PAROUSIA The second coming or second advent of Christ.

Definition and Significance in the New Testament

The Greek word parousia (παρουσία, parousia) means “presence” or “arrival.” It is used as a
technical term to refer to the return of Christ in glory at the end of this world. However,
“parousia” is only one of a range of words used by the New Testament writers to refer to this
event (Matt 24:3, 27, 37, 39; 1 Cor 15:23; 1 Thess 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23; 2 Thess 2:1, 8; Jas 5:7–
8; 2 Pet 3:4, 12).
Similar terms that imply a second coming include “revelation” (1 Cor 1:7; 2 Thess 1:7; 1 Pet
1:7; Col 3:4; 1 John 2:28); “appearance” (2 Thess 2:8; 1 Tim 6:14; 2 Tim 1:10); and “coming”
(Matt 24:30; 1 Cor 4:5; 11:26; Rev 1:6; 22:20). The term “second coming” itself is not used in
the New Testament.
The claim that Christ will return to bring about the dissolution of the present world and the
commencement of the next is a central theme of the New Testament. New Testament writers
typically assume this in eschatological contexts even when it is not explicitly cited, and they
frequently employ this theme to motivate their audiences to diligence, hope, and patient
endurance.
Background for Eschatological Hopes before Christ

The expectation that God would vindicate the nation of Israel in a final, decisive act of judgment
is well attested in Jewish literature prior to the New Testament period. The Old Testament
prophets looked forward to the Day of Yahweh (‫יֹום ְי הָו ה‬, yom yehwah; ἡ ἡμέρα κυρίου, hē
hēmera kyriou, “the Day of the Lord”), when God would ultimately purge Israel of wickedness,
punish its enemies, and raise it to preeminence among the peoples of the earth (see e.g., Isa 13:6–
13; Joel 3:14–17; Amos 5:18–20; Mal 4:5–6). In later Jewish apocalyptic literature, the final
judgment of Israel and the world is sometimes expressed in terms of the coming of the kingdom
of God (see e.g., 1 Enoch 25:3; Assumption of Moses 10; Jubilees 1:28–29; 1QS 5:20–21; 1QM
12:7–15; however, the phrase “kingdom of God” appears only rarely). This in turn is often
associated with the activities of messianic figures (see e.g., 4 Ezra 7:26–44; Psalms of Solomon
17; also Dan 7). In this literature, the expectation that God would bring the ancient prophecies to
fulfillment is sharpened by the sense that the day of judgment would take place in the near future
(see e.g., Sirach 5:6–7; 4 Ezra 6:17–28; 1 Enoch 1–5, 93:9–10, 91:11–13), along with a
corresponding sense of impatience with its apparent delay (see e.g., Sirach 36:1–22; 4 Ezra 4:33–
37, 6:58–59, though concerns about the delay of God’s justice can also be observed in the Old
Testament literature, as in Hab 2:3). Similar themes can be observed in Jewish literature more or
less contemporary with the New Testament (e.g., 2 Baruch and The Apocalypse of Ezra). For the
New Testament writers, however, the climactic redemptive action of God at the end of the
present world is uniquely associated with the parousia of Jesus.
Development in Christian Expectation

In the earliest Christian literature, Christian expectation of the parousia of Jesus is explicitly
portrayed as deriving from the teachings of Jesus Himself. While Jesus certainly understood His
ministry as inaugurating the coming of the kingdom of God, He is also portrayed as having
believed that the kingdom would not be brought to complete fulfillment until sometime in the
future. This understanding of the kingdom of God as having been begun, but not yet fully
established, is a well-known feature of New Testament eschatological teaching. However,
several of the New Testament writers seemed to have been aware that some of the tensions
inherent in this notion might be aggravated by the continued delay of the parousia.
Imminence

