The Second Coming in 1st Corinthians

The Second Coming in 1st Corinthians Below is the 29th of multiple excerpts from The Parousia, the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell. "THE PAROUSIA [SECOND COMING] IN THE EPISTLES TO THE CORINTHIANS. "The two epistles to the church in Corinth are believed to have been written in the same year (A.D. 57). The contents are more varied than those of the Epistles to the Thessalonians, but we find many allusions to the anticipated coming of the Lord. That was the consummation to which, in St. Paul’s view, all things were hastening, and that for which all Christians were eagerly looking. It is represented as the decisive day when all the doubts and difficulties of the present would be resolved and all its wrongs redressed. That this great event was regarded by the apostle as at hand is implied in every allusion to the subject, while in several passages it is expressly affirmed in so many words. "THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. "ATTITUDE OF THE CHRISTIANS OF CORINTH IN RELATION TO THE PAROUSIA. "1 Cor. i. 7[-8]. [1 Cor. 1:7-8]---‘Waiting (looking earnestly) [Greek: apekdechomenous] for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ "The attitude of expectation is which the Corinthians stood is here distinctly indicated, although it is feebly expressed by the [King James Version] rendering ‘waiting.’ The phrase used by the apostle [Paul] is the same as in Romans viii. 19 [Rom. 8:19], where the whole creation is represented as ‘groaning and travailing in pain waiting [eagerly expecting, Greek: apekdechetai] for the revelation of the sons of God’.... Such an attitude plainly implies that the object expected was understood to be near; for it is obvious that if it were a great way off, the earnest looking and longing would end only in bitter disappointment. It may be said, Did not the Old Testament saints wait for the day of Christ? Did not Abraham rejoice to see His day [John 8:56], and was not that a distant prospect? True; but the Old Testament saints were nowhere given to understand that the first coming of Christ would take place in their own day, or within the limits of their own generation, nor were they urged and exhorted to be continually on the watch, waiting and looking for His coming. We have no reason whatever to suppose that their minds were constantly on the stretch, and their eyes eagerly straining in expectation of the advent, as was the case with the Christians of the apostolic age. The case of the aged Simeon is the proper parallel to the early Christians. It was revealed to him that he should not see death till he had seen the Lord’s anointed [Luke 2:26]: he waited therefore ‘for the consolation of Israel [Luke 2:25].’ In like manner it was revealed to the Christians of the apostolic age that the Parousia [Second Coming] would take place in their own day [Matt. 10:23, 16:28, 24:34, 26:64; Mark 9:1, 13:30, 14:62; Luke 9:27, 21:32, 22:69; Rev. 1:7]; the Lord had over and over again distinctly assured His disciples of this fact, they therefore cherished the hope of living to see the longed-for-day, and all the more because of the sufferings and persecutions to which they were exposed [1 Thess. 2:16; 2 Thess. 1:6-8; Rev. 6:10]. Like the Thessalonians they regarded death as a calamity, because it seemed to disappoint the hope of seeing the Lord ‘coming in his kingdom.’ They wished to be ‘alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord [1 Thess. 4:13-18].’ [Biblical scholar] Billroth remarks: ‘The apokalupsis (revelation) refers to the visible advent of Christ, an event which Paul and the believers of that day imagined would take place within the term of an ordinary life, so that many of them would be then alive. Paul here commends the Corinthians for expecting or waiting for it.’ The critic [Billroth] evidently [i.e., in an evident manner, thus clearly] regards the opinion [of imminency] as a delusion. But whence did the early Christians derive their expectation? Was it not from the teaching of the apostles and the words of Christ? To say that it was a mistaken opinion is to strike a blow at the authority of the apostles as trustworthy reporters of the sayings of Christ and competent expounders of His doctrine. If they could be so egregiously mistaken as to a simple matter of fact, what confidence can be placed in their teaching on the more difficult questions of doctrine and duty? "The confidence expressed by the apostle that the Christians of Corinth would be confirmed unto the end, and be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ [1 Cor. 1:8], recalls his prayer for the Thessalonians: ‘That he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Thess. iii. 13 [1 Thess. 3:13]). The two passages are exactly parallel in signification, and refer to the same point of time, ‘the end,’ the ‘Parousia [Second Coming].’ Obviously, by ‘the end’ [Greek: telous] the apostle does not mean the ‘end of life;’ it is not a general sentiment such as we express when we speak of being ‘true to the last;’ it has a definite meaning, and refers to a particular time. It is ‘the end’ (to telos) spoken of by our Lord in His prophetic discourse on the Mount of Olives (Matt. xxiv. 6, 13, 14 [Matt. 24:6, 13, 14]). It is ‘the end of the age’ (sunteleia tou aionos) of Matt. xiii. 40, 49 [Matt. 13:40, 49]. It is ‘the end’ (then cometh the end) (1 Cor. xv. 24 [1 Cor. 15:24]). See also Heb. iii. 6, 14, [Heb. 3:6, 14], vi. 11 [Heb. 6:11], ix. 26 [Heb. 9:26]; 1 Pet. iv. 7 [1 Pet. 4:7]). All these forms of expression [to telos, ta tele, he sunteleia) refer to the same epoch---viz. [that is], the close of the aeon or Jewish age, i.e. the Mosaic dispensation. This is pointed out by [Henry] Alford in his note on the passage before us: ‘To the end,’ i.e. to the sunteleia tou aionos [end of the age], not merely ‘to the end of your lives.’ It refers, therefore, not to death, which comes to different individuals at a different time, but to one specific event, not far off, the Parousia, or coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. "No less definite is the phrase, ‘the day of our Lord [1 Cor. 1:8],’ etc. The allusions to this period in the apostolic writings are very frequent, and all point to one great crisis which was quickly approaching, the day of redemption and recompense to the suffering people of God, the day of retribution and wrath to their enemies and persecutors."