(2) The eschatological passages— 14i-8 IV^'^. Here it is worthy of note that the use of the term ' heaven ' is avoided. The nearest approach to a suggestion of a place is the ])hrase 'in my Father's house are many abodes,' which may perhaps be taken as a spiritualizing of the Temple (cf. ' my Father's house' in 2^*). Apart from this, the idea of a place of material joy or rest does not appear. We have instead the phrases ' where I am,' ' with me,' 'receive you unto myself.' The satisfaction of a personal relation is presented as the hope. The enjoyment of Divine love without hindrance is the ultimate goal, a spiritual union of character, \xill, and affections whose type is the union that exists between the Father and the Son. These things constitute heaven. But a resurrection state in the future is also implied by 6^^- ". Neverthe- less, the enjoyment of the spiritual blessings described in chs. 14 and 17 does not apparently depend on this at all. For the writer of the Fourth Gospel death is a mere incident that does not break the continuity of eternal life ; and where such a position is reached, the precise conception of heaven has evidently become irrelevant.
6. The Apostolic Fathers. — («) Clement of Rome. — In 1 Clement we have the following passages : V. 4 : Peter ' went to his appointed place of glory'; v. 7 : Paul ' departed from the world and went unto the holy place'; 1. 3: 'they that by God's grace were perfected in love dwell in the abode of the pious (^xo'^"'"' X^P°^ evae^wv), who shall be manifested in the visitation of the kingdom of God.' In 2 Clement we have — v. 5: 'the rest of the kingdom that shall be'; vi. 9 : 'with what con- fidence shall we . . . enter into the kingdom of God ? ' {rb ^aalXeiov should perhaps be rendered ' the palace of God ') ; xvii. 7 : the righteous see the torments of the wicked ; ix. 5 : the righteous receive their reward 'in the flesh,' in the coming kingdom.
No striking or original thoughts as to the future place and state of believers are found here. We have the simple acceptance of the doctrine that the righteous enter after death into a place of rest and glory with Christ. The resurrection of the flesh is taught and apparently is referred to the Parousia, but the nature of the intermediate condition is not clearly stated.
(6) Ignatius. — In the Ignatian correspondence there is no explicit doctrine of heaven, but the implication of several passages seems to be that immediately after death the believer is perfected, 'attains to God.' His emphasis is laid principally on the resurrection, which is after the pattern of Christ's ( Tra^/. ix. 2). He looks forward to receiving his inheritance ; he will rise unto God {Rom. ii, 2); ' I shall rise free in Him ' (iv. 3); ' when I am come thither then I shall be a man ' (\a. 2). Death for him is new birth (6 ro/ceroj ix.ol ewlKeiTai, vi. 1). It is difhcult to avoid the conclusion that Ignatius thought of the believer, or at least the martyr, as entering upon his perfect state and full reward immediately after death. His view of heaven would seem to coincide with the developed Johan- nine conception, though several phrases, ' attaining to resurrection,' and so forth, are Pauline.
(c) The Martyrdom of Polycarp contains one interesting passage describing the condition of
Polycarp after martyrdom : ' Having by his en- durance overcome the unrighteous ruler in the conflict and so received the crown of immortality, he rejoiceth in company with the Apostles and all righteous men, and glorifieth the Almighty God and Father, and blesseth our Lord Jesus Christ' (xix. 2).
The Shepherd of Hermas lies outside our period, and is more curious than valuable for information as to the teaching of the Church of the Apostolic Age. It is easy to see that we are no longer deal- ing with a creative period. The doctrine of heaven is becoming stereotyped. Such a man as Ignatius is probably hardly representative of the general thought of the Church. The passage from the Martyrdom, of Polycarp probably gives the com- mon view of the state of the believer in heaven after death.
Conclusion. — In conclusion, it may be said that for the Church in general during the 1st half of the 1st cent, the centre of interest was not heaven but the Parousia of Christ. Heaven occupied the attention of the NT writers principally as tlie place Avliere Christ was and whence He would come. St. Paul and others, such as the author of Hebrews, were interested principally in the spiritual conse- quences of the Resurrection of Christ. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews presents the most striking and consistent picture of the future state of the believer.
As the century advances, the tendency appears in the literature of the period to regard the Parousia more as an article of the faith than as a fact of immi- nent importance. Side h\ side with this tendency we find the growth of firmly established ideas of future blessedness based on the imagery of the Apocalypse, crowns and harps, etc., and no search- ing analysis of the reality of such ideas. It remained for the fresh creative period of Clement of Alex- andria and Origen to go over the stereotyped ideas of heaven and transform them.