In the first decades of the Christian movement, believers expected the imminent return of Christ.
Taking the New Testament literature (especially the letters of Paul) as a guide, it seems that most
early Christians had some familiarity with the eschatological claims of some of the Hebrew
prophets (at least in outline, and as interpreted by Christian teachers), as well as with Jesus’ own
claim that His parousia might occur at any time. But first-century Christians had also directly or
vicariously experienced a number of astonishing events surrounding the ministry of Jesus, His
death, resurrection, and ascension; the sometimes equally surprising events involved in the
founding and organizing of the first Christian churches; various degrees of social turmoil due to
anti-Christian or anti-Jewish discrimination; the social, political, and economic upheaval leading
ultimately to the destruction of Jerusalem by Roman forces in AD 70—any one of which might
have been sufficient to suggest a rapid progression toward the final culmination of God’s
redemptive plan for humankind.
Delay

Over time, however, it became evident that the eschatological momentum of the earliest
Christian movement was not a reliable indicator of the speed with which God would bring about
Christ’s return. Christ did not in fact return. It remained necessary for Christians to attend to the
mundane affairs of life and to contend with the still-present problems of pain, grief, and death. In
the early and mid-20th century, a number of scholars argued influentially that disappointment
over the non-occurrence of the parousia forced a serious crisis of faith among the earliest
Christian communities, leading early Christian teachers to abandon interest in a future return of
Christ in favor of an emphasis on the present experience of Christ through the Holy Spirit (see
especially Schweitzer 1910, 330–397; Conzelmann 1960; Käsemann 1964).
But in fact it does not appear that the delay of Christ’s parousia caused any serious
consternation among the Christian churches of the first century. Although the New Testament
writers were aware that theological and ethical error could arise from consideration of this delay,
they were almost entirely unconcerned to treat these issues in explicit terms (2 Pet 3 being the
principal exception). Rather, the New Testament writers seem to have regarded the parousia in
roughly the same way that the writers of the Jewish apocalypses viewed the impending day of
God’s judgment, holding both the imminence of the parousia and its indefinite delay in
deliberate and balanced tension (see Bauckham 1980; Rowland 1985, 285–294). The New
Testament writers consistently maintain the certainty of Christ’s return and that it might occur at
any moment, but also that it is not given to humanity to know the exact time or circumstances of
this event. As a result, the expectation of a future return of Christ retained a central conceptual
role throughout the development of early Christian Christology, and so remained available to
Christian teachers as an incentive to right behavior during the entire New Testament period and
beyond.
The Parousia in Paul

Paul appropriates the language of the Old Testament prophets to refer to the parousia of Christ as
“the day of the Lord” (ἡ ἡμέρα κυρίου, hē hēmera kyriou), exploiting the Greek translation of
the Hebrew name of God (‫ְי הָו ה‬, yhwh) to identify “the day of the Lord (Yahweh)” with the day
of the Lord Jesus (see e.g., 1 Thess 5:2; 2 Thess 2:2–3; 1 Cor 1:8, 3:13; 5:5; 2 Cor 1:14; Phil 1:6,
10; 2:16; also 2 Tim 1:12, 18, 4:8). Paul looks forward to the return of Jesus Christ as the
occasion when the dead will be raised (so 1 Thess 4:13–18; 1 Cor 15:50–58), when humankind
will be judged (see e.g., 2 Thess 1:6–10; Rom 2:16), and when his own ministry will be
vindicated (see e.g., 1 Cor 3:10–15; 2 Cor 1:14; Phil 2:16).
Paul’s expectation of the parousia is displayed most clearly in his letters to the
Thessalonians, which are particularly concerned with questions about the timing and
circumstances of Christ’s return. Some scholars take the comparatively few explicit references to
a future return of Christ in Paul’s later letters as evidence of a development of Pauline
eschatological thought away from an imminent expectation of the parousia (e.g. Dodd 1953).
However, it is possible to read Paul as maintaining the possibility of Christ’s sudden and
immediate return, and as advocating a constant state of readiness in light of this possibility,
throughout his writings (see Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle, 294–315). To this effect,
Paul echoes Jesus’ warning that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (1 Thess
5:1–4) and encourages his audience to remain steadfast in hope and action until that day comes
(see e.g., Rom 13:11–14; Phil 3:20–21, 4:5; Col 3:3–4; also 1 Tim 6:13–16; Titus 2:11–14).
Matthew, Mark, and John

