John N.D. Kelly

From Early Christian Doctrines

(On the First Century Christians' beliefs)
"..in the apostolic age, as the New Testament documents reveal, the Church was pervaded with an intense conviction that hope to which Israel had looked forward yearningly had at last been fulfilled. ..history had reached its climax and the reign of God, as so many of our Lord's parables imply, had been effectively inaugurated." (pp. 459-461)

"..[but by the middle of the second century] the Christian's confident and joyous assurance that the age to come has already broken into the present age has faded into the background. He looks upon God, not as the divine Father to Whom he has free access, but as the sternly just distributor of rewards and penalties, while grace has lost the primarily eschatological character it had in the New Testament and has become something to be acquired. ..the temptation to degenerate into a pedestrian moralism in which the "realized" element in its authentic eschatology finds no place was one to which Christianity was a much exposed in the patristic as in every other age." (pp.459-461)

"About the middle of the second century Christian eschatology enters upon a new, rather more mature phase. ..Justin teaches on the basis of Old Testament prophecy that, in addition to His coming in lowliness at His incarnation, Christ will come again in glory .. new emphases and fresh lines of thought begin to appear, partly for apologetic motives and partly as the result of growing speculation. The clash with Judaism and paganism made it imperative to set out the bases of the revealed dogmas more thoroughly. ..millenarianism, or the theory that the returned Christ would reign on earth for a thousand years, came to find increasing support among Christian teachers. We can observe these tendencies at work in the Apologists. Justin, as we have suggested, ransacks the Old Testament for proof, as against Jewish critics, that the Messiah must have a twofold coming. His argument is that, while numerous contexts no doubt predict His coming in humiliation, there are others (e.g. Is. 53:8-12; Ezek. 7f; Dan. 7:9-28; Zech. 12:10-12; Ps. 72:1-20; 110:1-7) which clearly presuppose His coming in majesty and power. The former coming was enacted at the incarnation, but the latter still lies in the future. It will take place, he suggests, at Jerusalem, where Christ will be recognized by the Jews who dishonored Him as the sacrifice which avails for all penitent sinners, and where He will eat and drink with His disciples; and He will reign there a thousand years. This millenerians, or "chialistic," doctrine was widely popular at this time. ..[But] he confesses that he knows pious, pure-minded Christians who do not share this belief.." (pp. 464-466)