Second coming of Christ in the early church

Christ's return and the signs before it. Part of Eschatology.

Didache 10.6Anonymous · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · A closing prayer for Christ's coming: “Maranatha.”
Didache 16.1Anonymous · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · Be ready, for the Lord's coming is unknown.
Didache 16.8Anonymous · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · The world will see the Lord coming on the clouds.
Ascension of Isaiah 4.14Anonymous · late 1st–2nd century
Epistle of Barnabas 7.9Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · At his coming, those who crucified Christ will recognize him.
Epistle of Barnabas 7.10Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · The identical goats foreshadow Christ's suffering and return.
2 Clement 12.1Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · Wait for God's kingdom hour by hour, for the day is unknown.
2 Clement 17.4Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · The Lord will come to gather all nations and redeem each by his works.
Epistle of the Apostles 16Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · Christ tells the apostles that he will return shining like the rising sun, borne on the clouds with his cross before him, to judge the living and the dead.
First Apology 52Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · The prophets foretold two comings of Christ: the first in suffering, the second in glory, with the resurrection and judgment.
Dialogue with Trypho 14.8Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The prophets speak of two comings of Christ: first in humility, then in glory.
Dialogue with Trypho 31.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · If Christ's passion shows such power, his glorious second coming will show far more, as Daniel foretold.
Dialogue with Trypho 32.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin answers that the Scriptures foretell two comings: one in humiliation and one in glory.
Dialogue with Trypho 40.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The two goats of the Day of Atonement signify Christ's two comings.
Dialogue with Trypho 49.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Elijah is to precede the second coming, the great and terrible day.
Diatessaron, section 42Tatian · ca. 160-180
Against Heresies 4.22.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ came for all who from the beginning feared God and longed to see him; at his second coming he will raise them first.
Against the Jews 14Tertullian · ca. 197–207 · The author explains Jewish unbelief by Christ's two comings, the first in humility and the second in glory, prefigured in Zechariah's high priest Jesus and the two goats of the Day of Atonement, and concludes that the prophecies have been fulfilled in Christ.
On the Shows 30Tertullian · ca. 197–202 · The greatest show is still to come: Christ's return, the new Jerusalem, and the judgment, when persecutors, philosophers, and performers will burn and those who mocked Christ will see him.
On Christ and Antichrist 44Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · As Christ has two comings, one humble and one glorious, so he has two forerunners; the first was John the Baptist.
On Christ and Antichrist 67Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · Hippolytus closes by urging Theophilus to keep the Scriptures in faith and await the appearing of Christ.
Commentary on the Song of Songs, fragment 8 (Song 2:8)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-235 · The Bridegroom leaping over the mountains is the Word, who leaped from heaven to the virgin's womb, to the cross, to Hades, to the earth, and back to heaven, and will come again in glory.
Commentary on Daniel 4.10Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · On Daniel 7:17–18: when the fourth kingdom is removed, earthly rule ends and Christ, God incarnate, will come from heaven as judge and give the kingdom to the saints.
Commentary on Daniel 4.15Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · Readers should not seek to fix the time of the end; Ecclesiastes' picture of old age and death figures the apostasy before the end, and Christ hid the day to keep his people watchful.
4.15 (continued)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · Christ gave signs instead of a date: as Jerusalem's fall was foretold, so the abomination of desolation must appear first; wars and famines are only the beginning, and the gospel must first be preached to all nations.
4.18Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · A church leader in Syria, misreading the Lord's warnings, led his flock into the desert to meet Christ and nearly brought persecution on all; Christ's second coming will be open and from heaven.
On the Flesh of Christ 24Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · The prophets and apostles already struck at each heresy about Christ's flesh; the one Christ who suffered in the flesh is the same who will return in that flesh.
Against Marcion 3.7Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The prophets foretold two comings of Christ, one in humility and one in glory; the Jews looked only for the glorious one and so missed the first.
