An Apologetical Explanation of the

Parousia

What does Scripture tell us about the Second Coming of Christ?

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only…. Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”  (Mt 24:35-36, 44)

Behold!  I tell you a mystery.  We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality.  (1 Cor 15:51-53)

The Second Coming of Christ will take place at the end of the world when Christ returns in glory to judge all of humanity.  It is a moment that the faithful in Christ look forward to with eager anticipation because of the hope for eternal life with God in Heaven.

The Second Coming is also known as the Parousia, a Greek word meaning “apparition” or “presence.”  The Apostles’ Creed tells us that Christ will return at the end of time “to judge the living and the dead.”  This is called the General Judgment, the moment when Christ will separate the good from the wicked, with the good bound for Heaven and the wicked entering their self-imposed eternal separation from God in Hell, “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt 25:41).  The dead will be raised, and each person will be reunited with his or her earthly body—the blessed will be glorified in body and soul.  (Cf. CCC 1038-1039, 1042, 1059)

The Parousia marks the definitive and final triumph of Christ over sin and death, the culmination of salvation history.  The faithful in Christ have awaited the Second Coming ever since Christ ascended into Heaven with the promise that he would return.  For them it is a time of great joy, when our earthly sojourn will end and all of creation will be restored and renewed in Christ.  The Kingdom of God will be established in its fullness, and the Church will be perfected in her heavenly glory.  As the Nicene Creed professes, “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead / and the life of the world to come.”  (Cf. CCC 1040, 1043-1048, 1060)

Because of Christ’s deliberate choice to leave us in ignorance about the time of his Second Coming, some people believe erroneously that he did not intend to return or that he is a false prophet.  On the contrary, because no one knows when the Parousia will take place, its imminence is an urgent call for conversion while there is still time to repent.

The Catechism addresses this question in paragraph 1040.

The contents of this page are Copyright © 2014 Rev. James Socias (of the Midwest Theological Forum). These apologetics are reproduced with written consent of said copyright holder for St Patricks Parish, Jaffrey, NH website only. Reproduction of any sort must be approved directly by said copyright holder.

To get a hardcopy of these Apologetics or the Didache Bible please visit the Midwest Theological Forum (publisher) at: http://www.theologicalforum.org