Liberty University Baptist Theological Seminary

As

Submitted to Dr. John Durden, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of the

course

THEO 510 B01

Survey of Theology

By

C. Benjamin Czadzeck

February 28, 2015

Table of Contents

Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 3

History of Eschatology ....................................................................................................... 4

Eschatology in Antiquity ................................................................................................ 4

Modern Developments in Eschatology ........................................................................... 5

Contemporary Eschatology............................................................................................. 5

Scripture .............................................................................................................................. 9

Support for Dispensational Premillennialism ................................................................. 9

Refutation of Dispensational Premillennialism .............................................................. 9

Theological Implications of Dispensationalism................................................................ 11

Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 12

Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 14

2
Introduction

Within the past few decades the interest in eschatology has shattered all previous interest

in the subject. This has been in part to greater interest in Scriptural literature and also due to

popularization of biblical dramatization. The modern push of interest is based on books and

movies like The Late Great Planet Earth, or The Left Behind series. These publications are

themselves based on theological arguments but place them in emotionally driven drama’s that

attune people to want to relate to them, and in many cases believe these renditions without any

critical evaluation. In the developing twenty centuries of the Christian faith there have been

many disagreements on theology, doctrine, practice, and canon of scripture which were settled

time and again by coming together and debating the issues and measuring those controversies

and made a decisions on what was within the boundaries of acceptability of Christianity, it has

been within the last few centuries that the time tested definitions of Christian theology have been

razed to the ground and new systems have been rebuilt. Under the new schematics of self-

appointed theologians and Christian leaders an innovative understanding of the Escahton and

eschatology has supplanted traditional theology with an emphasis on emotionalism, escapism,

literalism, futurism, and adherence to and understanding of God’s covenants that places

Christians, followers of God’s Messiah, second to a national people group. Herein lays the

tremendous struggle for those who do not wish to follow blindly the pop-culture hype and adhere

to traditional views. Even scripture warns against the development of doctrines and prophesies

that do not align with the apostolic teachings.

3
History of Eschatology

Eschatology in Antiquity

Throughout the last two-thousand years of Christian teaching and theology there has been

predominantly one main view of the Eschaton, however there were some early speculations and

optimistic hopes that existed with many of the Church Fathers. Of the ancient writers there are

three who are spoken of as the founders of what has been titled Dispensational Premillennialism;

these fathers are Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Origen. First among these we shall look at is Origen,

who in his optimism taught that there would be a literal millennial kingdom at the end of days

where in all humanity would be reconciled with God. Origin’s Apokatastasis1 coupled with the

view of a literal Christ kingdom on earth was fully rejected by the 5th Ecumenical council. The

second ancient writer of the Church, Tertullian was a well versed scholar and wrote many

exegeses on Scripture; however Tertullian fell into apostasy and became a heretic to the

Christian faith, causing all of his works to be suspect and considered less than reliable. Yet he is

championed today in many circles as a bulwark for the modern eschatological understandings.

Finally of the three ancient writers who are purported to support modern eschatological views

Irenaeus of Lyons is not one who is considered much more than a simple monk who wrote

supporting the doctrines of the Church, even writing dialogues against Judaism calling Jews to

faith in Christ.2 With the continuation of history and the Eschaton becoming less imminent, such

views of the end of days ebbed away and a preoccupation with prophesy gave way to righteous

living and countering false doctrines.

1
This theological doctrine explains that even if someone were to reject God, they will be saved at the end
of days and live in paradise with those who were obedient to God’s call and commands. Fr. Andrew Stephen
Damick. Orthodox and Heterodoxy. (Chesterton, IN: Conciliar Press, 2011) 195.
2
Jaroslav Pelikan. The Christian Tradition: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition. (Chicago, IL: The
University of Chicago Press, 1971) 16.