Against Marcion 4.39Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The false Christs, the signs of the end, the persecutions of the disciples, and the coming of the Son of Man in Luke 21 all follow the prophets, so that both the troubles before his coming and the blessings after it belong to the Creator's Christ.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh 22Tertullian · ca. 208–212 · Christ's discourse on the last things shows that the resurrection comes at his return, after the signs of the end, not now in the knowledge of the truth or at death.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh 24Tertullian · ca. 208–212 · Paul's letters to the Thessalonians place the resurrection at the Lord's coming, after the removal of the Roman state and the revealing of the antichrist.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh 41Tertullian · ca. 208–212 · Paul's promise of a heavenly house when the earthly tent is dissolved rewards the flesh that suffers; the wish to be “clothed over” belongs to those alive at Christ's coming, who will be changed without dying.
Fragment 104 on John 14:3Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 14:2–3: the Father has already prepared the goods by foreknowledge, yet Christ becomes their preparer by opening the way to heaven, and at his second coming will take his own to be with him.
Commentary on John 13.439Origen · ca. 230–248 · At his second coming, at the judgment, Christ will fully heal the official's son.
Homilies on Joshua 6.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Jericho, taken by trumpets, is the world that will fall at the trumpet of Christ’s coming, from which only the church, once a harlot and now a chaste bride, will be saved by his blood.
Homilies on Joshua 8.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The devil, though conquered on the cross, still attacks, because what Christ’s first coming foreshadowed will be completed at his second coming, when death, the last enemy, is destroyed.
Homilies on Joshua 16.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Joshua took all the land and yet much land remains: Christ took the world by sowing his word at his first coming, and at his second coming he will subject all the rest; blessed are those won now.
Lines 1027–1058Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · The world is shaken and cleansed by fire, Christ comes from heaven with his angels, the righteous dead rise to meet him in the air, and his crucifiers see his glory before being returned to the depths.
Against Celsus 1.56Origen · ca. 248 · The prophets foretold two comings of Christ, one humble and one glorious; Psalm 45 calls the anointed one God, anointed by his God.
Against Celsus 5.17Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus misunderstood the Christian teaching on the last day; Paul's words in 1 Corinthians and 1 Thessalonians about the dead raised and the living changed carry a hidden meaning.
Against Celsus 6.46Origen · ca. 248 · Origen quotes Paul on the “man of sin” and Daniel's prophecy of a fierce king and the abomination of desolation as the Scripture's teaching on the Antichrist.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 32Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The Mount of Olives figures the Church of the Gentiles; the disciples who ask privately are the more advanced, and Christ's twofold coming is also his coming into the soul, first in humility and then in glory to the perfect.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 50Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · On Christ's coming on the clouds, Origen weighs literal, combined, and spiritual readings, suggesting living and rational clouds and the Word's daily coming in Scripture; the angels gather the elect, living and dead, from earth and from successive heavens.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 53Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The fig tree that buds in spring figures the soul and the world in which Christ's hidden life comes forth, the Church as its tender branch, and the barren people of the circumcision; the coming of Christ is near to those who bear fruit.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 70Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The judgement of the nations is not merely an exhortation to generosity: at Christ's second coming his divinity will be manifest to all everywhere, not in one place, his throne is the saints or angelic powers, the sheep are the gentle and the goats the wicked, and the “laying down” of the world is a mystery not to be written down.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 111Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · Christ's “sitting at the right hand of power” means his royal establishment in all power, fulfilled from his resurrection on, and seen at last even by his enemies; the clouds on which he comes are the prophets and apostles who reign with him.
On the Unity of the Catholic Church 27Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Cyprian urges believers to stay awake and ready for the Lord's sudden return.
To Fortunatus 11Cyprian of Carthage · 253 or 257 · Christ foretold that the world would hate and persecute his followers, and the righteous have always suffered, from Abel to the three youths, the seven Maccabean brothers and their mother, and Eleazar.
