sovereigngrace
Puritan Board Freshman
I have added a proviso about many Reformed Historic Premillennialists to my initial post.
Premillennialists are very vocal and passionate in emphasizing their early Patristic roots. They confidently claim the early Chiliasts as their own. They employ this connection as strong support to verify the current authenticity and ancient heritage of their cherished doctrine. But is this boast fair, accurate and legitimate? Are these two doctrines synonymous?
A closer look at the facts tell a completely different story. In fact, for the first 220-230 years after the cross, early Chiliasm had more in common with modern day Amillennialism than popular modern-day Premillennialism.
While ancient Chiliasm and modern-day Premillennialism share the expectation of a future thousand years on this earth after the second coming, there are some key elements that set ancient Chiliasm apart from typical Premillennialism.
The three major differences that I see are (1) their view of the intermediate state, (2) their vision of the nature and quality of the millennial earth and how that will look like after the appearing of Christ, and, also, (3) their view of the position of natural Israel and the old covenant arrangement on a future millennial earth.
No one could argue these are insignificant issues or irrelevant to the overall discussion. They are right at the core of the debate of how the age to come will look like.
While many Reformed Historic Premillennialists shy away from the old covenant extremes that many other Historic Premillennialists espouse, including the elevation of national Israel, and restarting of the abolished Jewish ceremonial system, most accept that sin, sinners, mortality, decay, death, marriage and procreation, war and terror, and eventually Satan and his minions, all enter the age to come. This was not held by the early Chiliasts.
The intermedia state
The first difference between the two is the location of the elect in the intermediate state. The early Chiliasts believed that the dead in Christ descended immediately into Abraham’s bosom when they died to await the resurrection. The earliest orthodox Chiliasts actually believed that the righteous would undergo a purgatory-style refining period in their disembodied state in order to prepare them for a future millennial kingdom in their new incorruptible bodies. Modern-day Premillennialism, on the other hand overwhelmingly holds that the righteous enter into heaven upon death, there to await the Second Advent and the physical resurrection of the dead.
The nature and quality of the millennial earth
While Premillennialists often try to present their future millennium as some Utopia in an age of Aquarius, the reality is what they hold to is a millennial earth that will contain all the sufferings and evil that exists in this present age, albeit suppressed by the physical presence of Christ ruling with a rod of iron over the earth. They present a bipolar age full of justice and injustice, deliverance and bondage, light and darkness, righteousness and unrighteousness, perfection and sin, glorification and corruption, sin and sinlessness, immortality and mortality, peace and harmony and war and terror. It is truly hard to grasp this biblically.
The Premillennial millennium culminates in the greatest global uprising in history as Satan is released from his prison to deceive the millennial inhabitant in their billions. The Premillennial millennium descends into chaos and anarchy at the end as the millennial inhabitants wholesale reveal their true allegiance. They swiftly switch their feigned allegiance to Christ to the true veneration of their father Satan at the drop of a hat. We have the biggest religious turn-around in history: from a millennial kingdom where the nations wholesale submit to Christ in righteousness to a mass revival of Satanism.
Early Chiliasm was more akin to modern day Amillennialism. For the first 220-230 years after the cross, ancient Chiliasm believed the millennial earth would be devoid of sin and corruption. They saw it as a perfect pristine environment that the righteous would enjoy for 1000 years before the new heavens and new earth.
It was not until Victorinus, 240 years after the cross, that any early Chiliast foresaw corruption on the coming earth. No others taught the populating of the millennium with the wicked and the release of Satan 1,000 years after the second coming. This is in stark contrast to modern-day Premillennialism. Victorinus is the first Chiliast to suggest that a significant amount of mortals would survive the return of Christ and then enter in to populate a future millennium.
Up until Victorinus, the Patristic writers did not anticipate any wicked being among the righteous. The wicked and all wickedness would be destroyed at the coming of Christ. Satan would be destroyed at the coming of Jesus. The bodies of the millennial inhabitants, they speculated, would be similar to that of Adam before the fall, only this time man was not expected to sin and therefore die. This is in stark contrast to modern-day Premillennialism.
