1 of 3

Though radical apocalyptic movements arose in the late Middle Ages, they were rare exceptions. Since Augustine, most theologians believed the Millennium of Revelation 20 referred to the present age of the church. The focal point of eschatology was not the consummation of history but the future status of individuals before God.

Beginning with Martin Luther's 95 Theses, the major Reformers challenged many medieval church doctrines, but with eschatology, they seemed mostly satisfied with this traditional emphasis and teaching.

Martin Luther taught that where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation. Thus individual salvation is a present reality.

However, Christians will continue to struggle with a contradiction: "We do not wait for forgiveness and all graces as though we would not receive them until the life to come; rather, they are now present for us in faith—even though they are hidden and will be revealed only in the life to come." To be a Christian involves living out the tension between the already and the not yet.

"In the life to come, we shall no more have need of faith," he wrote. "For then we shall not see dark through a glass (as we do now) but we shall see face to face." For Luther this hope is a fundamental and indispensable component of the Christian life.

Luther applies this individual eschatology also to the church. Like the medieval church before him, Luther rejected a future millennial reign and interpreted Revelation 20 as a description of the historical church rather than the end of history. In the present age, the church must continue to endure the hostility of both the world and Satan until the lordship of Christ is made clear at the end.

Still, Luther departed from aspects of medieval amillennialism. While Catholic theologians emphasized the glory of the historical church, Luther didn't: "It is not possible that there should be greater falsehood, more heinous error, more dreadful blindness, and more obdurate blasphemy than have ruled in the church."

In fact, Luther believed the Anti-christ had emerged within the church through the office of the papacy: "The pope is the real Anti-christ who has raised himself over and set himself against Christ, for the pope will not permit Christians to be saved except by his own power. … This is actually what St. Paul calls exalting oneself over and against God."

Consequently, as there is a hidden side to individual salvation, there is also a hidden side to the church, a side that will be revealed at the end of the age. In fact, the corruption of the church and presence of the Antichrist within it emboldened Luther. He believed it signaled the nearness of the end: "The pomp of the papacy is falling away and the world is cracking on all sides almost as if it would break and fall apart entirely."

Unlike those in the medieval church who tended to fear the Lord's coming as a day of wrath, Luther desired it. He called it "the most happy Last Day" in which God's glorious intentions for both individual human beings and all of creation will be realized: "God has reserved unto the last day the displaying of his greatness and majesty, his glory and effulgence."

For Luther, both individuals and the church will be transformed from their sorrowful and wretched condition into their final form by God. But as to the precise nature of this renewed existence, Luther is reported to have said: "We know no more about eternal life than children in the womb of their mother know about the world they are about to enter."

next page... |  1 of 3

share this page

RSS Feed   RSS Help