PMW 2022-005 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. This is my final article in a brief series responding to the charge that preterism is anti-Semitic. The charge arises in that preterists hold that many New Testament passages prophesy the judgment of Israel. I have already shown how this charge is misdirected in several respects. But now I will show that if…
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PMW 2022-004 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr This is part 2 of a series on preterism and anti-semitism. According to some, the New Testament is one embarrassing book. How can anyone believe it? Not only is preterism anti-Semitic, but so is the New Testament. Christianity just needs to fold up, pack it away, and leave the world alone. This New…
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PMW 2022-003 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. Preterism is anti-Semitic. Pure and simple. To the core, through-and-through. It denounces Jews and Israel. And it must do so to maintain its distinctive theology. It involves a persecutional mindset. At least that is what prophecy populists maintain, and what a number of scholars (who should know better) argue. But why do they…
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PMW 2022-002 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. A reader writes: “What are the “last days” in Scripture? Some see this as referring to the last days of the old covenant administration. But others understand this as referring to the whole period between the first and second advents, i.e., all of church history.” I will offer a succinct explanation of what…
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PMW 2022-001 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. Sadly, as the heat of the eschatological debate intensifies, too often the light from it diminishes. Postmillennialism is perhaps the easiest eschatological position to misunderstand in our era and therefore inadvertently to misrepresent. Consequently, we must remind our brothers in the debate of postmillennialism’s actual claims. In the Westminster Theological Journal article I…
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PMw 2021-095 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. In Rev 6 one of the more dramatic images involves the shaking of all the mountains as God’s wrath falls. This is sometimes used as evidence against preterism and a first-century fulfillment of Rev. But does it undermine preterism? I think not. And here is why. “And the sky was split apart like…
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PMW 2021-094 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. In Rev 2:9 (cp. 3:9) we read Jesus saying to Pergamum: “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” Evangelical commentator Ramsey Michaels argues that the false Jews of “the synagogue…
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PMW 2021-093 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. In some passages the kingdom of God is pictured in terms of Eden renewed, entailing peaceable conditions. But in our fallen world the lion’s deadly and terrifying power serves as a proverbial image in the Old Testament (Num. 23:24; Psa. 7:2; 17:12; Prov. 19:12; 20:2; 28:15; Isa. 38:13). Yet gentle carnivores are images…
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PMW 2021-092 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. In this article I am continuing a response to a reader who wonders if the NT teaches a gradualistic development of Christ’s kingdom to victory. He was especially curious since Rom 8 appears to speak of the fulfillment of Isa 11, with Rom 8 speaking of the consummation rather than history. I recommend…
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PMW 2021-091 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. Postmillennialism differs from the other evangelical eschatologies in a very important respect: Postmillennialism is optimistic about the progress of the gospel in history. We believe that Christ’s victory on the cross will exercise a tremendous influence in history — before the end, before the return of Christ. We see this throughout the Scriptural…
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PMW 2021-090 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. In Luke 18:8 Jesus makes a statement that seems to undermine any notion of the postmillennial hope. There we read: “I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Dispensationalists employ this verse with great confidence against postmillennialism.…
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PMW 2021-089 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. A reader has sent me a very perceptive email that well deserves my attention. And I think answering it will prove valuable to you in your postmillennial study as I engage the question it presents. He writes: “Reflecting on Isaiah 11 —— ‘The Peaceable Kingdom.’ If we take that to be a portrait…
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PMW 202-088 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. Oftentimes critics of postmillennialism will go to NT passages such as Matt 10:22 to discredit postmillennialism’s long-term optimism. That passage reads: “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.” Since postmillennialism expects a future in which…
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PMW 2021-087 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. Postmillennialism is distinguished from the pessimistic eschatologies of amillennialism, premillennialism, and dispensationalism as being optimistic. In the long run, mind you. Nevertheless, the Bible seems to develop a suffering-church motif. Oftentimes the (historically) pessimistic eschatologies employ the suffering-church motif against the optimistic hope of postmillennialism. But the postmillennial system can handle the slings…
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PMW 2021-131 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. Populist dispensationalism is heavily committed to a literalistic hermeneutic. (I do not mean that literally, however: how could an intellectual commitment to a hermeneutic construct be “heavy”? Unless, of course, it is presented in a big book containing either a large number of pages or a small number of extraordinarily thick sheets of…
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PMT 2014:026 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. AD 70 prefigures the Second Advent; it is theologically linked to it. But this does not imply any concept of double-fulfillment. There is a fundamental difference between prolepsis and double-fulfillment. Let me explain. In the OT we have several “Day of the Lord” events: against Babylon (Isa 13:9), Jerusalem (Joel 2:1), and others.…
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PMW 2021-084 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. An important postmillennial text is Psalm 2. Psalm 2:8 states: Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, / And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. An Amillennial Objection Amillennialists often object to postmillennialism’s use of this verse. They complain that postmillennialists apply the terms…
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“Jesus Christ the Propitiation for the Whole World” (3) PMW 2021-083 by Benjamin B. Warfield [Gentry note: This is part 3 of an excellent article by renowned postmillennial Princeton scholar, B. B. Warfield.] The Meaning of “Propitiation” The expedient made use of by many commentators in their endeavor to escape from this maze of contradictions is to distinguish between Christ as…
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“Jesus Christ the Propitiation for the Whole World” (2) PMT 2021-082 by Benjamin B. Warfield [Gentry note: This is part 2 of an excellent article by renowned postmillennial Princeton scholar, B. B. Warfield.] “And he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.” (1 John 2:2) The Problem of “the World”…
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“Jesus Christ the Propitiation for the Whole World” (1) PMW 2021-083 by Benjamin B. Warfield [Gentry note: This is an excellent article by renowned postmillennial Princeton scholar, B. B. Warfield.] “And he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.” (1 John 2:2) As a means of comforting Christians distressed by…
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