"And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power." [Mark 9:1]
This is repeated by Paul:
"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed; The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." [Romans 13:11-12]
"But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none." [1 Corinthians 7:29]
This page examines apologetic reasoning on the issue, and the mainstream academic opinion that these words were meant to be taken literally.
Their second argument is that Christ's warnings of imminent judgment refer to something different than final judgment:
"The way that most Christians today handle these types of verses is to stress that the Lord’s return is always imminent. However, there is a whole other school of Christian thought, which dates back to the earliest commentaries, known as preterism. This is the eschatological belief that most of the prophecies of Christ’s 'coming' in the New Testament actually refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. There is great Biblical support for such a position [known as "preterism"]..." [t2]
They then more to argue forcefully that Paul's writings also properly refer to the destruction of Jeruselem:
"An understanding of the "language of imminence" puts paid to any notion that Paul definitely thought that the resurrection would occur in his own lifetime; other references are properly understood as referring to events of 70 [CE]. Skeptics are without ground in their complaints." [t3]
In summary, Tektonics contend that the New Testament did not refer to an expected immediate end of days following the time of Christ.
Brian Rainey, writing on the Secular Web, explains:
"Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words has this cautionary statement at the very end of the entry for genea: ;The word genea is to be distinguished from aion, as not denoting a period of unlimited duration.' ... 'Genea: signifies...a race of people possessed of similar characteristics, pursuits, etc... or of a whole multitude of men living at the same time, Matthew 24:34; Mark 13:30; Luke 1:48; 21:32; 21:32 and especially those of the Jewish race living at the same period, Matt. 11:16, etc.'" [s2]
"N. Clayton Croy, in A Primer of Biblical Greek (Eerdmans, 1999) says: 'Biblical Greek, like English has a ‘near’ demonstrative houtos for something relatively close in time, space or thought, and a ‘far’ demonstrative, ekeinos for something relatively distant.' In Matthew 24:34, the ‘near’ demonstrative houtos is used. If in fact, Jesus had meant for a generation that was far in time, space, or thought, he would have used ekeinos." [s3]
Dr James Tebor of the University of North Carolina also states that this interpretation is accepted:
"There is absolutely clear evidence running through the New Testament documents that the early followers of Jesus (Nazarenes) were convinced that they were living very close to the end of the Age. They expected the "Parousia" (arrival) of the Messiah within the span of their generation. This apocalyptic hope was largely based on the preaching of Jesus himself that the "Kingdom of God was at hand," as well as a general understanding of the prophecies of the book of Daniel, especially chapters 9 and 11. It is only in some of the latest texts of the New Testament that this hope begins to wane (e.g., 2 Timothy 4:6-8; 2 Timothy 4:6-8)." [j1]
There are two main arguments against "preterism" - the idea that Jesus's statements on the Day of Judgment refer to the destruction of Jeruselem. First, is that the Gospels are commonly held to have been written after 70 AD [j2]. More importantly, however, the idea just does not address some of the clear language of the New Testament:
"Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled; Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe [Noah] were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."
[Matthew 24:34-37]
The Christian author C.S. Lewis wrote of this in his essay "The World's Last Night":
"It is certainly the most embarassing verse in the Bible." [pc]
As a final point, it is amusing to note that these criticisms were levelled at Christianity by the third century neoplatonist Porphyry in his Against the Christians:
"As the mission progressed with its apocalyptic teaching persistently an issue in debates with itinerant Jewish teachers, the churches developed a variety of strategies for dealing with the delay:
the gentiles would be converted before the last days (Mark 13:10)
the power of pagan Rome and of the emperor would decline before God's son could be revealed in glory (Romans 16:20, Thess 2:2-10)
Jesus himself had professed ignorance about the time of this coming (Mark13:32), or had refused to speculate about the signs of the last days (Mark 8:11-12)
the kingdom of God was already working 'secretly'and was being progressively realized through the success of the Christian mission (Luke 12:49-56; 17:22-37; Matthew 38-42).
It is best to regard these rationales as defensive and experimental. Jewish apocalyptic tradition itself had been mystically vague, studiously mysterious with respect both to the 'timing' of the apocalyptic events and to the identity of the son of man." [po]
Moreover, this issue has some further interesting implications. Apologetics cite the supposed lack of belief of early Christians for an imminent Day of the Lord as the basis of their argument that the traditions of "Jesus", c. 30 CE, would have been accurately recorded [t4] to the time that the Gospels were written a generation later , c.70-90 CE [j2].
The alternative view would be that early Christianity would have found itself, like the Qumran sect, more confused and disappointed as each year passed without a "second coming". Later Christian apologetics have ever extended the expected day of the Lord, - which is still almost always regarded as being "imminent".
