Re: BG: Synoptic Apocalypse

From: Jan.Haugland@uib.no
Date: Mon Aug 28 1995 - 20:52:00 EDT


Carl W. Conrad said:
> I was going just to let this pass but I couldn't. While I agree that the
> Synoptic gospels all have Jesus-sayings indicating that the "Coming" of the
> Son of Man will take place within the lifetimes of those hearing Jesus,

YES! Thank you for pointing this out. It's the crucial point, and I will come
back to this. I believe that the gospels actually reflect true, authentic oral
statements made by Jesus to the disciples. These statements were well known
among all Christians even before a single book of the NT was written. The
underlying Christian faith in the imminent parousia was built on these
statements, and the earliest books -- the Pauline letters -- simply refer to a
faith that was already present.

> I
> think it is a gross overstatement to say that this is the teaching of "the
> whole NT,"

It is of course a subjective statement with a certain lack of precision, but I
stand by it.

We have the synoptics stating this clearly. We agree so far.

The Gospel of John has the same message, in places like Jn16:16: "A little
while, and you will see me no more; again a little while, and you will see me."
In Jn21:22 we also find that based on Jesus statements, the discipled had
(mistakenly) assumed that Jesus had *guaranteed* that John would live to see
the parousia. John corrects this, but this is evidence that they expected the
coming within one generation.

In Acts 2:16, Peter states that they were living *in the last days.* Later, in
Acts 17:31, we see most translations say merely that Jesus "will judge" the
world (oikomene). "He will judge" is "mellei krinein," and the Greek experts
here should have no difficulty observing that there is a shade of urgency here:
"he is about to judge," or "will soon judge."

For the epistles, let me try to be a bit chronologic:

1The is one of the letters most clearly showing the *urgency* in the Christian
expectations of the parousia. The most clear example can be found where Paul is
comforting the Thessalonikans who have lost someone in death. Paul comforts
them by stating that the dead ("sleeping") will certainly not lose their
reward.

  1The4:15 "For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are
  alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those
  who have fallen asleep."

Here we see that Paul clearly expects to be alive; he says that "WE who are
alive" and those who are dead will *then* meet the Lord in the sky at the same
time.

Obviously, this letter caused some misunderstandings, and in 2Thess Paul
emphasised that the coming had not yet occurred; they were still waiting for a
few events to take place first. Yet, he did not doubt that the parousia would
take place within a normal lifespan.

We find this repeated all over the letters. In his first letter to Corinth this
is especially manifest. He wrote to those "upon whom the end of the ages has
come." (1Co10:11) To them, Paul reveals something that is not merely his
opinion, but words from God, and which reminds us about the words to
Thessalonika above: "I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet."
(1Co15:51,52) Again, it should not be necessary to point out that "we"
includes Paul.

I don't have to use more arguments to show that the epistles of Paul has the
*imminent* Parousia all over. The battle cry for the Christian, persecuted and
suffering under the evil of this world, was "The Lord is at hand." (Php4:5)

I should hardly need to point out the obvious fact that in no language spoken
by men, can an expression like this -- "at hand" -- indicate a period of 1900
years or more.

> and I think there is considerable evidence indicating that in
> Matthew and Luke the "Coming" is conceived as distanced from the
> destruction of the temple and Jerusalem by an indefinite period of time,
> one that in Luke appears to be rather lengthy, in fact.

You will have to point this out, for I have in a quite careful examination of
these accounts come to the opposite conclusion.

> So could you explain, please, what you mean by saying that 'The whole NT is
> emphasising that the second coming would occur within the lifespan of those
> people he were talking to. The disciples asked Jesus when the "end of the
> age" would be. Jesus explained, and it all came to pass in 70AD?'

I think I have done this, and you should find further examples in the epistles
of John, Jude and Peter (authentic or not). The fact that I am missing some
books in my list above is not lack of examples, but that I don't want this
article to be too long. Let me simply conclude by referring to the Revelation
of John, which I am certain was a message about the forthcoming destruction of
Jerusalem:

  Rev 22:20 "He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming
  soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!"

All the best,

- Jan

--
   "I have seen the future and it is just like the present, only longer."
                       -- Kehlog Albran, _The Profit_


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