This is part 17 of the Early Church History class.
Throughout the first five hundred years of Christian history, a significant shift occurred in what we believed about our ultimate destiny. The New Testament and the early church fathers repeatedly expressed belief in God’s kingdom coming to earth. Over time, however, this idea gave way to the more recognizable medieval dichotomy of heaven or hell immediately at death. In this episode you’ll learn who the major players were on both sides of this struggle as well as the main reasons why Christianity ultimately rejected the kingdom.
Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
—— Links ——
- Check out our entire class on the Kingdom of God available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. This class includes the four original lectures on which this single one was based.
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- Who is Sean Finnegan? Read his bio here
—— Notes ——
The Kingdom of God is the idea that the Messiah Jesus will come back to earth, resurrect the saved, and initiate an age of restoration, eventually making everything wrong with the world right. We find robust belief in this idea in the New Testament; however, by the Middle Ages, heaven or hell at death had entirely replaced the Kingdom idea.
Kingdom Believers
- First Century
- Didache 8.2; 9.4; 10.5; 16.7-8
- Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 42.3; 50.3
- Psuedo-Barnabas, Epistle of Barnabas 1.7; 6.13; 10.11; 15.4-5
- Second Century
- Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians 16.1
- Polycarp of Smyrna, Epistle to the Philippians 5.2; 11.2
- Hermas, Similitude 9.15.2-3; 9.20.2-3
- Pseudo-Clement; 2 Clement 5.5; 9.6; 11.7; 12.1, 6; 17.4-5
- Papias of Hierapolis, cited in Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.33.3-4; see also Jerome, Lives of Illustrious Men 18
- Justine Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 80
- Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 5.32-5.36
- Third Century
- Hippolytus, On Genesis Fragment 3; On Daniel 2.4; Scholia of Daniel 7.22; Treatise on Christ and Antichrist 65
- Commodian, Instructions 29; 33; 34; 35; 44
- Nepos of Egypt, cited in Eusebius, The Church History 7.24.1
- Victorinus, Commentary on Revelation 1.5, 15; 14.15; 20.2, 5, 6 (Greek version[1]); On the Creation of the World 5
- Fourth Century
- Lactantius, Divine Institutes 4.12; 5.24
- Fifth Century
- Augustine, Sermon 259.2
- Jerome, Commentary to Isaiah 18. Prologue
Kingdom Deniers
- Too crude
- Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on Song of Songs Prologue
- Eusebius of Caesarea, The Church History 3.39
- Too hedonic
- Dionysius of Alexandria, cited in Eusebius, The Church History 7.25
- Jerome, Commentary to Isaiah 18. Prologue
- Augustine, City of God 20.7
- Too Jewish
- Origen of Alexandria, On First Principles 2.11.2
- Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on Isaiah 2.1-4
- Jerome, Commentary to Isaiah 11.15-16
Review
- From the first to the fifth centuries, many important authors spoke about their belief in the coming Kingdom of God on earth.
- They conceived of the Kingdom as a new age we enter at the coming of Christ.
- Early on, going to heaven was considered a serious heresy.
- Over time, a relatively small number of influential Christians began arguing against the Kingdom.
- They considered living on a mutable earth forever in physical bodies to be too crude and out of touch with their cosmology.
- They criticized believers in the Kingdom for seeking bodily pleasures like eating fine food, drinking alcohol, and having intercourse.
- They rejected the literal interpretation of Kingdom prophecies found throughout scripture as a Jewish way to understand.
- Although Augustine had believed in the Kingdom at one point, his ultimate rejection of it in favor of heaven-at-death settled the matter for the Roman Catholic Church of the Middle Ages.
[1] Jerome changed Victorinus’ book in his Latin translation. The Greek version is online at http://www.bombaxo.com/victorinus-in-apocalypsin/
Hi Sean, very cool episode.
It has been my experience that either heaven being the goal is just assumed but not explicitly taught, or that the Kingdom *is* taught by those who are more knowledgeable (usually included in the concept of the new heaven and earth). I don’t think I’ve personally come across anyone in a teaching position who would explicitly promote *only* the idea of a spiritual heaven which you describe. I think this may be a newfound belief in the church though, or perhaps I’m just lucky? In your experience, how is the doctrine of the Kingdom faring nowadays? I understand it was pretty much a nonexistent belief for many many centuries, but it is my personal experience that the tide has already turned, even to the point where barely any informed Christian would still deny it (ie the Kingdom). I should say I’ve never asked any Orthodox or Catholics about it though. Understandably they may have their own reasons (the church says so) to hang on to the idea of just heaven after death, but as for the other denominations, I’m feeling quite positive.
I’m also looking forward to your episode on the holy spirit!
God bless, Mark