Evidence that Paul expected Jesus to Return in his lifetime [Thread]
It is well-known that the NT, despite all its internal contradictions, is surprisingly consistent in predicting the imminent end of the world. This was definitely the view of Paul.
It is well-known that the NT, despite all its internal contradictions, is surprisingly consistent in predicting the imminent end of the world. This was definitely the view of Paul.
![Evidence that Paul expected Jesus to Return in his lifetime [Thread]
It is well-known that the NT,...](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBMJ0cQXoA4pzK3.jpg)
Paul's expectation of an imminent and chaotic end of the world, ushered in by the Second Coming of Jesus, is obvious in many of his letters. Here, I will examine 3 examples: 1 Cor 7:25-31, 1 Thess 4:13-18, and 1 Thess 5:1-10.
My personal favorite is definitely 1 Cor 7:25-31, mostly because it is crystal clear and leaves no room for reinterpretations (though Christian apologists still try).
Paul was asked about marriage & responded that it was better not to get married, but if someone did, it was not a sin. Why would he say it was better not to get married? Verses 29 & 31 give the reason: “the appointed time has grown very short” & the “this world is passing away”.
If Paul advised that Christians, no matter what time period they were living in, should not get married because it would cause “worldly troubles” (v. 28), it would be impossible to follow, especially when thousands of years were still left until the “passing away” of the world.
But it is clear that Paul was giving this advice because of the “present distress” (v. 26). To him, frivolous matters like marriage were not that important given that the “present distress” was evidence that the world will soon pass away.
The time had indeed “grown very short”. Paradoxically, Paul’s logic was flawless. Indeed, if the end of the world was imminent, then what would be the point of worrying about world matters like marriage? He was just wrong about the timing of the end of the world.
The next passage is 1 Thess 4:13-18. Paul declares that Christians who have died & those still alive will see Jesus & be w/ him when he returns. The context is important, since apologists claim that Paul is talking about some time in the future, not necessarily in his own time.
The context shows that Paul was directly speaking to the Christians of his time, his “brothers” (verse 13). He also referred to “we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord” (verse 15). These are references to his own time.
This is explained by Ernest H. Cook in “The New Testament in Modern Speech”, p. 533 (as cited by Mark Smith in “Broken Promises” (p. 87).
What makes it worse is that Paul doesn’t say that this is his opinion. Rather, he claims that it is “by a word from the Lord”. So, it was under alleged “inspiration” that he made this prophecy, which ultimately failed.
That Paul was talking to the people of his own time and not in some unknown future is further demonstrated in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10.
The context of this passage is again to the people of his time. This is demonstrated by his use of the phrase “peace and security” (verse 3). While the non-Christians are blissfully enjoying their “peace and security”...
...Jesus will return all of a sudden & bring that “peace and security” to a violent end. This is a direct reference to the Roman concept of “pax Romana” or “Roman peace”. “Pax” was also the name of the Roman goddess of peace.
As James Harrison explains in “Paul and the Imperial Authorities at Thessalonia and Rome”, Paul was warning those who “trusted in the false security of the Roman Empire” (p. 62). He was prophesying “the destruction of the proponents of the imperial pax et securitas” (p. 61).
Harrison also noted how Roman coins often had the words “pax” (or “paci”) and “securitas” separately, as in the example below which has the phrase “Paci Ausgustae”.
This proves that Paul expected Jesus to return at a time that people in the empire considered an age of peace & security. It also proves that Paul was spectacularly wrong, as the “pax Romana” lasted for 200 years...
...and even when it ended, the Roman Empire didn’t simply collapse nor did Jesus actually return.
These 3 passages prove beyond a doubt that Paul, like many early Christians, was expecting the imminent return of Jesus and the overthrow of the present world order.
These 3 passages prove beyond a doubt that Paul, like many early Christians, was expecting the imminent return of Jesus and the overthrow of the present world order.
Like John of Patmos would do later when writing the Book of Revelation, Paul prophesied the violent destruction of the pagan Roman Empire in his own time. Both were wrong.
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