C. Jonathan Seraiah
End Times
Controversy
(On
Fulfilled Prophecies of Christ's Coming)
"It is true that the "eschatology" of the New Testament is predominantly preterist. For those unfamiliar with the preterist perspective, it is the ancient view that many of the eschatological passages of the New Testament were fulfilled (completely) in the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. This view may sound novel, but in reality there have been orthodox adherents to it throughout church history (e.g., Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, John Lightfoot, John Owen, Milton Terry,
Jay Adams). This interpretation does not deny the Final Coming of Christ; it merely finds that not all "coming" passages refer to that event. The preterist interpretation is actually the most faithful to the biblical text because it recognizes that Old Testament prophetic terminology was used by the New Testament authors. This recognition is helpful in distinguishing the prophecies of Christ's coming that were near, in the first century (Matt. 10:23; 16:28; 24:30; 26:64; 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Thess. 1:7; James 5:7-9; 1 Pet. 4:7; Rev. 1:3, 7; etc.) and thus fulfilled in a.d. 70, from those that were far (John 5:28-29;
Acts 1:11; 17:31; 1 Cor. 15:23-24; 1 Thess. 4:16; 1 Jn. 3:2; etc.) and thus not yet fulfilled even in our day. It also helps to distinguish between a spiritual "coming" (invisible for temporal judgment, as in a.d. 70) and a physical coming (visible for eternal judgment)." (End of All Things)
What do YOU think ?
Submit Your Comments For Posting Here
..Will Be Spam
Filtered and Posted Shortly..
Date: 30 Dec 2007
Time: 23:13:10
Comments:
First,
Jonathan's book is NOT a critique of preterism but a critic of PANTELISM.
Second, Jonathin's arguments concerning the "near" passages hermeneutic when
applied to the Old Testament "near" prophecies show the absurdity of the
pantelist as nothing more than a scripture twisting wolf. The church IS the
pillar and ground of truth as God himself preserves His truth down through
the ages through faithful men who can rightly divide it, thwarting the
attempts of heretics to fool the sheep.
Calvin Jones | 
