8/12/2019 1992 Issue 5 - Cross-Examination: Objections to Postmillenialism Part 2 - Counsel of Chalcedon

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Each

month the Cross-Examination

column presents a summary statement

of a Refonned and

Reconstructionist

conviction in theology or ethics, and

then offers brief

answers

to common

questions,objectionsorconfusionswhich

people have about that belief. Send

issues or questions you would like ad

dressed by Dr.

Bahnsen

to the editor.

We Believe

As we saw

in our

last study,

postrnillennialists believe that Jesus es

tablished the kingdom ofGod on earth

during

His

first advent. God

has

highly

exalted

Him toHis

right

hand

to

be

aPri1lCe

and avior that He might J j.ve

repenta1lCe

andforgiveness

of

sins (Acts 5:31).

He

is

now the only Potentate, the King

of

kings

and the

Lord

of

lords

l Timothy 6:15).

He must reign until all opposition

is

defeated, and then Hewilldeliver up the

kingdom to the Father - at

His

second

coming, which is the end ofhistory

l

Corinthians

15

:24-25).

Evangelicalpostmillennialistsholdthat

itwill

be

the preaching ofthe gospel and

the powerful work of the Holy Spirit

in

regeneratingandsanctifyingsinners)that

produces the visible success of Christ's

kingdom in history. They also

believe

that

toward the

end of

history there

will

be a final

apostasy

- a falling away from

enjoyingtheblessedconditionofsuccess

forthe Great Commission. Satan,

whose

deceptive

activity had

previously

been

restricted (or bound ), will

be

loosed

again fora brtefperiodin ordertodeceive

the

nations and

make

them

rebel against

the Lord (Revelation 20: 7-9)

--at

which

point Christ will return from heaven in

Ilaming

fire

and

eternal

judgment

w.

9-15; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).

Postmillennialists

believe, then, in the

glorious, personal return

oUesus Christ

at

the

end of

history

to

raise the dead,

judge the world, consummate the king

dom,

and btingin

the

eternal

state of the

new creation (Revelation 20-22).

Examination

Question I have been told that

postrnillennialism does not

affirm

the

present

reality

ofthe kingdom

of

Christ,

that it

overlooks

the fact that the king

dom was

established yeats

ago at the first

advent. My teacher claimed that

postmillennialistsdo not, therefore,

hold

to realized or inaugurated eschatology

since they

see the kingdom as yet future

to Jesus and the Apostles.

THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon May, 1992

Answer Well, it should be very evi

dent from

what was

said

above

that this .

is

a

misrepresentation

of

the

facts. h is

e3Sjforactitictosetupastraw-manand

then

knock

it

down

.

But

honesty

re

quiresthatpostmillennialisnotbemade

into

such an artificial straw-man

for

the

charade of

refutation.

Thisiswhatctitics

do

when

they

mistakenly and mislead

ingly

claim that

postmillennialism fails

to maintain the presently established

character of ChriSt's kingdom.

William Symington, the .

nineteenth-century

Scottish theologian,

was awell known postrnillennialist,and .

in his

famous book, Messiah

the

Pri1lCe,

or, the Mediatorial Dominion ofJesus

Christ

(1884),

he wrote : Christ's ap

pointment [to the kingly officel was still

farther intimated by his actual

investi

ture

with

regal

power at and

after

his

resurrection. This

might be

called

the

inaugurationso1emnityofthemediatorial

King ... This appointment affords ample

security for the overthrow ofall Christ's

enemies,

and the ultimate establishment

of his kingdom hl the world. This

postmillennialist clearly

held

to

a

real

ized eschatology of the kingdom.

So did his

fellow

.Scottish theologian,

David Brown,

who

is

another of the

est

known postmillennial

writets from last

century.

Usten

to

his

straightforward

declaration

of realized

eschatology in he

book, Olrist's Second

Coming: wm It Be

Premillennia1? (1882): Christ's proper

kingdom is

already

in being; commenc

ing fonnally onHis ascension to the right

hatldofGod,andcontinuingunchanged,

both in

character

atld fonn,

till the

final

judgment. · For Brown and other

postmi11ennialists,Christ's kingdom was

not

wholly

future during the

days of the

New

Testament,but rather Christat that

point entered into the rule of

His

king-

dom

over

earth

Theallegation

that

onlyamillennialism

holds

to

the already establishednature of

Christ's kingdom is pure propaganda

without historical warrant .

