What is preterism?

Preterism is the belief that Jesus Christ did what He said He would do, when He said He would do it, in the imminent timing His apostles expected. The word comes from the Latin praeter, "past." The prophecies are past because the deadline was.

The one-paragraph version

Jesus said He would come in judgment on the Temple and the city within His own generation (Matthew 24:34), and that some standing in front of Him would live to see it (16:28). The apostles said the same, in every letter: "the end of all things is at hand" (1 Peter 4:7), "the coming of the Lord is at hand" (James 5:8), "it is the last hour" (1 John 2:18), "the time is near" (Revelation 1:3). In AD 70 the Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, exactly as Jesus had described, and the old covenant order that stood between God and the nations ended. Preterists believe that is what the New Testament was pointing at, and that the kingdom Jesus announced has been here, growing, ever since.

Partial and full

Nearly every preterist agrees that Matthew 24, most of Revelation, and the "last days" language were fulfilled in the first century. Partial preterists stop there and hold a future bodily return of Christ, a future general resurrection, and a future final judgment, usually on the authority of the creeds. Full preterists, sometimes called consistent preterists, hold that the New Testament ties the coming, the resurrection, and the judgment together as one event with one date, and that Scripture gives no second clock. I am a full preterist. I came to it slowly, through the partial position, and I keep partial preterists on my reading list because they are right about everything up to the fork.

What it is not

Preterism is not the belief that the world ended, that Jesus never rose bodily, that there is no judgment, or that nothing is left for the church to do. Christ rose with a body that could be touched and ate fish (Luke 24:39–43), and that body is the pattern of ours (Philippians 3:21). Judgment did not stop in AD 70; the verdict sits on every person now and is sealed at death (John 3:18; Hebrews 9:27). The gates of the city are open and people are still coming in (Revelation 22:17). Preterism is not universalism; outside is still outside (22:15). It is not "Israel only." It is not the claim that prophecy has nothing to say to us; it is the claim that it says something far better than we were told.

Why it matters

Paul did not separate eschatology from salvation or from Christ Himself. In 1 Corinthians 15 the resurrection of Christ, our salvation, His reign, the resurrection of the dead, the judgment, and the defeat of death are woven into one argument. Pull on any thread and the rest moves. What you believe about the end changes what you believe Christ accomplished, whether He reigns now, and what you are supposed to be doing with today. "For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet" (15:25). He is reigning. There is work to do.

Where to go next

Read the reading list top to bottom; it walks the road in order. Bring the verse you think breaks this to the hard texts, where every answer names where it is contestable. Read how I got here. Both of my books are free.