Natural Israel and the old covenant arrangement
Ancient Chiliasm believed the New Testament Church to be true Israel and therefore heirs of all the promises of God “in Christ Jesus.” Their theological philosophy could be described as ‘Inclusion Theology’ or ‘Expansion Theology’. They understood that there was a continuity between God’s people in both the Old and New Testament. The New Testament Church was considered to have been grafted into faithful Israel (God's elect).
Mirroring the process that a caterpillar undergoes developing into the maturity and beauty of a colorful butterfly, the Old Testament Church was seen as undergoing a significant metamorphic change in the New Testament, progressing into the current Spirit-filled international New Testament Church. The ekklesia essentially took on wings! They viewed both as the same organic entity. Basically, just because Old Testament Israel and the New Testament Church carry different names and possess a different outward appearance and scope of movement does not negate the fact they are the same overall entity.
They believe that Christ fulfilled the whole old covenant arrangement and perfectly satisfied every demand of the old covenant law, thus removing its usefulness and temporal status. The shadow, the type, the deficient and the temporal have now been replaced by the substance, the fulfilment, the perfect and the eternal. Early Chiliasm was totally devoid of all the Judaistic features that mark the modern Premillennial hope for the age to come. It is notable that not one of the orthodox Chiliasts promoted the elevation of national Israel in a future millennium, any parallel path between the Church and Israel, the rebuilding of the Jewish temple, the full restoration of all the old covenant feasts and festivals, the universal observance of Jewish customs, the return of blood sin offerings in a future temple (whether real or memorial) or the restarting of the old covenant priesthood in the future.
While these are beliefs that are widely held within a large swage of modern-day Historic Premillennialism and throughout Dispensational Premillennialism, they are unknown to the early Church Chiliasts. Along with the reintroduction of all the bondage of corruption on a future earth (including sin, death and decay) and the rising up of Satan after 1000 to influence billions of millennial inhabitants against Christ and the glorified saints, this advocacy for the return of all the old covenant apparatus is probably the most unsavory aspect of modern Premil.
The early orthodox Chiliasts believed that the Church was the legitimate heir to the promises made by God in times past to the Jewish nation. They held that the new covenant Church was the only people of God.
It is therefore wrong to say the early Church was Premillennialist, because it wasn’t.
Premillennialists are very vocal and passionate in emphasizing their early Patristic roots. They confidently claim the early Chiliasts as their own. They employ this connection as strong support to verify the current authenticity and ancient heritage of their cherished doctrine. But is this boast fair, accurate and legitimate? Are these two doctrines synonymous?
A closer look at the facts tell a completely different story. In fact, for the first 220-230 years after the cross, early Chiliasm had more in common with modern day Amillennialism than popular modern-day Premillennialism.
While ancient Chiliasm and modern-day Premillennialism share the expectation of a future thousand years on this earth after the second coming, there are some key elements that set ancient Chiliasm apart from typical Premillennialism.
The three major differences that I see are (1) their view of the intermediate state, (2) their vision of the nature and quality of the millennial earth and how that will look like after the appearing of Christ, and, also, (3) their view of the position of natural Israel and the old covenant arrangement on a future millennial earth.
No one could argue these are insignificant issues or irrelevant to the overall discussion. They are right at the core of the debate of how the age to come will look like.
While many Reformed Historic Premillennialists shy away from the old covenant extremes that many other Historic Premillennialists espouse, including the elevation of national Israel, and restarting of the abolished Jewish ceremonial system, most accept that sin, sinners, mortality, decay, death, marriage and procreation, war and terror, and eventually Satan and his minions, all enter the age to come. This was not held by the early Chiliasts.
The intermedia state
The first difference between the two is the location of the elect in the intermediate state. The early Chiliasts believed that the dead in Christ descended immediately into Abraham’s bosom when they died to await the resurrection. The earliest orthodox Chiliasts actually believed that the righteous would undergo a purgatory-style refining period in their disembodied state in order to prepare them for a future millennial kingdom in their new incorruptible bodies. Modern-day Premillennialism, on the other hand overwhelmingly holds that the righteous enter into heaven upon death, there to await the Second Advent and the physical resurrection of the dead.
