3. The Second Coming of Christ.
Scripture teaches that Christ will return to all men visibly,1758) and indeed to all men at once,1759) in divine glory and surrounded by the heavenly court of angels1760) for the general judgment of the world1761) and for the introduction of his church into the eternal glory1762) . Luther: "He will not then lie in a manger nor ride on an ass, as He did in the first future, but will come forth from the clouds with great power and glory." 1763) This return of Christ is as a certain fact both against the direct denial of it on the part of the scoffers who say, "Where is the promise of His future?"1764) and against the forgetfulness of the
1758) As Christ visibly, βλεπόντων αυτών, ascended to heaven, so, according to the express explanation of Scripture, He will return in a visible manner, ελεύσεται δν τρόπον έϑεάσασϑε αυτόν ποοευόμενον είς τον ουρανόν (Acts 1:9, 11.)
1759) That a successive round trip in the world or in heaven is not to be thought of is not only stated in Matt. 24:27, 30 and Luke 17:24 ("As the lightning goeth forth from the rising, and shineth even unto the going down"), but is also contained in the fact that Christ will appear to all the inhabitants of the earth "as a thief in the night", "at an hour when ye think not", 1 Thess. 5:2; Matt. 24:44, so that, for example, Europe cannot give America telegraphic news of Christ's coming.
1760) Matt. 25:31: The Son of man shall come εν τη δόξη αυτοϋ και πάντες οι άγγελοι μετ'1 αυτοϋ. Likewise Matt. 16:27. Baier (II, 260) compiles the business of the angels from Scripture thus: Angelorum munus erit, non solum Christ comitari et sono ingenti excitato manifestare eius adventum (1. ad Thess. 4:16), verum etiam homines, cum e morte resuscitatos, tum vivos deprehensos, ex omnibus mundi partibus congregare (Matt. 24:31), segregare deinde pios ab impiis (Matt. 13:49), denique damnatos ad infernum detrudere (Matt. 13:42). [Google]
1761) Matt. 25:31: "All nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another."
1762) Hebr. 9:26-27: "At the end of the world [at the time of the New Testament] Christ appeared once to cancel sin through his own sacrifice. … At the other time (εκ δευτέρου) he will appear without sin to those who wait for him for salvation" (είς σωτηρίαν, for Introduction to eternal Salvation).
1763) St. L. IX, 951. The passages that address the spiritual coming of Christ in the means of grace (Joh. 14:21-23) cannot be confused with the visible coming of Christ to the Last Judgment. Cf. Thomasius, Dogm. III, 2, 462, note.
1764) 2 Pet. 3:3-4: "In the last days scoffers (έμπάϊκται) will come, walking according to their own lusts, saying, Where is the
580 > The Last Things. [English ed. ~ 516-517]
Christians who, according to their flesh, are inclined to let the return of Christ take a back seat for themselves, .1765)
But as certain as Christ's visible return is, the time and hour of it, that is, the time of its occurrence, according to Christ's saying, is hidden1766) and is therefore calculated in vain by men.1767) But let men diligently watch for the signs of Christ's return (τα σημεία τής παρουσίας), of which the Scriptures reveal a whole series.1768)
Signs revealed in Scripture. ^ Luther rightly says: "All creatures will … serve this day with signs." 1769) These are the abnormal conditions or diseases a. in the life of nations (the mutual hostilities of nations, wars, pestilences, famines, enmity against the Christian Church, etc.), b. in the kingdom of nature (earthquakes, floods of water, disturbances in the heavenly bodies, etc.), c. especially in the Church (false teachers, apostasy from the Gospel, the appearance of the Antichrist κατ' εξοχήν, who poses as God in the church
promise of his future? For after the fathers have fallen asleep, all things remain as they have been from the beginning of the creature." This address of the scoffers proves at the same time that the parousia of Christ was general Christian doctrine.
1765) Especially the chapters 24 and 25 of Matthew and the parallels in Luke, ch. 21 belong to this category. That these references to the return of Christ are meant as warnings especially for Christians is evident from their content and is explicitly emphasized in Mark. 13:37: "But what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!"
1766) Matt. 24:36: "But of that day and hour (περί δέ τής ημέρας εκείνης καί τής ώρας) no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, but My Father alone." On the addition Mark. 13:32: "not even the Son" (ονδε ό νίός) cf. II, 180 ff.
1767) That in spite of the explicit explanation of Christ of the incalculability of the day and the hour of the return of Christ, nevertheless men like Bengel have indulged in this calculation, is a proof of how deeply also in the flesh of the Christians forbidden curiosity is rooted. Bengel determined the year 1836 as the year of the Parousia. In Luther's time, Michael Stiefel calculated the Last Day to be October 19, 1533, at the eighth hour. Stiefel considered himself to be the seventh angel who would precede the Last Day with his revelation (XXII, 1334), and was very displeased that Luther would not believe him. Luther reports, "All my life no adversary has given me such evil words as he." Other doomsday calculations Semisch shares, RE.2 III, 201 f. "Failed expectations only stimulated increased confidence."
1768) In particular, this includes Matt. 24, Luke 21:2 Thess. 2.
1769) St. L. XI, 59; I, 255 f.
