Amillennialism vs Premillennialism
by Gary Vaterlaus
PART 2 of 2
cont'
"Marcion (AD 144) rejected the Jewish Scriptures as the work of a wrathful, evil God who was opposed to the love of God proclaimed by Jesus and Paul. He reduced the acceptable Scriptures to ten Pauline epistles and the Gospel of Luke purged of Jewish contaminants. The Church condemned Marcion and his principles. But the decision against Marcion also had a disturbing consequence. By making the Jewish Scriptures resolutely a Christian book: the "Old Testament", which had only one legitimate continuation: the "New Testament", the emerging Christian movement defined itself once more in sharpest antitheses to the Jewish community. In fact, the tighter the grip of Christians on the Jewish Scriptures, the deeper the estrangement from the community of living Jews. For the patristic tradition after the triumph of Christianity, the Jews became the "people of witness" for God's wrath on unbelievers. (23)
This anti-Jewish development in the early church greatly influenced its eschatological view. Since a view of a literal thousand-year kingdom on earth holds that there is still a future kingdom for the Jews, and that God has not rejected the nation of Israel and yet will fulfill His covenants with them, this view came to be rejected in this growing anti-Jewish church culture. Amillennialism, on the other hand, fit nicely into the view that the church is the new Israel, and that Christ is now reigning from heaven with the new people of God, the church. Origen, Dionysius and others rejected chiliasm as being an overly "Jewish" interpretation of the Scriptures. Thus, the first feeder root that supplied the nourishment for a spiritualized kingdom viewpoint was the anti-Jewish bias that developed in the early church.
Feeder Root 2: An Overreaction to Heresy
During the early years of Christianity, the church was overrun by sects advocating heretical doctrines. Indeed, many of the writings of the early church fathers were denunciations of these heresies. Among these non-orthodox groups were several that held to chiliastic views. According to Philip Schaff, these included the Ebionites, the Montanists, and the heretic Cerinthus. While much of the teaching of these heretics was rightly condemned, often their biblical eschatological views were condemned as well.
It was only natural, however, to look with suspicion upon all of the teachings of those who were advocating non-orthodox views regarding such things as the trinity, the nature of Christ, the role of the law, etc. Montanus is noteworthy as one who developed a significant movement in the latter part of the second century, which continued in some parts until the sixth century. The basic tenets of Montanism conflicted with many of the practices of the churches of that day. According to Schaff, they included:
1. "a forced continuance of the miraculous gifts of the apostolic church" It asserted, above all, the continuance of prophecy.
2. "the assertion of the universal priesthood of Christians, even of females, against the special priesthood in the Catholic church".
3. "a fanatical severity in asceticism and church discipline. It raised a zealous protest against the growing looseness of the Catholic penitential discipline".
4. "a visionary millennarianism, founded indeed on the Apocalypse and on the apostolic expectation of the speedy return of Christ, but giving it extravagant weight and a materialistic coloring". [They] proclaimed the near approach of the age of the Holy Spirit and of the millennial reign in Pepuza, a small village of Phrygia, upon which the New Jerusalem was to come down. (24)
Concerning the church's reaction to Montanism, D. Matthew Allen, of the Biblical Studies Foundation, notes:
"Indeed, the Montanists fanatical excesses worked to discredit premillennialism among early church leaders, and opposition to premillennialism began in earnest as a result of the Montanist movement. Caius of Rome attacked millennialism specifically because it was linked to Montanism, and he attempted to trace the belief in a literal millennium to the heretic Cerinthus. (25)
It is clear that the formal church's denunciation and rejection of the Montanists, Ebionites and others included not only the rightful rejection of their heretical and fanatical beliefs, but also a misplaced opposition to their millennial position. Thus, the second feeder root that fed the growth of a spiritualized kingdom concept in the early church was the unwarranted rejection of a literal thousand-year kingdom because of its association with heretical splinter groups.
