(b) Pcdestinian. — The two important writings belonging to this period are Apoc. Baruch and 2 Esclras. For a full treatment of their critical analysis and eschatological system see Charles, Eschatology, ch. viii., also Box, The Ezra-Apoca- lypse, 1912, and the edition of both in Charles, Ap)oc. and Pseudcpig. of the OT. The general view of heaven in Palestinian apocalyptic as illustrated by these two writings is as follows.
Heaven, also identified with Paradise, is the final abode of the righteous [Apoc. Bar. Ii., 2 Es. vii. 36, viii. 52). An intermediate place of rest for the righteous [Apoc. Bar. xxx. 2) is described as ' the treasuries,' ' in which is preserved the number of the souls of the righteous' (cf. also 2 Es. iv. 41). Messiah comes from heaven to establish a tem- porary Messianic Kingdom, and returns to heaven at the close of it. The rigiiteous in heaven are made like to the angels [Aiwc. Bar. Ii. 10).
2. Pauline literature. — In dealing with any eschatological conception in the NT it is necessary to consider first of all how much is due to the Jewish background of thought ; then, in the case of each writer, to see how far the conception belongs to the common stock of primitive Christian tradition, and how far it is peculiar to the writer under discussion. In dealing with St. Paul it is also necessary to examine the question of a possible development of thought. In general the orthodox Jewish view of heaven represented in the Sjaio^jtic Gospels forms the background and starting-point of all the NT writers. The principal jioints which call for examination in St. Paul's correspondence are the relation of the conception of heaven to Clirist, and the conception of heaven as the future place of abode for believers.
(a) Heaven in relation to Christ. — Two main questions arise from St. Paul's treatment of this subject. First, the question of the pre-existent life of Christ ; and second, the question of His pre- sent state of existence.
(1) For the first point the chief passages are 1 Co lb", Ro 10', and possibly in this connexion
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Ph 2« and Col 1"-". In 1 Co 15", reading 'the second man is from heaven,' it is quite possible to interpret the passage as referring to the Parousia rather than to the doctrine of a pre-existent Heavenly Man. Ro 10", an application of Dt 30^'-- ^ to Christ, may be referred to the present place of Christ ; i.e. it is unnecessary to bring Clirist down again after His Resurrection and Ascension. Ph 2^ is also capable of being inter- preted as referring to Christ's moral likeness to God. Thus St. Paul's testimony to the pre- existent life of Christ as in heaven is not clear, though it may be upheld on the ground of the above passages.
(2) The second point is far more vital to St. Paul's thought, and has largely influenced his view of heaven in relation to the future condition of believers. The words ' ascended into heaven ' clearly represent the consensus of primitive apos- tolic tradition. To the Jewish view of the tran- scendence of God, and of His dwelling in heaven as in contrast to earth, the primitive tradition added the doctrine of Christ's present existence there with God. It is evident that St. Paul held the common Jewish views of heaven (cf. 2 Co 12- : the third heaven, or Paradise, regarded as God's dwelling-place ; Ph 2'" : the division of the uni- verse into things heavenlj', earthly, and infernal ; Gal P : an angel from heaven ; Ro 1^* : God's wrath revealed from heaven, etc.). But it is still more evident that he had also thought deeply on the question of Christ's Resurrection, its nature. His i^resent state of existence, and the bearing of these questions on the future state of believers. This is not the place to discuss the possible con- clusions at which St. Paul may have arrived. But we can see that his thinking on this point tends in the direction of a spiritualization of the whole conception of heaven. He conceives of Christ's present existence as spiritual ; Clirist and the Spirit are identified ; Christ is for the present ' hid in God' (Col 3^) ; the dead believers are ' at home with the Lord' (2 Co 5^). It is generally conceded that Ephesians, even if not St. Paul's, is certainly Pauline. Hence we may use it here as evidence for the elaboration of the conception of a quasi-material, quasi-spiritual region, to. iirovpavLa. Here Christ is seated at God's right hand ; believers have here their proper home and their characteristic blessings ; and here is being- waged the age-long conflict between the spiritual powers of good and evil (Eph 6'-).
Lastly, tlie link which connects this side of the .subject with the more purely eschatological use of heaven as the future abode of believers is the passage in 2 Co 5^"^. Here we have the conception (possibly developed directly from St. Paul's view of our Lord's Resurrection, although the conception of a ' body of light ' found in Jewish and Gnostic sources may have influenced his thought) of a spiritual body laid up in lieaven for the believer. This body was evidently after the pattern of our Lord's Resurrection body or mode of existence (cf. Ph 3-", 1 Co 15«). In thinking of it as laid up or reserved in heaven, St. Paul is no doubt using Rabbinical categories of thought. For example, the Rabbinical tradition could think of the Law, the Temple, and other central ideas of Judaism as laid up with God before the creation of the world. [b) Heaven as the future abode of believers. — This conception is conspicuous by its absence from St. Paul's thought. The Parousia is always ' from heaven,' alike in the earliest (1 Th P") and in the latest (Ph 3-'") of St. Paul's letters. But when he speaks of the future place of existence of the Christian it is always ' with the Lord,' ' witii Clirist,' and apparently he has been chiefly occupied with the fresh question of the mode of the Chris-