Parousia #50

Parousia comes from a verb meaning “to be present,” and can mean either presence or arrival. In the New Testament it is used ordinarily, of people arriving or being present, and also as the standard term for the future coming of Christ. Theology uses “the Parousia” as a name for the return of Christ.

Biblical Usage

The ordinary sense is seen when Paul rejoices at the “coming” of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus (1 Corinthians 16:17), and when he says that his “bodily presence” is weak compared to his letters (2 Corinthians 10:10). The word is often noted in the Greek world for the visit of a ruler or official, which may lie behind its use for the Lord.

For Christ, the disciples ask Jesus about the sign of his “coming” and of the end of the age (Matthew 24:3). Paul writes to the Thessalonians about those who remain “unto the coming of the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:15), and speaks in 1 Corinthians 15:23 of Christ as the firstfruits and then those who belong to him “at his coming.” James urges patience until the coming of the Lord (James 5:7-8), and 2 Peter 3:4 records scoffers who ask where the promise of his coming is. Second Thessalonians 2:8 uses the same word for the “coming” of the lawless one, which Christ will destroy with the brightness of his own.

Theological Significance

Nearly all Christian traditions confess that Christ will return, but they differ over the timing, the sequence of events, and how literally to read Matthew 24 and related passages. Premillennial views place the coming before a thousand-year reign, postmillennial and amillennial views place it after or apart from it, and some interpreters hold that parts of Matthew 24 refer to events already past. Whether Paul describes one return or a two-stage event, and whether the Greek has the special meaning of “royal arrival” or simply “presence,” is also debated. The teaching functions across the New Testament as a motive for patience, holiness, and hope.