More Places to Find Paul's Two Age Eschatology

Paul’s two age eschatology can be seen in various ways throughout Paul’s letters.[1] Here are several examples:

• First, the contrast which Paul develops in Romans 5:12-19 and in 1 Corinthians 15:42-49, between Adam (the first man, the biological and federal head of the human race, whose disobedience brought about sin, guilt, and death) and the “last” Adam (Christ), whose one act of obedience brings righteousness and life to his people. Adam is of this age, Christ is of the age to come.

• Second, Paul’s contrast between “flesh,” (what we are in Adam, fallen, and “jars of clay”–2 Corinthians 4:7) and “the gift of the Spirit.” Those who are indwelt by the Spirit possess eternal life according to 2 Corinthians 2:4-18, where Paul contrasts what is seen with what is unseen.[2] Paul also speaks of those who are sealed by the indwelling Holy Spirit until the day of the redemption of our bodies at the resurrection (Ephesians 1:11-14).

• Third, Paul contrasts death as the inevitable outcome of life in this present evil age with eternal life, which is described as participation in the new creation, inaugurated by Jesus at his resurrection (Romans 8:20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:45, 47; Colossians 1:15-17).

• Fourth, Paul speaks of the wrath of God, which is the fate of all things associated with “this age” in contrast with the reception of the promised inheritance (all that is ours in Christ, i.e., resurrection life, eschatological glory, etc., as in I Thessalonians 1:10; Ephesians 2:3, 5:6).

• Fifth, Paul contrasts the law (associated with this age, and a major point of discussion in Galatians 2-4) with the gospel (God’s work of redemption in Christ). This, of course, is a major theme in confessional Protestant theology.

• Sixth, Paul sets out the fact that his Christian readers possess a simultaneous earthly citizenship, while at the same time they are said to be citizens of heaven, who are presently seated and raised with Christ (Philippians 3:20-21; Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 3:1-5).

• Seventh, an important example we should mention refers specifically to the issue Paul faces in Galatia; the two kinds of righteousness (mentioned by Luther, among others). On the one hand, there is a righteousness gained through obedience (which, Paul says is rubbish, Philippians 3:8) and amounts to rejecting Christ and giving up on the work of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:1-6). This kind of righteousness belongs to this present evil age. On the other, there is the free gift of righteousness which comes to us from through faith in Jesus (Romans 3:19-25; Philippians 3:9) which is the righteousness of the age to come. The Judaizers sought the former, while Paul preaches the latter, a righteousness from God that is revealed in the gospel, which is received through faith, and which cannot be earned by conformity to Jewish law.

This two-age eschatology–which is foundational to a number of theological assertions Paul will make throughout his letters is not only very problematic for millennarianism (pre and post), it is also the basis for Paul’s understanding of the course of redemptive history. Constantine Campbell is correct when he insists, “Paul’s two-age eschatological structure is beyond doubt.”[3]

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[1] For an exhaustive study, see Campbell, Paul and the Hope of Glory.

[2] Mark Seifrid point out that Paul is not speaking in platonic terms but eschatological terms. What is present now is contrasted with what is to come. See Mark A. Seifrid, The Second Letter to the Corinthians, Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2014), 219.

[3] Campbell, Paul and the Hope of Glory, 373.

Taken from "For Freedom!" -- An Expositional Commentary on Galatians, 28-29.