The nature and quality of the millennial earth
While Premillennialists often try to present their future millennium as some Utopia in an age of Aquarius, the reality is what they hold to is a millennial earth that will contain all the sufferings and evil that exists in this present age, albeit suppressed by the physical presence of Christ ruling with a rod of iron over the earth. They present a bipolar age full of justice and injustice, deliverance and bondage, light and darkness, righteousness and unrighteousness, perfection and sin, glorification and corruption, sin and sinlessness, immortality and mortality, peace and harmony and war and terror. It is truly hard to grasp this biblically.
The Premillennial millennium culminates in the greatest global uprising in history as Satan is released from his prison to deceive the millennial inhabitant in their billions. The Premillennial millennium descends into chaos and anarchy at the end as the millennial inhabitants wholesale reveal their true allegiance. They swiftly switch their feigned allegiance to Christ to the true veneration of their father Satan at the drop of a hat. We have the biggest religious turn-around in history: from a millennial kingdom where the nations wholesale submit to Christ in righteousness to a mass revival of Satanism.
Early Chiliasm was more akin to modern day Amillennialism. For the first 220-230 years after the cross, ancient Chiliasm believed the millennial earth would be devoid of sin and corruption. They saw it as a perfect pristine environment that the righteous would enjoy for 1000 years before the new heavens and new earth.
It was not until Victorinus, 240 years after the cross, that any early Chiliast foresaw corruption on the coming earth. No others taught the populating of the millennium with the wicked and the release of Satan 1,000 years after the second coming. This is in stark contrast to modern-day Premillennialism. Victorinus is the first Chiliast to suggest that a significant amount of mortals would survive the return of Christ and then enter in to populate a future millennium.
Up until Victorinus, the Patristic writers did not anticipate any wicked being among the righteous. The wicked and all wickedness would be destroyed at the coming of Christ. Satan would be destroyed at the coming of Jesus. The bodies of the millennial inhabitants, they speculated, would be similar to that of Adam before the fall, only this time man was not expected to sin and therefore die. This is in stark contrast to modern-day Premillennialism.
Natural Israel and the old covenant arrangement
Ancient Chiliasm believed the New Testament Church to be true Israel and therefore heirs of all the promises of God “in Christ Jesus.” Their theological philosophy could be described as ‘Inclusion Theology’ or ‘Expansion Theology’. They understood that there was a continuity between God’s people in both the Old and New Testament. The New Testament Church was considered to have been grafted into faithful Israel (God's elect).
Mirroring the process that a caterpillar undergoes developing into the maturity and beauty of a colorful butterfly, the Old Testament Church was seen as undergoing a significant metamorphic change in the New Testament, progressing into the current Spirit-filled international New Testament Church. The ekklesia essentially took on wings! They viewed both as the same organic entity. Basically, just because Old Testament Israel and the New Testament Church carry different names and possess a different outward appearance and scope of movement does not negate the fact they are the same overall entity.
They believe that Christ fulfilled the whole old covenant arrangement and perfectly satisfied every demand of the old covenant law, thus removing its usefulness and temporal status. The shadow, the type, the deficient and the temporal have now been replaced by the substance, the fulfilment, the perfect and the eternal. Early Chiliasm was totally devoid of all the Judaistic features that mark the modern Premillennial hope for the age to come. It is notable that not one of the orthodox Chiliasts promoted the elevation of national Israel in a future millennium, any parallel path between the Church and Israel, the rebuilding of the Jewish temple, the full restoration of all the old covenant feasts and festivals, the universal observance of Jewish customs, the return of blood sin offerings in a future temple (whether real or memorial) or the restarting of the old covenant priesthood in the future.
While these are beliefs that are widely held within a large swage of modern-day Historic Premillennialism and throughout Dispensational Premillennialism, they are unknown to the early Church Chiliasts. Along with the reintroduction of all the bondage of corruption on a future earth (including sin, death and decay) and the rising up of Satan after 1000 to influence billions of millennial inhabitants against Christ and the glorified saints, this advocacy for the return of all the old covenant apparatus is probably the most unsavory aspect of modern Premil.
The early orthodox Chiliasts believed that the Church was the legitimate heir to the promises made by God in times past to the Jewish nation. They held that the new covenant Church was the only people of God.
It is therefore wrong to say the early Church was Premillennialist, because it wasn’t.
Last edited: