Not One Parousia, But Two

When the time arrives, be sure you’re following the right parousia.

Some readers may immediately think, “Sure. But what’s a parousia?” Glad you asked. This term is used in the technical (and not-so technical) literature for Jesus’ Second Coming, aka the Advent, and is most often capitalized (Parousia).¹

This particular word is used in this way, because it is found in a number of New Testament (NT) texts in reference to Jesus’ return. Seventeen to be exact. These include Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount of Olives, aka the Olivet Discourse:

…when shall these things be and what is the sign of your parousia, and of the end of the age? (Matt 24:3)

For as lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will be the parousia of the Son of Man (Matt 24:27)

However, there are other occurrences of this term in reference to other persons. One refers to the arrival of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus (1 Cor 16:17). Two others refer to the arrival of Titus (2 Cor 7:6—7). Comparatively, there are three occurrences of the term referring to Paul’s physical presence (2 Cor 10:10; Phlp 1:26; 2:12). As can be observed, the term has shades of meaning. And some translations interpret the shades a bit differently in the contexts cited here.

Except for one usage, the occurrences of parousia for Christ refer to His forthcoming arrival or presence in person again. But even this exception points to what underlies the understanding of the Advent. In 2 Peter 1:16 the term refers to the Transfiguration:

For we have not followed cunningly contrived fables when we made known to you the powerful parousia of our Lord Jesus Christ; rather, we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

The term had been used in antiquity for the fanfare surrounding the arrival of a king, ruler, or dignitary (see definition A2 here). The ISBE records how parousia was found in various inscriptions, noting specifically its application to the Greek god of medicine:

In Hellenistic Greek it was used for the arrival of a ruler at a place, as is evidenced by inscriptions in Egypt, Asia Minor, etc. Indeed, in an Epidaurus inscription of the 3^rd century BC…‘Parousia’ is applied to a manifestation of Aesculapius [Aσκληπιός Asklēpiós]. Consequently, the adoption of Greek-speaking Christians of a word that already contained full regal and even Divine concepts was perfectly natural.²

In Paul’s letters to the Thessalonian ekklēsia (“church”), he uses the term with this sort of regal backdrop. These epistles contain six of the seventeen total uses referencing Jesus: 1 Thessalonians 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:1,8. This is obvious in 1 Thess 3:13 (…at the parousia of the Lord Jesus with His holy ones³), but especially in the magnificent usage in 2 Thess 2:8:

And then the lawless one will be revealed—whom the Lord Jesus will cast away with the breath of His mouth and extinguish by the radiance of His parousia—

However, this is contrasted with the one remaining use of parousia, which is found in the very next verse—the parousia you do not want to follow. For 2 Thess 2:9 describes the pseudo-parousia. This is best seen in context with 2:8 & 10:

₈ And then the lawless one will be revealed—whom the Lord Jesus will cast away with the breath of His mouth and extinguish by the radiance of His parousia— ₉ which is the parousia according to the working of Satan, with every kind of power and pseudo signs and wonders, ₁₀ and in every manner of unrighteous deception, for those perishing…

For readability, English translations smooth out Paul’s words a bit. For the moment, if we remove the portion in the em dashes (—), the text would be more like: And then the lawless one will be revealed . . . which is the parousia according to the working of Satan, with every kind of power and pseudo signs and wonders, and in every manner of unrighteous deception, for those perishing….  

Importantly, observe from the text of 2 Thess 2:8—10 that this pseudo-parousia precedes the true parousia—the parousia of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This also means Satan is well-aware of Jesus’ forthcoming parousia, and he plans to perform a parody of it, to the extent it will fool many. The enemy has been busy in this diabolical plan. Evidence for this is found, for example, in the occult works of Alice A. Bailey. Bailey was the conduit by which the following words regarding this false Christ  and pseudo-parousia were channeled in 1919 :

Eventually, there will appear the Church Universal, and its definite outlines will appear towards the close of this [20^th] century…This Church will be nurtured into activity by the Christ and His disciples when the outpouring of the Christ principle, the true second Coming, has been accomplished. No date for the advent do I set, but the time will not be long.⁴

Assuming we are all here at that time, be sure to await the real, true parousia, not the one described just above. Your spiritual life depends on it.

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¹ As an aside, interestingly, even my version of MS Word defaults to capitalizing this word. It is also found in online dictionaries this way. This is because the current technical meaning of the term as Christ’s Advent is assumed.

² Burton Scott Easton, “Parousia”, in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr, Gen Ed., 1^st Ed. (1915), prepared by Accordance/Oak Tree Software, Inc. Version 2.4, para 43388

³ The words translated “holy ones” (hoi agioi, here in the genitive tōn agiōn) are the same words used elsewhere in the NT many times for Christ-followers, i.e., human ‘saints’. But it is unclear whether this is the correct interpretation here. Paul specifically states that Christ will be accompanied by angels in 2 Thess 1:7. Moreover, in 1 Thess 4:16 a shout of an archangel and a “trumpet of God” herald His return (alternatively, the shout of God’s archangel ‘trumpets’ Christ’s return). Also, in apocalyptic literature of the OT, “holy ones” refers to angels (Job 5:1; 15:15; Ps 89:7-8; Dan 4:34; 8:13{?}; Zech 14:5{?}). On the other hand, the context of Dan 7:18 seems to refer to glorified human saints, while Dan 8:13 and Zech 14:5 are a bit ambiguous. Thus, it is possible that 1 Thess 4:16 and 2 Thess 1:7 are not meant to exclude human saints (though, importantly, 1 Thess 4:15 indicates dead saints precede those still alive). Therefore, it is possible that both angels and glorified humans are in view here.

⁴ Alice A. Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, © 1957 Lucis Publishing Company, NY, 6^th printing (Albany, NY: Fort Orange Press, 1981), p 510; bold added for emphasis. While the book was not first published until 1957, most sections within the book have corresponding dates of initial writing, or, more accurately, transmission.  The portion quoted here looks to be from 1919 (see page 502 and intervening text), which would then be some of the earliest writings of Bailey in partnership with Djwhal Khul, aka The Tibetan or Master D. K.