On the Good of Patience 23Cyprian of Carthage · 256 · The one who kept silent is Christ, silent in his passion as the prophets foretold, who will not be silent when he comes again in power.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 1.1Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · Victorinus comments on the opening blessing and greeting of Revelation, the seven spirits, and Christ's first and second comings.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 14.3Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The vintage of the earth is the destruction of the nations at Christ's coming, which ends the Antichrist's kingdom and opens that of the saints.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 19.1Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The rider on the white horse is Christ coming to reign; the nations fall, some being kept to serve the saints until the devil's final release.
Church History 2.23.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Hegesippus (quoted): James proclaimed that Jesus, the Son of Man, sits at God's right hand and will come on the clouds.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 41Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Archelaus argues that the "perfect" Paul awaited is Christ at his coming in glory, when prophecy, tongues, and knowledge will be done away, and that Manes has done away nothing.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 42Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Archelaus contrasts Manes with earlier heretics who never claimed to be the Paraclete, and argues from Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and the Last Judgment that Manes cannot be the perfect one to come.
Recognitions 1.49Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter teaches the two comings of Christ, the first in humility and the second in glory, both foretold by the prophets.
Testament of Our Lord 1.2Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Testament of Our Lord 1.6Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Prophetic Extracts 3.17Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius takes Micah's vision of the Lord coming down on the heights of the earth as Christ's second coming.
Prophetic Extracts 3.28Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius takes Zechariah's coming of the Lord with all his holy ones as Christ's second coming.
Prophetic Extracts 3.31Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Malachi's sudden coming of the Lord and the angel of the covenant, like a refiner's fire, as Christ's second coming in judgment.
Prophetic Extracts 3.44Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius identifies Daniel's son of man coming on the clouds to the Ancient of Days with Christ, his ascension in a cloud, and his second coming.
Prophetic Extracts 4.14Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads “the name of the Lord comes from afar with burning wrath” as the Word's second coming.
Prophetic Extracts 4.18Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads “Behold your God… his reward is with him” as the coming of the Word, especially his second coming as judge.
Divine Institutes 4.12.14Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ comes twice: first to proclaim God, then to reign.
Divine Institutes 4.12.22Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The second coming is left for the last book.
Divine Institutes 7.1.24Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ's second coming, which the Jews await in vain.
Divine Institutes 7.17.11Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God will send a great King from heaven to rescue them.
Divine Institutes 7.19.2Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The deliverer descends at night like lightning.
Divine Institutes 7.19.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ descends with angels and destroys the Antichrist's army.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 67.1Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Christ will descend from heaven with his angels, destroy the wicked, and cast the Antichrist into fire.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.38Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The seizure of the Christ fits his first coming, not his glorious second coming, which the Jews confuse with it.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.39Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophecies of glory and of humiliation cannot refer to the same coming.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.40Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The humble prophecies were fulfilled at Christ’s first coming; the glorious ones await his second.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.15.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The verse may also refer to the second coming from the south of heaven.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.15.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The word going before him is the gospel spreading everywhere; the second coming will fulfill the rest. The next heading introduces Zechariah.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.18.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Acts records the angels’ promise that Jesus will return as he ascended.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.25.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophecies are partly fulfilled at Christ's first coming and will be completed at his second; next comes the manner of his first coming.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.17.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Riding on a donkey signifies Christ’s humble first coming; Daniel describes his glorious second coming with the clouds.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.17.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Daniel 7:13–14: the Son of Man receives an everlasting kingdom.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.17.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The gentle rider on a donkey marks the humble first coming; the clouds of heaven and eternal kingdom mark the divine second coming.
On the Incarnation 56.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ will come again in glory to raise and judge all, giving the kingdom to the good and eternal fire to the wicked.
On the Incarnation 56.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Jesus foretold his coming on the clouds in the Father's glory.
Theophany 4.35Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Theophany 4.36Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.14.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “Until” refers to Christ's session before his second coming, after which the saints will be with him for ever.
Oration III Against the Arians 45Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Christ tells the disciples “you do not know,” never “I do not know” as God; and as the one who brought the flood and foretold it to Noah, he knows the day of his own coming.
