Amillennialism

Amillennialism (Latin: a- "not" + mille "thousand" + annum "year") is a view in Christian eschatology named for its denial of a future thousand-year, physical reign of Jesus Christ on the earth, as espoused in the premillennial and some postmillennial views of the Book of Revelation. By contrast, the amillennial view holds that the number of years in Revelation 20 is a symbolic number, not a literal description; that the millennium has already begun and is identical with the church age (or more rarely, that it ended with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.); and that while Christ's reign is spiritual in nature during the millennium, at the end of the church age, Christ will return in final judgment and establish permanent physical reign. Some postmillennialists and nearly all premillennialists hold that the word "millennium" should be taken to refer to a literal thousand-year period.

Terminology

Many proponents dislike the name amillennialism because it emphasizes their negative differences with premillennialism rather than their positive beliefs about the millennium, and although they prefer alternate terms such as nunc-millennialism (that is, now-millennialism) or realized millennialism, the acceptance and wide-spread usage of these latter names has been limited.

Teaching

Comparison of Christian millennial interpretations

Amillennialism is differentiated from at least two other types of millennialism: premillennialism and postmillennialism. Premillennialism, regardless of its two distinguishable forms called pretribulationism and posttribulationism, believes that the second coming of Christ takes place before the millennial kingdom, while postmillennialism holds that it happens after the millennial kingdom. For premillennialists, the return of Christ is a cataclysmic event initiated by God to bring a very sharp break from the wicked reality of the world by inaugurating the millennial kingdom on earth. For postmillennialists, in contrast, the return of Christ happens after Christians, with the tribulation gone long before around 70 C.E. (preterism), responsibly set in motion the mellennial kingdom by establishing cultural and political foundations.

Amillennialism involves a more symbolic reading of Rev. 20:1-6, interpreting the millennium given in the text as a metaphor for the whole age of the church, just like the "thousand hills" referred to in Psalm 50:10, the hills on which God owns the cattle, are all hills, and the "thousand generations" in 1 Chronicles 16:15, the generations for which God will be faithful, refer to all generations. Amillennialism thus denies the existence of a literal 1000-year kingdom in the future, believing instead that Christ's reign is currently being sustained in and through the church as it exists today.

According to ammillennialism, this rather metaphorical millennium kingdom as the church on earth began with Christ's first coming and will continue until his return, and this metaphorical kingdom on earth is considered to be far from perfect and still characterized by tribulation and suffering. So, although amillennialism is similar to postmillennialism in rejecting the millennium preceded by the second coming, it differs from the latter by denying the latter's preterist assertions that the tribulation was a past event around 70 C.E., and that the millennial kingdom therefore will be manifested on earth in a visible way with political and cultural influence. The "binding" of Satan described in Revelation has only prevented Satan from "deceiving the nations" (Rev. 20:2-3), and it has not prevented him from being pushed back by the millennial kingdom. The forces of Satan will remain just as active as always up until the return of Christ, and therefore good and evil will remain mixed in strength throughout history and even in the church, according to the amillennial understanding of the Parable of the Wheat and Tares (Matt. 14:24-30, 36-43). At the return of Christ, however, the imperfect metaphorical kingdom on earth will be replaced by God's perfect spiritual kingdom in heaven.

Amillennialists cite the following scriptural references to support their position: The kingdom not being a physical realm, Jesus cites his driving out demons as evidence that the kingdom of God had come upon them (Matt. 12:28); Jesus warns that the coming of the kingdom of God can not be observed, and that it is among them (Luke 17:20-21); Paul speaks of the kingdom of God being in terms of the Christians' actions (Rom. 14:17). Also, the blessings of salvation spoken of as if they were here on earth (e.g., Col. 1:13-14) are understood to be simply referring to the spiritual kingdom in heaven.

When Christ returns, the tribulation will be halted, and Satan and his followers will be destroyed. At that time, the resurrection of all for the final judgment will take place, and the eternal order will begin.

History

Early church

The first two centuries of the church held both premillennial and amillennial opinions. Although none of the available Church Fathers advocate amillennialism in the first century, Justin Martyr (died 165), who had chiliastic tendencies in his theology, mentions differing views in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, chapter 80: "I and many others are of this opinion [premillennialism], and [believe] that such will take place, as you assuredly are aware; but, on the other hand, I signified to you that many who belong to the pure and pious faith, and are true Christians, think otherwise."

