In the Epistle to the Hebrews, where we have a series of ideas and forms of expression in general affinity with the Pauline type of doctrine, and not less with the older ajiostolic type, e.schatology is not the prominent subject. I?ven the ' rest ' and 'the world to come' are not presented primarily as of tlie future. Yet the things of the end iiinke a considerable element of the thought of the Kpistle. The doctrines of ' resurrection of the dead ' and 'eternal judgment' are dealt with as things that should be well understood (6"-). The day of Christ's coming is in the writer's eye j it is a day that draws nigh, and with it the judgment is connected (Qia ioM.a«). In the judgment it is God Himself, not the Son, that is Judge, and lie is 'Judge of all' (12'" KV""). The Epistle also has a definite doctrine of final awards. The recompense of the righteous is the 'heaven' into which the Fore- runner and High Priest has passed, an 'et«mal inheritance,' an 'enduring substance,' a 'butter country,' a ' city prepared,' a ' kingdom which can- not be moved' (4* 6'»- »> 9"' KjaJ-*' ll'" 12^). The retribution of the unriphteous is 'judgment,' ' fierceness of fire,' "jierdition ' (lO"").
In the Pauline Epistles, together with the (lis- cour.scs attributed to St. Paul in the Book of Acts, we find u remarkable e.schatology, larger, more developed, and in some points, especially in
the doctrine of the resurrection, having more of the aspect of reasoned statement. Even this eschatoloCT. however, is not given in anything like orderly or systematic form, but incidentally as occasion arose from time to time in the discharge of St. Paul's ministry. Nor is it the fundament doctrine of the Pauline writings. The questions of its precise nature and measure, its consistency, and its relations to what is found elsewhere in Scripture, have been made dejiendent on questions regarding the authenticity and inte^ity of the Epistles and the growth of St. Paul's ideas. In its main elements, however, it is unaffected by these questions. Its essential points would remain the same had we only the four primary Epistles accepted by Baur. They appear in all the four distinct grouiis into which the Pauline writings fall. They do not appear in the same propor- tions and relations, or under precisely the same aspects, in the several groups. IJut the differences which have to be recognized do not amount to inconsistency. They do not imply any es.sential change of view, and do not appear to go beyond what liiids its explanation in dill'erences of circum- stance, occasion, and circle of readers.
As in other sections of NT, the doctrine of the tilings of the end is closely related in the Pauline writings to that of the kingdom of God, an idea which recurs in all the four groups of Epistles. This ' kingdom,' though sometimes described as a present kiii(,'dom (Ro 14", cf. 1 Co 4» Col 1"), is usually a kingdom of the future, and the idea of its consummation is the centre of the Pauline eschatology. A foremost place is given in this e.schatology to the doctrine of Christ's coming, which event is described under a variety of terms — His 'day,' His ' revelation,' His ' Parousia,' etc. (1 Co !■■ « 5», 1 Th 2"' 3'^ 4'» 5-- -a, 2 Th 1' 2'- »• », Ph 1'", 1 Ti6'*, 2Til"4'«, Tit2»etc.). This Parousia is regarded as an objective event. The passages in which this 'coming' is declared are not con- fined to any one section of the writings ; and when compared with each other they do not suggest a change in St. Paul's mind from a less spiritual idea in the earlier Epistles to a more spiritual in the later. The doctrines of the lictiirrertiun, the Judi/ment, and the Final Awards also appear in essentially the same form in the Pauline writings, and in the several groups of these writings, as elsewhere in the NT. The resurrection finds its largest exposition in the primary Epistles, but it is given also in otiiers, and it is a retiloodili/ resurrec- tion, a return of the complete man to life (Ro 4", 8", 1 Co 15, 2Co PHi'iS'-', Ph3""). Thejudgment is the judgment of God (llo 2' 14", cf. 3'"), of C/irist (2 Co 5'", 2 Ti 4'), of God through Christ (Ro 2'") ; a future, final judgment (Ro 2^, 1 Co 3") ; a righteous judgment, discovering the secrets of all hearts, giving to every man according to his works (Ro 2*, 2 Til 1', 2 Ti 4") ; a universal judgment, for both (luick and dead (Ac 17", cf. Ro 14", 2Ti 4'). The issues of that judgment are declared with remark- able frcqiiency and variety of statement ; they are described as 'eternal' (aiwuos), which term in the Pauline Epistles is essentially, and in most applica- tions, one of duration (cf. e.g. Ro IC*", 2 Co 5' etc.). The lot of the unrighteous has a subordinate place, but is expressed as 'wrath,' 'the wrath to come,' 'death,' ' punishment,' 'destruction,' 'eternal de- struction from the face of the Lord' (Ro 2°, 1 Th l'», Ro 2« 6"', 2 Th 1", Ph 3'"). The lot of the righteous is a salvation ' with eternal jj;loiy,' a ' prize,' a ' crown,' an ' inheritance,' a ' manifesta- tion,' a ' reign,' a 'life' with Christ, 'eternal life,' 'the life which is life indeed' ( Ro 2' S'- "' 6»- -' 1 Co 9-», Gal o> 6«, Ph 3'<, Col 1" 3", 1 Ti I" 6"- ", 2Ti'2''«4", Tit Pete).