Catechetical Lecture 4.15Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ will come again from heaven, not as the antichrists from the earth, and his kingdom has no end; the Holy Spirit, one and indivisible, is honored with the Father and the Son.
Catechetical Lecture 14.30Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ has always held the throne at the Father's right hand; Cyril prays that the candidates may hold fast, be written in the book of life, and be presented by the present Christ to the Father.
Catechetical Lecture 15.1Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ has two comings: the first in humility to suffer, the second in glory to judge those who judged him.
Catechetical Lecture 15.2Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Malachi and Paul speak of Christ's two comings; at the second this world will be renewed, though no one may know the time, and Christ himself warned the apostles against deceivers.
Catechetical Lecture 15.10Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The true Christ will come not from the earth but openly from heaven, like lightning, with his angels.
Catechetical Lecture 15.19Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · At Christ's coming the dead in Christ will rise and the living faithful will be caught up to meet him.
Catechetical Lecture 15.21Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · At his coming Christ will appear in fire and glory to judge, preceded by the luminous sign of the cross, and his angels will gather the elect.
Long recension, Smyrnaeans 4Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius cites the risen Christ's invitation to touch him, his eating with the disciples and his bodily ascension and return, and argues that if Christ only seemed to suffer, his own chains would be a mere seeming.
Letter to Constantius 3Cyril of Jerusalem · 7 May 351 · Cyril reports the luminous cross seen over Golgotha on 7 May (351), which the whole city saw, and links it to Christ's prophecy of the sign of the Son of man.
Commentary on Matthew 25Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary expounds Matthew 24:1–28: the temple’s destruction, false Christs (Simon Magus) and false prophets (Nicolaus), the fall of Jerusalem after the gospel is preached, the abomination of desolation as Antichrist, and the flight, housetop, pregnant women, and winter flight read as figures of the soul, with the eagles gathered at the place of the passion.
Commentary on Matthew 26Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary expounds Christ’s coming in glory (Matt 24:29–44): the fig tree’s branch as Antichrist, the passing of heaven and earth, the Son’s “ignorance” of the day as a merciful silence, the two in the field, at the mill, and in the bed (believers and unbelievers, believing and unbelieving Jews, catholics and heretics), and the call to watch.
On the Trinity 9.59Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · It is incredible that Christ, through whom and in whom all things are and who knows hearts, should be ignorant of the day of his own coming.
On the Trinity 9.67Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The knowledge of the day is hidden in Christ so that believers will keep watch (Col 2:3; Matt 24:43–46).
Moral Rules (Moralia) 68Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-370 · Basil's sixty-eighth rule: the life of the resurrection is angelic and free from need, and the Lord's coming will not be local or fleshly but in glory over the whole world at once.
Letter 181Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory rejects the view that Christ has put off his flesh: he will return in the body, as seen at the Transfiguration.
Hexaemeron 6.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 370 · The lights serve as signs of weather useful to sailors, travelers, and farmers, and will be signs of the end of the world.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:23Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ rose first; those who are his rise at his coming, which includes both the saints raised at his resurrection and those raised at his return.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:52Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The last trumpet sounds for the final battle against Satan after Christ's thousand-year reign on earth; then the dead rise and the saints are transformed into glory.
Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 4:14–17Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul sets out the order of the Lord’s coming: Christ, the archangel who is God, descends to fight the Antichrist; the dead in Christ rise first, and the living, after a momentary death, are caught up to meet him.
Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 5:1–5Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ will come suddenly, like a thief, when the followers of the Antichrist feel secure after killing Enoch and Elijah, and will destroy them.
Commentary on Colossians 3:4Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · When Christ, the author of life, returns as judge, believers will appear with him in glory.
Question 105, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The darkening of the sun at the crucifixion fulfilled Amos and prefigures the darkening of sun and moon at Christ’s second coming foretold by Christ and Joel.
Letter 119.7Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Acacius discusses the other reading, 'we shall not all sleep,' rejects the view that Paul expected to survive to the end, interprets sleep as sin after baptism, and still prefers the first reading.