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and under Christ's name seduces to apostasy from Christ by lying powers, signs and wonders). As the disturbances and diseases in the life of the individual man (microcosm) are harbingers of the approaching death, so the mentioned disturbances and diseases in the kingdom of nature (macrocosm) and in the church are the harbingers of the approaching great judgment and the end of the world. Luther: "Heaven and earth are crashing as an old house that is about to collapse and break down, and are indeed posing as if they suspected that the world would soon come to an end, and that the day is near at hand."1770) That they are not recognized as such harbingers or signs by men, and are often overlooked even by Christians, comes from the "astonishing stupor" (mirabilis stupor) found in our eyes, senses, and hearts after the Fall.1771) "We live in a more than Egyptian darkness."1772) What is actually abnormal and unnatural, we consider to be completely normal and natural. But that in all the things mentioned we are confronted with a quite terror-stricken unnature should truly, as Luther reminds us, "sting our eyes." The fact that in human life interests are opposed to one another and that a bellum ommum contra omnes takes place, that whole peoples rise up against one another and kill one another in wars by the thousands and millions, is an appalling abnormality, if we consider that men are created for mutual love and service. The same is to be said of epidemics and famines, if we keep in mind that men are to fill the earth and that the earth has the destiny to feed men. A terrorful unnaturalness is also present in the fact that the world of men is hostile to the Christian church. God has reconciled the human world to Himself through the blood of His incarnate Son and has the Word of the reconciliation that has taken place, the Gospel, proclaimed through His Church in the world for the salvation of the world. But instead of accepting the word and welcoming the proclaimers of the same as benefactors, building gates of honor for them and giving them orders, what happens is what Christ describes with the words: "They will hand you over in tribulation and will kill you, and you will be hated for My name's sake by all
1770) St. L. VII, 1480 f.
1771) St. L. I, 256. opp. exeg., Erl. I, 266.<w:t xml:space="preserve">1772) I, 255. 265.
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peoples." 1773) That the earth trembles, shatters the structures of man's hand and buries man himself under the debris; that floods of water swallow up man and his possessions: these are truly not normal phenomena, and Christ wants them to be regarded as signs of the surely imminent end of the world.1774) But especially Christ declares the appearance of false doctrines in the church to be a sign of the end of the world. The reason for this is not difficult to see. The gospel was dearly purchased by Christ through his satisfactio vicaria; by his command it is proclaimed in the world, and it is a power of God that saves all who believe in it. One would think that all those who want to be Christian teachers would be most eager to bring the message to the people pure and unadulterated, without subtraction or addition. But instead of this, what Christ points out with the words, "Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many," occurs.1775) Even the denial of the satisfactio vicaria of Christ is common in external Christianity. This is such an abnormal phenomenon, contrary to the purpose of the existence of the Church and the purpose of the existence of the world, that Christ wants the false teachers to be regarded as signs of judgment and the end of the world. From the catastrophes that indicate Christ's appearance, the Scriptures still emphasize details in particular. Christ wants such conspicuous judgments of God as the Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction of Jerusalem as preludes
1773) Matt. 24:9; Joh. 16:2; Matt. 10:17; Rom. 8:36 etc. Examples: Acts 14:5-6, 19; 16:22 ff. etc.
1774) Luke 21:25-26. Luther on this passage: "Therefore Christ will say that all creatures will move and serve this day with signs: Sun and moon with darkness, the stars with falling, the nations with wars, the men with fear and dread, the earth with trembling, the waters with wind and roaring, the air with pestilence and poison. So also the heavens with their host and movements." (XI, 59.) — To the objection that the events mentioned, especially those of the sun, moon, and stars, can also be explained naturally and therefore could not be signs of the end of the world, Luther answers, op. cit., Col. 51: "The heavens are from eternity directed that before this day they should make such signs. … The blind leader Aristotle has written his own book of the heavenly signs, gives them all to nature and makes that she does not find signs; our scholars follow this, and makes a fool of the world full of fools."
1775) Matt. 24:5.
583 > The Last Things. [English ed. ~ 519-520]
of the general judgment of the world.1776) — Finally, it should be noted that Christ also conflates the sermon of the gospel in the whole world with the end of the world when he says: "The gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a witness to all nations, and then the end will come."
How far have these signs been fulfilled? We will have to keep it with Luther, who on the one hand addresses this point with restraint, on the other hand says, "that such signs have already happened in several parts and not much else is to be expected". 1777) It should be added here, with regard to the nature of the signs, that they are deliberately arranged in such a way that no man can calculate the exact time of Christ's return.1778) The purpose of this economy is to achieve continual watchfulness as the Lord expressly Matt. 24:42 says: "Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord will come." Meyer
1776) In this relationship of the destruction of Jerusalem as a prelude to the final judgment it is justified that both are placed next to each other and mixed up. Cf. Matt. 24:2-14, 15-21, 22-51. Also Matt. 16:27-28 Stöckhardt, Bibl. Gesch. d. N. T., p. 256 [English edition The Biblical history of the New Testament : short explanation of the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, p. 248 #16] : "The destruction of Jerusalem appears on the one hand as a sign of the Last Day, on the other hand as the beginning of the Final Judgment." Meyer Meyer criticizes Luther for assuming Matt. 24 to be "a medley of type and antitype." In contrast, Thomasius (Dogm. III, 2, 460, note) says: "As to the prophecy of the Lord in Matt. 24 (cf. Luke 21), I consider the interpretation to be erroneous which wants to distinguish between that which then refers to the judgment of Jerusalem and that which refers to the end. Both flow through each other; the first is the exemplary foreground, the latter the background, which forms the actual subject of the whole prophecy. In the model of the end which it will take with Jerusalem, the Lord looks at and shows the eventual end, in such a way that the features of what will happen at the end overlap the relationship to the fate of the city and shine through it at every point."
1777) St. L. XI, 50 f.: "I do not want to speak outrageously here, but rather my opinion. Some think that the sun will become so dark that it will no longer shine. This is nothing; for day and night must remain until the end, as God promised in Genesis 8:22: 'As long as the earth stands, fruit and harvest, frost and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. Therefore this sign must happen without hindrance of day and night and yet must happen before the Last Day, because it is a preceding sign. Therefore it cannot be otherwise than that the sun shall cease to shine, as it is wont to do. [CPH 1950: ‘ordinary eclipse’]"
1778) Also in the apostolic time it could be said that the sermon of the gospel reached the whole world, Rom. 1:8; 10:18; 1 Thess. 1:8; Acts 19:10; 1 Tim. 3:16.
