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Afterlife Christians portray Jesus as the definitive factor in determining one’s fate in the afterlife. Classically, faith in Jesus lets the few into eternal reward in heaven while lack of such faith damns the many to eternal torment in hell. Jesus, however, wasn’t about the afterlife. He preached about love and prayer in the here-and-now, and he preached (probably) about the imminent divine restoration of Israel, but he hardly mentioned the afterlife. As early Christians upped the ante on who Jesus was, he became the judge of the quick and the dead, first on judgment day, then at each person’s death..
Timeline for Jesus and the Afterlife C30 John the Baptist preaches a fiery apocalypse. So does Jesus (probably). This apocalypse is the LORD’s intervention on earth to establish Israel as a divine kingdom. John and Jesus don’t have anything special to say about the afterlife or about the resurrection of the dead. C 50 to 60 Paul adds limited resurrection to Jesus’ fiery apocalypse, writing that the sainted dead will rise and all the saints will be given spiritual bodies. This is a new idea that comes from Paul’s need to assuage the concerns of those who don’t want the recently deceased to miss out on the apocalypse. Thanks to Paul, the coming apocalypse is no longer a historical event, like the conquest of the Promised Land. It is a cosmic sea change. C 65 to 300 Persecution turns Christian imagery mean, and for centuries Christian writers delight in imagining the future torments of those who persecuted and mocked the church. Sometimes the rewards and punishments are on judgment day and sometimes after death. C 90 to 100. The beloved disciple blesses a theologically potent gospel that declares faith in Jesus to be the deciding factor in whether one gains eternal life. C 100. John of Patmos describes Jesus return and the resurrection and judgment at the end of the world. They’re not the same thing. First Jesus returns and the saints rise, like Paul said. A thousand year later comes the end of the world and judgment before God. C 100 to 200. The fiery apocalypse that people have been waiting for since John still hasn’t arrived. Christians start leaning toward souls being rewarded and punished immediately after death, rather than at judgment day. 325. At the first official church council, the Nicene Creed declares Jesus to be the judge of the living and the dead at his second coming. The idea of personal judgment at death is still not official. 381. At the second church council, the bishops add that Jesus’ kingdom will have no end. This phrase counters the popular idea, detailed in Revelation, that Jesus’ kingdom would last a thousand years, after which would come judgment day. With this millennial doctrine out of the way, there is no space between the second coming and judgment day; they become the same thing. 1300s. Bucking a one-thousand-year trend, Pope John XXII asserts that the sainted dead do not go to their heavenly reward until judgment day. He is made to understand in no uncertain terms that this is not OK, and he shuts up. His successor makes it official that yes indeed the sainted dead partake of the beatific vision after they die, and don’t have to wait until judgment day. Jesus’ connection to the afterlife, not just to an apocalyptic future, is categorically confirmed.
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contents table of contents you're already looking at it introduction for the inquisitive reader biographical overview who he was and wasn't
afterlife not Jesus' concern animal sacrifice bloodless religion apocalypse did Jesus preach hellfire? baptism sin wash for Jesus and others beatitudes Jesus' words and others' words beloved disciple witness for the un-gospel bible scripture old and new bishop the unjesus body focus on the physical Buddha Jesus' close kin charity key Christian virtue and legacy of Jesus The Da Vinci Code secret (and false) messages divorce women's status dreams convenient literary device Elijah Jewish prophet with his own second coming equality ancient source of modern egalitarianism exorcist Jesus and demons failure reinterpreting Jesus as a failure faith from trust to blind belief father Jesus on titles of honor Francis of Assisi the most Christlike Christian Gandhi the 20th century's most Christly holy man Galilee Jesus' inauspicious homeland gentiles Jesus' inadvertent audience god how Jesus became god golden rule key to Jesus' success gospels competing accounts heaven from sky to spiritual home hell revenge fantasy humanism Jesus' legacy inerrant Christian treatment of scripture Thomas Jefferson ethics of Jesus Jewish guilt Christian libel John's gospel the un-gospel John the baptist, see John the washer John the washer Jesus' apocalyptic mentor Judaism libeled religion of Jesus kingdom of god what Jesus promised Lao Tzu poet of the cosmic way logos jesus as the word of god C. S. Lewis famous, flawed trilemma little drummer boy Luke beats Matthew logos Jesus as the divine word LORD Yahweh transitioning to the one god of all Luke's gospel the all-around best gospel Mark's gospel the gospel that lost its point Mary of Magdala women, visions, and sex massacre of the innocents bloodshed starts early Matthew's gospel best gospel for church reading Mormon, see Joseph Smith Moses Jewish lawgiver Muhammad a prophet who got it right mystery Orpheus and transubstantiation oppression origin of Jesus' compassion The Passion of the Christ Luke as buzzkill Paul revealer of the revealer private and public public Jesus and secret Christ relativism the secret power of the golden rule sacrifice Jesus' death and Christian sacrament Albert Schweitzer Jesus as a failure sheol dark pit of death show Jesus' deeds as put-ons slavery abolished by Jesus' efforts Joseph Smith flesh-and-blood Jesus Socrates secular Jesus son of god on close terms with the man upstairs soul, see body synoptics three gospels that agree temple center of Jewish religion trinity unifying and divisive doctrinre vision, see dreams Yahweh, see LORD Zoroaster Persian dualistic holy man
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