Letter 119.8Jerome · ca. 370–419 · On 1 Thess 4:15-17 Jerome quotes Diodore, who holds that many will be found alive in the body when Christ comes.
Letter 119.10Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Continuing Origen, Jerome gives an allegorical reading of 1 Thess 4:15-17: the sleeping and dead are those who sinned and repented, the trumpets and archangel prepare Christ's way, and the clouds are the prophets and apostles.
Letter 121.11Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome explains 2 Thess 2: before Christ's return the Roman empire must fall and the Antichrist appear, whom Christ will destroy by his coming.
Letter 123.15Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome turns to the barbarian invasions of Gaul, listing the peoples and the ruined cities, as signs of the approaching end.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.5.12Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ ascended bodily and will return in the same way.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.31.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · Watch, for the Lord will come at an unexpected hour.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.32.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · The Lord will come with his saints on the clouds to judge.
Book of Heresies 71.3Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The angels at the ascension promised his return.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 45Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Simon asks about the fig leaves; Theophilus reads the fig as both the old man and the spiritual life, then expounds Christ’s humility from Isaiah 53 and 50, the Passover lamb, the mark on the forehead in Ezekiel 9, Rahab’s scarlet cord, and Hosea’s wife.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 47Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus explains the church as open to all, the synagogue as divorced, Wisdom 2 as prophecy of the Passion, and cites many passages for Christ’s resurrection, ascension, session and second coming.
Letter 140.76Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · That all the virgins slept means that both kinds of believers die, death being called sleep because of the resurrection; they await the coming of the bridegroom, Christ.
Letter 197.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine sends Hesychius Jerome's expositions of the prophecies, holding that Daniel's weeks refer to past events and that the time of Christ's return cannot be calculated.
Letter 197.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that Christ's words in Acts 1:7 forbid calculating even the times, explaining the difference between the Greek words chronos and kairos.
Letter 197.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine notes the end will not come before the gospel is preached to all nations, but even that would not tell us how much time remains.
Letter 197.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that he wrote because of someone who referred Daniel's weeks to Christ's second coming, and he prefers cautious ignorance to false knowledge.
Letter 198.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Hesychius, bishop of Salona, thanks Augustine for his letter and Jerome's writings and sets out his own views on the end times.
Letter 198.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Hesychius gathers Scripture passages in which the Lord and the apostles urge believers to recognize the times.
Letter 198.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Hesychius argues from Scripture that Christ's coming is to be loved and awaited.
Letter 198.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Hesychius holds that the date cannot be calculated but that most of the signs of Christ's coming foretold in the Gospels have been fulfilled in his own time.
Letter 198.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Hesychius questions whether Daniel's weeks were fulfilled at Christ's birth and passion, since Christ himself spoke of the abomination of desolation as still to come.
Letter 199.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine praises Hesychius for urging love of Christ's coming and argues that ignorance of its time does not prevent the faithful from longing for it.
Letter 199.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine notes that the obscure prophecy of 2 Thessalonians 2 says nothing about how long the mystery of iniquity will work.
Letter 199.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine says 2 Thessalonians 2 foretells the Antichrist's appearance and destruction but says nothing of when.
Letter 199.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine asks Hesychius to show how the visions of Daniel 7 reveal the time of Christ's coming, if he can.
Letter 199.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine asks Hesychius whether he thinks the time of the end can be defined at least approximately, and if so, on what grounds.
Letter 199.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine shows that the schemes dividing world history into hours fail on their own terms, and that John's "hour" means an unknown time.
Letter 199.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that the shortening of the days cannot mean that Daniel's numbered weeks would be falsified, since the prophecy itself would then be untrue.
Letter 199.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine reasons that if Daniel's weeks referred to the second coming, one could confidently say it would come within seventy to a hundred years, since shortening could only make the time less.
Letter 199.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine agrees that the end grows nearer daily, but notes that Paul's descriptions of the last times already applied in his own day.
