ESCHATOLOGY
eternal
life
which
characterizes
membership
in
the
Kingdom.
Nothing
but
a
highly
subjective
criticism
can
eliminate
from
His
teaching
this
eschatological
element,
which
appears
as
strongly
in
the
Fourth
Gospel
as
in
the
Synoptic
writings,
and
furnishes
material
for
the
appeal
of
His
Apostles.
It
should
be
added,
how-ever,
that
the
eschatology
of
Jesus,
once
it
is
viewed
from
His
own
point
of
view,
carries
with
it
no
crude
theory
of
rewards
and
punishments,
but
rather
serves
as
a
vehicle
for
expressing
His
fundamental
moral
and
religious
concepts.
To
all
intents
and
purposes
it
is
in
form
and
vocabulary
hke
that
of
current
Judaism.
It
includes
the
two
ages,
the
non-physical
resurrection
of
the
dead,
the
Judgment
with
its
sentences,
and
the
establishment
of
eternal
states.
(6)
In
the
teaching
of
primitive
Christians
eschatology
Is
a
ruling
concept,
and
Is
thoroughly
embedded
in
the
Messianic
evangel.
Our
lack
of
literary
sources,
however,
forbids
any
detailed
presentation
of
the
content
of
their
expectation
beyond
a
reference
to
the
central
position
given
to
the
coming
day
of
the
Christ's
Judg-ment.
(c)
Eschatology
was
also
a
controlling
element
in
the
teaching
of
St.
Paul.
Under
its
Influence
the
Apostle
held
himself
aloof
from
social
reform
and
revolution.
In
his
opinion
Christians
were
living
in
the
'last
days'
of
the
present
evil
age.
The
Christ
was
soon
to
appear
to
establish
His
Judgment,
and
to
usher
in
the
new
period
when
the
wicked
were
to
suffer
and
the
righteous
were
to
share
in
the
joys
of
the
resurrection
and
the
Messianic
Kingdom.
Eschatology
alone
forms
the
proper
point
of
approach
to
the
Pauline
doctrines
of
justification
and
salvation,
as
weU
as
his
teachings
as
to
the
resurrection.
But
here
again
eschatology,
though
a
controlling
factor
in
the
Apostle's
thought,
was,
as
in
the
case
of
Jesus,
a
medium
for
the
exposition
of
a
genuine
spiritual
life,
which
did
not
rise
and
fall
with
any
par-ticular
forecast
as
to
the
future.
The
elements
of
the
PauUne
eschatology
are
those
of
Judaism,
but
corrected
and
to
a
considerable
extent
given
distinctiveness
by
his
knowledge
of
the
resurrection
of
Jesus.
He
gives
no
apocalyptic
description
of
the
coming
age
beyond
his
teaching
as
to
the
body
of
the
resurrection,
which
is
doubtless
based
upon
his
belief
as
to
that
of
the
risen
Jesus.
His
description
of
the
Judgment
is
couched
in
the
conventional
language
of
Pharisaic
eschatology;
but,
basing
his
teaching
upon
'the
word
of
the
Lord'
(1
'Th
4'5),
he
develops
the
doctrine
that
the
Judgment
extends
both
over
the
living,
who
are
to
be
caught
up
into
the
air,
and
also
over
the
dead.
His
teaching
is
lacking
in
the
specific
elements
of
the
apocalypses,
and
there
is
no
reference
to
the
establishment
of
a
millen-nium.
Opinions
differ
as
to
whether
St.
Paul
held
that
the
believer
received
the
resurrection
body
at
death
or
at
the
Parousia
of
Christ.
On
the
whole
the
former
view
seems
possibly
more
in
accord
with
his
general
position
as
to
the
work
of
the
Spirit
in
the
believer.
The
appearance
(.Parousia)
of
the
Christ
to
inaugurate
the
new
era
St.
Paul
believed
to
be
close
at
hand
(1
Th
41S.
"),
but
that
it
would
be
preceded
by
the
appearance
of
an
Antichrist
(2
Th
2").
The
doctrine
of
the
Antichrist,
however,
does
not
play
any
large
r61e
in
Paulinism.
While
St.
Paul's
point
of
view
is
eschato-logical,
his
fundamental
thought
is
really
the
new
life
of
the
believer,
through
the
Spirit,
which
is
made
possible
by
the
acceptance
of
Jesus
as
the
Christ.
With
St.
Paul,
as
with
Jesus,
this
new
life
with
its
God-like
love
and
its
certainty
of
still
larger
self-reaUzation
through
the
resurrection
is
the
supreme
good.
(d)
The
tendencies
of
later
canonical
thought
are
obviously
eschatological.
The
Johannine
Apocalypse
discloses
a
complete
eschatological
programme.
In
the
latter
work
we
see
all
the
elements
of
Jewish
apoca-lyptic
eschatology
utilized
in
the
interest
of
Christian
faith.
