Parosh (Hastings' Dictionary)

The name ofa eae family, of which 2172 returned with Zerubbabel, Ezr 28 (=Neh 78), and 150 with Ezra, Ezr 8°. Seven of the Béné-Parosh had married foreign wives, Ezr 10%. The name appears also in connexion with the repairing of the walls, Neh 3”, and the sealing of the covenant, 10%. The Gr. form Phoros is adopted in 1 Es (5° 85) 935), PAROUSIA [παρουσία, lit. ‘presence,’ as opposed to absence (2 Co 1019, Ph 1536 2!%), hence the arrival which introduces that presence (cf.

Col 1° τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τοῦ παρόντος els ὑμᾶς, ‘the gospel which is come unto you’; 1Co 16” the coming of Ste- phanas ; 2 Co 75:7; 2 Th 2°; 2 P 3" the coming of the Day of God)].—A technical term used in NT to denote the coming of Christ in glory at the end of the age. In this sense it is Bee Mt. 24% 27. 87. 39, 1 Co 15%, 1 Th 919 318 415 53, 29 Th 2) 8 (cf. v.2 where it is used of Antichrist), Ja 57 8, 2 P 116 34; cf. v.4,1Jn 2%.

Both AV and RV translate ‘coming,’ although RV adds in the margin the alternative rendering ‘presence.’ The expression Second Coming, while it occurs in later ecclesiastical Greek (Εν. Nicod. c. 22 end; Just. Apol i. 52, Trypho, ec. 40, 110, 121) in contrast to the first coming (Trypho, ce. 40, 110, 121), is not found in Scripture. Synonymous expressions are the Apo- Fg ως (ἀποκάλυψις ; so 2 Th 17 the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven ; 1 Co 1’, 1 P 1? 13 418.

the revelation of His glory, οἵ. Lk 17%) and the Day (ἡμέρα) of Christ (1 Co 18,2 Co 1%, Ph 15} ΘΟ 1 Th δ᾽. ΟΡ 80 οὐ ον. (ef oneron the days of the Son of Man). The term Parousia differs from these latter in that it emphasizes the element of permanent presence which the coming of Christ is to introduce. But it is incorrect, wi some modern interpreters (so Warren, Parousia, p. 21), so to magnify this element as to reject altogether the meaning ‘coming.

’ Both elements, the coming and the presence, are united in the word as in the doctrine. Interpreters find reference to several distinct comings of Christ in the NT. There is (1) a physical Advent at His resurrection (so Jn 1415 16°; cf. Holtzmann, Hdcomm. iv. 163); (2) & spiritual Advent by the Paraclete, which is to take place during the lifetime of the disciples, and to result in a perpetual dwelling of Christ and the Father in their hearts (Jn 14”; cf.

167) ; (3) an Advent to the disciples at death, when Christ will come to receive them into the man- sions which He has prepared for them above (Jn 14°, and comments of Holtzmann, J.c. iv. p. 160; ef. also 2 Co 58) ; (4) a historical Advent for judg- ment, taking place at different times in the his- tory of the Church, but distinguished from the PAROUSIA final Advent at the end of the age (Rev 2° 16 331; cf.

also Mt 26% ‘ Henceforth [ἀπ᾽ ἄρτι] ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven,’ which Meyer interprets in the sense of a continual historical revelation of Christ’s power and triumph); and, finally, (5) an Advent at the end of the age (Mt 24°) to judge the world, to destroy evil, to reward the saints, and to establish the Kingdom of Glory.

While it is with the last of these that we are primarily concerned in the doctrine of the Parousia, it is impossible wholly to ignore the others. The sharp line of distinction which later theology has drawn between the final Advent and these pre- limi advents is not always observed in the NT. There are ges, like Mt 26%, where the coming of Christ in glory is represented as a con- tinuous process. There are others, like those in the Fourth Gospel (e.g.