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is morally indignant here. He says1779) against Olshausen: "If the Lord willed, as Olshausen thinks, that his parousia should be constantly thought possible, even probable, and therefore spoke as he did according to Matthew, he has used an untrue means for a moral end." Meyer should have thought of the analogue of human life. With respect to human life, too, God has arranged matters in such a way that every man can and should expect the end of his life at any time. In this, however, God has a very "moral end," namely, the end that man should be ready at all times for a blessed death.
Signs of the Last Day conceived by men. ^ These include, first of all, a thousand-year kingdom, still thought to be future, in which Christ will visibly reign here on earth with the pious, especially with the resurrected martyrs. The opinion of such a kingdom of Christ on earth appeared very early in the Christian church and was called by the general name Chiliasm. Chiliasm is multicolored, and the division into chiliasmus crassissimus, crassus and subtilis1780) does not always cover the individual cases. Chiliasmus has been called very coarse (crassissimus), which expects a great abundance of not only spiritual but also earthly joys and pleasures in a millennial kingdom still to come on earth. Chiliasm has been called crude (crassus), which assumes that the church will flourish and be at peace on earth for a thousand years after the general conversion of the Jews and the fall of the Antichrist. This chiliasm teaches a double imminent visible return of Christ and a double resurrection of the dead, including or excluding an "orientation of the kingdom of Christ on earth" to Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Subtle (subtilis) chiliasm, which, without a double return of Christ and without a double resurrection of the dead, limits itself to a "hope of better times" (Spener) that will come for the Church on earth before the end of the world. But it has been rightly recalled that in the individual representatives of Chiliasm even the "fundamental ideas"
1779) Kommentar zum Matthäusev 6, p. 504.
1780) Pfeiffer's classification in his "Antichiliasmus," p. 111 f., citing Baier-Walther II, 252.
585 > The Last Things. [English ed. ~ 520-521]
have many modifications. ¶ Chiliasm has no ground in Scripture, because the passages cited for it are referred in Scripture itself to the spiritual glory of the New Testament Church, which dawns in the world through the coming of Christ into the flesh and the sermon of the gospel. These are passages such as Is. 2:2-4; 11:6-9; Zech. 9:9-10; Joel 3:23 ff; Micah 4:1-4 and especially Revelation 20. Is. 2:2-3 is clearly taught that all nations will come to Mount Zion: "All the heathen shall come running, and many nations shall go, saying, Come, and let us go up into the mountain of the Lord, unto the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his doctrines." This same statement of a gathering of the nations on Mount Zion, at Jerusalem, etc., runs throughout Old Testament prophecy. But the Scriptures do not transfer the fulfillment of this prophecy to a still future millennial kingdom, but say of all believers who have come to believe the gospel at the time of the New Testament without a change of place: "Ye are come (προσεληλύΰατε) unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God."1781) It is well said further Is. 2:4 that there will be great peace on Mount Zion: "They will turn their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; for no nation will lift up a sword against another." The same statement about the state of joy and peace among the nations we have, though in somewhat different words, in the other Old Testament passages mentioned. Is. 9:5: all the instruments of war are done away with and burned with fire. Is. 11:6-9: "the wolves will dwell with the lambs," etc. "One will not hurt nor destroy on my holy mountain." Zech. 9:10: "I will cut off the chariots from Ephraim and the horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be broken." Micah 4:1-4 we have a literal repetition of Is. 2:2. The Millenialists admonish us to let these statements about the great peace that reigns in Zion be brought to bear according to their "full, real content." We take this admonition to heart. But neither do we forget that the angels sing, not in a millennial kingdom yet to come, but already at the birth of Christ, and to the sermon of the Gospel at the birth of Christ: "Peace on earth!"
1781) Hebr. 12:22.
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and that Christ says not only of the inhabitants of a future millennial kingdom, but of all who believe the gospel, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you"1782) and, "These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation."1783) Likewise, the apostle Paul looks at the matter. He calls the gospel "the gospel of peace"1784) and ascribes to all who believe the gospel the peace that is higher than all reason.1785) In other words: What the Old Testament passages say about the future peace in the world, according to its "full, real content," does not come to full reality only in a still future millennial kingdom, but in the fact that the Son of God appeared in the flesh, reconciled the world to God, has the message of this proclaimed in the world, and gives to this message the Holy Spirit, who works faith in the message in the hearts and thus makes children of peace in the whole world and among all peoples. In faith in the Gospel, the Christian Church possesses a state of peace on earth that cannot be surpassed on earth or in this course of the world. Interpretation to an earthly or fleshly peace is expressly forbidden. Matt. 10:34: "Do not think that I have come to send peace on earth. I have not come to send peace, but the sword." This is the interpretation of the New Testament. But even in the Old Testament passages themselves, the peace of which they speak is bound up with the coming of Christ into the flesh and with the New Testament sermon of the Gospel, and is presented as a direct result and effect of these events. The proclamation of peace Is. 9:2-5 is followed by the justification of the same in the words, "For unto us a child is born," etc. For the state of peace that Is. 11:6-9 ("The wolves shall dwell with the lambs," etc.), the fact is stated immediately beforehand as causa efficiens: "There shall go forth a rod from the tribe of Jesse, and a branch from his root shall bring forth fruit." Likewise, it is already clearly stated not only in the New Testament, but also in the Old Testament, that the coming of the nations to Mount Zion is not a bodily one, but takes place through Zion going into all the world with the
1782) Joh. 14:27.<w:t>1783) Joh. 16:33.
1784) Eph. 6:15. <w:t>1785) Phil. 4:7.
587 > The Last Things. [English ed. ~ 522-523.]
