D. 68, just after the
death of Nero, this second coming is described as something
immediately to happen, and the colours in which it is depicted
show how closely allied were the Johannine notions to those of
the Pharisees. The glories of the New Jerusalem are to be
reserved for Jews, while for the Roman tyrants of Judaea is
reserved a fearful retribution. They are to be trodden underfoot
by the Messiah, like grapes in a wine-press, until the gushing
blood shall rise to the height of the horse's bridle.
In the writings of Paul the dogma of the resurrection assumes a
very different aspect. Though Paul, like the older apostles, held
that Jesus, as the Messiah, was to return to the earth within a
few years, yet to his catholic mind this anticipated event had
become divested of its narrow Jewish significance. In the eyes of
Paul, the religion preached by Jesus was an abrogation of
Mosaism, and the truths contained in it were a free gift to the
Gentile as well as to the Jewish world. According to Paul, death
came into the world as a punishment for the sin of Adam. By this
he meant that, had it not been for the original transgression,
all men escaping death would either have remained upon earth or
have been conveyed to heaven, like Enoch and Elijah, in
incorruptible bodies. But in reality as a penance for
disobedience, all men, with these two exceptions, had suffered
death, and been exiled to the gloomy caverns of Sheol.
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