Jn 14% 16"), in which the spiritual advent by the Paraclete takes the place where filled by the final Advent. It is im- portant, therefore, while clearly recognizing the technical meaning of the phrase, not to interpret our theme too narrowly. The doctrine of the Parousia is a New Testa- ment doctrine. It had its origin in Jesus’ prophecy of His own return, and depends for its existence upon the maine position which He holds in Chris- tian faith.

evertheless, it is not without pre- ration in the past. It has its parallel within he OT in the prophetic anticipation of the Day of the Lord (6... Am 5'8, Is 213 13%, 1] 116 2}, Zeph 38), —that t crisis of human history when J” shall be manifested as the Judye and Saviour of Israel, and His Kingdom shall be set up among men (see ESCHATOLOGY in vol. i. p. 735f.) Many features in the NT doctrine are anticipated in OT. Thus the warlike imagery of Rev 19" finds parallels in Is 13¢ 345, Jer 46!

° etc. The connexion of the resurrection of the dead with the deliverance and judgment of the living is made in Dn 12!%. The great convulsions of 2 P 310 have their anticipation In Is 344, The signs in the heaven predicted in Mt 24” and parallels are foretold in Is 13%, J] 316. 16 etc. The renewal of nature prophesied in Is 657 rea in Rev 21! (cf. Ro 8", 1 Co 73).

Most striking is the parallel in Dn 7'**, where the seer has a vision of one like unto a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven to receive ‘dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.’ further preparation for the doctrine of the Parousia is to be found in the revived Messianic expectation which characterized the period im- mediately before Christ, and which has left its traces in the Solan \poraty Apocalyptic literature.

This literature prepared the way for our doctrine, partly by intensifying the sense of an impending crisis, partly by identifying that crisis, as was not always the case in the OT, with the coming and activity of the Messiah. It is true that in some of the Apocalyptic books there is no mention of a per- sonal Mosel: But in others, and these among the most important (6.0. Ps.-Sol, Eth. Enoch, Baruch, 4 Ezra), the Messiah holds a prominent place.

The material is so fully presented by Charles in the article on the ESCHATOLOGY OF THE ΑΡΟσ- RYPHA AND APOCALYPTICAL LITERATURE in vol. i. p. 741 ff., that it is unnecessary to enter into it here. Suffice it to say that the climax is reached in the great passage in the Eth. Enoch (c. 48 ff.), in which the Son of Man is revealed upon the throne of His glory as the righteous judge both of the living and of the dead.

This assage, Which in many ways reminds us of Dn i is the closest parallel, outside the NT, to the great judgment scene in Mt 24°, The points of contact thus briefly indicated PAROUSIA suggest an interesting question. Are we to con- ceive the doctrine of the Parousia as simply the continuation on Christian soil of the contemporary Jewish expectation? Or does it stand for some- thing new and distinct?

Did Jesus and the apostles understand the OT prophecies in sub- stantially the same sense in which they were understood by the Jews of their day, with this difference only, that the Messiah of whe identity the latter were ignorant was known by them to be Jesus? Or did they ave to these prophecies, as we know that our Lord gave to the law (Mt 5-7), a deeper and more spiritual interpretation?

And if the latter, was this equally true of them all, or must we distinguish within the NT between the teaching of the Master and the more or less im- perfect apprehension of the disciples? These are uestions of the highest importance, not merely for the understanding of the teaching of Jesus, but of Christianity iteelf. The answer to these questions is by no means easy. No part of the biblical material is more difficult to interpret than the eschatological sages.

This is true not merely of the Bk. of Revelation,—admittedly the most obscure portion of the NT,—but of the Apocalyptic portions of the Synoptic Gospels as well. Scholes are not agreed how far the language of these passages is to be taken lverally, how far symbolically. Moreover, there are critical questions of great intricacy con- nected with the present condition of the text.

There are some (like Haupt) who, while admitting that all the eschatological discourses in the Synopties are composed of genuine sayings of Jesus, maintain that these sayings are not always given by the evangelists in their original connexion. here are others (Wendt, Weillenbach, etc.) who hold that in their present form these discourses include foreign elements, the teaching of Jesus having been combined by the evangelists with materials drawn either from Jewish or Jewish, Christian sources.

Under the circumstances, a thorough dis- cussion of the critical question would seem to be a necessary prerequisite to an adequate treatment of the doctrine. Such a discussion it is manifestly impossible to ive within the limits of the present article. Nor 1s it necessary to our immediate purpose.

