In the last issue of this article, the idea of Paul’s understanding of the second coming of Christ was raised. It seems from his letter to the Thessalonians that indeed he anticipated the Lord’s return before his death. Paul makes a similar distinction in 1 Corinthians 15: 51-52: Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed,” followed by language about the last trumpet and the raising of the dead. Other passages in Paul and the New Testament (NT) indicate that many early Christians expected the second coming during their lifetime. The author of Revelation says seven times that the time is near. That many early Christians expected this is one of the consensus conclusions of modern scholarship.

Seeing the text in this way, one has to conclude that it is in an important sense wrong. Paul expected the second coming soon, and it didn’t happen. How central this expectation was for Paul is a different question. Paul’s passion was for personal transformation, not preparation for the final judgment. The fact that Paul was wrong about the nearness of the second coming does not invalidate his thought as a whole. Nevertheless, the conclusion of most modern mainstream scholars is that Paul and many early Christians thought Jesus would return soon to complete what he had begun. This conviction is a tribute to Jesus. Through Him, the early Christians had experienced a new world being born: the old had passed away and a new creation was beginning. Surely its culmination was near. Within this framework, the conviction is the product of enthusiasm and confidence.

This first document in a chronological NT raises the central question of biblical interpretation that divides Christianity today. How are its documents to be understood? As coming from God in a sufficiently direct way as to have a divine guarantee to be true? If so, whatever they say is true or will someday be true.

Or do they tell us what formative figures in early Christianity said in their time and place? The question is about the divine or human origin of the Bible. If it is inerrant because of its direct origin in God, then it cannot be wrong; what Paul wrote about the second coming of Jesus will happen someday. But if it is the product of our spiritual ancestors, it tells us what they thought. It is not inerrant divine information to be integrated into a theological system, but expresses their understanding, conviction and testimony.

We must understand, however, that all of the writings of the NT are inspired – that is that the people who wrote them wanted to share with others their belief that God actually came into the world as the person Jesus in order that He might reveal to us how we are to live if we desire to have the fullness of life.