(Full) Preterism
AKA – Realized Eschatology, Consistent Preterism, Covenant Eschatology
The view that all Biblical prophecy was fulfilled at or before AD70, and that the ongoing relevance and practical application of all Scripture continues since that time, and that the primary function of the Church is to bring healing to all nations, continually bearing good fruit as Revelation 21-22 states. While traditional variations of eschatology throughout the history of the church have generally maintained a future hope in some final coming of Jesus, Full Preterists believe that this is the most neglected doctrine of church history and that a new reformation is needed to clarify and set strait the thousands of variations that have and do exist on this issue. The primary reason for the lack of historical writings on this topic, and the multitudinal differences that exist on this topic, are primarily due to improper hermaneutics, exegesis, and many of our church fathers having a scewed interpretation of “last things” clouded by cultural influences, or the lack of historical reference to properly understand many of the eschatological passages dealing with the Lord’s Second Coming. There are three primary views within the Full Preterist framework concerning gifts:
1. ”Charismatic Preterism” (defined in the menu of Preterism definitions).
2. The more traditional Full Preterist view concerning charismatic gifts maintains the full activity of Spiritual gifts beyond AD70 with the exception of those specifically mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13 and Daniel 9 (the charismatic sign gifts). Traditional Full Preterism does not deny modern miracles, healings, or gifts of the Spirit, but it does recognize the uniqueness of the sign gifts present in the Apostolic ministry of the first century. Charismatic, by definition, is simply the empowerment or filling of God’s Spirit in His people, however, application has been traditionally given to the “sign gifts” as the primary meaning of “charismatic gifts.” Thus, traditional Full Preterists are not “charismatic” by defnition, while “charismatic full preterists” are (see “Charismatic Preterism” for additional clarity on this view).
3. Cessationism is a view espoused by many Full Preterists where the view holds that all Spiritual gifts have ceased and that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit was only a guarantee of the true presence of God with us. This view primarily sees the Holy Spirit as the presence of God with His Apostles so that they would not remain as orphans when Jesus left, and that He would only remain with them in this manner until the time of the Coming of the Lord. At this time Jesus promised his disciples that He would return to them and that they would be in Him, He would be in them, and they would all be in the Father, and thus, the empowerment of the Holy Spirit giving them special abilities to perform signs, miracles, etc., was only necessary during the time that Jesus was not with them or dwelling in their midst. Beyond AD70 it is argued that Jesus fully dwells with us, and that the purpose and time of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled and completed, and that Christians beyond this period see God fully, lacking nothing, nor needing special powers to prove His presence with us.
Full Preterism also differs from Partial Preterism in that Full Preterists believe that all eschatology or “end times” events were fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70, including the resurrection of the dead and Jesus’ Second Coming or Parousia. Full Preterism is also known by several other names: Preterism (because the term itself means “past”), Consistent Preterism, True Preterism, Hyper-Preterism (a perjorative term used by opponents of Preterists), and Pantelism. The term “Pantelism” comes from two Greek roots: παν (pan), “everything”, and τελ- (tel-), referring to completion–another attempted perjorative label that never caught on, and typically applies to those full preterists who have adopted a form of universalism.
Full Preterism holds that Jesus’ Second Coming is to be viewed not as a future bodily return, but rather a literal ”return” in glory manifested by the physical destruction of Jerusalem and her Temple in A.D. 70 by foreign armies and in a manner similar to various Old Testament descriptions of God coming to destroy other nations in righteous judgment (as in Isaiah 19). Full Preterism also holds that the Resurrection of the Dead did not entail the raising of the physical body, but rather the resurrection consists of primarily two possibilities:
1. The Individual Body at Death View (IBD): The raising up of the soul from the “place of the dead”, known as Sheol (Hebrew) or Hades (Greek) and that both the living and the dead were raised, changed, caught away and glorified together into one/corporate matured New Covenant Body of Christ. Some versions within Full Preterism teach that the righteous dead obtained an individual spiritual and substantial body for use in the heavenly realm, and the unrighteous dead were cast into the Lake of Fire, or were destroyed. Some Full Preterists believe that this judgment is ongoing and that it takes effect upon the death of each individual (Heb. 9:27), and others also believe that the resurrection of individual believers beyond AD70 takes place for each person when they die.
2. The Corporate or Collective Body View (CBV): The raising up of “the dead” ones, speaks of Israel (who was divorced and dead to God, but would be regathered and raised up from her dead status before God). The resurrection is the collective regathering of God’s people, Israel, and is the establishment of God’s promises made to Old Covenant Israelk which would include gentiles from all nations in the New Covenant. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul quotes Isaiah 25 and Hosea 13 which speaks of God’s promise to one day cause His people to once again return to the “land of the living.” This resurrection is also the promised regathering spoken of in Daniel 12 and Ezekiel 37 (the “dry bones”). The regathering period would also include the gentile nations, thus, the resurrection is the corporate gathering of Jews from Israel and Judah, and the rest of all nations into one “body of Christ” for all who enter into the New Covenant relationship with God. This view holds that the “Church” or “body of Christ” was established during the Great Commission period prior to AD70, and that after the Coming of Jesus in AD70, all believers who enter into a relationship with Him take part in and become members of that corporate body as children of God and are instantly raised to life as a new creation.
Other Full Preterists believe that because the Book of Revelation was signified (or “symbolized”, according to its first verse, Revelation 1:1), the Lake of Fire was only A.D. 70′s Gehenna (Jerusalem’s garbage dump, not Hell) as it burned. Moreover, this burning was just aionios (pertaining to an age), and not eternal. The hermeneutic of audience relevance confines this judgment and punishment to the 1st century AD, and thus, many full preterist adherents do not believe that the “judgment” refers to all mankind forevermore, but applies only to the First Century audience to whom it was written. Other Full Preterists believe that the judgment begins with Israel, but continues through the statements made in Revelation 21-22 where people outside the gates of the city (the Church) continue being thrown into the Lake of Fire forever, within the New Heavens and Earth (the New Covenant Age).
The New Heaven and the New Earth are also equated with the New Covenant and the Fulfillment of the Law in A.D. 70 and are to be viewed in the same manner by which a Christian is considered a “new creation” upon his or her conversion. Full Preterists point to Old Testament usages of the language “Heaven and Earth” (such as Isaiah 1) and show that the New Testament writers were simply using known hermeneutical interpretations, or known language of their day to explain the passing of the Old Covenant and the establishment of the New Covanent (see Hebrews 7-8).
Full Preterists typically reject the authority of the Creeds to condemn their view, stating that the Creeds were written by uninspired and fallible men, and that appeals should be made instead to the Scriptures themselves (sola scriptura). While Full Preterists do not reject “all” creedal statements, they do give creedal tradition the same authority as the Westminster Confession of Faith gives; sola scriptura (Scripture Alone). Thus, even though many Full Preterists would agree with many of the creeds throughout church history in a multitude of areas, one they would not generally agree with is on eschatology. This is one area where no Church or Christian Council has ever officially met or addressed a formal position.