Gospel, and thus the heathen and "the rest" of Israel coming to Zion through faith in the gospel, without any change of place. Hos. 2:1: "And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said unto them: Ye are not my people, it shall be said unto them, O ye children of the living God!" Further: what is prophesied in the Old Testament passages about the fullness of spiritual knowledge to Zion — like Is. 11:9: "The land is full of the knowledge of the Lord, as if covered with the waters of the sea"; especially Joel 3:1 ff.: "Your sons and daughters shall prophesy" etc. — that goes, as Peter in his Pentecost sermon Acts 2:16 ff., this is fulfilled by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament at Pentecost. What is said of the rebuilding of the tabernacle of David and of the fruitfulness of the land of Canaan, so that seed and harvest fall together, the mountains dripping with sweet wine and the hills flowing with milk,1786) James declares at the Apostolic Council as being fulfilled by the entry of the heathen into the Christian church.1787) All interpretations of these passages to a millennial kingdom yet to come rather than to the Christian church of the New Testament and its perfected state in eternity are set up and held against the interpretation of Scripture itself. Gerhard rightly says in reference to the Old Testament scriptural passages cited by the Millenialists that they "speak of New Testament things in Old Testament terms."1788) Also, the Millenialists refute themselves by, as Philippi reminds us,1789) also figuratively grasping certain expressions in the Old Testament passages, e.g., the growing of Mount Zion over all the mountains of the world (Is. 2) and the dripping of the mountains with sweet wine as well as the flowing of the hills with milk (Joel 3).
As for Revelation 20 in particular, this passage cannot be cited for a millennial kingdom on earth, because the millennial "reigning with Christ" (v. 4, 6) mentioned there takes place in heaven. This is also admitted by Franz Delitzsch. On the one hand, he dares to say that "now there is hardly a faithful Christian who does not share the chiliastic view of the Last Days"; on the other hand, he admits: "Nevermore does Rev. 20:4 grant for the regnum millenarium
1786) Amos 9:11 ff.; Joel 3:23 ff. <w:t>1787) Acts 15:13 ff.
1788) De consummatione seculi, § 90. 1789) Glaubenslehre VI, 223.
588 > The Last Things. [English ed. ~ 523-524]
a sufficient scriptural ground."1790) When Revelation 20:4 says of the souls of believers that they reign with Christ in heaven, this should not alienate us. As surely as Christ, seated at the right hand of God, rules all things, so surely do both the souls of believers in heaven and believers on earth rule with Him, because believers share in all that Christ does.1791) Christ has made them, as "priests," so also "kings."1792) What the 2nd Psalm says of Christ alone, Christ ascribes to all His own, Revelation 2:26-27: "To him that overcometh will I give power over the heathen, and he shall feed them with a rod of iron, and as the vessels of a potter shall he break them in pieces, as I received of my Father." Admittedly, it is true that the believers' rule over the world will not be revealed until the Last Day. But the fact is that it is already before the Last Day, when the believers are also the outwardly oppressed, dying and killed. In short, the scriptural statements on which chiliasm relies come to their full reality, according to the exposition given in Scripture itself, through what the church of the New Testament already has and expects in heaven through faith in the gospel. — As for the binding of Satan mentioned in Revelation 20, Scripture does not leave us in doubt about the correct understanding of this expression either. According to the doctrines of Scripture, the whole human world lies bound under the dominion of the devil as a result of the guilt of sin that weighs upon the world. The foundation of this relationship of dominion has been removed by the atoning death of Christ. Christ himself speaks before his death passage and for the interpretation of the same: "Now the prince of this world will be cast out," έκβληϑήσεται έξω.1793) For individual men the dominion of the devil comes to an end, and thus the devil is bound for them, at the very moment when they are converted by faith in the gospel, that is, by faith in the atonement for sin made by Christ. Again, this explanation is given by Scripture itself. Paul's apostolic mandate reads: "Behold, I send you among the heathen to open their eyes,
1790) Die biblisch-proph. Theologie 1845, p. 6 f. p. 136. Quoted in Baier-Walther II, 256.
1791) Cf. the detailed explanation on pp. 94 ff.
1792) Revelation 1:6; also 1 Pet. 2:9: "royal priesthood".
1793) Joh. 12:31. Joh. 16:11: ό αρχών τον κόσμον τούτον κέκριται..
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that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power (εξουσία) of Satan unto God."1794) To the Colossians Paul writes that all who believe the forgiveness of sins through Christ's blood are saved from the authority (ἐξουσία, power) of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear Son.1795) There is no other means of deliverance of the world of men from the dominion of the devil than the sermon of the gospel and faith in the gospel. Such factors as worldly science and education, external recognition and world status of Christianity since Constantine are not in themselves a means of binding Satan. It was precisely the persecuted Church that overcame the devil and the world through faith in the Gospel. If this stands firm — namely, that Satan becomes a bound man only through faith in the gospel — then we will have to place the beginning of the thousand years with Luther1796) in the time when the sermon of the gospel went out into the world of men, so that they might be converted from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Accordingly, we hold that the "thousand years" of Revelation 20 plus the "little time" (μικρός χρόνος) constitute the whole time of the New Testament, because the little time which follows the thousand years (v. 3) is immediately followed by the general judgment of the world (vv. 9-10). When the "little time" in which Satan is released begins or has begun can no more be calculated by year and day than the day of the coming of the Last Judgment. But it is characterized as the time of a general onslaught against "the army camp of the saints and the beloved city", i.e. against the Christian church. Here we do not have to think of worldly wars. Also in the recent "great World War" neither the "central powers" nor the "allies" represented the army camp of the saints and the beloved city, but on both sides the unbelievers formed the great majority, as at all times. The general onslaught against the Christian Church takes place through the general fight against the Christian doctrine of the gracious forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ's .satisfactio vicaria. This is, after all, the doctrine on which the Christian Church stands by faith. Because the fight against this
1794) Acts 26:17-18.<w:t xml:space="preserve">1795) Col. 1:13-14. 1796) St. L. XIV, 137.