8/12/2019 1992 Issue 5 - Cross-Examination: Objections to Postmillenialism Part 2 - Counsel of Chalcedon

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/1992-issue-5-cross-examination-objections-to-postmillenialism-part-2-counsel 2/2

Question

But how can

postmillennialists believe

tha

l there is

going to be a final

apostasy, given

the

powerful working of

the

kingdom dur

ingthe pertodbetweenthe

two

advents?

Obviously the Bible teaches that

Christ

will return

to

arebellious world in need

of judgment. So how can post

millennialism be

true?

Answer Well, it may be difficult

for

the cdtic to understand why or how

therewillbefallingawayfromtheblessed

conditions of a pervasively convened

world,

but that imellectualoremotional

difficulty does not

entail

--

much less substamiate

are to become

true

Christians.

In many

cases the

conversion

may be merely

nominal.

There will probably enough

remain unchanged in hean

to be

the

germ of that persecuting power which

shall bring about

those

days of tribula

tion which the Bible seems to teach

are

to immediately precede the coming of

the Lord" (Systematic Theology, vol.

3,

p.812).

Question It seems that some

postmillennialists

interpret the Bible as

saying that "the newheavens and

earth"

refers

to

the kingdom of God prior to

return of Christ at the end of history

(Revelation 21

:1££.).

The same kind of

thing couldbe saidabout the"kingdom"

ofChrisL Ithasalreadybeenestablished

(inthe past),and yet the NewTestamem

also speaks of

it

to come in the

future.

Question

Some charge

postmillennialism

with being a

form

of

theological

liberalism by

alleging

that it

denies the personal second coming of

Jesus Christ.

Answer Men like

Charles

Hodge and

- that

postmi\lennialists

actually deny such a final

apOstasy.

(Many

things

in the

Bible

are believed,

after

all, even though

not

fully

undeJStood

.)

n

fact, only

postmillennialism can

make sense out of the

claim that there

will

be a

final apostasy. On

the

pessimistic outlook of

amillennialism and

premillennialism, there

willbeno

visible

orwide

spread advance

for

the

church -- no noteworthy

success for

the gospel in

the Biblical concept o

new

heavens

and earth is not exclusively

present

nor

exclusively future.

The

new creation

has already

been

inaugurated

(Isaiah

65:17·25,

where

death still transpires; Cor

B B.

Warfield were certainly not theo

logical

liberals he

fact

is

that Biblical post

millennialism does not at all

repudiate the second com

ing. It is our blessed hope

(TItus 2:13). When we get

our facts straight about who

believes what

--

and when

we clearly distinguish

be

tween

differing

schools of

thought - there is no justifi

cation for critics trying to

impute guilt by association

to postmillennialism.

5:17,

where being in Christ means

there

is

new creation.)

Yet this

new creation

will

not be

fully

developed, consummated and

glorified

until the

return

of

Christ

at the end of history.

the world -- from

which

to "fall" away.

The wickedness of the end of human

histOlY is simply a continuat

ion

of the

downward trend throughouthistory.

Postmillennialists

does not hold that

each and

every

person on earth will

be

saved at some time

in

the

future.

There

will

always

be tares in the wheat

field

of

Christ's

kingdom,

right up untilthe time

of the harvest --

the final

judgmem

(Matthew 13:24-30,36-43). So

Charles

Hodge wrote that it should not be in

ferred fromthe Biblicalpromise ofwide

spread Gentile and Jewish

conversion

that either

all

the heathen or all

the

Jews

Christ's return. So don't they deny the

second

comingand the consummation?

Answer No,

for

they

would

also say

that the Bible speaks of he new heavens

and eanh in erms of the consummation

order after Christ

returns.

That is, the

Biblical

concept

of

a new

heavens

and

earth is not exclUsively present nor ex

elUSively future. The new

creation

has

already been inaugurated (Isaiah

65:17-25,

wheredeathstiU transpires;

2

Corinthians 5: 17, where being

in Christ

means

there

is anew

creation).

Yet

this

newcreationwillnot befully

developed,

consummated and

glorified

until the

Further Investigation

At

themostrecentnational

meeting of the

Evangelical

Theological Society, Dr.

Bahnsen offered a lecture on

thevisiblesuccess of Christ's

kingdom between the two advents.

You can get a tape of this helpful pre

sentation from Covenant Tape Minis

try,

24198

Ash

Coun, Auburn, CA

95603.

Send $6.

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letter

from

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Center for

Christian Studies,

where

Dr. Bahnsen

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C 92713 You can also request

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gram, and

tutoring.

May, 1992

l

TIlE COUNSEL

of

Cbalcedon

l

S