Feeder Root 3: The View of the Material World
Platonism
As mentioned earlier, the fathers from the school of Alexandria were greatly influenced by the philosophy of the Greeks, particularly Plato. Platonic thought held that the spiritual was supreme over the material. This influence is noted by Schaff. He writes,
"The Platonic philosophy offered many points of resemblance to Christianity. It is spiritual and idealistic, maintaining the supremacy of the spirit over matter. From the time of Justin Martyr, the Platonic philosophy continued to exercise a direct and indirect influence upon Christian theology. We can trace it especially in Clement of Alexandria and Origen, and even in St. Augustine, who confessed that it kindled in him an incredible fire." (26)
This abhorrence of the material led to many unhealthy and even heretical views. Among these were the denial of the physical aspect of the resurrection by Origen and an excessive asceticism as taught by the Ebionites and many other sects, including many of the Gnostics. In addition to these erroneous views, the elevation of the spiritual over the material led to the rejection of the material nature of the millennium. Augustine rejected the idea of a physical millennial kingdom when he wrote:
"This opinion [a future literal millennium after the resurrection] might be allowed, if it proposed only spiritual delight unto the saints during this space (and we were once of the same opinion ourselves); but seeing the avouchers hereof affirm that the saints after this resurrection shall do nothing but revel in fleshly banquets, where the cheer shall exceed both modesty and measure, this is gross and fit for none but carnal men to believe. But they that are really and truly spiritual do call those of this opinion Chiliasts." (27)
Premillennialists, while holding to an earthly millennium of 1000 years, do not teach a millennium of revelry and "fleshly banquets", as Augustine mistakenly thought. Thus, Augustine rejected a literal thousand-year kingdom on earth in part due to a faulty understanding of the nature of an earthly millennium.
Gnosticism
The Gnostic heresy arose early in the history of the church. Gnosticism was taught by a variety of religious sects that professed salvation through secret knowledge, or gnosis. The movement reached its high point during the second century in the Roman and Alexandrian schools founded by Valentius. One of the tenets of Gnosticism, according to Schaff, was "Dualism; the assumption of an eternal antagonism between God and matter." (28)
The Gnostics saw the material world as evil and rejected the idea of a physical resurrection or physical nature of eternity. Schaff explains their view:
"The material visible world is the abode of the principle of evil. This cannot proceed from God; else he were himself the author of evil. It must come from an opposite principle. This is Matter, which stands in eternal opposition to God and the ideal world." (29)
Though condemned by the church fathers, Gnosticism nevertheless had a profound influence in the thought and theology of the church:
The number of the Gnostics is impossible to ascertain. We find them in almost all portions of the ancient church. They found most favour with the educated, and threatened to lead astray the teachers of the church. (30)
The influence of Gnosticism in the early church has been linked to the development of asceticism and there is no doubt its abhorrence of the material world contributed to the rejection of an earthly Millennial kingdom, particularly in the influential Alexandrian school. Thus, the third root feeding the amillennial shift in the early church was the influence of Platonic and Gnostic thought, which viewed the physical as evil, and would thus preclude any sort of future physical kingdom on the earth.
Feeder Root 4: The Conversion of the Emperor
The early Christian church suffered intense persecution from the Roman government. Believers who refused to bow down to Caesar suffered punishment, imprisonment and death as a result of their loyalty to Christ. All of this changed dramatically when in AD 307 the emperor Constantine was converted to Christianity. In 313, he issued the edict of Milan, which proclaimed freedom of religion for all inhabitants of the Roman empire. Now, rather than being the persecuted, the church was the honoured. This had a profound impact on the eschatological hope of these early believers. Rather than looking to the return of Christ to put down the Roman Empire (whom most identified as the Antichrist) and set up a righteous kingdom on earth, they were now enjoying the favouritism of the Empire and began to equate their new prosperity with the millennial kingdom. The focus of the church changed from looking for ultimate comfort in the world to come, to enjoying the comfort they now experienced in the present world. Cairns comments on this dramatic change:
"The more prosperous circumstances of the church, ushered in by the freedom of religion granted by Constantine in the Edict of Milan in 313 and his favouritism to the church by state subsidies, exemption of the clergy from public duty and military service, and the legal setting of Sunday as a day of rest, caused many Christians to cease thinking of the Roman state as Antichrist or his forerunner and to expect that the social and territorial expansion of the church since Christ's First Advent was the kingdom. The church became at home in the world as members gained material possession and prominence, such as Eusebius enjoyed in being at the right hand of Constantine at the Council of Nicaea. Eusebius wrote a laudatory biography of Constantine and in his Ecclesiastical History sought to present the story of the church from Christ's Ascension to her present rise to prominence. The earlier church fathers, such as Papias, who had held to a premillennial hope were castigated for their errors. Church and state were two arms of God to serve Him in His developing kingdom. Jerome insisted that the saints would not have an earthly premillennial kingdom and wrote: 'Then let the story of the thousand years cease' ". (Commentary on Daniel, 7:25). (31)
While the anti-Jewish bias of the early church and the reaction to heretical teachings both played an important role in the gradual shift from a literal thousand-year kingdom to a spiritualized kingdom of unlimited duration, it was the new-found acceptance and elevation of the church in the fourth century which proved to have the greatest impact. As Schaff writes:
"But the crushing blow came from the great change in the social condition and prospects of the church in the Nicene age. After Christianity, contrary to all expectation, triumphed in the Roman empire, and was embraced by the Caesars themselves, the millennial reign, instead of being anxiously waited and prayed for, began to be dated either from the first appearance of Christ, or from the conversion of Constantine and the downfall of paganism, and to be regarded as realized in the glory of the dominant imperial state-church. Augustine, who himself had formerly entertained chiliastic hopes, framed the new theory which reflected the social change, and was generally accepted. The apocalyptic millennium he understood to be the present reign of Christ in the Catholic church, and the first resurrection, the translation of the martyrs and saints to heaven, where they participate in Christ's reign.
From the time of Constantine and Augustine chiliasm took its place among the heresies, and was rejected subsequently even by the Protestant reformers as a Jewish dream. But it was revived from time to time as an article of faith and hope by pious individuals and whole sects. (32)
The fourth root, which completed the emergence of the view of a spiritualized and destroyed the idea of a future Messianic kingdom on earth, was the prosperity the church enjoyed as it was accepted into the Roman Empire.
Conclusion
In this article, we first examined the tap root that contributed to the rejection of a literal thousand-year kingdom on earth, the dominant view for the first two centuries of the church, in favour of a spiritualized kingdom unlimited in duration (amillennialism). The single factor: the adoption of an allegorical hermeneutic, which replaced the literal or face-value hermeneutic of Jesus and the apostles. Four sub-roots fed this hermeneutical shift. First: the anti-Jewish bias of the early church developed as a result of a church dominated by gentile believers. Second: an overreaction to heresy, which included the condemnation not only of heretical doctrines, but chiliasm as well. Third: the adoption of Platonic and Gnostic teachings on the evil of the material world which led to a rejection of a material, earthly future kingdom. And fourth and finally: the adoption of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire. The church no longer looked for the coming of Christ to establish His kingdom and rescue believers from persecution, but instead saw the newly-found freedom and prominence of the church as the fulfillment of the promises of a future kingdom.
The growth of what came to be called amillennialism was not a result of a careful study of the Scriptures, but rather a reaction to the social, political, and theological tensions of the age. While many of the early church fathers are to be commended for their bold witness for Christ in the midst of the threat of imprisonment and death and for their examples of perseverance and godliness, they were, nevertheless, fallible and capable of error, just as we are. They adopted a theology which they felt best fit the current events, rather than holding to the Scriptures as the only source of authority. A careful study of the Bible, taken at face value, will lead one to a belief in a literal thousand-year kingdom on earth (premillennialism, as it is now called). Floyd Hamilton, who attacks premillennialism, concedes:
"Now we must frankly admit that a literal interpretation of the Old Testament prophecies gives us just such a picture of an earthly reign of the Messiah as the premillennialist pictures. That was the kind of a Messianic kingdom that the Jews of the time of Christ were looking for, on the basis of a literal interpretation of the Old Testament. (33)
There is simply no justification for discarding the promises of the Old Testament to the nation of Israel, allegorizing the teaching of Revelation 20, or discounting the beliefs of the apostolic age. Like the apostles and the earliest church fathers, we must continue to look for the appearing of Christ, who will put down all rebellion, and establish His Kingdom over all the earth."