Without settling all the pele queens involved, it ma be possible to give a bird’s-eye view of the ἘΠ ΤΟ as it lies in our sources, to discover how far it lends itself to a single consistent interpretation, and to indicate what are the chief problems which it presents, and what are the most important methods proposed for their solution.

We shall begin our survey with the Synoptics, partly be- cause in them the eschatological teaching of Jesus is most fully set forth, partly because they present the difficulties connected with our doctrine in their most acute form. We shall then offer a brief sur- vey of the doctrine of the Parousia as it is found in the other NT books, giving special attention to the teaching of St. Paul. The Fourth Gospel, for reasons presently to be explained, will be reserved for separate treatment.

In conclusion, we shall briefly indicate the course of the later develop- ment, and point out the chief lines which the interpretation of the doctrine has followed. Thus our discussion will cover the following four points: —(i.) The Parousia in the Synopties ; (ii.) the Par- ousia in Acts, Epistles, and Revelation ; (iii.) the Parousia in the Gospel of John ; (iv.) the Parousia in the later Church. i. THE PAROUSIA IN THE SynoptTics.

—The doctrine of the Parousia is set forth in the Rynoptics most fully in the so-called Apocalypse of Jesus (Mk 18, and parallels Mt 24, Lk 91). A prophec of Jesus as to the destruction of the temple leat PAROUSIA PAROUSIA of time.

By the parable of the fig-tree, Jesus indicates the close connexion between the signs and the Parousia, and ends with the explicit state- ment given by all three evangelists, ‘ Verily, I sa unto you, this generation shall not pass away ti all these things be accomplished.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away,’ to which Mt and Mk add the qualifying clause, ‘But of that day or that hour knoweth vo one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father (only)’ (ef. Ac 17 ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father hah set within his own authority’). The exegetical difficulties of this passage are such as to render a consistent interpretation of the present text difficult.

On the one hand, the account in Mt and Mk associates the Parousia with the destruction of Jerusalem, and puts both within the lifetime of the generation then living (cf. Gould, Mark, 240ff.) In Lk the connexion between the destruction and the Parousia is not so | close, but the closing verses (Lk 21%) agree with the other evangelists in placing all the events described within a single generation.

On the other hand, we have in Mt (94:3) and Mk (13” references to a world-wide prenctne of the peas preceding, and in Lk (2153) a prophecy of certain times of the Gentiles following the destruction of Jerusalem. If it were not for Mt 244, Mk 13”, it would be easy exegetically to bring the entire prophecy of Mt and Mk within the limits of a single generation.

On the other hand, were it not for Lk 21%, it would be natural to regard the account in Lk as postponing the Parousia to a distant future—a postponement natural in view of the later date of the Gospel. Various attempts are made to meet the difficulty. It is claimed that yeved may mean an indefinite period of time (Dorner). But, apart from the linguistic objections to this translation, it does not overcome the close connexion between the destruction and the Par- ousia.

One of the most elaborate attempts to solve the difficulty without recourse to interpola- tion has been made by Briggs (Mess. Gosp. p. 156 ff.), who distinguishes between the time an the signs. To the first he finds reference in Mt 24:5, Mk 13", Lk 9153, where the text pointe to an extended eriod. On the other hand, only the signs are re- erred to in the ‘all these things’ which are to be accomplished within the generation then living (ef.

Mt 24%, Mk 13, Lk 913), According to this view, Jesus predicted His Parousia after an un- known period (¢/#éws=the prophetic 377), but the signs within a single generation, a position which is certainly difficult to reconcile with the close connexion between the signs and the Advent in the parable of the fig-tree. Under the cireum- stances, many scholars believe that the difficulty can be most easily solved by the hypotheses of composite origin. E.

Haupt (Die eschatologischen Aussagen Jesu) argues that the evangelist has brought together in this passage a number of sayings originally spoken by Jesus on different occasions. Others hold to the interpolation either of a Jewish (so Weizsiicker, J. Weiss) or of 8 Jewish-Christian Apocalypse (Colani, Pfleiderer, Keim, e¢ al.) As constructed by the most recent. and careful scholars (Weiffenbach, Der Waieder- kunftsgedanke Jesu, Ὁ. 170£.; Wendt, Die Lehre Jesu, i. 10 ff.)