4
 Modern Developments in Eschatology

With the lengthening of time from the first advent to the second the understanding and

approach to eschatology took a turn toward the allegorical and metaphorical coupled with the

literal understanding of Scripture. While it is attested to Augustine of Hippo as the progenitor

who formulated the traditional understanding, it had been the major theological thought long

before him. After the seven great councils of the Church the accepted eschatological view was

the one espoused by Augustine. There were multiple concepts that were put into play to make

this new view that was accepted by both Eastern and Western Christians. First of all Israel was to

be understood as The Church and Christians, second that Christ reigns over all creation currently

at the right hand of God, third that the one-thousand years described in Revelation were symbolic

to cover the current age before the second advent, fourth all promises made to the Jewish people

in the Old Testament were transferred to the Church through God’s dispensation, and fifth

anyone who preached a literal Earth bound kingdom were considered heretics and that teaching

was defined as chiliasm.3

The continuation of this thread of theological understanding endured through the

protestant reformation with Martin Luther and John Calvin. It was not until the 19th century

revivalist movements when radical concepts of eschatology emerged.

Contemporary Eschatology

The birth of fervent delving into the last days was primarily an American phenomenon,

primarily after the America Revolution and the war of 1812 a new wave of Christianization took

place. During the early years of the Republic the rough estimates of devout Christians who

attended services regularly was only 10%. The number did not rise until 1815, and the war with

3
(Damick 2011) 195

5
Brittan was over that the percentage rose to 25%.4 During the next century the percentage did

rise and fall and by 1914 the population of the United States of America who were professing

Christians, of all forms, rose to 50% due mostly to the influx of immigration from European

nations and predominantly Roman Catholicism was the majority of the professing Christian in

America.5 From the American nation with its freedoms of religious practice and non-regulation

by the government new paths were being paved in Christian theological understandings.

It was during the Second Wave of Revivalism that swept the nation post War of 1812 that

eschatological formulations took new routes. It was William Miller who began the modern

definition and understanding of Dispensational Premillennialism. Miller was typical of protestant

Christianity of this era of the 1800’s in that he began his life as a Baptist then rejected that for

Deism and then finally swept into Revivalism due to his quest for evidence of the coming

Eschaton.6 His research was primarily done via reading Scripture and in taking notice of the

dates that were in his printed King James Version of the Bible that had incorporated Archbishop

Ussher’s dating scheme.7 From his personal studies Miller determined using an elaborate system

that the Second Advent would occur in 1843.8 When this did not occur he went back recalculated

and informed his followers that he was in error and did not account for the change from the

Hebrew calendar into the modern calendar and that the real year would be 1844 and that it would

occur by March 21st of that year.9 Unfortunately that date came and went and nothing happened,

however the followers of Miller called Millerites broke off and formed new movements.

4
Diarmaid MacCulloch. Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. (New York, NY: Penguin Books,
2009) 902.
5
ibid. 902-903.
6
ibid. 905.
7
ibid. 905.
8
ibid. 905.
9
ibid. 905.

6
 From the Millerite Great Disappointment three noteworthy groups were spawned. The

Seventh Day Adventists, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Branch Dividians. Throughout the last

century these groups have had inglorious reputations and the Branch Dividians clashing with the

United States government force was due to weapons trafficking and their blind devotion to a

charismatic leader who interpreted eschatological themes in Scripture to represent modern events

that were happening to them.10

Caught up in the same revivalist movement yet going in a radically different direction

was the prophet of the Mormon Church11 Joseph Smith. Smith like Miller was almost frenzied

with searching Scriptures for an understanding of the end times, so that he could help usher in

God’s kingdom on earth. However similar these two were, Smith is recounted to have received a

vision of a heavenly being named Moroni. The revelation of Smith’s was like many concurrent

movements who were attempting to reconstruct the true Christian faith.12 These movements have

been dubbed Reconstructionist.13 The development of Millenarianism amidst the Second Wave

of Revivalism more emphasis was drawn away from turning to the historic past to measure the

present and was supplanted with looking to the future. This futurism drove many to create

utopian societies and also to the next and most dramatic development in eschatological theology.