End notes cont'
by Gary Vaterlaus
PART 2 of 2
cont'
"Marcion (AD 144) rejected the Jewish Scriptures as the work of a wrathful, evil God who was opposed to the love of God proclaimed by Jesus and Paul. He reduced the acceptable Scriptures to ten Pauline epistles and the Gospel of Luke purged of Jewish contaminants. The Church condemned Marcion and his principles. But the decision against Marcion also had a disturbing consequence. By making the Jewish Scriptures resolutely a Christian book: the "Old Testament", which had only one legitimate continuation: the "New Testament", the emerging Christian movement defined itself once more in sharpest antitheses to the Jewish community. In fact, the tighter the grip of Christians on the Jewish Scriptures, the deeper the estrangement from the community of living Jews. For the patristic tradition after the triumph of Christianity, the Jews became the "people of witness" for God's wrath on unbelievers. (23)
This anti-Jewish development in the early church greatly influenced its eschatological view. Since a view of a literal thousand-year kingdom on earth holds that there is still a future kingdom for the Jews, and that God has not rejected the nation of Israel and yet will fulfill His covenants with them, this view came to be rejected in this growing anti-Jewish church culture. Amillennialism, on the other hand, fit nicely into the view that the church is the new Israel, and that Christ is now reigning from heaven with the new people of God, the church. Origen, Dionysius and others rejected chiliasm as being an overly "Jewish" interpretation of the Scriptures. Thus, the first feeder root that supplied the nourishment for a spiritualized kingdom viewpoint was the anti-Jewish bias that developed in the early church.
Feeder Root 2: An Overreaction to Heresy
During the early years of Christianity, the church was overrun by sects advocating heretical doctrines. Indeed, many of the writings of the early church fathers were denunciations of these heresies. Among these non-orthodox groups were several that held to chiliastic views. According to Philip Schaff, these included the Ebionites, the Montanists, and the heretic Cerinthus. While much of the teaching of these heretics was rightly condemned, often their biblical eschatological views were condemned as well.
It was only natural, however, to look with suspicion upon all of the teachings of those who were advocating non-orthodox views regarding such things as the trinity, the nature of Christ, the role of the law, etc. Montanus is noteworthy as one who developed a significant movement in the latter part of the second century, which continued in some parts until the sixth century. The basic tenets of Montanism conflicted with many of the practices of the churches of that day. According to Schaff, they included:
1. "a forced continuance of the miraculous gifts of the apostolic church" It asserted, above all, the continuance of prophecy.
2. "the assertion of the universal priesthood of Christians, even of females, against the special priesthood in the Catholic church".
3. "a fanatical severity in asceticism and church discipline. It raised a zealous protest against the growing looseness of the Catholic penitential discipline".
4. "a visionary millennarianism, founded indeed on the Apocalypse and on the apostolic expectation of the speedy return of Christ, but giving it extravagant weight and a materialistic coloring". [They] proclaimed the near approach of the age of the Holy Spirit and of the millennial reign in Pepuza, a small village of Phrygia, upon which the New Jerusalem was to come down. (24)
Concerning the church's reaction to Montanism, D. Matthew Allen, of the Biblical Studies Foundation, notes:
"Indeed, the Montanists fanatical excesses worked to discredit premillennialism among early church leaders, and opposition to premillennialism began in earnest as a result of the Montanist movement. Caius of Rome attacked millennialism specifically because it was linked to Montanism, and he attempted to trace the belief in a literal millennium to the heretic Cerinthus. (25)
It is clear that the formal church's denunciation and rejection of the Montanists, Ebionites and others included not only the rightful rejection of their heretical and fanatical beliefs, but also a misplaced opposition to their millennial position. Thus, the second feeder root that fed the growth of a spiritualized kingdom concept in the early church was the unwarranted rejection of a literal thousand-year kingdom because of its association with heretical splinter groups.
