

So also, now that the Divine epiphany of the Word of God has taken place, the darkness of idols prevails no more, and all parts of the world in every direction are enlightened by His teaching.[7]

There is in Athanasius a glimpse of what later would be called Postmillennialism. Athanasius believed that Christ will return again only after a lengthy period of time on earth of great peace and prosperity and where the influence of the gospel is known in every land.  This is the reason the late David Chilton called Athanasius “the patron saint of postmillennialism.”[8]

And one final note on St. Augustine. It is impossible to discuss eschatology without talking about Augustine. Everyone wants to claim Augustine as an apologist for their position. What exactly did Augustine believe about the millennium? Augustine’s position on the future of the world has its clearest expression in his classic work The City of God. One of the central themes of that book is the relationship between the city of God and the city of man or the secular city.[9] Papias was one of the first to express a Premillennial view of the End Times. Augustine at one time held to a similar position, but later on in his life he strongly rejected it. He adopted a more symbolic understanding of Revelation 20. His understanding  continued to have great influence in the centuries to come.

To summarize the early church’s position on eschatology, we can safely conclude that there was not a universally held position.

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[1] Quoted in Keith Mathison’s Postmillennialism: An Eschatology of Hope.

[2] Mathison, pg. 24.

[3] We can add Irenaeus and Justin Martyr.

[4] Premillennialism teaches that Christ will return before the millennial age.

[5] Quoted in Mathison, pg. 26.

[6] Ibid. 26.

[7] Athanasius, Sec. 55, quoted in Mathison, pg. 29.

[8] Quotation in the footnotes of his Revelation commentary: “Days of Vengeance.”

[9] See Alister McGrath.

The question of what millennial view you hold to stems from the interpretation of Revelation 20.

20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

Whether you are a Premillennialist, Amillennialist or a Postmillennialist, Revelation 20 is a very significant passage to consider. The position we embrace here at Providence is the Postmillennial position of eschatology. By this I mean that the Bible presents the gospel as victorious in redemptive history. All the different positions agree that in the New Heavens and New Earth we will be victorious for all eternity, but the question postmillennialism answers is: Will we be victorious on earth, in the here and now? Is the gospel powerful enough to bring the nations to embrace Messiah as Lord? Postmillennial Eschatology says YES! In light of Revelation 20, what we are saying is that Christ’s Second Coming will occur “Post or After” the “Thousand Years.”

This study will serve as an introduction. It is not a thorough examination. I have listed some resources for you in case you would like to pursue this subject at length.

What is the Purpose of this Study: The purpose of this study is to understand what Postmillennialism teaches, how it affects our view of life, our view of our children’s education and our view of worship.

Here is a faulty definition of Postmillennialism:

There used to be a group called ‘postmillennialists.’ They believed that the Christians would root out the evil in the world, abolish godless rulers, and convert the world through ever increasing evangelism until they brought about the Kingdom of God on earth through their own efforts. Then after 1000 years of the institutional church reigning on earth with peace, equality, and righteousness, Christ would return and time would end. These people rejected much of the Scripture as being literal and believed in the inherent goodness of man. World War I greatly disheartened this group and World War II virtually wiped out this viewpoint. No self-respecting scholar who looks at the world conditions and the accelerating decline of Christian influence today is a ‘postmillennialist. – The Late Great Planet Earth, Hal Lindsey.

Of course, after 30 years of predicting Jesus was going to come back and being wrong many, many times, we know that Hal Lindsey is a no self-respecting scholar.

Let me begin with three statements about what postmillennialism is not and then we will delve into the historical data.

a)      PT does not believe that we will root out all the evil in the world. There will always be evil in this present world until Christ comes again in His Second Coming.

b)      PT does not believe that we will bring about the Kingdom of God on earth through our own efforts and we do not believe in the inherent goodness of man. In fact, every Postmillennialist I know believes in the Total Depravity of Man. We believe that any victory that occurs in this world comes from the hands of God.

c)       PT does not reject the literal reading of the Bible. We believe that each book contains its own genre. If a book is an apocalyptic book, we examine it in light of its apocalypticism. If a book is a poetic book, we examine it poetically and so on.

Athanasius’ On The Incarnation:

Since the Savior’s Advent in our midst, not only does idolatry no longer increase, but it is getting   less and gradually ceasing to be…while idolatry and everything else that opposes the faith of Christ is daily dwindling and weakening and falling, see, the Savior’s teaching is increasing everywhere!

So also, now that the Divine epiphany of the Word of God has taken place, the darkness of idols prevails no more, and all parts of the world in every direction are enlightened by His teaching.[1]

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[1] Athanasius, Sec. 55, quoted in Mathison, pg. 29.

In preparing for this Sunday’s study of Postmillennial/Preterist Eschatology, I have once again been renewed by the Biblical optimism of the victory of the gospel. The Psalms paint the glorious future of God’s loyal covenant people. The Psalms become the Messianic Agenda for the nations.

Alex Chediak interviews Keith Mathison on his new book: From Age to Age.