The Second Coming in 2nd Corinthians

The Second Coming in 2nd Corinthians

Below is the 36th of multiple excerpts from The Parousia, the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell. "THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. "ANTICIPATIONS OF ‘THE END’ AND ‘THE DAY OF THE LORD.’ "2 Cor. i. 13, 14 [2 Cor. 1:13-14].---‘Even to the end;’. . . ‘the day of the Lord Jesus.’ ['...I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end; as also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.'] "‘The end’ (ver. 13 [2 Cor. 1:13]) does not mean ‘to the end of my life,’ as [Henry] Alford says. It is the great consummation which the apostle [Paul] ever keeps in view, the goal to which they were so rapidly advancing. To telos [Greek for 'the end'] has a definite and recognised signification in the New Testament [namely, the end of the Old Covenant age] as may be seen by reference to such passages as Matt. xxiv. 6, 14 [Matt. 24:6, 14]; 1 Cor. xv. 24 [1 Cor. 15:24]; Heb. iii. [6] [Heb. 3:6], vi. 11 [Heb. 6:11], etc. [Rome's destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70 brought the Old Covenant age and its Temple-based animal sacrifice system to a close.] "In ver. 14 [2 Cor. 2:14] we find St. Paul anticipating the coming of the Lord as the time of joyful recompense to the faithful servants of God, and which was so near that, as he had told them in his former epistle [1st Corinthians], human judgments and censures might well be adjourned till its arrival. (1 Cor. iv. 5 [1 Cor. 4:5--'Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come...']) When that day came, the apostle and his converts would rejoice in each other. Can it be supposed that he could think of that day as otherwise than very near? Have those mutual rejoicings yet to begin? For if the day of the Lord be still future, so also must be the rejoicing." [next: further commentary by Russell on 2nd Corinthians]

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book of Revelation: Written to be Understood by its Original 1st-century Readers

Below is the first of multiple excerpts of commentary on the Book of Revelation from   The Parousia ,  the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell: " We come now to the consideration of the most difficult and obscure part of divine Revelation, and we may well pause on the threshold of a region so shrouded in mystery and darkness . The conspicuous failures of the wise and learned men who have too confidently professed to decipher the mystic scroll of the apocalyptic Seer [John] warn us against presumption. We might even feel justified in declining altogether a task which has baffled so many of the ablest and best interpreters of the Word of God.  But, on the other hand ,   do we honour the book by refusing to open it, and pronouncing it hopelessly obscure ? Are we justified in so treating any portion of the Revelation which God has given us? Is the book to be virtually handed over to diviners and charlatans, to be the sport of their fantastic s
Read more

Revelation's Messages to the Seven 1st-century Churches of Asia Minor

Below is the ninth of multiple excerpts of commentary on the Book of Revelation from The Parousia , the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell: " The First Vision "THE MESSAGES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES.  "[Rev.] Chap. i. 10-20; ii. iii [Rev. 1:10-20; 2, 3] "Notwithstanding what has been said respecting the imagery and symbolism of the Apocalypse [Book of Revelation],  it is not to be forgotten that underlying these symbols there is everywhere a substratum of fact and reality. We have only to read the messages to the seven churches to discover that we are in a region of actual fact and intense reality.  There is such individuality of character in the graphic delineations of the spiritual state of the several churches, that  we cannot doubt that they are accurate and truthful portraits of the Christian communities [in 1st-century Asia Minor] which they describe . There is indeed a strange commingling of figure [symbol] and fact [in  
Read more

The Seven Seals: Symbols of Jerusalem's Fall in A.D. 70

Below is the 10th of multiple excerpts of commentary on the Book of Revelation from The Parousia , the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell:  "The Second Vision " THE SEVEN SEALS , CHAPS. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. 1. [Rev. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8:1] " Introduction to the vision , chaps. iv. v. [Rev. 4, 5] " ... Nothing can be more vivid and dramatic than the scenes which are successively exhibited as the Lamb opens the seals . The four cherubs that guard the throne, one after another announce the breaking of the first four seals, with a loud cry of ‘Come!’ And as each is opened the Seer [John] beholds a visionary figure pass across the field of view, emblematic of the contents of that portion of the scroll which is unrolled. ...   " What, then, do these symbols represent? It needs only a glance to see their general nature and character. Everywhere it is WAR, and the concomitants of war,---blood, famine, and death, all leading up to and
Read more