Did the Early Church Expect Jesus to Return Within One Generation? Some Neglected Evidence

In a previous blog post of mine I discussed the problem of Mark 13:30, where Jesus apparently gave a false prediction concerning the timing of his parousia, and I offered a potential solution to the problem. (As my thoughts on this issue have developed, I have since adopted another view which I think is stronger). 

I did not address, however, the argument that the earliest Christians also predicted the imminent end of the world. Many scholars see this early Christian view as a natural carry-over from the teachings of Jesus. 

Initially this argument seems to have merit. The Synoptic Gospels report Jesus saying that his parousia was “near, at the very gates” (Mark 13:29 and parallels). Paul tells the Romans that God “will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20). For James, the “coming of the Lord is at hand” (5:8). 1 John says that it is “the last hour” (2:18). The author of Hebrews thought he was living at “the end of the ages” (9:26). In the book of Revelation, Jesus says that he is coming “soon” (22:20). More examples could be cited. 

But it is also interesting, and curiously neglected, that the New Testament authors also spoke of the possibility that the world could go on for a long time. In Acts 2:39, a passage I have yet to see cited anywhere in the scholarly literature on this topic, Luke reports Peter saying: “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off (εἰς μακρὰν), everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” These words at least presuppose that the world could be around for generations to come! This fact is all the more striking when we take into account that Luke understood himself to be living “in the last days” (Acts 2:17). He also reports Jesus telling the disciples, “when you see all these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near” (Luke 21:31) — “all these things” referring to the events of 70 AD and “the kingdom of God” referring to Jesus’s return.

   

Similarly, Paul [1] tells children, “‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land’” (Eph. 6:2-3). The word Paul uses for “live long” is μακροχρόνιος and refers to earthly longevity, not eternal life. [2] This proverbial advice would make no sense if the world was to come to an end within Paul’s own lifetime. It rather presupposes the possibility that the world could continue on long enough for the children who Paul is addressing to grow old. [3]

Evidence from 1 Clement, a first-century document, [4] points to the same conclusion. [5] 1 Clement 44:1-2 reads:

Our apostles likewise knew, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that there would be strife over the bishop’s office. For this reason, therefore, having received complete foreknowledge, they appointed the leaders mentioned earlier and afterwards they gave the offices a permanent character; that is, if they should die, other approved men should succeed in their ministry. [6] 

The author [7] of 1 Clement here says that the apostles allowed for the possibility (note the “if”) that the world would go on past their lifetimes, and prepared accordingly by giving “the offices a permanent character”. 

Lastly, the words of Jesus himself presuppose the possibility of a far-off parousia. In the parable reported in Matthew 24:45-50 and Luke 12:42-48, for example, Jesus exhorts his disciples to not remain idle like the servant who says, “My master is delayed in coming”. Apparently Jesus anticipated, or at least allowed for the possibility, that the interim period before his return would be long enough for some to become apathetic. The parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 likewise hints at a far-off parousia. The man going on a journey gives out his talents, and does not return until “after a long time” (v. 19). Both Luke and Matthew could simultaneously describe the parousia as imminent and far-off.

What this evidence shows is that for the early Christians the imminence of Jesus’s return was not a matter of dogma but of hope. [8] They simultaneously prepared for an imminent return of the Lord while allowing for the possibility that the world could go on after their deaths. 

This evidence should also make us re-examine the function of language of imminence in the early Christian writings. This language was more about rhetorical exhortation than prognostication. In a future blog post I will flesh this idea out further and propose a number of ways in which this language of imminence can be plausibly understood. 

Notes 

[1]  Some scholars doubt that Paul himself wrote Ephesians. The point stands, however, even if Paul did not, because Ephesians would still qualify as evidence for first-century Christian beliefs about the timing of the eschaton. For a defense of Pauline authorship, see D. A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament. 2nd edition. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005) 480-486.

[2] Benjamin L. Merkle, Ephesians. (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2016) 130; Grant R. Osborne, Ephesians Verse by Verse. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2017) 75. 

[3] One might argue that Eph. 6:3 does not square with 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Cor. 7, where Paul seems to assume that he would live to see the parousia. But Paul’s marriage advice in 1 Cor. 7:25-31 is practical and has to do with some circumstance of necessity/tribulation (ἀνάγκην) that the Corinthian church is currently experiencing. The eschatological focus in vv. 29-31 is a digression, relatively unconnected with Paul’s marriage advice. And the word συνεσταλμένος, though often translated “has grown short”, is better translated as “has been shortened”. It is a participle, not an adjective, and refers to what God has done in the past by raising Jesus. See Ben Witherington, Jesus, Paul and the End of the World: A Comparative Study in New Testament Eschatology. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992) 28; David W. Kuck, “The Freedom of Being in the World ‘As If Not’ (1 Cor 7:29-31).” Currents in Theology and Mission 28.6 (2001): 585-593. Attempts to argue from 1 Thess. 4:15-17 that Paul thought he would be alive for the parousia also fail. That Paul includes himself grammatically within the phrase “those who are alive” does not show that he is predicting the parousia will occur within his lifetime, any more than 1 Cor. 6:14 (“he will raise us up by is power”) and 2 Cor. 4:14 (“he… will also raise us”) show that he believed he would be dead before the parousia. The use of “we” in 1 Thess. 4:15 is only natural. As Witherington points out, “If there were only two categories of Christians in this argument (‘those who have fallen asleep’ and ‘we who are living’), then clearly Paul could only place himself in the latter group” (Witherington, End of the World, 24). Other passages show that he allowed for both the possibility that he could be alive and that he could be dead at the parousia (2 Cor. 5:1-9, 1 Thess. 5:10, Phil. 1:20-23). 

[4] See the reasons for this dating in Michael W. Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations. Third edition. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007) 35.   

[5] This passage was brought to my attention by Jason Engwer, “Did Jesus and the Early Christians Teach That The Second Coming Would Occur Within Jesus’ Generation?” (Triablogue), August 19, 2006, http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2006/08/did-jesus-and-earliest-christians.html.

[6] Trans. Holmes, Apostolic Fathers, 103. 

[7] See the brief introduction to authorship in ibid., 34-35; Andrew Gregory, “1 Clement: An Introduction.” The Expository Times 117.6 (2006): 224-225. 

[8] I borrow this distinction from George R. Beasley-Murray, Jesus and the Last Days: The Interpretation of the Olivet Discourse. (Vancouver, British Columbia: Regent College Publishing, 1993) 460-461. He adds, “To look for the fulfillment of the promise of the kingdom in ardent hope is not the same as laying down authoritatively at what time it shall come.”