In the Epistle of Jude Christ's Return is the great event of the future (v.*<) ; the reward of the good is 'eternal life' (v.^') ; the truth of the final judgment (vv.'- ") is asserted ; the doom of the evil is described as the ' blackness of darkness,' a doom ' reserved for ever' (v."). A peculiar feature (appearing also in 2 Peter), in the eschatology of this Epistle, is the place given to the judgment of fallen angels — a subject on wliich the Jewish imagination ran riot (see especially the Book of Enoch 6-10. 21 ; cf. also Jubilees 5, Apoc. Bar 56'°""). Here their doom is described, free from the extravagances which meet us in the Apo- calyptic books, as that of being ' kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day' (HV v.").
The writings bearing Peter's name, together w ith the discourses ascribed to that apostle in the Bk. of Acts, represent a distinct type of eschato- hjgical teaching, as of doctrinal statement generally. The Second Epistle, the genuineness of \\liich has been so largely questioned, exhibits an affinity in many things with the Epistle of Jude. It has the same conception of the coming of Christ as the conclusive event of the future (1" 2*). It speaks in mucli the same terms of the judgment, and of the doom of evil men (2'' •• '• "• "). It designates the recompense of the good as an ' eternal kingdom ' (1"), as Jude designates it 'eternal life.' It nas tlie same exceptional doctrine of the punishment of fallen angels, applying the unusual terra Tartar-US to the intermediate place of their deten- tion, and describing them as committed to ' pits of darkness in reserve unto judgment ' (2*). But it al.so makes ita own peculiar contribution to the eschatology of the canonical writings in a remark- able paragraph, the most detailed of its kind in NT, on the end of tlie world (3^-"). It teaclies that Christ's Parousia is to bring the whole jiresent sj'steni of things to its conclusion, and the world itself to its consummation. With the great event of His coming the existing order shall be dissolved ; the present heavens and earth are to give place to ' fresh heavens and a fresh earth ' j and a recon- Btruct4.'d world is to come forth as the abode of righteousness and the scene of the perfected kiiigdcmi of God. In this 2 P attaches it.self to t)T conceptions of a world-conflagration (PsSO'QT'. Is GO"' '•• «, Dn 7» '»), and a dissolution of the present system, effected by fire, in connexion with J"'s judgment and the day of His recompense (I's 102>*- ", Job 14", Is 34* 66*^1.
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ESCHATOLOGY
ESCHATOLOGY
First Peter, which is an epistle of hope, looks at all tilings in the li};ht of the future. It has a large eschatology, the central point of which is Christ's ' Apocalypse,' His revelation or appearing (1' 5'). Its dominant notes are the ' last time,' the ' end of all things,' the judgment (1' 4'- "). In the judgment God Himself is Judge {!") ; Christ also appears to be Judge (4°). The j udgment is universal, alike of quick and of dead (4'). It begins with the house of God now, and it has its fate reserved for the 'ungodly and the sinner' (4"-"). The judgment of the unrigliteous is referred to only incidentally. The reward of the good is declared in various terms, as an 'inheritance,' 'honour,' 'life,' a ' cro\vn of glory,' etc. (!*•' 5*). The question of greatest interest in the eschatology of this Epistle, however, is its relation to the 'larger hope.' This turns upon the interpretation given to the two famous passages touching the preaching to ' the spirits in prison ' (3""^), and the preaching of the gospel to ' the dead ' (4"). In connexion with these tlie application which Peter makes of Ps 16 in his Pentecostal discourse (Ac 2'') is also brought into view. The terms in which Peter speaks here of Christ, ' neither was he left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption,' have been taken to point to a visit of Christ to the under- world, and a consequent activity of His grace there. It is with Christ's resurrection, however, that Peter is specially con- cerned in that discourse, and the words do not go beyond the broad statement that Christ at His death passed into the world of the departed like other men, but passed thither only to rise again. The two passages in the Epistle itself are of a different nature, and rank among the chief crncet interprctum in NT. The former passage has been expounded in the interest of many different theories — those of the liberation of saints of OT times ; Christ's penal endurance of God's wTath ; the purgatorial detention and purification of souls ; Christ's descent to Hades for the purpose of a judicial manifestation of Himself, for a fresh pro- clamation of the gospel there, for the provision of a continuous ministry of grace there, for the prolongation of opportunities of repentance and offers of forgiveness to the departed, and the like. The latter pas.sage has also been very differently interpreted. On the basis of both, the eschatology of this Epistle has been understood by many to favour the 'larger hope,' and to suggest that this life is not in every case the theatre of human fates, if not to teach the doctrine of the existence of a ministry of grrace in the world of the departed with untold possibilities of after-death repentance and salvation. For the details of the interpretation and for its history the commentaries must be con- sulted. It must be enough here to say that, while the view in question has been largely adopted, it has not commended itself to all scholars of authority. The exegesis of these passages has still many uncertainties, and waits yet for its key ; while the passages themselves stand entirely alone in NT. (See especially Giider, Die Lehre von der Erscheinung Chriiti unter den Todten ; Kcnig, Die Lehre von Christi Hnllenfahrt ; Dietelmaier, His- torin dogmntis de Descen.m Christi ad Inferos litteraria ; Hof mann, Schriftheteeis ; Usteri, Hinab- girfnhrcn ziir HolU ; Schweitzer, Hinahgefahren zur Nolle ; Spitta, Christi Predigt an die Geistcr ; Bruston, La Descente du Christ aux Enfers.) The further question has been raised whether Peter's eschatology does not contain the doctrine of a Universal Restoration. In his discourse to the people in Solomon's porch (Ac S"-") he is reported to have spoken of a restoration or restitution of all things. This has been sometimes supposed to intimate the final restoration of all men. But the words have their key in the passage of Malachi