Feeder Root 3: The View of the Material World
Platonism
As mentioned earlier, the fathers from the school of Alexandria were greatly influenced by the philosophy of the Greeks, particularly Plato. Platonic thought held that the spiritual was supreme over the material. This influence is noted by Schaff. He writes,
"The Platonic philosophy offered many points of resemblance to Christianity. It is spiritual and idealistic, maintaining the supremacy of the spirit over matter. From the time of Justin Martyr, the Platonic philosophy continued to exercise a direct and indirect influence upon Christian theology. We can trace it especially in Clement of Alexandria and Origen, and even in St. Augustine, who confessed that it kindled in him an incredible fire." (26)
This abhorrence of the material led to many unhealthy and even heretical views. Among these were the denial of the physical aspect of the resurrection by Origen and an excessive asceticism as taught by the Ebionites and many other sects, including many of the Gnostics. In addition to these erroneous views, the elevation of the spiritual over the material led to the rejection of the material nature of the millennium. Augustine rejected the idea of a physical millennial kingdom when he wrote:
"This opinion [a future literal millennium after the resurrection] might be allowed, if it proposed only spiritual delight unto the saints during this space (and we were once of the same opinion ourselves); but seeing the avouchers hereof affirm that the saints after this resurrection shall do nothing but revel in fleshly banquets, where the cheer shall exceed both modesty and measure, this is gross and fit for none but carnal men to believe. But they that are really and truly spiritual do call those of this opinion Chiliasts." (27)
Premillennialists, while holding to an earthly millennium of 1000 years, do not teach a millennium of revelry and "fleshly banquets", as Augustine mistakenly thought. Thus, Augustine rejected a literal thousand-year kingdom on earth in part due to a faulty understanding of the nature of an earthly millennium.
Gnosticism
The Gnostic heresy arose early in the history of the church. Gnosticism was taught by a variety of religious sects that professed salvation through secret knowledge, or gnosis. The movement reached its high point during the second century in the Roman and Alexandrian schools founded by Valentius. One of the tenets of Gnosticism, according to Schaff, was "Dualism; the assumption of an eternal antagonism between God and matter." (28)
The Gnostics saw the material world as evil and rejected the idea of a physical resurrection or physical nature of eternity. Schaff explains their view:
"The material visible world is the abode of the principle of evil. This cannot proceed from God; else he were himself the author of evil. It must come from an opposite principle. This is Matter, which stands in eternal opposition to God and the ideal world." (29)
Though condemned by the church fathers, Gnosticism nevertheless had a profound influence in the thought and theology of the church:
The number of the Gnostics is impossible to ascertain. We find them in almost all portions of the ancient church. They found most favour with the educated, and threatened to lead astray the teachers of the church. (30)
The influence of Gnosticism in the early church has been linked to the development of asceticism and there is no doubt its abhorrence of the material world contributed to the rejection of an earthly Millennial kingdom, particularly in the influential Alexandrian school. Thus, the third root feeding the amillennial shift in the early church was the influence of Platonic and Gnostic thought, which viewed the physical as evil, and would thus preclude any sort of future physical kingdom on the earth.
Feeder Root 4: The Conversion of the Emperor
The early Christian church suffered intense persecution from the Roman government. Believers who refused to bow down to Caesar suffered punishment, imprisonment and death as a result of their loyalty to Christ. All of this changed dramatically when in AD 307 the emperor Constantine was converted to Christianity. In 313, he issued the edict of Milan, which proclaimed freedom of religion for all inhabitants of the Roman empire. Now, rather than being the persecuted, the church was the honoured. This had a profound impact on the eschatological hope of these early believers. Rather than looking to the return of Christ to put down the Roman Empire (whom most identified as the Antichrist) and set up a righteous kingdom on earth, they were now enjoying the favouritism of the Empire and began to equate their new prosperity with the millennial kingdom. The focus of the church changed from looking for ultimate comfort in the world to come, to enjoying the comfort they now experienced in the present world. Cairns comments on this dramatic change:
"The more prosperous circumstances of the church, ushered in by the freedom of religion granted by Constantine in the Edict of Milan in 313 and his favouritism to the church by state subsidies, exemption of the clergy from public duty and military service, and the legal setting of Sunday as a day of rest, caused many Christians to cease thinking of the Roman state as Antichrist or his forerunner and to expect that the social and territorial expansion of the church since Christ's First Advent was the kingdom. The church became at home in the world as members gained material possession and prominence, such as Eusebius enjoyed in being at the right hand of Constantine at the Council of Nicaea. Eusebius wrote a laudatory biography of Constantine and in his Ecclesiastical History sought to present the story of the church from Christ's Ascension to her present rise to prominence. The earlier church fathers, such as Papias, who had held to a premillennial hope were castigated for their errors. Church and state were two arms of God to serve Him in His developing kingdom. Jerome insisted that the saints would not have an earthly premillennial kingdom and wrote: 'Then let the story of the thousand years cease' ". (Commentary on Daniel, 7:25). (31)
While the anti-Jewish bias of the early church and the reaction to heretical teachings both played an important role in the gradual shift from a literal thousand-year kingdom to a spiritualized kingdom of unlimited duration, it was the new-found acceptance and elevation of the church in the fourth century which proved to have the greatest impact. As Schaff writes:
"But the crushing blow came from the great change in the social condition and prospects of the church in the Nicene age. After Christianity, contrary to all expectation, triumphed in the Roman empire, and was embraced by the Caesars themselves, the millennial reign, instead of being anxiously waited and prayed for, began to be dated either from the first appearance of Christ, or from the conversion of Constantine and the downfall of paganism, and to be regarded as realized in the glory of the dominant imperial state-church. Augustine, who himself had formerly entertained chiliastic hopes, framed the new theory which reflected the social change, and was generally accepted. The apocalyptic millennium he understood to be the present reign of Christ in the Catholic church, and the first resurrection, the translation of the martyrs and saints to heaven, where they participate in Christ's reign.
From the time of Constantine and Augustine chiliasm took its place among the heresies, and was rejected subsequently even by the Protestant reformers as a Jewish dream. But it was revived from time to time as an article of faith and hope by pious individuals and whole sects. (32)
The fourth root, which completed the emergence of the view of a spiritualized and destroyed the idea of a future Messianic kingdom on earth, was the prosperity the church enjoyed as it was accepted into the Roman Empire.
Conclusion
In this article, we first examined the tap root that contributed to the rejection of a literal thousand-year kingdom on earth, the dominant view for the first two centuries of the church, in favour of a spiritualized kingdom unlimited in duration (amillennialism). The single factor: the adoption of an allegorical hermeneutic, which replaced the literal or face-value hermeneutic of Jesus and the apostles. Four sub-roots fed this hermeneutical shift. First: the anti-Jewish bias of the early church developed as a result of a church dominated by gentile believers. Second: an overreaction to heresy, which included the condemnation not only of heretical doctrines, but chiliasm as well. Third: the adoption of Platonic and Gnostic teachings on the evil of the material world which led to a rejection of a material, earthly future kingdom. And fourth and finally: the adoption of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire. The church no longer looked for the coming of Christ to establish His kingdom and rescue believers from persecution, but instead saw the newly-found freedom and prominence of the church as the fulfillment of the promises of a future kingdom.
The growth of what came to be called amillennialism was not a result of a careful study of the Scriptures, but rather a reaction to the social, political, and theological tensions of the age. While many of the early church fathers are to be commended for their bold witness for Christ in the midst of the threat of imprisonment and death and for their examples of perseverance and godliness, they were, nevertheless, fallible and capable of error, just as we are. They adopted a theology which they felt best fit the current events, rather than holding to the Scriptures as the only source of authority. A careful study of the Bible, taken at face value, will lead one to a belief in a literal thousand-year kingdom on earth (premillennialism, as it is now called). Floyd Hamilton, who attacks premillennialism, concedes:
"Now we must frankly admit that a literal interpretation of the Old Testament prophecies gives us just such a picture of an earthly reign of the Messiah as the premillennialist pictures. That was the kind of a Messianic kingdom that the Jews of the time of Christ were looking for, on the basis of a literal interpretation of the Old Testament. (33)
There is simply no justification for discarding the promises of the Old Testament to the nation of Israel, allegorizing the teaching of Revelation 20, or discounting the beliefs of the apostolic age. Like the apostles and the earliest church fathers, we must continue to look for the appearing of Christ, who will put down all rebellion, and establish His Kingdom over all the earth."
End notes cont'