The
two
ages,
the
Judgment
and
the
Resurrec-tion,
and
the
final
conquest
of
God
are
distinctively
ESDRAELON
described,
and
the
programlne
of
the
future
is
elaborated
by
the
addition
of
the
promise
of
a
first
resurrection
of
the
saints;
by
a
millennium
(probably
derived
from
Judaism;
cf.
Slav.
Enoch
32.
33)
in
which
Satan
is
bound;
by
a
great
period
of
conflict
in
which
Satan
and
his
hosts
are
finally
defeated
and
cast
into
the
lake
of
fire;
and
by
a
general
resurrection
including
the
wicked
for
the
purpose
of
judgment.
It
is
not
clear
that
in
this
general
resurrection
there
is
intended
anything
more
than
the
summoning
of
souls
from
Sheol,
for
a
distinction
should
probably
be
made
between
the
resurrection
and
the
giving
of
the
body
of
the
resurrection.
This
resurrection
of
the
wicked
seems
inconsistent
with
the
general
doctrine
of
the
Pauline
literature
(cf.
1
Co
15),
but
appears
in
St.
Paul's
address
before
Felix
(Ac
24"),
and
in
a
single
Johannine
formula
(Jn
5^').
The
doctrine
of
the
'sleep
of
the
dead'
finds
no
justification
in
the
Apocalypse
or
the
NT
as
a
whole.
4
.
Eschatology
and
Modem
Theology
.—The
history
of
Christian
theology
until
within
the
last
few
years
has
been
dominated
by
eschatological
concepts,
and,
though
not
in
the
sense
alleged
by
its
detractors,
has
been
other-worldly.
The
rewards
and
punishments
of
immortality
have
been
utilized
as
motives
for
moraUty.
This
tendency
has
always
met
with
severe
criticism
at
the
hands
of
philosophy,
and
of
late
years
has
to
a
consider-able
extent
been
minimized
or
neglected
by
theologians.
The
doctrine
of
the
eternity
of
punishment
has
been
denied
in
the
interest
of
so-called
second
or
continued
probation,
restorationism,
and
conditional
immortality.
The
tendency,
however,
has
resulted
in
a
disposition
to
reduce
Christian
theology
to
general
morality
based
upon
religion,
and
has
been
to
a
large
extent
buttressed
by
that
scepticism
or
agnosticism
regarding
individual
immortality
which
marks
modern
thought.
Such
a
situation
has
proved
injurious
to
the
spread
of
Chris-tianity
as
more
than
a
general
ethical
or
rehgious
system,
and
it
is
to
be
hoped
that
the
new
interest
which
is
now
felt
in
the
historical
study
of
the
NT
will
reinstate
eschatology
in
its
true
place.
Such
a
reinstatement
will
include
two
fundamental
doctrines:
(1)
that
of
individual
immortality
as
a
new
phase
in
the
great
process
of
development
of
the
in-dividual
which
is
to
be
observed
in
life
and
guaranteed
by
the
resurrection
of
Jesus.
Distinctions
can
easily
be
drawn
between
the
figurative
media
of
NT
thought
and
the
great
reality
of
eternal
life
taught
and
exemplified
by
Jesus.
(2)
The
doctrine
of
a
'Kingdom
of
God.'
This
expectation,
since
it
involves
the
elements
of
a
loving
personality
Uke
that
of
a
God
of
love,
involves
a
belief
in
a
new
humanity
that
will
live
a
genuinely
social
life
on
the
earth,
although
the
conditions
of
such
a
life
must
be
left
undefined.
In
a
word,
therefore,
the
modern
equivalent
of
Jewish
eschatology
for
practical
purposes
is
that
of
personal
(though
truly
social)
im-mortality
and
a
completion
of
the
development
of
society.
Utterly
to
ignore
the
essential
elements
of
NT
eschatology
is
in
so
far
to
re-establish
the
non-
Christian
concept
of
material
goods
as
a
supreme
motive,
and
to
destroy
all
confidence
in
the
ultimate
triumph
of
social
righteousness.
Shailer
Mathews.
ESCHEW.—
In
the
older
Eng.
versions
of
the
Bible
'
eschew
'
is
common.
In
AV
it
occurs
only
in
Job
l'-
'
2»
of
Job
himself,
as
1'
'one
that
feared
God,
and
eschewed
evil,'
and
in
1
P
3"
'Let
him
eschew
evil,
and
do
good.'
The
meaning
is
'
turn
away
from
'
(as
RV
at
1
P
3"
and
Amer.
RV
everywhere).
ESDRAELON.—
The
Greek
name
for
Merj
Ibn
'Amr,
the
great
plain
north
of
the
range
of
Carmel.
It
is
triangular
in
shape,
the
angles
being
defined
by
Tdl
el-Kassis
in
the
N.W.,
Jenin
in
the
S.E.,
and
Tabor
In
the
N.E.
The
dimensions
of
the
area
are
about
20
miles
N.W.
to
S.E.,
14
miles
N.E.
to
S.W.
It
affords
a
passage
into
the
mountainous
interior
of
Palestine,
from
the
sea-coast
at
the
harbours
of
the
Bay
of
'Acca.
