Around the world today there are millions of Christians who agree with what is known as dispensational theology.
This way of thinking
differs in a number of important respects from traditional Christian beliefs,
including in ideas about what will happen in the future.
The usual dispensational
understanding of Jesus’s return
According to usual dispensational
thinking about the end times, the following sequence of events is supposed to
happen as regards Jesus returning from heaven to the earth:
First, Jesus
will return without warning from heaven to the air above the earth, without
setting foot on the earth itself. At that time, all Christians then on earth (according
to some) or most Christians then on earth (according to others) will be caught
up into the air to meet Him in the so-called ‘rapture’. Then He and the
Christians who have been caught up will go immediately to heaven.
Next, there will
be a time of severe suffering on earth, which is known as ‘the tribulation’.
This will last for seven years, during which many people on earth will come to
faith in Christ.
Then, after the
seven years are completed, Jesus will return from heaven to the earth again and
this time set foot on it.
So in usual dispensational
thinking, Jesus will actually return from heaven to earth twice, once coming as
far as the air above the earth, and once actually setting foot on the earth.
It is true that there
is a small minority of dispensationalists who believe that Jesus will return
only once. But a large majority of them are expecting Him to return twice, and
it is this group that I will be thinking about in what follows when I use the
label ‘dispensationalists’.
Lack of evidence
that anyone believed this before the 1830s
In many parts of the
world today, this pattern of supposed future events is so well known that many believers
seem to think that this is what faithful Christians have believed during most
of the last 2000 years.
Actually, this could
hardly be further from the truth. I don’t think there is any evidence that
anyone believed this before the 1830s. And this is despite the fact that there
is an enormous amount of Christian literature that exists from the late first
century up until that time.
This idea of the
church being raptured up and in this way escaping the tribulation seems to have
come from a dream that a girl had in the 1830s. Somehow, a man called John Nelson
Darby became convinced that this was true and then had great success in
persuading others. And the rest is history.
The apostle
Paul’s use of certain words
Like the vast
majority of Christians down through the centuries, I am convinced that Jesus
will return from heaven to earth once, not twice. The Christians on earth at
that time will indeed be caught up to meet Him in the air (1 Thess 4:17), but
then He and they will descend immediately onto the earth itself. And this will
be the one and only time that He returns.
There are many lines
of biblical evidence to support the idea of a single return. Here I would like
to focus on just one of them, which is
the wording the apostle Paul uses to refer to Jesus returning.
In the New Testament
Paul uses three different Greek words in connection with Christ returning:
First, the word
‘parousia’ means ‘coming’ or ‘presence’.
Second, ‘apokalupsis’
means ‘revelation’ or ‘unveiling’.
And third,
‘epiphaneia’ means ‘appearance’ or ‘manifestation’.
Importantly, Paul uses each of these words in passages that
dispensationalists believe refer to Jesus’s first return and in passages that
they believe refer to His second return. And when he uses these words in these
passages, he never says whether he is talking about Jesus’s first or second
return.
I would suggest that if Paul thought that Jesus would return twice, we
wouldn’t expect him to have used the same words to refer to each return, while
at the same time never taking the trouble to explain which return he had in
mind. That would be too unclear and confusing for his readers.
Or to put it another way, because it makes little sense to think that
Paul has been unclear and confusing,
especially when we bear in mind that this is inspired Scripture, it is
reasonable to conclude that he hasn’t been unclear and confusing and
that he believed that Jesus will return only once.
So as not to let this
article become too long, I will concentrate on how Paul uses just one of these
words, ‘parousia’, in connection with Christ returning. And I will limit my
references to Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians.
It is worth noting,
however, that if I were to look at all three words and at all the New Testament
books, the same conclusion would be reached.
Parousia in 1
Thessalonians
Let’s start with 1
Thessalonians.
Firstly, in 1 Thess
2:19 Paul writes:
‘For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before
our Lord Jesus at his coming [Greek: at the parousia of him]?’ (ESV)
Dispensationalists typically think this refers to the
first return of Jesus.
Then in 1 Thess 3:13
Paul writes:
‘…so
that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and
Father, at the coming [parousia] of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.’ (ESV)
Dispensationalists think this refers to Christ’s second
return.
Then in 1 Thess 4:15
Paul says:
‘For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that
we who are alive, who are left until the coming [parousia] of the Lord, will
not precede those who have fallen asleep.’ (ESV)
Dispensationalists believe
that this refers to Jesus’s first return.
Finally, in 1 Thess
5:23 Paul writes:
‘Now
may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit
and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming [parousia] of our Lord Jesus
Christ.’ (ESV)
Dispensationalists generally think this refers to
Christ’s first return.
Note that each of
these verses refers to the coming/parousia of Christ rather than to a
coming/parousia, which more naturally suggests one rather than two returns. And
note too that there is not the slightest hint in any context that there will be
more than one return.
Furthermore, because
each of these verses is in the same letter, this means that these verses were
designed, by Paul and of course also by God, to be read by readers while the
preceding verses are still fresh in their minds. This makes it all the more unnatural
for readers to switch back and forth between understanding Paul to be talking
about a first and a second return of Christ.
In short, it seems more
than a little strange for Paul to have written in this way if he expected Jesus
to return twice. We would expect him to have explained himself more clearly.
Parousia in 2
Thessalonians
The same point can be
made, but even more strongly, about 2 Thessalonians.
First, in 2 Thess 2:1
Paul writes:
‘Now
concerning the coming [parousia] of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being
gathered together to him…’ (ESV)
Dispensationalists typically think this refers to the
first return of Jesus.
Then in 2 Thess 2:8 Paul says:
‘And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord
Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the
appearance of his coming [parousia].’ (ESV)
Dispensationalists believe this refers to Jesus’s second
return.
Importantly, these two uses of ‘parousia’, used to refer
to Jesus returning, are found not just in the same letter but in the same
passage, and without the slightest suggestion in the context that two
different returns are in view.
It is very difficult to think that Paul expected his readers
to understand him to be talking about two different returns. If that were the
case, I think we would have to say that Paul has written very clumsily.
Instead, the far easier solution is to say that Paul
hasn’t written clumsily and that he believed that Jesus will return from heaven
to earth only once.
Summing up
A look at how Paul has used the word ‘parousia’ in 1 and
2 Thessalonians in connection with Christ returning from heaven to earth suggests
that there will be one, not two, returns. And the rest of the Bible also points
us in the same direction.
The idea that Jesus will return twice is a late
development that doesn’t fit Scripture or historical Christian beliefs, and it
should be abandoned.
See also:
The
Problems with Claiming to Interpret the Bible Literally
Beware
of Interpreting Bible Prophecies Too Literally
Is
the Church Spiritual Israel?
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