A few amillenialists such as Albertus Pieters understand Pseudo-Barnabas to be amillennial. In the second century, the Alogi (those who rejected all of John's writings) were amillennial, as was Caius in the first quarter of the third century. With the influence of Neo-Platonism and dualism, Clement of Alexandria and Origen denied premillennialism. Likewise, Dionysius of Alexandria argued that Revelation was not written by John and could not be interpreted literally; he was amillennial.

Origen's idealizing tendency to consider only the spiritual as real (which was fundamental to his entire system) led him to combat the "rude" or "crude."

In general, however, premillennialism appeared in the available writings of the early church, but it was evident that both views existed side by side. The premillennial beliefs of the early church fathers, however, are quite different from the dominant form of modern-day premillennialism, namely dispensational premillennialism.

Medieval and Reformation periods

Amillennialism gained ground after Christianity became a legal religion. It was systematized by St. Augustine in the fourth century, and this systematization carried amillennialism over as the dominant eschatology of the Medieval and Reformation periods. Augustine was originally a premilennialist, but he retracted that view, claiming the doctrine was carnal. Although he argued that Christ's reign was spiritual and not literal and earthly, and that the church was currently living in the millennium, Augustine held to a literal 1,000 year millennium that could end in perhaps C.E. 650 or, at the latest, 1000.

Amillennialism was the dominant view of the Protestant Reformers. The Lutheran Church formally rejected chiliasm in the The Augsburg Confession—“Art. XVII., condemns the Anabaptists and others ’who now scatter Jewish opinions that, before the resurrection of the dead, the godly shall occupy the kingdom of the world, the wicked being everywhere suppressed.’" Likewise, the Swiss Reformer, Heinrich Bullinger wrote up the Second Helvetic Confession, which reads, "We also reject the Jewish dream of a millennium, or golden age on earth, before the last judgment." John Calvin wrote in Institutes that chiliasm is a "fiction" which is "too childish either to need or to be worth a refutation." He interpreted the thousand year period of Revelation 20 non-literally, applying it to the "various disturbances that awaited the church, while still toiling on earth."

Modern times

Amillennialism has been widely held in the Eastern Orthodox Church as well as in the Roman Catholic Church, which generally follows Augustine on this point and which has deemed that premillennialism "cannot safely be taught." Amillennialism is also common among "mainline" Protestant denominations such as the Lutheran, Reformed, and Anglican churches. Many, but not all, partial preterists are amillennialists. Amillennialism declined in Protestant circles with the rise of Postmillennialism and the resurgence of Premillennialism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but it regained prominence in the West after World War II.

Criticism

Many premillennialists accuse amillennialists of over-spiritualizing parts of the Bible. Moreover, the amillennial view that good and evil will persist has led some postmillennialists to accuse amillennialists (and premillennialists) of being overly pessimistic. Amillennialists have countered that the Parable of the Weeds and the Parable of Drawing in the Net show that the good and evil will be sorted out only at the end of the world.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Augustine, Saint Bishop of Hippo. City of God 20.7. New York: Modern Library, 1950.
• Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion, XXV.V. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, [1960].
• "Chiliasm," Article found in The Anchor Bible Dictionary on CD-ROM. Logos Research Systems, 1997.
• Comenius, Johann Amos, ed. The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart. Paulist Press, 1998. ISBN 080910489X
• Dunn, James D.G. Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways, A.D. 70 to 135 W.B. Eerdmans, 1999. ISBN 0802844987
• Eusebius, The Ecclesiastical History 3.28.1-2. G.P. Putnam's sons, 1926-32.
• The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol.8, p. 273
• Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2 Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.
• Warfield, B.B. "The Apocalypse" in Selected Shorter Writings, vol II. Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1971. ISBN 0875525318
• Warfield, B.B. "The Millennium and the Apocalypse" in Biblical Doctrines, vol. II in Works. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, n.d.

External links

• "A Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism"—a series of articles by David J. Engelsma from the Standard Bearer (April 1, 1995 through December 15, 1996). Retrieved December 5, 2007.
• [http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/Eschatology/Amillennialism/ various articles on Amillennialism—from Monergism. Retrieved December 5, 2007.
• various articles on Amillennialism—Grace Online Library. Retrieved December 5, 2007.
• "Millennium and Millenarianism" – from the Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 5, 2007.
• a dispensational premillennialism perspective—Blue Letter Bible summary. Retrieved December 5, 2007.
• On The Thousand Year Reign (Chiliasm) Elder Cleopa of Romania—Eastern Orthodox view. Retrieved December 5, 2007.
• "Millennium"—from Christian Cyclopedia (Lutheran perspective). Retrieved December 5, 2007.
• "Millennium"—by Nathan J. Engel (Lutheran perspective). Retrieved December 5, 2007.

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