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foundation of the Christian church is quite general in our time, we consider that we live in the "little time". We are not thinking primarily of social democracy.1797) In the majority of its members it certainly also forms a contingent, but only a contingent to the army which is as numerous as the sands of the sea (ών ὸ άριϑμός η άμμος της ϑαλάσοης) and which storms against Christendom in the four corners of the earth. Here belongs not only Rome, which with increased zeal of the Pope leads word and work doctrine into the field against the Christian church, but also the great army of Protestants, who in our time do not let the Scriptures be the Word of God and deny the satisfactio vicaria and thus seek to deprive the Christian church of the foundation of faith. This also includes lodgism, which is widespread throughout the world and especially in our country, because it is based on the denial of Christ as the only reconciler of men. Even missionary societies belong here, insofar as they want to Christianize the world in one generation, but give the mission a goal on this side, namely, not to save men from the world and eternal damnation in heaven, but to raise mankind morally, to fill it with "Christian principles" and especially to "spread democracy". If this goal is really realized,1798) our missionary societies also belong to the "Gog and Magog" who fight against the camp of the saints and the "beloved city".1799)
In order to recognize chiliasm as a false doctrine directly contrary to Scripture, keep the following details in mind: 1. Chiliasm teaches a double yet
1797) Against Philippi, Glaubenslehre VI, 220.
1798) Fortunately, this does not always happen, but besides, just as in the Roman Church, there is also the satisfactio vicaria, by which the Holy Spirit can make members of the Christian Church.
1799) One should refrain from wanting to determine Gog and Magog geographically as peoples. Who we have to think of with Gog and Magog, we learn from the predicate. But the predicate is about a battle that is waged on the whole earth and from the whole earth against the Christian church: "They came out from the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints." We have, then, by Gog and Magog to think of all the powers which throughout the world are fighting the Christian faith, that the incarnate Son of God by his vicarious satisfaction has reconciled men to God, and that men are saved from hell to heaven by faith alone in the reconciliation which has taken place.
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imminent visible coming of Christ, a visible coming for the establishment of the millennial kingdom and a visible coming for the general judgment of the world. The Scriptures, on the other hand, reckon in Hebr. 9:28 the visible advent of Christ and explicitly say that after Christ's coming into the flesh, which happened for the purpose of the redemption of the sins of men, only His visible coming for the introduction of His own into salvation is to be expected. Heb. 9:28: "Christ is once offered to take away many sins; the second time (εκ δευτέρου) he will appear to those who wait for him for salvation." 2. Chiliasm teaches a double resurrection of the dead, or more precisely, a resurrection of the dead in two divisions, a resurrection of the martyrs and especially pious Christians to reign in the millennial kingdom on earth, and a resurrection of the bulk of ordinary Christians and all men to the world judgment. Christ, on the other hand, refers all who believe in him only to the resurrection on the Last Day, John 6:40: "He who sees the Son and believes in him has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day" (τῃ έσχατη ήμερα). 3. Chiliasm perverts the scriptural teaching of Christian hope. With its assumption of a still imminent thousand-year kingdom on earth, which is to include a period of peace and a rule of Christians over the unbelieving world, it directs the hope of Christians first to this world, namely to a thousand-year period of peace in this world and a thousand-year rule of Christians over the unbelieving world. The Scriptures are quite different. It describes the way, which is prescribed for all Christians from the apostolic time to the last day, as via crucis. Acts 14:22: "We must (δει ημάς) enter the kingdom of God through much tribulation." Rest and its reward follow only in heaven. Thus Christ in the Beatitudes Matt. 5:3 ff. V. 3: "Blessed are the spiritually poor, for the kingdom of heaven (ή βασιλεία των ουρανών) is theirs." V. 12: "Be joyful and confident, you will be well rewarded in heaven (έν τοΐς ουρανόίς)." And when Paul Phil. 3:20-21 sums up with all Christians and describes their common future hope, he also does not mention a thousand-year period of peace and reign on earth, but says: "Our citizenship (πολίτευμα) is in heaven, from whence also we wait for the Savior Jesus Christ, the Lord, who shall transfigure our vain body."
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And now the effect of chiliasm on the spiritual life of Christianity. Chiliasm's distortion of Christian hope is very harmful and dangerous to the spiritual life of Christians. Where chiliasm is taken seriously, that is, enters the heart, it distracts the heart and mind from the hidden spiritual glory of the Christian life, which consists in the certainty of the forgiveness of sins and the future heavenly inheritance, and puts in its place the expectation of an external and earthly greatness. It devalues such powerful and glorious words as these: "Peace I leave you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives" and: "These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world ye are afraid; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Chiliasm. is not satisfied with "Behold, the kingdom of God is within you," but wants the kingdom of God to come with outward gestures, and that one may say, Behold, there it is! In short, the Scriptures do not teach Chiliasm, but warn against it.1800)
The general conversion of the Jews. ^ Chiliasm is usually bound up with the opinion of a future general conversion of the Jews. Luthardt in his Dogmatik, p. 406 f.: "When, according to the prophecy of Christ, the church shall have spread over the whole world of nations, according to Rom. l l the hour shall also strike for the conversion of Israel." At the same time, Luthardt charges Luther and "the majority of Lutheran exegetes and dogmatists" with not paying attention to the "whole" in the passage Rom. 11:26: "All Israel will be saved" (πας Ισραήλ οωϑήοεται), "seek to evade it by reinterpretation." The advocates of a general conversion of the Jews usually have it in themselves to ascribe to themselves the greater exegetical meticulousness and to take "exegetical measures of violence" to the other side. So also Philippi in the Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, p. 637, before he recants in an "Addition" to the third edition, p. 552 ff. In the American
1800) On the literature on chiliasm: Walther, L. u. W. 1872, p. 97 ff.: "Do the church fathers really teach a so-called biblical chiliasm?" Theo. Brohm, Der Lutheraner. 1847, p. 11: "Is modern chiliasm compatible with the 17th Art. of the Augsb. Konf, vereinbar?" (Brief but very careful elucidation of this question.) L. u. W. 1860, pp. 208 ff: "The so-called millennial kingdom." On further literature one may consult the theological encyclopedias, e.g., the article by Semisch, RE.2 III, 194 ff. which, revised by Bratke, also appears in RE. 3 III, 805 ff.
