Thomas Ice - Myths of the Origin of Pretribulationism Pt. 1.pdf - Thomas Ice - WMatrixie

M ARCH , 2001

M YTHS OF THE O RIGIN OF P RETRIBULATIONISM

Part I

Thomas Ice

A history of the rapture is of necessity a history of pretribulationism,

since most other views do not distinguish between the two phases of

Christ's return—the rapture and second advent. The partial rapture and

midtribulationism have been developed only within the past 100 years.

T HE P OST A POSTOLIC C HURCH

That the earliest documents (in addition to the New Testament canon) of

the ancient church reflect a clear premillennialism is generally conceded,

but great controversy surrounds their understanding of the rapture in

relation to the tribulation. Pretribulationists point to the early church's

clear belief in imminency and a few passages from a couple of documents

as evidence that pretribulationism was held by at least a few from the

earliest times.

As was typical of every area of the early church's theology, their views

of prophecy were undeveloped and sometimes contradictory, containing a

seedbed out of which could develop various and diverse theological

viewpoints. While it is hard to find clear pretribulationism spelled out by

the early church fathers, there are also found clear pre-trib elements which,

if systematized with their other prophetic views, contradict

posttribulationism but support pretribulationism.

Since imminency is considered to be a crucial feature of

pretribulationism by scholars such as John Walvoord, 1 it is significant that

the Apostolic Fathers, though posttribulational, at the same time just as

clearly taught the pretribulational feature of imminence. 2 Since it was

common in the early church to hold contradictory positions without even

an awareness of inconsistency, it would not be surprising to learn that their

era supports both views. Larry Crutchfield notes, "This belief in the

imminent return of Christ within the context of ongoing persecution has

prompted us to broadly label the views of the earliest fathers, 'imminent

intratribulationism.'" 3

Expressions of imminency abound in the Apostolic Fathers. Clement of

Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, The Didache , The Epistle of Barnabas , and The

Shepherd of Hermas all speak of imminency. 4 Furthermore, The Shepherd of

Hermas speaks of the pretribulational concept of escaping the tribulation.

You have escaped from great tribulation on account of your faith,

and because you did not doubt in the presence of such a beast.

Go, therefore, and tell the elect of the Lord His mighty deeds, and

say to them that this beast is a type of the great tribulation that is

coming. If then ye prepare yourselves, and repent with all your

heart, and turn to the Lord, it will be possible for you to escape it,

1 John F. Walvoord, The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House,

1976), pp. 24-25.

2 Kurt Aland, A History of Christianity , Vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), pp. 87-93. Millard J.

Erickson, Contemporary Options in Eschatology (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1977), p. 112. J. Barton

Payne, The Imminent Appearing of Christ (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1962), pp. 12-

19.

3 Larry V. Crutchfield, "The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation in the Apostolic Fathers" in Thomas Ice &

Timothy Demy, editors, When The Trumpet Sounds (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1995), p. 103.

4 Crutchfield, "The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation in the Apostolic Fathers", pp. 88-101.

if your heart be pure and spotless, and ye spend the rest of the

days of your life in serving the Lord blamelessly. 5

Evidence of pretribulationism surfaces during the early medieval period

in a sermon some attribute to Ephraem the Syrian entitled Sermon on The

Last Times, The Antichrist, and The End of the World . 6 The sermon was

written sometime between the fourth and sixth century. The rapture

statement reads as follows:

Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and

prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he

may draw us from the confusion, which overwhelms all the

world? . . . For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to

the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they

see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our

sins.

This statement evidences a clear belief that all Christians will escape the

tribulation through a gathering to the Lord. How else can this be

understood other than as pretribulational? The later second coming of

Christ to the earth with the saints is mentioned at the end of the sermon.

T HE M EDIEVAL C HURCH

By the fifth century A . D ., the amillennialism of Origen and Augustine

had won the day in the established Church–East and West. It is probable

that there was always some forms of premillennialism throughout the

5 The Shepherd of Hermas 1.4.2.

6 For more information on this matter see Timothy J. Demy and Thomas D. Ice, "The Rapture and an Early

Medieval Citation," Bibliotheca Sacra (Vol. 152, No. 607; July-Sept. 1995), pp. 306-17.

Middle Ages, but it existed primarily underground. Dorothy deF.

Abrahamse notes:

By medieval times the belief in an imminent apocalypse had

officially been relegated to the role of symbolic theory by the

Church; as early as the fourth century, Augustine had declared

that the Revelation of John was to be interpreted symbolically

rather than literally, and for most of the Middle Ages Church

councils and theologians considered only abstract eschatology to

be acceptable speculation. Since the nineteenth century, however,

historians have recognized that literal apocalypses did continue to

circulate in the medieval world and that they played a fundamental

role in the creation of important strains of thought and legend

[emphasis added]. 7

It is believed that sects like the Albigenses, Lombards, and the Waldenses

were attracted to premillennialism, but little is known of the details of their

beliefs since the Roman Catholics destroyed their works when they were

found.

It must be noted at this point that it is extremely unlikely for the Middle

Ages to produce advocates of a pretrib rapture when the more

foundational belief of premillennialism is all but absent. Thus, the rapture

question is likewise absent. This continued until the time of the

Reformation, when many things within Christendom began to be

revolutionized.

7 Dorothy deF. Abrahamse, introduction to The Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition, by Paul J. Alexander

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), pp. 1-2.

T HE R EFORMATION C HURCH

Premillennialism began to be revived as a result of at least three factors.

First, the Reformers went back to the sources, which for them was the Bible

and Apostolic Fathers. This exposed them to an orthodox

premillennialism. Specifically significant was the reappearance of the full

text of Irenaeus' Against Heresies , which included the last five chapters that

espouse a consistent futurism and cast the 70th week of Daniel into the

future.

Second, they repudiated much, not all, of the allegorization that

dominated mediaeval hermeneutics by adopting a more literal approach,

especially in the area of the historical exegesis.

Third, many of the Protestants came into contact with Jews and learned

Hebrew. This raised concerns over whether passages that speak of

national Israel were to be taken historically or continued to be allegorized

within the tradition of the Middle Ages. The more the Reformers took

them as historical, the more they were awakened to premillennial

interpretations, in spite of the fact that they were often labeled "Judaizers."

By the late 1500's and the early 1600’s, premillennialism began to return

as a factor within the mainstream church after more than a 1,000 year reign

of amillennialism. With the flowering of biblical interpretation during the

late Reformation Period, premillennial interpreters began to abound

throughout Protestantism and so did the development of sub-issues like

the rapture.

It has been claimed that some separated the rapture from the second

coming as early as Joseph Mede in his seminal work Clavis Apocalyptica

(1627), who is considered the father of English premillennialism. Paul

Boyer says that Increase Mather proved "that the saints would 'be caught up

into the air ' beforehand, thereby escaping the final conflagration–an early

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