The final development of modern popularized view of the Eschaton was penned by John

Nelson Darby. He generated the theological concept of the Rapture roughly in 1830, coupled it

with the dispensational understanding of the end of days.14 This final addition to the

Dispensationalism view of eschatology was not a prolific addition; in point of fact that it met

10
ibid. 906.
11
Also known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
12
ibid. 906-907.
13
ibid. 907.
14
ibid. 911.

7
with such resistance that many Protestants viewed his innovation as heretical.15 During Darby’s

life many wrote against his teaching and had much to say about it. If one accepted Darby's

theological view of the Rapture, many passages of the Gospel then must be abandoned as not

appropriate and challenges the theological importance of what Scripture says and this is exactly

what Darby did. Darby was too traditional to admit that any biblical writers might have shown

what appeared to be contradicting passages from one another, and he was too much a rationalist

to admit that the prophetic writings may be beyond logical rational understanding. Darby’s

attempted purpose of this exegetical quandary came about by distinguishing Scriptural passages

that were intended to identify and for the Church and what Scripture envisioned for Israel. When

the traditional and long held view was that when the Temple was destroyed by the Romans that

God’s blessing had passed to the Church, made up of both Jews and Gentiles, becoming the new

Israel. Many have attempted to reconcile the problems with the Rapture and Scripture testifying

that until the Rapture was revealed Scripture had been misunderstood and that those who

understood the Rapture were auguring the right thought from the Scripture.16

The Rapture teaching remained a novel idea tied to the Plymouth Brethren and those

associated with them until Cyrus Ignatius Scofield and his study bible were printed in the early

20th century. It was due to Scofield, bible colleges and training schools, and the Scofield bible

that brought in a commentary on Scripture that made it so popular and that many people felt that

the Dispensational Premillennial view of eschatology was proper, negating the preceding

understandings of eschatology that had held for nearly 1900 years.17

15
Jaroslav Pelikan. The Christian Tradition: Christian Doctrine and Modern Culture. (Chicago, IL: The
University of Chicago Press, 1989) 19.
16
Ernest R. Sandeen. The Roots of Fundamentalism: British and American Millenarianism 1800-1930.
(Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1970) 65-67.
17
(MacCulloch 2009) 911. & (Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: Christian Doctrine and Modern Culture
1989) 81.

8
Scripture

Support for Dispensational Premillennialism

There are aspects of Dispensationalism that are drawn from Scripture. Key aspects of

Dispensationalism are as follows; the Rapture before the tribulation, Israel is the Jewish people,

and a one thousand kingdom on earth also called the Millennium.

The most recent of these views is the Rapture. It is derived from 1 Thessalonians 4:16-

18.18,19 It has also been pointed to that Matthew 24:40-41 also speak of a rapture event when

Christ comes again. These are the only clear scriptural references to believers being taken. Next

there is the understanding of Israel being the Jewish people. This view is vaguer and is based

upon the belief that God’s promises are not transferable to a new people, and that the bloodlines

of Abraham in Israel are still to inherit the land that was granted them under Moses.20 Apart from

this there is very little in the New Testament of Scripture that mentions Israel as the Jewish

people. The final aspect that distinguishes Dispensationalism is the understanding of a literal one

thousand year kingdom on earth ruled by Jesus himself from Jerusalem. This is directly taken

from Revelations 20:1-10.21 This is a literalistic rendering of the passage of Scripture.

Refutation of Dispensational Premillennialism

Countering the views of Dispensational Premillennialism stands 1800 years of Christian

theology and Church history. The Rapture, a concealed second coming of Christ which makes

his advents from two to three not only counters the clear teachings that is taught by Jesus in

Matthew and Paul in 1 Thessalonians which talk of the next and only advent of Christ after his

18
All Scripture references are made from the Orthodox Study Bible.
19
Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson. The popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy. (Eugene: Oregon, 2004)
265, 309. & Jim Willis and Barbara Willis. Armagedon Now. (Canton: Mi, 2006) 343.
20
(LaHaye and Hindson 2004) 154-158. & (Willis and Willis 2006) 252.
21
Edward Hindson. Revelation; Unlocking the Future. (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2002) 199-
210.

