Studies in Dogmatics: The Return of Christ
Overview
Christians have always looked for the return of Christ, the last judgement, and the establishment of a new heaven and a new earth. Nevertheless, eschatology-the doctrine of last things-remains an area in which questions frequently appear to outnumber answers; and in which many of the answers that are offered come not from theologians who have studied the Bible seriously, but from faddists or self-appointed prophets. Serious students of theology, therefore, will welcome the appearance of Dr. G. C. Berkouwer’s detailed study of last things.
In The Return of Christ, Berkouwer addresses himself to a wide range of questions: How does Christian expectation differ from ordinary human longing for a better future? Is there an “intermediate state” between the death of the believer and the return of Christ (or, where does the Christian go immediately after death)? Is the Christian faith in crisis because the Lord has not yet returned? What ought Christians be doing until His return? And what will His return be like? Speaking to issues much in evidence today, the author also provides his response to questions such as these: How are we to understand the “signs of the times”-specifically, the signs of the antichrist, the “Millennium,” and the restoration of Israel? What is the meaning of “seeing God”? Is there any scriptural warrant for teaching that ultimately God’s grace will triumph over all sin, resulting in the salvation of all men? What is the Christian really praying for when he prays “Thy Kingdom come”?
Top Highlights
“True eschatology, therefore, is always concerned with the expectation of the Christ who has already been revealed and who will ‘appear a second time … to save those who are eagerly waiting for him’ (Heb. 9:28). This double advent is the keystone of eschatology, distinguishing it from mere futurism. It is not the unknown of the future but the known in the future that is decisive for eschatological reflection.” (Page 13)
“A survey of the historic teachings about the antichrist brings two main lines of thought to the fore: (1) that the antichrist is a power or movement; and (2) that the antichrist is a human person at the end of history. Naturally, the second line of thought does not exclude talk of antichristian tendencies and powers, but it sees all these as eventually being consummated in the figure of the antichrist. Those who take this expectation seriously have often been filled with anxiety about the prospect of his coming, unless they could defer the expectation of him to some remotely future generation.” (Page 261)
“Those who interpret the millennium as already realized in the history of the church try to locate this binding in history. Naturally, such an effort is forced to relativize the dimensions of this binding, for it is impossible to find evidence for a radical elimination of Satan’s power in that ‘realized millennium.’ So the notion of brakes on the devil’s power—limitations of it—is substituted for the more radical image of ‘binding.’” (Page 305)
“Man cannot visually grasp God. God can never be the object of his vision. Seeing issues out of God’s nearness; and when this seeing of God becomes reality, it becomes apparent how it transcends the neutrality of human seeing.” (Page 362)
Product Details
- Title: Studies in Dogmatics: The Return of Christ
- Author: G. C. Berkouwer
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Publication Date: 1972
- Pages: 480
G. C. Berkouwer (1903–1996) was the leading theologian of the Gereformeerde Kerken in the Netherlands and served as pastor there for over 15 years. He was professor of systematic theology at the Free University of Amsterdam while also lecturing on modern theology. In 1962, Berkouwer was an observer at the Second Vatican Council in Rome. He studied at the Christian Gymnasium and at the Free University of Amsterdam.
Berkouwer was very influential among the Reformed churches and other groups in North America, were his series Studies in Dogmatics, was translated, published, and very well-known. The Studies in Dogmatics series is noted by many as one of the most significant works of Christian Dogmatics of the twentienth century.