Did Paul Think Jesus Was Coming Back In His Lifetime ?

[Lewis]

I was just reading this, and thought that I would post it. So do you think that Paul think Jesus was coming back in his Lifetime ? Because the statement below, that Paul was wrong does not sit well with me. And that Jesus believed that it would happen in the lifetime of His followers. What followers? It has to be the future followers and not back then, because Jesus does not make mistakes.


Various Gospel passages record how Jesus believed that the second coming would occur very soon, during the lifetime of his followers (i.e. before the end of the 1st century CE). St. Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 also anticipates the event in his near future, and during his own lifetime. He encouraged Christians in Thessalonia to keep alert in anticipation of the coming of the Lord. Of course, both the report of Jesus' speech (in Mark 9:1) and Paul's letters (in Thessalonians and in 1 Corinthians 7:26-31) were wrong. Neither the rapture nor Jesus' second coming happened during the 1st century CE. Some Christians of every age since Jesus' execution have been anxiously expecting the event, and looking for signs of its coming. Anticipation was heightened as the last year of some centuries approached. Some expected it to happen in 1000 CE. This was not a general belief. Because of the low level of education at the time, the public was not generally aware of the date. There was also a heightened expectation just before the year 1500 CE. It was particularly intense as the year 2000 approached. After 2000-JAN-1, the level of anticipation of the millennium (as stated in the Bible), the end of the world as we know it, and of the rapture subsided somewhat.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/rapture.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/millenni.htm

 

[Vic C.]

I was just reading this, and thought that I would post it. So do you think that Paul thinks Jesus was coming back in his Lifetime ? Because the statement below, that Paul was wrong does not sit well with me. And that Jesus believed that it would happen in the lifetime of His followers. What followers? It has to be the future followers and not back then, because Jesus does not make mistakes.

Hey Lewis, welcome to the End Times Forum. I believe it is a future event also.

First off, what I get from Paul and Thessalonians is that he is comforting the believers by letting them know the Day of Christ hasn't come yet. They didn't miss it and neither did their dead loved ones. Paull goes on to tell them why;

1 Thess 4:15 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will also bring with Him all those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.

2 Thess 2:3 ¶ Do not let anyone deceive you in any way, because that Day will not come unless first comes the falling away, (apostasia) and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,

What I get from Scripture is that the Second Coming will be an event to witness by sight, not some spiritual event that took place in the first century.

 

[Lewis]

I am with you Vic, thank you.

 

[BradtheImpaler]

It has to be the future followers and not back then, because Jesus does not make mistakes

The way to sincerely seek the truth would be to analyze the situation and then decide if this prophecy was fulfilled or not - not to approach it with the attitude that "Jesus does not make mistakes", because, if it is a mistake, you'll never find out.

We cannot honestly evaluate anything if we exclude certain possibilities beforehand.

 

[preterist]

I was just reading this, and thought that I would post it. So do you think that Paul think Jesus was coming back in his Lifetime ? Because the statement below, that Paul was wrong does not sit well with me.

This, in part, is what eventually led me to the full-preterist view. Was Paul inspired? Not only Paul, but James, John and Peter also declared His soon coming. The entire NT screams a soon fulfillment.

Jam 5:8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

1Pe 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer:

1Jo 2:18 Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye heard that antichrist cometh, even now have there arisen many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last hour.

Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to shew unto his servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John;

 

[preterist]

I was just reading this, and thought that I would post it. So do you think that Paul thinks Jesus was coming back in his Lifetime ? Because the statement below, that Paul was wrong does not sit well with me. And that Jesus believed that it would happen in the lifetime of His followers. What followers? It has to be the future followers and not back then, because Jesus does not make mistakes.

Hey Lewis, welcome to the End Times Forum. I believe it is a future event also.

First off, what I get from Paul and Thessalonians is that he is comforting the believers by letting them know the Day of Christ hasn't come yet. They didn't miss it and neither did their dead loved ones. Paull goes on to tell them why;

1 Thess 4:15 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will also bring with Him all those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.

2 Thess 2:3 ¶ Do not let anyone deceive you in any way, because that Day will not come unless first comes the falling away, (apostasia) and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,

What I get from Scripture is that the Second Coming will be an event to witness by sight, not some spiritual event that took place in the first century.

But he also told them this:

2Th 1:6 if so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you,
2Th 1:7 and to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power
2Th 1:8 in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus:

Either Paul lied, was mis-informed, or the Thessalonians did in fact recieve rest from their afflictions at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power.