PMW 2026-019 by Robert Letham
Gentry note:
Robert Letham is Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at the Union School of Theology. He is also Adjunct Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary. He is a Reformed, conservative, orthodox postmillennial preterist (he has strong words condemning hyper-preterism as heresy, p. 848). This blog article quotes material from Letham’s excellent Systematic Theology, pp. 835–838. I highly recommend this fine work.
Now for Letham’s argument:
The Church and the Progress of the Gospel
Paul on events preceding the parousia (2 Thess. 2:1ff.). Paul warns his readers against letters claiming that the day of the Lord, the parousia, is at hand. Some in the church, thinking Christ was about to return, had stopped working in order to prepare for his appearance (2 Thess. 2:1ff.; 3:6ff.). This, Paul says, is unacceptable behavior based on an untenable hypothesis.
Rather, the return of Christ will not happen until two events have taken place. There is “the apostasy” (my trans.), and “the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every . . . object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thess. 2:3-4).
Olivet Discourse Made Easy (by Ken Gentry)
Verse-by-verse analysis of Christ’s teaching on Jerusalem’s destruction in Matt 24. Shows the great tribulation is past, having occurred in AD 70, and is distinct from the Second Advent at the end of history. Provides exegetical reasons for a transition from AD 70 to the Second Advent at Matthew 24:36.
See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com
Understandings of Paul’s teaching. Premillennialists claim that Paul is referring to events immediately before the parousia. Dispensationalists think the church will be removed from the earth in the rapture, its preservative influence thus taken away, and the Holy Spirit, who indwells the church, no longer present to the world (vv. 6-8). In tandem with this, the claim is that the church will slide into apostasy beforehand. In turn, the man of lawlessness, or the Antichrist, will be made known, who will unleash persecution on the church, or on Israel if the church is no longer there. He will proclaim himself to be God in the temple, rebuilt by the Jews in the kingdom period after the rapture of the church. Historical premillennialists make no speculations about Israel or the rapture but follow the same line of thought in relation to the apostasy, persecution, and the man of lawlessness.
Conversely, Warfield argued that for this passage to be relevant to the Thessalonian church, it must relate to events that were to happen in the first century. Paul intended to refer to the apostasy of the Jews, their persistent and obstinate refusal to accept their Messiah, and to the succession of Roman emperors who proclaimed themselves to be divine and then launched savage persecution of the church, invading Israel, destroying the temple and Jerusalem. Warfield pointed to Titus Vespasian as epitomizing the principle of lawlessness and bringing the prophecy to its climax when he entered the temple and proclaimed himself to be God in AD 70. This seems to me to be far more plausible.
Have We Missed the Second Coming:
This book offers a brief introduction, summary, and critique of Hyper-preterism. Don’t let your church and Christian friends be blindfolded to this new error. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
For more Christian educational materials: www.KennethGentry.com
To what extent can we access Paul’s teaching here? Often missed is that Paul expects his readers to know what he is saying. He had taught them previously in person: “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?” (2 Thess. 2:5). For us, the problem is that we were not there to hear what he had to say, and so we lack the resources to make a definite conclusion. We cannot make dogmatic statements on subjects for which we have no firsthand knowledge. This warns us against using a passage like this as a basis for clear doctrinal pronouncements. Whatever Paul meant, if we are to glean anything from it, we need to see it in terms of what he mentions elsewhere.
Perhaps the most relevant passage where Paul discusses events preceding the parousia is 1 Thessalonians 5:1ff., written following his brief visit when he planted the church and gave the teaching to which he refers in 2 Thessalonians 2. There he states that the coming of the Lord will be sudden and unexpected, “like a thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5:2). That rules out the view that the events in 2 Thessalonians 2 are immediate precursors of the return of Christ. Whatever they are, they do not happen then. Indeed, 2 Thessalonians 2 gives us no grounds to conclude anything about the situation before Christ returns. For reasons such as this, Venema’s comment that this chapter, together with Matthew 24 and Daniel 9, marks out “the period of history immediately prior to the close of the age” is not to be accepted without much reservation. The idea of a calamitous time just before the parousia should be regarded with skepticism.
Postmillennialism Made Easy (by Ken Gentry)
Basic introduction to postmillennialism. Presents the essence of the postmillennial argument and answers the leading objections. And all in a succinct, introductory fashion.
See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com
The New Testament on the prospects for the church’s task
Matthew 28:18–20. Jesus’s last mandate to his apostles has in prospect the whole of the time from then until the consummation of the age. His command is that the church is to make the nations disciples. This is to be done first by baptism and then by teaching them to obey everything he commanded them. Discipleship entails baptism, being taught, and obeying. The obedience envisaged is comprehensive. The nations are to be made not merely converts but also disciples. Their discipleship is to be thorough; they are to be taught not only all that Jesus commanded but also that they are to obey all he commanded.
We cannot restrict this to anything less than a scenario in which the nations of the world have been brought into obedient discipleship to Christ. If this sounds like a remote possibility, a pipe dream, Jesus assures the apostles, “I will be with you all the days until the consummation of the age” (v. 20, my trans.). That this is no pious platitude without impact on what happens is clear from his introductory report, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (v. 18). He has been installed at the right hand of the Father as our Savior and given comprehensive, plenipotentiary authority over the universe for this very purpose, that the church should disciple the nations and bring them into full obedience. This passage envisages nothing less.
Greatness of the Great Commission (by Ken Gentry)
An insightful analysis of the full implications of the great commission as given in Matthew 28:18-20. Impacts postmillennialism as well as the whole Christian worldview.
See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com
1 Corinthians 15:20-26. Christ’s resurrection is the firstfruits of the resurrection of all who belong to him (1 Cor. 15:23). This took place sometime around AD 30; ours will occur at his parousia. We will note in chapter 29 that these are part of the same reality, behaving identically. Between these two stupendous events is the time in which we now live, when the church proclaims the gospel to the far corners of the earth. Paul describes Christ at this time as reigning. Alluding to Psalm 110:1, he says, “He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Cor. 15:25). Christ is reigning now. It is not merely that he is reigning but that he must reign. It is the eternal plan of God that as our incarnate Savior and Mediator, he has been given all authority. His reign is from his resurrection to ours. During this time, he progressively subdues his enemies, bringing them under his feet as a mighty conqueror. “The last enemy to be rendered inoperative is death” (1 Cor. 15:26, my trans.). As the context indicates, death is ultimately banished when we are resurrected at his return. Therefore, the intervening period is a progressive triumph over all his enemies, leaving death on its own, to be eradicated at the parousia. Prior to that, all other enemies will have been vanquished.
While Christ’s great triumphal procession is in progress, evil will also increase (2 Tim. 3:13), aided by scientific and technological ad- vances that extend its reach and further its systematic implementation. This should keep us from triumphalism. Sin and suffering continue until Christ returns. Persecution intensifies. Evil will grow and become more fearsome still. But we have been given the weapons to overcome it; these are intellectual in scope, consisting of reasoning, dethroning arguments, and leading every thought captive (2 Cor. 10:3–6), just as Paul persuaded, reasoned with, and convinced others (Acts 17:3; 18:4, 19; 19:8–10).
Predestination Made Easy (by Ken Gentry)
A thoroughly biblical, extremely practical, and impressively clear presentation of the doctrine of absolute predestination.
See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com
Postmillennial Worldview 
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