The Second Coming

This page is largely a paraphrase of the BEMA Discipleship Podcast episode 161 titled 1 Thessalonians - Parousia. Much of the historical context provided in the podcast is sourced from In Search of Paul by John Dominic Crossan.

Context

Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians would seem to indicate that those in Thessalonica held some sort of misunderstanding of what the proper response was to Christ’s second coming, perhaps following a similar line of reasoning to “if Christ’s return is imminent, why should we waste our time working?” (a speculative take, to be clear). Paul would later go on to tell them “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” in 2 Thessalonians 3:10.

Parousia is the Greek word that is often translated as “second coming”. This word predated the concept of Christ’s second coming. Parousia referred to the second coming of an emperor in the Roman world. At the time, the area had been plagued with earthquakes. The emperor would visit damaged cities, observe the damage, and leave a sum of money behind for the citizens of that city to repair and improve infrastructure. It was understood that at some point the emperor would come again (parousia) to evaluate how the money was invested. This wasn’t common, but it happened at least twice with Thessalonica.

Although the emperor’s return was expected, the time at which that occurred could have been unknown. The city watch would sound a trumpet upon the sighting of the emperor to alert the city’s inhabitants of the emperor’s immanent arrival. It would not be good to be caught unprepared. The emperor would first pay respects to the dead at the necropolis (“city of the dead” - basically a fancy cemetery) at the city gate. Next, the people of the city would go out to meet the emperor - a meeting that goes by the term εἰς ἀπάντησις (verbally ice ap-an’-tay-sis). Finally, the emperor would be proudly shown what great accomplishments were done in the emperor’s name with the investment that he made in that city.

Christ’s second coming is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18:

¹⁵ For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,[d] that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Paul has described the second coming of Christ like the second coming of an emperor:

So - why the parallel? Even today we fall into the escapist trap of seeing Christ’s second coming purely as Christ saving us from the broken, sinful world that we leave behind. Paul’s point to the people of Thessalonica was that Jesus had left them with a deposit [of the Holy Spirit] that is to be used to restore, reconcile, heal, and rebuild.

“This is not a theology of disembodied evacuation, it’s a theology of physical participation.”

Will we have something to show Jesus when he returns?

A Modern Story of a Second Coming

Marty tells a story from his Biblical mentor and teacher Ray Vander Laan who led a trip to Turkey with some Young Life leaders. The group visited a small village that welcomed them with exceptional hospitality. The mayor of the village (distinguished by his white suit) showed the group around their small one room school that was the village’s pride despite pretty much being empty. By some circumstance, the group of Young Life leaders deemed it appropriate to collect some form of love offering for the village (which is a tricky thing to do politely - but by some means it was fine). The group of campus ministers somehow mustered up a fairly large sum of a couple thousand dollars to leave to the village to do with it what they saw fit.

Years later, Ray Vander Laan returned to Turkey and was in the area. While he was walking, the mayor of that small village recognized him from afar and confronted Ray pleading for him to come back and visit again. That evening Ray visited the village and was surprised to find it decorated for his arrival with music played on brass instruments to celebrate. Glowing with pride and joy, the mayor brought Ray to the school and excitedly showed him all of the improvements they had made using the money that contributed to the village by Ray’s group.

Ray was able to use this as an awesome picture of a parousia: “I want to be able to run across the field in my suit and grab Jesus by the hand and say Jesus you have to come - you have come see what we did with what you left behind, and to have that kind of joy, and that kind of pride, and that kind of honor, and then to have something to show for it. That’s what we’re trying to do here - not over in a holy huddle trying to stay untainted by the world but out in the middle of the world putting it together.”

References