Letter 199.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine concludes that every generation since the apostles lives in the last days, but how far off the final day is cannot be known.
Letter 199.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that Christ's discourse in the Synoptic Gospels concerns three things: the destruction of Jerusalem, his coming through the Church, and his final coming.
Letter 199.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that the heavenly signs of his day are no greater than past ones, and that the darkening of the sun at the crucifixion was uniquely miraculous because it occurred at full moon.
Letter 199.36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine asks how present calamities can be sure signs of the end when Paul says the end will come while people say "peace and security."
Letter 199.40Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that the "distress of nations" refers to the wicked who will oppress the Church, present among all peoples alongside the oppressed faithful.
Letter 199.41Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine says the Son of Man's coming in a cloud can mean either his coming in the Church or his bodily return as he ascended.
Letter 199.42Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine notes that in Luke the Son of Man's coming in a cloud is followed by the words "the kingdom of God is near," suggesting it is not the final coming itself.
Letter 199.43Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine shows that Mark keeps the same order, placing the coming in the clouds and the gathering of the elect before the nearness of the end.
Letter 199.44Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues from Matthew's "all these things" that the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds is itself a sign that the end is near.
Letter 199.45Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine proposes that much of the Gospels' language about Christ's coming may refer to his continual coming in the Church, except for passages like Matthew 25 that clearly describe the final judgment.
Letter 199.46Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that the gospel has not yet reached the whole world, citing the many unevangelized peoples of the African interior.
Letter 199.51Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine says Paul's words in Colossians describe the gospel's ongoing growth, and since no one knows when it will fill the world, no one knows when the end will come.
Letter 199.52Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine introduces three good servants, one expecting the Lord soon, one later, and one admitting ignorance, to ask which best agrees with the gospel.
Letter 199.53Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine concludes that the servant who confesses ignorance of the time agrees best with the gospel, and warns of the danger to faith in predicting an early end.
Homilies on Matthew 53.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The four thousand are fed with a different number of remnants so the disciples will remember both miracles; Christ refuses the Pharisees a sign from heaven, explaining that his first coming is as physician and the heavenly signs are kept for his coming as judge.
Homilies on Matthew 56.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The disciples fell before the glory on the mountain, and Christ bade them keep silence until the resurrection, after which the Spirit and the signs would confirm their preaching; at his second coming he will appear in far greater glory as judge, and only deeds will count.
Homilies on Matthew 57.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ resolves the scribes’ teaching that Elijah must come first by distinguishing his two comings: John, called Elijah for sharing his ministry, preceded the first, and Elijah the Tishbite will come before the second, fearful coming to turn the Jews to faith.
Homilies on Matthew 74.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ’s lament over Jerusalem is that of a rejected lover who has tried again and again to gather her; the desolation of her house and the fulfillment of his other predictions guarantee his second coming, when repentance will come too late.
Homilies on Matthew 76.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The days were cut short for the believers among the Jews, and the end of the temple hinted at the end of the law; turning to his second coming, Christ warns against false christs and the Antichrist and describes his sudden, universal appearing, the darkened heavens, the sign of the cross that will convict his crucifiers, and the gathering of the elect.
Homilies on Matthew 77.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The fig tree shows that the coming will follow close upon the tribulation; “this generation” is that of the believers, which nothing will destroy; and Christ’s saying that the Son does not know the day is meant to stop the disciples’ curiosity, not to confess ignorance, since he made the ages and knows the Father.
Homilies on Matthew 77.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Claiming to know God’s essence while denying the Son knowledge of the day is absurd; Christ withholds the day for our good, and the examples of Noah, of those taken and left, and of the thief show that he will come suddenly upon a world at ease, so that we must always be ready.
On Elijah and Fasting 80Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Ambrose prays for Christ's coming, which will free creation from vanity and bring the new heaven where the faithful see his glory.