9
resurrection. That is what Paul is writing about in Thessalonians, he wrote to encourage those

who were living that those who died would indeed be resurrected and taken with the living at the

Eschaton. There is not any hint of a pre-coming before the end of days. The idea of the rapture is

based on escapism to avoid suffering, and yet again is contrary to Scripture even at the point of

contradicting the words of Christ himself when he spoke that we would suffer for his sake which

was spoken and recorded in John 15:21.22

The next point under investigation is who is identified as Israel in Scripture. In the Old

Testament that was clearly the Jewish people, but with the coming of Christ and his resurrection

that is no longer clear. Paul wrote, “Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of

Abraham, if you are Christ’s then you are of Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the

promise.”23 It is in fact that Paul used the term Israel in the New Testament to talk about the

Church. Paul used “the Israel of God” to define the Church.24 Apart from Paul, Peter when he

used language to speak of the Church as Israel was spoken of, “But you are a chosen generation,

a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.” It is therefore clear that the Apostles

thought of the Church as Israel, the early Christians took this and applied it, however it had sadly

been contorted to promote anti-Semitism throughout the ages but that was not the intent of the

Church nor of the Apostles.25

On to the understanding of the millennium: This has been a point negligible debate, in

that early in the Church’s history this was a teaching that was taught not only by the Gnostics but

22
Fr. Seraphim Rose. Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future. (Platina, CA: Saint Herman of Alaska
Brotherhood, 2004) 180.
23
Galatians 3:7-9
24
Galatians 6:16
25
(Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition 1971) 221. & Jaroslav
Pelikan. The Christian Tradition: The Spirit of Eastern Christendom. (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press,
1974) 201-214.

10
also by Arius, who was condemned as a heretic.26 The Church in forming the Nicene-

Constantinopolitan Creed27 determined that the millennium was metaphorical and to represent

the Age of the Church and that also dispelled any doubt as to the timing of the Second Advent

which would happen in the culmination of the Tribulation.28,29

Theological Implications of Dispensationalism

Of the greatest impact of Dispensationalism is that it detaches from historicity and looks

only to the future. This disconnection releases all ties to the past of Christian experience but

drives people to do many things that are senseless and contrary to Christ’s teachings, and moving

and searching for new religions and expressions of religion.30 This untethering from the bedrock

of Christian history has allowed many to innovate. One of the greatest innovations is the constant

need to look for signs and try and tie the current events of the news to Scriptures prophesies.

This not only becomes problematic because of the fluidity of world events, but it also is in direct

opposition to Christ. For in Matthew 24:36 and in Mark 13:32 Christ Jesus tells his followers

that no one will know the time, place or the moment of the Second Advent for that is knowledge

that is only known to the Father and not even to the Son or Holy Spirit.

26
(Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition 1971) 195-200.
27
The Creed is as follows with emphasis on the denunciation of the millennial Kingdom as a literal
manifestation:
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and
invisible; And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-begotten, Begotten of the Father before all ages,
Light of Light, Very God of Very God, Begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were
made: Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the
Virgin Mary, and was made man; And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried;
And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; And ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of
the Father; And He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no
end. And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the
Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, Who spoke by the Prophets; And we believe in one, holy,
catholic, and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins. We look for the
Resurrection of the dead, And the Life of the age to come. Amen
28
(Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: The Spirit of Eastern Christendom 1974) 34-35 .
29
Bishop Gerasimos of Abydos. At the End of Time: The Eschatological Expectations of the Church.
(Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1997) 24-26.
30
(Rose 2004)115-200.

