Amillennialism
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Amillennialism (from the Latin prefix a meaning "no," mille meaning "thousand," and annum meaning "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, chapter 20. 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 AD 70); 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 judgement and establish permanent physical reign.
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[edit] 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 the different names has been limited.[1] Some hold that the prefix "a-" in fact means "not" rather than "in."[citation needed]
[edit] Teaching
Amillennialism teaches that the Kingdom of God will not be physically established on earth throughout the "millennium", but rather
- that Christ is presently reigning from heaven, seated at the right hand of God the Father,
- that Christ also is and will remain with the Christian church until the end of the world, as he promised at the Ascension,
- that at Pentecost, the millennium began, as is shown by Peter using the prophecies of Joel, about the coming of the kingdom, to explain what was happening,
- and that, therefore the Christian church and its spread of the good news is Christ's kingdom.
Amillennialists cite scripture references to the kingdom not being a physical realm: Matthew 12:28, where Jesus cites his driving out of demons as evidence that the kingdom of God had come upon them; Luke 17:20-21, where Jesus warns that the coming of the kingdom of God can not be observed, and that it is among them; and Romans 14:17, where Paul speaks of the kingdom of God being in terms of the Christians' actions.
In particular, they regard the thousand years references as a figurative expression of Christ's reign being perfectly completed, as 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 is most often associated with Idealism as both teach a symbolic interpretation of many of the prophecies of the Bible and especially the Book of Revelation.
Amillennialism also teaches that the binding of Satan in Revelation has already occurred; he has been prevented from "deceiving the nations" by preventing the spread of the gospel. This is the only binding he will suffer in history: the forces of Satan will not be gradually pushed back by the Kingdom of God as history progresses but will remain just as active as always up until the second coming of Christ, and therefore good and evil will remain mixed in strength throughout history. This has led some Postmillennialists to accuse Amillennialists (and Premillennialists) of being "pessimillennialists". Amillennialists have countered that the parable of the wheat and tares 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.
[edit] Proponents
Amillennialism was taught mainly by St. Augustine in the fourth century and was a widely held view among Christians throughout Church history. Origen's idealizing tendency to consider the spiritual alone as real, fundamental to his entire system, led him to combat the "rude"[1] or "crude"[2] Chiliasm (see Christian eschatology) of a sensual beyond. Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius of Caesarea have expressed amillennialist views as well. Justin Martyr had chiliastic tendencies in his theology[2], but in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, in Chapter 80, he put in his own mouth, "I admitted to you formerly, that I and many others are of this opinion, 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."[3] Amillennialism has been widely held in the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as in the Roman Catholic Church; while it has not been officially defined, the Holy Office has said that premillennialism is not safe to teach[4]. Amillennialism is also often associated with more conservative Protestants such as those in the Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican churches. Many, but not all, Partial Preterists are Amillennialists. Protestant Amillennialists (and Idealists) have from time to time been accused of over spiritualizing parts of the Bible and have been seen by some who take a literal view of much of the Bible as being too "liberal."
Amillennialism stands in contrast to postmillennialism and premillennialism in that some from the former see the "millennium" as literal and others do not, but in the latter almost all see the "millennium" as literal.
[edit] References
- ^ The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol.8, p. 273
- ^ The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1997) article "Chiliasm", The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart (Johann Amos Comenius, ed. 1998) p. 42 and Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways, A.D. 70 to 135 (James D. G. Dunn, 1999) p. 52.
- Catholic Answers on "The Rapture"
- Currie, David B., Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, ISBN 0-89870-569-X
[edit] See also
- Premillennialism
- Postmillennialism
- Preterism
- Summary of Christian eschatological differences
- Christian eschatology
- Christian theology
- Covenant theology
- Dispensationalism
[edit] 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)
- Monergism's articles on Amillennialism
- Grace Online Library: Amillennialism - various articles on Amillennialism
- "Millennium and Millenarianism" from the Catholic Encyclopedia
- Blue Letter Bible summary (dispensational premillennialism perspective)