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Lutheran Church it has shown the same manner. Voigt says in Bibl. Dogmatics, p. 231: "It is a violent exegesis which would transfer these promises, the constant theme of the prophets, to a spiritual Israel. Nor can the distinct prediction of the conversion of Israel by St. Paul in Rom. 11:11-29 be turned from Grod's ancient people to a spiritual Israel, that is" (?), "Christians generally." But Philippi, as said, recanted and admits that Rom. 11:26 f. according to wording and context does not speak for, but against a still future general conversion of Jews. Walther has proved this even more thoroughly in Lehre und Wehre 1859, p. 307 ff. First of all, the representatives of the general conversion of the Jews do not allow the expression "all Israel" to come into its own. Those who refer "all Israel" to Israel according to the flesh must not allow themselves, with Luthardt, the interpretation: "Not all individuals, but Israel as a whole." Others interpret: Israel "by and large," "very many" from Israel; Voigt limits "all Israel" even from representatives of Israel, "enough of them to represent the race." (l. c.) There are scriptural passages where "whole" is used in a weakened meaning for "in the whole", "very many" etc. (Luke 3:21). But this version of "whole" is excluded here by the contrast in which it stands to "in part". Especially this version is excluded for the representatives of the general conversion of the Jews. According to their position, they assume two Jewish periods: a first one next to the Gentile period, in which Israel is only partially hardened and always some of Israel become saved, then a second, chronologically following period, in which "all Israel" becomes saved. They thus bring "whole" into sharpened contrast with "in part". With this contrast, as Philippi also clearly states in his recantation, every possibility of limiting "all of Israel" in the second Jewish period to a part, to "representatives" of Israel etc. ceases. All those who understand "all of Israel" as the carnal Israel in Rom. 11:26 must renounce every limitation of this term and understand it as all "individual Israelites", not excluding one individual. And they must go even further. To the whole Israel according to the flesh belong not only all individual Jews living at the end of the world, but also all Jews who have already died before. Therefore, only those who, like Petersen († 1727) in the assumed second Jewish period,
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assume a resurrection and conversion of all Jews who had previously died in unbelief are consistent.1801) Only then do they really have 'all Israel after the flesh. Those who do not want this doctrine have lost the right to appeal to Rom. 11:26 for their opinion. Therefore it stands that the πας Ισραήλ in this passage is only used by those who, together with Luther and the majority of Lutheran exegetes, really understand it to mean the whole of Israel, namely the whole of spiritual Israel, the whole number of the elect from Israel. This version of spiritual or elect Israel is required by the wording in several ways: 1. "All Israel" (πάς Ισραήλ) stands in parallel with the "fullness of the heathen (τό πλήρωμα τών εϑνων). Now as the fullness of the Gentiles does not denote all the Gentiles who are Gentiles according to the flesh, but the total number of the elect from the Gentiles, so also "all Israel" denotes the total number of the elect from Israel. In other words, all Israel is saved in the same sense and to the same extent as the fullness of the heathen. Whoever does not want to teach that all who are heathen according to the flesh will be saved, that is, that no heathen will be lost at all, must also not assume that the whole of Israel in the flesh is meant here by "all Israel.1802) The relationship to spiritual Israel is required by the fact that the apostle explicitly states the way in which all Israel will be saved. In the whole passage from v. 11 on, the apostle argues against Gentile Christians who, in their superiority over the Jews, think that by accepting the heathen the whole Israelite people is hardened and rejected. In contrast, Paul clarifies the situation by saying that Israel's hardening is not over the whole people, but only partial (πώρωσις άπο μέρους τω Ισραήλ γέγονεν),
1801) A detailed list of the writings of Joh. Wilh. Petersen and the numerous counter writings in Walch, Bibliotheca Theol. II, 803 sqq. about Petersen's life and doctrines Walch, Gesch. d. Religionsstreitt. d. luth. K. II, 586 ff. On Spener's relations to Petersen see H. Schmid, Gesch. d. Pietismus, p. 258 f. Wagenmann on Petersen RE.2 XI, 499 ff.
1802) Meyer et al. admittedly assume a conversion also of all heathens before the end of the world, which then necessarily, as Philippi, op. cit. p. 555, proves, turns into Origen's and Petersen's doctrine of apocatastasis. Thomasius, too, III, 2, 465, thinks of a conversion of the whole Gentile world, but then limits: "whereby, however, one need not necessarily think either of all individuals or of a real conversion of the hearts of all". According to this, there would be an entrance of the heathen into the Christian church without "true conversion of the heart"!
