Parousia

Titus 2:11-14

Parousia

For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all people … training us… to live sober…, awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ….(vv11-13).

The Reformation teaching that the church is always reforming (ecclesia semper reformanda ) is a challenge for the church to constantly examine its doctrines and life. The doctrines of resurrection and the parousia give continued assurance that every sorrow will be turned into joy and the end will be the beginning of something entirely new. Parousia, a Greek word, literally means, "a being alongside.” It also means " "appearance" or "presence" or "presence after absence," and "arrival;” but not a "return or “second coming” as popularly conceived. Parousia appears 13 times in the New Testament with reference to the coming of Christ: 1 Cor 15:23; 1 Thess 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23; 2 Thess 2:1,8; James 5:7-8; 2 Peter 1:16; 3:4,12; 1 John 2:28. This blessed hope of parousia, sustains believers in their troublesome existence in the world. However, the doctrine of Parousia has become a fundamentalist doctrine of world negation and misleading speculations about the end of the world. Christians need to reaffirm an open future and meaning of all historical life, that the dead will be raised and the world will be renewed.