Sermon 18.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ came hidden to be judged and silent, and will come manifest to judge; meanwhile, because good and bad share the same fortunes, carnal people deny providence and mock God's commands.
Sermon 37.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The absent husband will appear openly “in the gates” at the judgment, sitting with the saints as judges; meanwhile the Church should keep working and await him without fear.
Sermon 50.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Haggai’s prophecy points to Christ’s comings and to the Church; the gold and silver are wisdom and God’s word, which belong to the Lord, so that no one in the Church may boast of them as his own.
Sermon 93.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Midnight means the time no one expects; calculations of six thousand years since Adam come and go, but the Lord will come when it is not known.
Sermon 97.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Rather than asking when the world will end, each should prepare for his own last day, since as he dies so he will be found at the judgment; the Son’s not knowing the day does not mean the Father knows what the Son does not.
Sermon 213.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ who will come as judge is now our advocate, so believers need not fear his coming but should long for it.
Sermon 214.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ will come to judge in the human form in which he ascended and was judged; all will see that form, but only the pure in heart will see the form of God.
Sermon 265.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The angels foretold that Christ will return in the same form, as God and man, to judge; his death is to be marveled at, his resurrection praised, and his coming awaited with readiness.
Sermon 265.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The disciples, like us, longed to know when Christ would come; their question “Will you be present at this time?” referred to his appearing at the judgment, when the kingdom will be given to those on the right.
Sermon 265.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ answered that it is not for us to know the times; curiosity must give way to piety, and we should live as if he were coming today, attending instead to what he chose to tell us.
Sermon 299.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Paul spoke of being ‘sacrificed’ to God, repaying with his blood the cup of salvation he had received; the crown is promised to all who love Christ’s appearing, and those who say they want the judge to come should fear his manifest coming in fire.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.145Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Christ's words 'you will not see me until you say, Blessed is he who comes' refer mystically to his coming in glory; Luke either anticipated them or Christ said them twice.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 95–96Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · In the new creation the air will remain for movement, as believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air; and the infants slain by Herod and the children who sang Hosanna are rightly praised, since they suffered and sang by God's grace, and God avenges their sufferings.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 4.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, who came hidden and silent to be judged and crucified, paying the price of our redemption, will come again manifest and speaking as judge.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 4.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John denied being Elijah, while Christ said he was Elijah; both spoke truly, for John was in the spirit of Elijah, herald of the first coming as Elijah will be of the second.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 4.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John came 'in the spirit and power of Elijah': figuratively he was Elijah, properly he was not, so both he and the Lord spoke truly; his greatest merit was his humility in refusing to be taken for the Christ.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 21.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Father “judges no one” because only the Son will appear at the judgment, visibly, in the risen human body in which he ascended.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 9.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · The soul with chaste fear longs for Christ's coming like a lily among thorns, fearing only to be deserted by him; thus the two Scriptures about fear agree.
City of God 18.53Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine warns against calculating the date of the last persecution and Christ's return, and ridicules a pagan oracle claiming that Peter's sorcery had fixed the duration of Christianity at 365 years.
City of God 20.19Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine reads 2 Thessalonians 2 as foretelling Antichrist before the day of the Lord, confesses he does not know what “holds him back”, and reports without endorsing the views that it is the Roman empire or hidden evil within the church.
City of God 20.20Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Commenting on 1 Thessalonians 4, Augustine suggests that those alive at Christ's coming will die and rise in an instant as they are caught up, so that all die and rise; how it will happen is known only then.
City of God 20.24Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Psalm 102 foretells the perishing of the heavens, against Porphyry's mockery of the Christian belief in the world's end; Psalm 50 foretells Christ's open coming to judge and gather the righteous.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 54Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Christ's coming to judge belongs not to the present life but to the end of the age.
Part 4, chapter 17Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The Psalms, Malachi, Isaiah, the Gospel, the Apocalypse, Paul, and the Sibyl foretell Christ’s coming in glory with cosmic signs, joy to the good and destruction to the wicked; therefore let us amend while there is time.