The Gospels of Matthew and Mark address the parousia of Jesus in very similar ways. In both
Matthew and Mark, the return of Christ occurs at the day of judgment, when God will reward the
righteous and punish the wicked (see e.g. Matt 19:28, 25:31–46; Mark 8:38). Both evangelists
regard the timing and circumstances of Christ’s return as unknown and unknowable to human
beings—indeed, both record Jesus’ frank admission of His own ignorance of these details (Matt
24:36; Mark 13:32).
In both Matthew and Mark, Jesus is portrayed as addressing the issue of His future return in
stark apocalyptic terms (see Matt 24:1–25, 46; Mark 13). Some scholars have disputed this view,
preferring to interpret the Danielic imagery of Matt 24 and Mark 13 as metaphorical description
of the vindication of Jesus and His followers in the present world (e.g. Caird 1980, 266–68;
Wright 1996, 360–67). However, the employment of similar language to describe the future
return of Christ elsewhere in the New Testament (e.g. Acts 1:10–11; 1 Thess 4:16–5:4; Rev 1:7)
and by the fathers of the first and second centuries (see e.g. Didache 16; Justin Martyr, First
Apology 51, 52; Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses 5:25) seems to militate the traditional conclusion
that the parousia is in view in these passages. On this reading, having predicted the destruction of
the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus warns His disciples not to confuse that event (or any other event,
however traumatic or awe-inspiring) with the final consummation of the kingdom of God, when
“all the tribes of the earth … will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with
power and great glory,” (Matt 24:30; parallels Mark 13:26).
Further, Jesus’ discussion of these matters in Matt 24 and Mark 13 indicates Matthew and
Mark’s awareness of potential problems arising from the delay of the parousia (including the
possibility that Christ-followers might be deceived by impostors posing as the Christ, an issue
also addressed by Paul in 2 Thess 2:2–12). This awareness can also be seen in certain parables
about the kingdom of God recorded in Matthew (e.g., Matt 24:48–49, 25:5, 19). However,
Matthew and Mark also affirm that the day of judgment might take place at any time (e.g., Matt
24:42–44; Mark 13:35–36). For this reason, Jesus warns His followers to act rightly and
faithfully in His absence, so as not to be caught unawares at His return.
In contrast, John’s Gospel contains very few overt references to the parousia. Although John
assumes a future return of Christ (e.g. John 14:3, 28–29; 16:5–18), his is largely a realized
eschatology, being much more concerned with the significance and experience of Jesus in the
present than with any future events.
Luke-Acts

The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles are best understood as two parts of the same
story, such that neither work can be properly understood without the other. Thus, Luke’s
treatment of the parousia of Jesus in his Gospel provides essential background for interpretation
of related issues in Acts, and vice versa. In Acts, Luke focuses on the historical development and
continuing mission of the early church. In so doing, he seems to deemphasize concerns about the
imminence of Christ’s return. Nevertheless, the character of Luke’s direct treatments of Christ’s
return is similar to what we observe in Matthew and Mark. Like them, Luke adopts the
apocalyptic language of Daniel to describe the coming of the Son of Man (Luke 21:27) and
connects that event with the day of judgment, when God will judge the world through Christ (see
e.g. Acts 10:42). Similarly, Luke affirms that the time of the parousia is not for human beings to
know or guess; it will come suddenly and without warning (see e.g., Luke 12:40; Acts 1:7). Luke
is clearly aware of the problems of delay considered by Matthew and Mark (see e.g., 12:42–46,
21:8), though passages such as Acts 1:7–8 and 3:19–21 suggest a belief that Christ’s return
would be delayed until the evangelistic mission of the Church had been completed. However,
Luke’s decision to write a history of the earliest Christian communities (compare Dunn 2006,
348), along with his explicit confirmation of the future return of Christ (guaranteed both by
Jesus’ resurrection [Acts 17:31] and by angelic testimony [Acts 1:11]) suggest that the delay of
the parousia was not an urgent problem for Luke or his immediate audience (pace Conzelmann
1960).
The General Letters

