IV. The Last Judgment and Final Awards
sciences some of the difficulties with which the doctrine of the resurrection is burdened were accentuated, and as a result modern religious liberalism either bluntly denies the resurrection, or explains the scriptural representations of it as a figurative representation of the idea that the full human personality with all its powers will continue to exist after death. This view is popular with many at the present time.
IV. The Last Judgment and the Final Awards The earliest Church Fathers have very little to say about the last judgment, but generally stress its certainty. Most of them are of the opinion that the saints in heaven will enjoy different degrees of blessedness, commensurate with the virtues which adorned them on earth. Some of their writings abound with sensuous representations of the pleasures of the future world. Those of Origen, however, reflect a more spiritual conception. The punishment of the wicked was generally thought of as eternal, Origen forming an exception. It is true that in his popular discourses he also speaks of eternal punishment, but in his De Principiis he tends to rule this out altogether. But even he does not conceive of the future punishment as purely spiritual. He really resolves it into chastisement by holding out hope even to the wicked, and expresses belief in the final restoration of all things.
The later Fathers also stood firm in the conviction that there would be a final judgment at the end of the world. But they spoke of this mostly, just as of other eschatological events, in a highly rhetorical fashion, without conveying any definite information. Augustine proceeds on the assumption that the scriptural representations of it are figurative. He expresses the conviction that Christ is coming
again to judge the living and the dead, but maintains that Scripture leaves it uncertain how long this judgment will last.
There was no unanimous opinion as to what will constitute the blessedness of heaven. A more fully developed knowledge, intercourse with the saints, deliverance from the fetters of the body, and true liberty—these are some of the outstanding elements that were named. The sufferings of the damned were regarded as the very opposite of the joys of heaven. Some believed in degrees of bliss and torment, though both of these were generally regarded as eternal.
Most of the Church Fathers also clung to the idea of a material fire, though some surmised that the punishment of the wicked would consist chiefly in separation from God and a consciousness of their own wickedness.
The Scholastics paid particular attention to the location of heaven and hell. According to them heaven is divided into three parts, namely, (1) the visible heavens (the firmament); (2) the spiritual heaven, the dwellingplace of saints and angels; and (3) the intellectual heaven, where the blessed enjoy the immediate vision of God. They also conceived of the underworld as divided into different departments, namely, (1) hell, properly so called, the abode of devils and of the damned; and (2) regions that might be called intermediate between heaven and hell, of which there are three: (a) purgatory in close proximity to hell; (b) the limbus infantum, where unbaptized children remain; and (c) the limbus patrum, the abode of the Old
Testament saints.
The Reformers were content with the affirmation of the simple doctrine of Scripture that Christ will come again to judge the world.
They were careful to distinguish between the general judgment at the end of the world and the secret and particular judgment which takes place at the death of each individual. The purpose of the former was understood to be the public vindication of divine justice in making final awards. They shared the common belief in the eternal bliss of heaven and the eternal torments of hell. Some Anabaptists taught
restorationism, and some Socinians, the annihilation of the wicked.
Some Protestant theologians held the opinion that material fire will play a part in the endless punishment of the wicked; others were non-committal on the subject; and still others interpreted all that the Bible says about fire in a figurative manner. The doctrine of future rewards and punishments, as taught by the Reformation, remains the official doctrine of the Churches up to the present day, though since the middle of the previous century the doctrine of conditional immortality enjoyed great popularity in some circles. Only thoroughgoing Universalists—and they are few—believe in universal salvation and in the restoration of all things in the absolute sense of the word.
Questions for Further Study: Is it true that Chiliasm was the generally accepted doctrine of the Church in the second and third centuries? What accounts for it in the early Church? Was all Chiliasm even then of the same type? What was Augustine's view of the millennium? What can be said in favor of it? What accounts for the repeated re-occurrence of Chiliasm? Are the historical Confessions of the Churches favorable or unfavorable to it? Did the Reformers encourage chiliastic hopes? Is the Premillennialism in the present day the same as the Chiliasm of the early centuries? How did the Scholastics seek to prove the idea of purgatory from Scripture? Does
Scripture favor the idea that the dead are in some intermediate place, neither heaven nor hell? Who taught the sleep of the soul and on what grounds? What are the doctrines of conditional immortality and of a second probation? What sects believe in the annihilation of the wicked? Does the doctrine of universal restoration find considerable favor?
Literature: Mackintosh, Immortality and the Future, Chap. V; Brown, The Christian Hope, Chap. VIII; Alger, Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life; Hoekstra, Het Chiliasme, pp. 9–59; Case,
The Millennial Hope; Hagenbach, History of Doctrines, I, pp. 301– 322; II, pp. 87–105, 378–405; III, pp. 173–175, 226–229, 382–390;
Neander, History of Christian Doctrines, I, pp. 247–256; II, pp. 413– 417; Shedd, History of Christian Doctrines, II, pp. 389–419; Sheldon,