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until fullness of the heathen shall have come in (αχρις ον το πλήρωμα των εϋτών είοέλϑγ), and so, καί όντως — in this way, that Israel's hardening is not total, but only partial, "all Israel" will be saved, namely the Israel that is not hardened, but believes. So also Philippi in his recantation: "Partially Israel is hardened to the entrance of the Gentile plague, and in this way, namely, that out of the only partially hardened people a great gathering of believers takes place continually until the end of days, in this way the whole Israel, actually referred to by the Old Testament word of God, as the passage from the prophets cited immediately proves,1803) will be saved." This proof of the relation of "all Israel" from the whole chosen people from Israel can be evaded by the representatives of the general, yet future conversion of the Jews only by allowing themselves to substitute for "and therefore" (και οϋτως) "and then" (και τότε), that is, by allowing themselves to transform the modality determination into a time determination.1804) The objection that the αχρις ον, "until" (in the words, "until the fullness of the heathen has come in"), implies a reference from an event that is yet to come is an
1803) The Old Testament passages cited by the apostle, Is. 59:20 and Jer. 31:33 f., do not deal with the very last time before the end of the world, but with the whole time of the New Testament, which began with Christ's appearance in the flesh. The passages also do not address a general salvation of Israel, but a salvation of those who are converted from Israel. Even rationalists like Rückert and Meyer admit this, but think that the apostle was mistaken, as he often is, in his reasoning from the Old Testament. First they erroneously ascribe to the apostle a general conversion of the Jews taking place at the last end of the world, and then they accuse him of false reasoning from the Old Testament, because he cites passages for the conversion of all fleshly Israel, which only dealt with spiritual Israel. Cf. Walther, L. u. W. 1859, p. 227; Quenstedt II, 1817.
1804) Against this interchange of terms cf. Otto, quoted by Stöckhardt on this passage [Römerbrief, p. 542 f.; Stöckhardt-Schade p. 406]; also Stöckhardt himself. Philippi against Meyer: "The οντω, does not simply summarize what has been said before in the sense of ‘and then,’, even in the passages from the classics cited by Meyer (Thuc. 3, 96 2; Xen., Anab. 3, 5, 6; cf. moreover Xen., Cyrop. 2, 1, 1; Hellen. 2, 3, 6), but it always emphatically emphasizes the modality indicated in the preceding, under which the occurrence of what follows happens or has happened, will happen or should happen. So also in the New Testament passages: Acts 7:8; 17:33; 20:11; 27:44; 28:14; Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 7:36; 11:28; 14:25; 1 Thess. 4:17; Heb. 6:15."
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arbitrary assertion. Very correctly Philippi says that αχρις ου in itself denotes only the term up to which an action or occurrence is supposed to last. Likewise Walther: "The particle αχρις ον, until, retains its natural meaning to designate the terminus of a fact." What is said by the "until" is no more and no less than the fact that the hardening of Israel, which is not total, but only partial, and thus the partial conversion of Israel, continues until the fullness of the heathen has come in. Walther: "Jews shall be converted as long as heathen are converted." But that the Gentile times will last until the end of the world, Christ states very certain in Matt. 24:14: "The gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come." Luke 21:24: "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the heathen, until (αχρις ον) the times of the heathen be fulfilled," is also arbitrarily entered a Jewish period following; for the words following, v. 26 ff, deal with the signs of the end of the world without mention of a Jewish period. In our place, Rom. 11:25. 26, the thought of a Jewish period still following the Gentile period is expressly rejected by the fact that the statement, "All Israel shall be saved," is not connected with καί τότε, but with καί όντως, We must say: As certainly as καί όντως means "and so," "in this way," so certainly the conversion of all Israel is thereby described as an event which proceeds simultaneously with the only partial hardening of Israel and the entrance of the fullness of the heathen. Walther is right when he says: "So nothing remains but to look for in the immediately preceding words the description of the way in which that happens which Paul says in the words that all Israel will be saved. With the little word, so, the apostle has cut off all self-made thoughts about the a saving of all Israel, and has pointed the reader to his own preceding words." The further objection that the apostle would not have used the word "mystery" if he had only meant to say that during the whole Gentile period all faithful Israel would be saved, is settled by the reference to Eph. 3:3 ff, where Paul also calls the entrance of the heathen into the Christian church a mystery made known to him by divine ' revelation (κατά άποκάλυψιν έγνωρίσ'ϑη μοι το μυστήριον) although this fact is abundantly
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is attested in the Old Testament. Walther makes the following apt remark concerning the use of the word "mystery": "It is true, to us who have an eighteen-hundred-year history of the Christian Church behind us, who still have the Jewish people before our eyes, who know of Jewish conversions from all ages and countries, who see how God still keeps His covenant with Israel today: to us this no longer seems a great mystery, any more than the wickedness of the Antichrist revealed to us by the Reformation. But if we put ourselves in the soul of the Roman Gentile Christians to whom Paul wrote, it will soon become clear to us that what the apostle proclaimed in advance of Israel's abiding and entrance into Christ's kingdom until the Last Day must be an unexpected, great, admirable mystery to them. … This mystery consists in the fact that the people of the Jews will never fall completely into hardening, that their hardening will always remain only a partial one, so that as long as Gentiles are converted, Jews will also be converted, so that as long as the time of grace of the Gentiles will last, the time of grace of the Jews will also last, and thus there will never come a time when only Gentiles will enter the kingdom of Christ. … In this glorious, admirable and adorable way, out of God's incomprehensible faithfulness, truthfulness, mercy, patience and longsuffering, all Israel, which He had provided before (v. 2), will be saved, not one soul, not even one, excepted. Will ye then be proud any further, ye Gentile Christians?" — Finally, it should be pointed out that the relation of "all Israel" to carnal Israel also conflicts with the broader context, namely, with the apostle's entire exposition from ch. 9 onward. Ch. 9, 1-5 the apostle intones his shattering lamentation over Israel's unbelief and perishing. He has desired to be banished from Christ for his brethren according to the flesh. Immediately afterwards, however, he states that the unbelief and perishing of the great mass of Israel does not stand as if the promise given to Israel had fallen away. As a reason for this he states that not all who are children according to the flesh are also God's children, but only the children of the promise are counted as Abraham's seed. The apostle also clearly states in ch. 9:27 ff. that out of the great number of Israel in the flesh (out of Israel "like the sand of the sea") only a remnant (κατάλειμμα) will be saved. After the apostle