Various expressions of and allusions to the significance of the parousia of Jesus Christ as “the
day of judgment” can be observed in the General Letters (Hebrews, James, 1, 2, and 3 John, 1
and 2 Peter, and Jude). In the anonymous letter to the Hebrews, the future return of Christ is
portrayed as the occasion at which the faithful Christ-follower will receive a great reward, while
the unfaithful person will receive destruction (Heb 10:35–39); here, the imminence of His
coming is offered as an encouragement to endure through suffering (Heb 10:37). At Hebrews
9:28, we also find the only explicit description of the parousia as a second appearance of Christ
in Christian literature prior to Justin Martyr (e.g., Dialogue with Trypho, 14, 31, 35, etc.; on the
possible significance of the phrase “he will appear a second time” in this passage, see Bruce
1997, 227–33). In character with its purpose as an exhortation to wisdom, James also employs
the imminent return of Christ the Judge as an incentive to persevere in faithfulness and right
action toward brothers in Christ (Jas 5:7–9). Allusions to this theme are also present in 1 Peter (1
Pet 1:7; 4:5) and 1 John (1 John 2:28; 4:17), while Jude enlists the Jewish apocalyptic work 1
Enoch to portray Christ as coming to judge those who dare to abuse their authority as shepherds
over the church (Jude 14–15). The closely related argument of 2 Peter is unusual in the New
Testament in its directness in treating the problem of the delay of the parousia. However, for the
author of 2 Peter, this apparent delay is not a problem at all, but rather a demonstration of God’s
mercy as He gives ample time for people to come to repentance.
Revelation to John

New Testament interpretation is particularly fractured over the eschatology of John’s Revelation.
Questions about the exact significance of the thousand-year reign of Christ described in Rev 20
and of when the author of Revelation thought the parousia would occur with respect to it have
inspired continual (and increasingly, unhelpfully heated) debate from the earliest period to the
present. Still, the various announcements and portrayals of Christ’s return in Revelation largely
correspond to the ways that subject is treated in the rest of the New Testament literature. In
Revelation, the future return of Christ is associated with the day of God’s judgment (see e.g. Rev
6:16–17; 20:1–15; 22:12); indeed, Revelation explores that theme with a range and vividness of
description unmatched in the New Testament. However, Revelation greatly emphasizes Christ’s
power, depicting Him as a mounted warrior stained with blood and armed to destroy His enemies
(on the divine warrior imagery in Revelation, see e.g. Collins 1976). In Revelation the parousia
is understood as coming unexpectedly (see e.g. Rev 3:3; 16:15), though it is typically treated as
imminent (so see Rev 1:1, 3, 7; 2:16; 3:11; 22:6–7). Yet certain features of Revelation
(especially the wait for vengeance required of the martyrs at Rev 6:10–11, but also the
exhortation to perseverance in the letter to the church at Smyrna at Rev 2:8–10), suggest the
author is also acutely conscious of the delay of the parousia. This sense of delay is only
amplified by the author’s deep desire to see the return of Christ, exemplified in the exclamation
“Come, Lord Jesus” at Rev 22:20 (which may be a translation of the Aramaic phrase marana
tha, which occurs at 1 Cor 16:22).
Bibliography

Achtemeier, Paul J. “An Apocalyptic Shift in Early Christian Tradition: Reflections on Some
Canonical Evidence.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 45 (1983): 231–48.

Adams, Edward. The Stars will Fall From Heaven: Cosmic Catastrophe in the New Testament
and Its World. London: T&T Clark, 2007.

———.”The Coming of the Son of Man in Mark’s Gospel.” Tyndale Bulletin 56, no. 2 (2005):
39.