11
 In addition to the aforementioned contradiction to Scripture there is another aspect of

Dispensationalism that is fatal, the notion of escapism. This escapism is a paramount part of the

Dispensational rendering of eschatology in the Rapture. The Rapture is an event that all believers

and as some have concluded the young children of non-believers will be snatched away from the

earth at the advent of the Antichrist. Also noted above John 15:21 and also Matthew 10:22

recount Christ Jesus speaking out about the hardships that his followers will encounter because

of his sake. If Christ tells about trials and tribulations to occur to the faithful inevitably any

teaching that counters can be suspect, and why many Christians around the world have not

adopted a Dispensational Premillennial system of eschatology and have remained to the

traditional Christian teaching on the last days.31

Conclusions

It can be said that Christianity is a faith based on real history, but it has also morphed in

recent decades into a faith detached from its own history in many circles. Historically the

Christian Church has been viewed eschatology at a respectful distance. With little delving in

trying to understand or apply the Revelation of John the Divine to the world events around them

because they understood that focusing too strongly on the eschatological aspects could and had

already caused many problems. The Gnostics and other early heretical groups that broke away

from Christianity had a predominantly strong fascination to the Eschaton and the Church made

the choice to put eschatological speculation to the sides of theology.32

It was out of respect and its worthy nature that the book of Revelations was even kept

within the canon of scripture, and it has been the practice of all Eastern and Oriental Orthodox

that the book is never read in Church during services. It was due to concern for its misuse that

31
Dennis E. Engleman. Ultimate Things: An Orthodox Christian Perspective on the End Times. (Ben
Lomond, CA: Conciliar Press, 1995) 198-207.
32
(Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: The Spirit of Eastern Christendom 1974) 210-212, 279-280.

12
Revelation and even speculation on the Eschaton became not a focus of Christian living for

nearly 1800 years, with limited and sporadic voices speaking and writing on it. The focus of

Christians was not entirely diverted, but was rather placed on living life daily as properly as

anyone can in faith. Because death is always remember as a possibility for the believer, either by

natural or persecution or randomness of the world. For living as if death could be at any moment

a believer was always prepared for either their own death or the Advent of Christ.

It has been a turbulent thousand years for Christians of the East. They have endured the

spread of Islam and its armies decrying “convert or die” and then in the modern era they have

survived the horrors of Soviet Communism and have endured. Yes the numbers of those who

remain faithful are not great, but the path of Christ is not the wide and easy but the narrow and

trying path and not everyone will make the choice to follow Christ and we are always called to

turn from the corrupted world and turn to Christ daily.

13
Bibliography
Abydos, Bishop Gerasimos of. At the End of Time: The Eschatological Expectations of the

Church. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1997.

Damick, Fr. Andrew Stephen. Orthodox and Heterodoxy. Chesterton, IN: Conciliar Press, 2011.

Engleman, Dennis E. Ultimate Things: An Orthodox Christian Perspective on the End Times.

Ben Lomond, CA: Conciliar Press, 1995.

Hindson, Edward. Revelation; Unlocking the Future. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2002.

LaHaye, Tim, and Ed Hindson. The popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy. Eugene: Oregon,

2004.

MacCulloch, Diarmaid. Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. New York, NY: Penguin

Books, 2009.

Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: Christian Doctrine and Modern Culture. Chicago,

IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1989.

—. The Christian Tradition: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition. Chicago, IL: The

University of Chicago Press, 1971.

—. The Christian Tradition: The Spirit of Eastern Christendom. Chicago, IL: The University of

Chicago Press, 1974.

Rose, Fr. Seraphim. Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future. Platina, CA: Saint Herman of

Alaska Brotherhood, 2004.

Sandeen, Ernest R. The Roots of Fundamentalism: British and American Millenarianism 1800-

1930. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1970.

Willis, Jim, and Barbara Willis. Armagedon Now. Canton: Mi, 2006.

14