, this consists of three sections: Mk 137 and parallels piving tie beginning of tribula- tion; vv.**° giving its height (the destruction of Jerusalem) ; and vy." giving the Advent at the conclusion of the tribulation. Vv. 81, which con- clude the ‘ Apocalypse,’ put the entire content of the prophesy, within the generation then living.

After these excisions, there remain in the original text only the prophecy of the destruction of Jeru to a question by the disciples (so Mt; Mk specifies Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Lk leaves the questioner indefinite), ‘when these things shall be, and what shall be the sign when these things are all about to be accomplished’ (Mk, Lk).

In the discourse which follows, Jesus not merely answers this question, but passes on to give the signs of His own Advent in glory, which He represents as tollowing immediately after that tribulation (Mt 24%. cf. Mk 13%, otherwise Lk)—a connexion for which Mt has Gag prepared the way in the introductory question, ‘When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy Parousia, and of the end of the age?

’ After the prediction of certain preliminary woes (the coming of false Messiahs, wars and rumours of wars, the rising up of nation against nation, famines, and earth- quakes; Lk adds signs from heaven) and a warn- ing to the disciples to be firm under the persecutions which are to come, not merely at the hands of the civil and religious authorities (the synagogue, Mk, Lk; the Gentiles, Mt), but of their relatives and friends,—persecutions incidental to that world-wide preaching of the gospel (Mt 24, Mk 13”; other- wise Lk, who omits all reference to the preaching of the gospel to the world) which must precede the end (Mt 9418), but in which they will sup- ported by the Holy Ghost (Mk) and preserved from all harm (Lk),—He goes on to predict the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, and the miseries connected therewith.

The ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION (wh. see) of Mt and Mk is replaced in Lk by the Roman armies, but the general situation is the same in all three Gospels. Then follows in Mt and Mk a renewed warning against the false Messiahs who will arise at that time, working signs and wonders, and seeking to deceive the very elect. Many shall say ‘Lo here, or lo there,’ but they are not to be deceived.

When the Christ comes there will be no possibility of mistaking Him, for His Parousia will be like the lightning which ‘cometh forth from the east and is seen even unto the west’ (Mt 24*7). This last saying, which Mk omits, is given by Lk in another connexion (17%). It is therefore probable that Mt 247" formed no part of the original text, a suggestion which Weiss (Marcusev. p. 424; οἵ. Briggs, Mess. Gosp. p.

151) extends to the previous context omitted by ἐκ (Mt 243-2) Mk 13%), After the destruction of Jeru- salem follows the Parousia. Mt and Mk make the connexion immediate. ‘But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened,’ ete. (Mk 13%; Mt is even stronger, introducing the word εὐθέως ; ‘immediately after those days’).

Lk, on the other hand, introduces between the destruction and the Parousia certain ‘times of the Gentiles’ (21%), which seem to take the place of the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles in Mt and Mk. 1 the evangelists represent the Par- ousia as preceded by certain theophanic signs in the heaven (cf. J] 3! 1° 91. 10.

Ts 1810), Lk adds, ‘upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows; men faint- ing for fear and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world’ (21% ), Peculiar to Mt is a reference to ‘the sign of the Son of Man in heaven’ and the mourning of the tribes of the earth (24%; οἵ, Zec 1910π The Parousia itself is described in language suggestive of Dn 714 «And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory’ (so all three evangelists).

‘And he shall send forth his angels (Mt adds ‘with a great sound of a trumpet’), and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other’ (Mt, Mk). As to what takes place after this, we are not told in this place. The ‘ Apoca- lypse’ concludes with certain frrther indications PAROUSI4 PAROUSIA 677 salem, and the prediction by the Saviour of His | own return at an hour of which He knows not (cf. the reconstruction in Weiffenbach, p. 182 ff. ; Wendt, i.

pp. 10, 11). Apart from this ‘Apocalypse,’ the Parousia of Jesus is predicted in the Synoptics in man passages. Thus in Mt 16%-% (cf. Mk 8-9}, L 9-7) Jesus predicts His Advent in glory with His angels to reward every man according to his works, adding, ‘ Verily I say unto you, ‘There be some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom’ (so Mt; Mk ‘the king- dom of God come with power,’ Lk ‘the kingdom of God’).

