So far I have covered three points in my case against John Owen’s preterist view of 2 Peter 3. Let’s add a fourth in this post.
The Conclusive Case against Owen’s Interpretation Continued
Owen takes the words of verse 4 (“the promise of His Parousia”) as a reference to Jesus’ coming at the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. My emphasis is on the fact that verse 4 speaks of the Parousia of Christ. It does not speak merely of a coming of Christ, but of His Parousia.
The word, Parousia, means arrival or presence or being present. One lexicon (Friberg) goes on to add that it is the opposite of apousia which is absence or being away. This word is used 24 times in the New Testament. In 6 of those occurrences the reference is to the coming or arrival and presence of someone other than Christ. The other 18 occurrences in all sorts of ways clearly and exclusively refer to the Second Coming of Christ in glory at the end of the age. Let me mention and comment on a few of these usages.
Matthew 24:27 “For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” While preterists take all of the references to the coming of Christ in Matthew 24 as references to the coming of Christ at the destruction of Jerusalem, the difficulty with so understanding this text is obvious. The “coming” of Christ at the destruction of Jerusalem was not obvious in the Americas nor in China, for instance. The Parousia, however, is obvious from one end of heaven to the other like a flash of lightning.
1 Corinthians 15:23 “But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming…” Here the resurrection of Christ’s people is coincident with His Parousia. Did this take place at the destruction of Jerusalem. Hyper-preterists say so, but I do not think that partial preterists want to assert this.
1 Thessalonians 4:15 “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.” This is the classic text on Christ’s Second Coming and it uses the term, Parousia, to describe that coming. The Parousia here is associated with meeting the Lord in the air. Verse 17 contains Paul’s famous assertion that believers will meet the Lord in the air. Pretribulationists assume that this statement implies that after this meeting, Christ and the church return together to heaven. Actually, this is neither stated, nor implied. In fact the word in the original (apantesis) implies exactly the opposite. F. F. Bruce says: “When a dignitary paid an official visit or parousia to a city in Hellenistic times, the action of the leading citizens in going out to meet him and escorting him on the final stage of his journey was called the apantesis….” Gundry aptly comments on the implication of this word: “This connotation points toward our rising to meet Christ in order to escort Him immediately back to earth.” This meaning of meeting (apantesis) is confirmed by its two other uses in the New Testament. Matt. 25:6 speaks of the ten virgins who were waiting to go out and meet the bridegroom and then return with him to the wedding feast. Even more clearly Acts 28:15 speaks of how the brethren came out to meet Paul and accompanied him on the final leg of his journey to Rome. If this is the meaning and implication of the word, then it is utterly inconsistent with the Pretribulational theory. It is also clearly inconsistent with a preterist interpretation of the Parousia.
There is one New Testament use of Parousia which is capable of being interpreted as not a reference to Christ’s final coming in glory. That passage is found in 2 Peter itself.
2 Peter 1:16 “For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” Because of the association of these words with the transfiguration, some have assumed that Parousia here is a reference to that event. If so, it is the only use of the word to refer to that event to be found in the New Testament. It is preferable by far to understand that the transfiguration is here viewed as substantiating the Apostle Peter’s claims (1) that Jesus was the supernatural Son of God and (2) that Jesus would come again in glory.
In the context of the New Testament the Parousia of Christ is always a reference to the Second Coming of Christ in glory. It is not suggestive of a preterist interpretation anywhere and certainly not in 2 Peter 3:4.
Dr. Sam Waldron is the Academic Dean of CBTS and professor of Systematic Theology. He is also one of the pastors of Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Owensboro, KY. Dr. Waldron received a B.A. from Cornerstone University, an M.Div. from Trinity Ministerial Academy, a Th.M. from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. From 1977 to 2001 he was a pastor of the Reformed Baptist Church of Grand Rapids, MI. Dr. Waldron is the author of numerous books including A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, The End Times Made Simple, Baptist Roots in America, To Be Continued?, and MacArthur’s Millennial Manifesto: A Friendly Response.