———. “ ‘Where is the Promise of His Coming?’: The Complaint of the Scoffers in 2 Peter
3:4.” New Testament Studies 51, no. 1 (2005): 106.

Allison, Dale C. The End of the Ages Has Come. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985.

Aune, David E. “The Significance of the Delay of the Parousia for Early Christianity.” Pages 87–
109 in Current Issues in Biblical and Patristic Interpretation: Studies in Honor of Merrill C.
Tenney. Edited by G.F. Hawthorne. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1975.
Balabanski, Vicky. Eschatology in the Making: Mark, Matthew and the Didache. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Barrett, C.K. “The Eschatology of the Epistle to the Hebrews.” Pages 363–93 in The
Background of the New Testament and Its Eschatology: Festschrift for C.H. Dodd. Edited by
W.D. Davies and David Daube. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956.

Barton, Stephen C. “Eschatology and the Emotions in Early Christianity.” Journal of Biblical
Literature 130, no. 3 (2011): 571–91.

Bauckham, Richard. “The Delay of the Parousia.” Tyndale Bulletin 31 (1980): 3–36.

———. The Fate of the Dead: Studies on Jewish and Christian Apocalypses. Leiden: Brill,
1998.

Beale, G.K. “The Interpretative Problem of Rev. 1:19.” Novum Testamentum 34 (1992): 360–87.

———. Jesus and the Kingdom of God. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1986.

Beasley-Murray, G.R., Herschel H. Hobbs, and Ray Frank Robbins. Revelation: Three
Viewpoints. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1981.

Black, Matthew. “The Maranatha Invocation and Jude 14, 15 (1 Enoch 1:9).” Christ and Spirit in
the New Testament: Studies in Honour of Charles Francis Digby Moule. Edited by Barnabas
Lindars and Stephen S. Smalley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973.

Brown, Raymond E. The Community of the Beloved Disciple. New York: Paulist, 1979.

———. “Eschatology in Acts.” Pages 51–63 in Eschatology and the New Testament: Essays in
Honor of George Raymond Beasley-Murray. Edited by W.H. Gloer. Peabody, Mass.:
Hendrickson, 1988.

Bruce, F.F. Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1977.

———. The Epistle to the Hebrews, rev. ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1996.

Caird, G.B. The Language and Imagery of the Bible. Philadelphia: Westminster John Knox,
1980.

Carroll, John T., ed. The Return of Jesus in Early Christianity. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson,
2000.

Charlesworth, James H., ed. The Messiah: Developments in Earliest Judaism and Christianity.
Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992.
Clouse, Robert G., ed. The Meaning of the Millenium: Four Views. Downers Grove, Ill.:
InterVarsity Press, 1977.

Collins, Adela Y. The Combat Myth in the Book of Revelation. Missoula, Montana: Scholars
Press, 1976.

Collins, John J. The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature.

Conzelmann, Hans. The Theology of St Luke, trans. G. Buswell. London: Faber, 1960.

Court, John M. “Paul and the Apocalyptic Pattern.” Pages 57–66 in Paul and Paulinism: Essays
in Honour of C.K. Barrett. Edited by Morna D. Hooker and S.G. Wilson. London: SPCK,
1982.

DiTommaso, Lorenzo. “Apocalypses and Apocalypticism in Antiquity (Part 1).” Currents in

———. “Apocalypses and Apocalypticism in Antiquity (Part II).” Currents in Biblical Research
5, no. 3 (2007): 367–432.

Dodd, C. H. “The Mind of Paul,” in New Testament Studies, 67–128. Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 1953.

———. The Parables of the Kingdom. London: Nisbet and Co., 1935

Dunn, J.D.G. Unity and Diversity in the New Testament: An Inquiry into the Character of
Earliest Christianity. Philadelphia: Westminster John Knox, 2006.

———. The Theology of Paul the Apostle. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.

Ellis, E. Earle. Eschatology in Luke. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1972.

———. “Present and Future in the Eschatology of Luke.” New Testament Studies 12 (1965–66):
27–41.