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has explained in ch. 9:30 ff. and ch. 10 that everything depends on faith and that Israel refused to believe despite God's efforts for the disobedient people, he again raises the question in ch. 11:1 whether God had rejected Israel as it seemed. Paul denies this, but again justifies the denial by saying that, as in Elijah's day, so also now an elect people believe and are saved, v. 7: "The election obtains it; the others are hardened." From v. 11 on, Paul, the official apostle to the Gentiles, becomes the advocate of Israel, because the Gentile Christians, in their self-conceit, thought (vv. 17-24) that with their calling into the kingdom of God, Israel was excluded from salvation. In contrast, Paul takes the whole passage up to v. 32 to show that the time of salvation of the heathen is also the time of salvation of Israel. The apostle immediately expresses this thought in v. 11 by declaring in a very certain way: "The fact that salvation has happened to the Gentiles does not have the purpose of excluding Israel from salvation, but on the contrary, the purpose is to provoke Israel to emulation through the example of the faithful heathen and thus to make them partakers of salvation. Hence the apostle's practice that in directing his apostleship to the Gentiles he also at the same time keeps in view the Jews, whether he would stir them to emulation and make some of them (τινάς εξ αυτών) saved. To all particularistic thoughts of the heathen, according to which they want to exclude Israel from salvation, he finally opposes the sentence, v. 32: "God has resolved all (πάπας under sin, that he might have mercy on all." In this state of affairs, the result is that as "the fullness of the heathen," that is, all the chosen people from among the heathen, so also "all Israel," that is, all the chosen people from among Israel, will be saved.1805a)
1805a) For the literature on a general conversion of Jews that is still imminent, see Walther, "Der Lutheraner" 13, 85 ff: "Von der Hoffnung einer noch bevorstehenden allgemeinen Bekehrung." The same, L. u. W. 1859, pp. 307 ff. 331 ff. [Ed. sic — 321 ff.]: "Is Rom. 11:25- 27 taught of a yet expected solenn conversion of the Jews?" Both articles are very carefully worked and belong to the most thorough treatises on this question. In the "Lutheran" article, Walther first presents dogma-historically what the Lutheran teachers thought of a general conversion of the Jews. He divides the Lutheran teachers into three parts: 1. those who at first expressed support for an imminent general conversion of the Jews but later recanted, 2. those who never shared this hope, 3. those who taught the general conversion of the Jews as either probable or certain. Walther then goes on to discuss the chief places in Scripture in favor of chiliasm in general and of a
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The lesson that the apostle gives to the Gentile Christians in Rom. 11 should also be taken to heart by the Christians of our time. It is easy to think that God's grace has ceased over the people who crucified the Savior of the world in their ancestors. And especially among those who teach a future general conversion of the Jews, there are more than questionable statements about this. Luthardt (on Rom. 11 in Zöckler's commentary) addresses a "special spell of judgment" that is presently upon Israel. He says, "The presence of Israel is that of the πώρωοις." This is an error! According to the apostle's express explanation, the presence of Israel is not that of the πώρωσις, but of the πώρωσις only in part, and Paul's words, "God hath concluded all among unbelievers, that he might have mercy on all," apply to the Jews of all ages to the end of the world. Walther aptly says: "May the Jews after all have crucified and rejected their own Messiah — according to the mystery unlocked by the apostle, Jews shall be converted as long as heathens are converted. Not only shall the door of grace stand open to both to the end, but a number of both shall always truly enter the kingdom of God." Perhaps the assertion is correct that since the first Pentecost as many Jews as heathens have been converted to Christ, if we compare the relatively small number of Jews with the large number of heathens. However, this may remain undecided. But we are certain from the Scriptures that the door of grace stands no less open to the Jews than it does to the heathen, and that God has scattered the Jews among
general conversion of the Jews in particular, and shows that this doctrine is not contained in them. The article in "L. u. W." deals in detail with Rom. 11:25 ff. and deals with the opinions of newer theologians about this passage. Among the old Lutheran theologians, Calov treats the general conversion of the Jews very extensively and thoroughly in his Biblia Illustrata on Rom. 11:25. Calov also offers a history of the exposition among the church fathers, the Romans, the Reformed and the Lutherans. Philippi confesses to the result of Calov's exposition after his recantation. Among the old theologians we still refer to Gerhard, L. de extremo iud., § 111; Quenstedt II, 1812 sqq.; Hollaz, Examen, De iud. extr. 16. As for the newer theologians who advocate a general conversion of the Jews, one finds all the essentials compiled if one reads, for example, Tholuck, Meyer, Luthardt, Hodge, Alford and Philippi (before his recantation) on Rom. 11:25. Cf. on the literature also Walther's documentary proof against Dr. Seiß, [Seiss] that Papias, Justin, Irenaeus, etc. taught a crude chiliasm, "L. u. W." 1872, p. 97 ff.
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the heathen, not to exclude them from salvation, but to provoke them to believe, through the testimony and example of faithful Christians, that in Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah of the Jews and the Savior of the world has appeared. Only with this knowledge will we take the right inner and outer position against Israel. On the other hand, the opinion, contrary to Scripture, that the presence of Israel is one of hardening and that the "ban of judgment" will be lifted only later, can by its nature only have a harmful effect on Christians and Jews. On the one hand, it will prevent Christians from witnessing with confidence to the Jews about the gospel; on the other hand, it is apt to turn the attention of the Jews away from the gospel which they are now to hear in the dispersion and believe according to God's will, and to direct it to a future time. This pernicious effect is increased when the future picture is further enriched by the setting of Jewish national unity, the return to the land of the fathers, and the reestablishment of the temple worship. Among the many sad consequences of the "World War" is that the so-called "Allies" promised the Jews Palestine as their national homeland. Instead of repenting and believing in the Messiah who has appeared, the Orthodox Jews are now thinking of a return to Palestine and the re-establishment of the Temple worship, the Reform Jews of a spiritual domination of the world through Jewish intellectual superiority and education, by means of the Jewish university to be built on the Mount of Olives.1805b)