Appearance / Arrival - Titles of Presence

Appearance

Basic meanings are “act of appearing” or “visible appearance.”

“Notable celebrations in honor of the birthdays of the illustrious Augustan house” (Philo Flaccus 82).

“He was proceeding to convert and transmogrify into a temple of his own to bear the name of Gaius, ‘the new Zeus made manifest’” (Philo On the Embassy to Gaius 346).

“The Caesar [Octavian] … made his appearance near Scylacium” (Appian Civil Wars 5.11).

The primary emphasis is on the illustrious appearance and fame of the emperors. This word was also connected to military deliverance at the emperor’s appearance on a battlefield.

Ministry Motivation from Jesus’ Appearance

1Tim 6.14: Paul charges Timothy “to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

2Tim 4.1–2: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”

Hope for Believers Derived from Jesus’ Appearance

2Tim 4.8: “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”

Tit 2.11-13: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-­controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Final Victory at Jesus’ Appearance

2Th 2.8: “The lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”

One author concludes that “Paul strips the imperial cult of a prize claim. There is only one epiphany and parousia worth waiting for — Christ’s” (J. R. Harrison, “Paul and the Imperial Gospel at Thessaloniki” JSNT 25). While Paul indeed exalts the appearance of Jesus as the pinnacle of victory, Harrison’s claim that this “strips the imperial cult of a prize claim” appears to be an overstatement. The Roman idea of appearance was not exclusive to the emperor; the appearances of multiple leaders and generals throughout Greek and Roman history were lauded in first‑century history and literature. It is therefore difficult to support the claim that appearance is a prize claim of the imperial cult. Furthermore, there is little reason to read II Thessalonians 2.8 as a reference to an emperor. One goal of Paul’s instruction in II Thessalonians was to correct the error of “overly present” eschatology in the church.

Summary The broad Greco-­Roman usage of “appearance” provides a helpful grid for understanding Paul’s use of these words. Paul, however, does not confine himself to the standard secular use. He adds additional theological emphases like accountability and sovereignty. Nothing in Paul’s use of these words indicates a subversive attitude toward the Roman emperor.

Arrival

This word (παρουσία) refers to the state of being present or the act of becoming present or arriving.

“Caesar was being called home by Agrippa, who frequently wrote him from Rome that matters there greatly needed his presence” (Plutarch Antony 73.6).

There’s not a lot of evidence for a specialized imperial use of “arrival” in the first century. Where it does appear, it serves more or less as a synonym for appearance.

Resurrection Life at Jesus’ Arrival

1Cor 15.23: “But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”

1Th 4.15-17: “For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. … The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

God’s Work in His People until Jesus’ Arrival

1Th 3.13: Paul prays for God to “make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”

1Th 5.23: “May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Ministry Assessed at Jesus’ Arrival

1Th 2.19: “For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?”

Victory of Jesus at His Arrival

2Th 2.8 “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”

Isa 11.4: “With righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.”

Both non‑imperial references in first‑century Greek literature and evidence from inscriptions and coins point to the use of παρουσία for the arrival of both imperial and non-­imperial rulers. Similarly, Paul anticipates the arrival of Jesus, but this by no means constitutes subversion.

Neil Elliott observes: “Paul’s references to the parousia of Christ … played on the diplomatic language for the arrival of a king or general at the gates of a city, with all the potential for threat or promise that such an advent implied” (Paul and Politics, 25).

Both Paul and the Greek authors of the first century use παρουσία with reference to the arrival of a notable leader or official. So long as the locals were living according to the rules of that leader, the arrival was eagerly anticipated. Paul uses “arrival” in this way to give his readers hope during difficulties and to motivate them to live like those who are under Jesus’ authority.

Application