Yhristians not to judge one another, since ‘the judge standeth before the doors’ (δ᾽). St, Peter regards the present tribulations of Christians as the beginning of that judgment which is presently to overtake ‘the ungodly and the sinner’ (1 P 47-18) and the preceding context (v.") shows that reference is had to the Percusia. St. Paul, while in certain passages associating the final judgment directly with God (so Ro 1 2**7, and especially
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συν." ‘the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his works’; ef. He 10” 12°, Rey 20"), elsewhere explicitly connects the judg- ment with Christ (so Ro 2” ‘the day when God shall judge the secrets of men according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ’; 2 Co 5! ‘the judgment- seat of Christ’; 2 Th 158,9 Ti 41 ‘Christ Jesus, who shall judge the quick and thedead’). At this judgment not only must Christians themselves be tested to see whether their work shall abide (1 Co 3"), but they themselves shall take part as judges in the great world assize, which includes even the angels (1 Co 6°). ut although the Parousia is thus associated with the judgment, it is not ΘῈΣ this aspect of Christ’s return that the Epistles lay the most stress. The Advent is to introduce that salvation which is the end of their faith (1 P 17; cf. Ro 13", He 9%); that ‘cosy iia for which they were sealed (Eph 4%; cf. 1}, 83). Then shall be established ‘the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’ (2 P 1"; cf. 2 ΤῊ 15, 2 Ti 44, Ja 2°). Then shall appear that heavenly Jerusalem in which there shall be no more sin and sorrow (Rey 212%, Itis true that Revelation postpones the ger pas of the aeavenly Jerusalem till after the Millennium, but the conception itself is found in other books which show no trace of millen- arianism, e.g. Gal 4%, He 12"). Then shall be re- vealed the glory of Christ (1 P 4%; ef. Tit 2); and His followers, renewed in body (1 Th 5%, Ph 3%, Ro 8%), soul (1 Th 5%), and ἘΣΤΙ: (1 Th 5%, 1 Co 5°-*), shall be manifested with Him in glory (Col 8", 2 Th 1°), and rejoice in the vision and likeness of Christ (Ph 3", 1 Jn 33. Then shall they receive that inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, which, during this present riod of tribulation, is reserved for them in reaven (1 P 1; ef. Eph 1); that rest for which now they vainly long (2 Th 1’); that crown of life which the Lord has promised to all who love His appearing (2 Ti 4°, cf. 1 Co 955, Ja 1%). This is the Day of Visitation (1 P 213), that consummation for which the whole creation, now groaning in pain, longs and cries, the revelation & the children of God in the liberty of that glory when all sin shall have ceased, and the bondage of corruption have been done away (Ro 8”),
To the emphasis which St. Paul lays upon the Parousia as introducing the kingdom of glory is doubtless to be attributed the fact that he speaks oats of a resurrection of believers (1 Th 418, Ph 34, 1 Co 15%). From this fact many have concluded that St. Paul was a chiliast, distinguishing, like Revelation, between the first resurrection intro- ducing the millennial kingdom and the final re- surrection of all men before the last judgment. In favour of this view is quoted 1 Co 1533: 33, where St. Paul distinguishes between the resurrection of believers and the end when Christ shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father. Cf. MILLENNIUM. But, apart from possible exegetical objections (Salmond, pp. 520ff., 561 ff.), this view not only ignores those passages in which St. Paul seems to associate the final judgment with the Parousia (e.g. Ro 315; cf. Pfleiderer, Paulinismus*, p. 280 f.), but also fails to account for the admitted fact that St. Paul nowhere speaks of a higher glory to follew that of the Messianic kingdom.
As to the manner of the Advent, with the ex- ception of the Apocalyptic passages, 2 Th 2°, Rev 19, which follow the warlike imagery of the OT, it is represented, as in the Synoptic Gospels, as a coming on the clouds of heaven (Rev 1’, Ac 14, 1 Th 416-17), eeceapaniod by hosts of angels, to gather His saints living and dead into His heavenly kingdom. The fullest account is 1 Th 4165. ‘For the Lord
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himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the deaa in Christ shall rise first. Then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we be ever with the Lord’; ef. 1 Co 15. This coming is further associated with a renewal of nature (Ro 84, 1 Co 7%; cf. Ac 3%, Rev 211), after the fashion of Is 65", a transformation which 2 P represents as a great world conflagration in which all the present elements shall be dissolved and melt away in fervent heat (3", ef. He 12%).