Esler, Philip Francis. Community and Gospel in Luke–Acts. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1987.

Gasque, W. Ward. A History of the Interpretation of the Acts of the Apostles. Peabody, Mass.:
Hendrickson, 1989.

Jeremias, Joachim. The Parables of Jesus. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1972.

Käsemann, Ernst. “An Apologia for Primitive Christian Eschatology.” London: SCM, 1964.
Klijn, A.J.F. “1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 and Its Background in Apocalyptic Literature.” Pages
67–73 in Paul and Paulinism: Essays in Honour of C.K. Barrett. Edited by Morna D. Hooker
and S. G. Wilson. London: SPCK, 1982.

Kline, J. Bergman. “The Day of the Lord in the Death and Resurrection of Christ.” Journal of
the Evangelical Theological Society 48, no. 4 (2005): 757.

Kreitzer, Larry J. Jesus and God in Paul’s Eschatology. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1987.

Ladd, George Eldon. “Apocalyptic and New Testament Theology.” Pages 285–96 in
Reconciliation and Hope: New Testament Essays on Atonement and Eschatology Presented
to L.L. Morris on His 60th Birthday. Edited by Robert Banks. Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Eerdmans, 1975.

Levison, J.R. “2 Apoc. Bar. 48:42–52:7 and the Apocalyptic Dimension of Colossians 3:1–6.”
Journal of Biblical Literature 108 (1989): 93–108.

Lindars, Barnabas. The Theology of the Letter to the Hebrews, New Testament Theology.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Marshall, I. Howard. “Is Apocalyptic the Mother of Christian Theology?” Pages 33–42 in
Tradition and Interpretation in the New Testament. Edited by G. F. Hawthorne and O. Betz.
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1987.

———. “Martyrdom and the Parousia in the Revelation of John.” Studia Evangelica 4 (1964):
333–39.

Mearns, C.L. “Early Eschatological Development in Paul: The Evidence of I and II

Moore, Arthur L. The Parousia in the New Testament. Leiden: Brill, 1966.

Moule, C.F.D. “A Reconsideration of the Context of Maranatha.” New Testament Studies 6

Nickelsburg, George W.E. Resurrection, Immortality, and Eternal Life in Intertestamental

Osborne, Grant R. “The ‘Rapture’ Question.” Themelios 2 (1977): 77–80.

Pitre, Brant. Jesus, Tribulation, and the End of the Exile: Restoration Eschatology and the
Origin of the Atonement. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006.

Ridderbos, Herman. Paul: An Outline of His Theology. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1975.

Robinson, J.A.T. Jesus and His Coming. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1979.

Rowland, Christopher C. Christian Origins. London: SPCK, 1985.

———. The Open Heaven: A Study of Apocalyptic in Judaism and Early Christianity. New
York: Crossroad, 1982.

Schweitzer, Albert. The Quest of the Historical Jesus. London: A. & C. Black, 1910.

Smalley, Stephen S. “The Delay of the Parousia.” Journal of Biblical Literature 83 (1964): 41–
54.

Still, Todd D. “Eschatology in Colossians: How Realized is It?” New Testament Studies 50, no. 1
(2004): 125–38.

Talmon, Shemaryahu. Eschatology and History in Biblical Judaism. Jerusalem: Ecumenical

Thistleton, A.C. “Realised Eschatology at Corinth.” New Testament Studies 24 (1978): 510–24.

VanderKam, James C. “The Theophany of Enoch I 3b–7, 9.” Vetus Testamentum 23 (1973):
129–50.

Wenham, David. The Rediscovery of Jesus’ Eschatological Discourse. Sheffield: JSOT Press,
1984.

Witherington, Ben. Jesus, Paul and the End of the World. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity
Press, 1992.

Wright, N.T. Jesus and the Victory of God. London: SPCK, 1996.

———. The Resurrection of the Son of God. London: SPCK, 2003.

T.M. DERICO

T.M. Derico, “Parousia,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham,
WA: Lexham Press, 2016).