At His farewell over Jerusalem, He declares that they shall not see Him again until they shall say, ‘ Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord’ (Mt 23°78, Lk 13%). When declaring His Messiahship before the high priest, He predicts that His judges shall ‘see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of wer, and coming on the clouds of heaven’ (Mt 26", Mk 14°).

So in interpreting the parable of the tares (Mt 13%) He declares that at the end of the age ‘the Son of Man shall send forth his ae and they shall gather out of his kingdom things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be eeping and gnashing of teeth,’ adding, ‘Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

’ Especially important is the ene judgment-scene, Mt 25° «When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all the nations ; and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep) from the goats.’ As to the time of the Advent we have conflict- ing evidence. Mk 91 and parallels represent it as within the lifetime of the disciples.

There is notking in the context leading us to discriminate two Ail wetita, as has sometimes been done. The same is true of Mt 10%. Inreferring to the terrible rsecutions which are to come upon the disciples (ef. Lk 17”), He declares that they shall not make the circuit of the cities of Israel in their flight before the Son of Man come. On the other hand, Ac 17, which seems to take the place in Lk of Mt 24%, Mk 13%, makes the time of the Advent unknown.

Lk represents the parable of thie unds as spoken to those who supposed that the SEES would ey gee (194; of. 12% ‘my Lord delayeth,’ etc.) In Mt 26% the coming, which in Mk (1453) seems to be a single event, 18 transformed after the analogy of the Fourth Gospel into a continuous process, beginning im- mediately after Christ’s death.

The two points continually emphasized are (1) the necessity of watchfulness, since the hour of the Parousia is uncertain (so the parables of the servants, Mk 13%-37, Mt 24", Lk 1257; cf. Lk 21% the day coming ‘suddenly as a snare’; of the goodman taken unaware by the thief, Mt 248°“, Lk 12%”; of the virgins, Mt 25, ef. Lk 12"; the reference to the days of Lot and of Noah, Lk 17*™).

(2) The necessity for faithfulness, since, though the Lord seem to delay, He will surely come and reward His servants according to their works (Mt 9445 5 Lk 12"-, and the parable of the talents Mt 25, and the pounds Lk 19""; cf. Lk 18* When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth ?’), It thus ape that the Synoptics represent Jesus as predicting His own return, now within His own generation, now after an indefinite future.

This return is to be preceded by great trials, which none but the faithful shall be able toendure. The return itself is pictured as a glorious coming on the clouds to punish evil-doers, to reward the saints, and to establish that kingdom predicted from the foundation of the world.

This coming is by Christ Himself associated with the end of the age and the day of final judgment, which is repre- sented, now, after the fashion of OT, as a destruc- tion of all the enemies of the Messiah before His face; now, as in the great judgment-scene in Mt, as a formal process in a law court in which all the nations are assembled to receive the sentence of the judge.

For the disciples it introduces the time of their redemption (Lk 21%), a period of joy and glad communion with Christ, set forth now by the figure of the marriage feast, in which the Master imself ministers to His faithful servants, now by that of the kingdom in which the disciples enjoy sresial honours, sitting upon thrones and judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Those interpreters like Wendt, Weiffenbach, ete.

, who regard the Apocalypse of Jesus as of Jewish-Christian origin, explain the other Apoca- lyptic features in the Synoptic doctrine as due to a similar source.

Those who refuse to take this view are obliged either (1) to explain away those passages which predict an Advent within the generation then living ; or (2) preserving the con- nexion to regard Jesus as actually predicting during the lives of men then living a visible advent in the clouds—a prediction which was not fulfilled; or (3) to understand the language of Jesus symbolically as the prediction, in anguage taken partly from OT, partly from the Apocalypses of the time, of an advent which, while seemingly external and catastrophic, is really to be SS!

stood after the analogy of Mt 26%, Rey 2° 6 3% and Jn 14% as spiritual and continuons. ii. THE PAROUSIA IN ACTS, THE EPISTLES, AND