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Other Articles on
"I Will Come Again"
I Will Come Again
[Newsletter]
Come Quickly,
Lord Jesus
"Parousia"
Means "Presence"
I Will Come Again
[Booklet]
I.
“I Will Come Again”
II. Signs of Christ’s Presence
III. Establishing the “Secret Presence” Concept
IV. “Caught Up Together With Him”
V. “Every Eye Shall See Him”
VI. The Man of Sin
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Appendix E
Scripture Index
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"Parousia"
Means "Presence"
The disciples, remembering that
few recognized Jesus as the Christ at his first advent, wanted
to know how he might be recognized at his second advent,
expecting that his second advent would occur in their day. Our
Lord gave quite a detailed account of events which must
intervene, indicating a lapse of a considerable period between.
In Matt. 24:3, the disciples
asked Jesus, “Tell us, when shall these things be? And what
shall be the sign of thy presence [parousia] and of the
end of the world [age]?”
These are signs of CHRIST’S
PRESENCE — not coming. Christ’s return causes these signs to
happen! Faithful watching Christians will see these signs as
proofs that Christ has returned.
Rotherham [3rd
Edition] correctly translates the 24 occurrences of
“parousia” as presence. Matt. 24:3,27,37,39; I Cor. 15:23;
16:17; 2 Cor. 7:6,7; 10:10; Phil. 1:26; 2:12; I Thess. 2:19;
3:13; 4:15; 5:23; II Thess. 2:1,8,9; James 5:7,8; II Pet. 1:16;
3:4,12; I John 2:28. King James Version mistranslates
“parousia” as coming in all but two instances, which were
correctly translated presence: 2 Cor. 10:10 and Phil. 2:12
Bible
dictionaries and Greek lexicons give “presence”
as the primary definition of parousia:
(Not an exhaustive list.)
G. Abbott-Smith,
Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (Edinburgh:
T. & T. Clark, 1964) p. 347.
“Parousia”
—1.
Usually a being present, presence. 2. A coming, arrival, advent.
A technical term for the visit of a king.
William F. Arndt and
F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 4th
ed.
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1952), p. 635, c1.
“Parousia”
— 1. Presence…the proofs of his presence. 2.
Coming, advent as the first stage in presence.
Horst Balz and
Gerhard Schneider, eds., Exegetical Dictionary of the New
Testament (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Co., 1993) V3, p. 43, c2.
“Parousia”
— Presence; arrival. Derived from the verb “be present.”
Originally meant presence…frequently means “arrival” as the
onset of presence.
Geoffrey W. Bromilay,
ed., The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
(Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1986) V3, p.
664, c1.
The basic meaning of
parousia is “presence.”
…In Greek, “presence” has an
exact equivalent in παρουσία,
parousía, but this word is rendered “presence” only in
2 Co. 10:10; Phi. 2:12; the
Revised Version (British and American);
Phi. 1:26 (the King James
Version “coming”). Elsewhere parousía is rendered
“coming,” but always with “presence” in the margin. Otherwise in
the New Testament “presence” represents no particular word but
is introduced where it seems to suit the context (compare e.g.
Act 3:13 the King James Version
and Act 3:19). See PAROUSIA.
“Parousia” (parousía),
a word fairly common in Greek, with the meaning “presence” (2
Co. 10:10; Phi. 2:12). More especially it may mean
“presence after absence,” “arrival” (but not “return,” unless
this is given by the context), as in 1
Co. 16:17; 2 Co. 7:6, 2 Co. 7:7; Phi. 1:26.
Colin Brown, ed.,
The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976) p. 898.
“Parousia”
— Presence, appearing, coming. Presence (with certain effects
following)…and arrival, someone coming in order to be present.
Alexander Balman
Bruce, The Expositor’s Greek Testament (London:
Hodder and Storighton, 1907) V1, p. 289, c1.
“Parousia”
— Literally presence; second presence.
Frederick Dale
Bruner, Matthew, a Commentary, Vol. 1: The Churchbook
(Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990) p. 474.
The word
parousia can also be translated “presence.”
Ethelbert
W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the
English and Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
1975) p. 598, c2.
“Parousia”
— The being or becoming present; presence, arrival.
The Classic Greek
Dictionary
(Chicago: Follett Publishing Company, 1949), English to Greek,
p. 184.
“Parousia”
— 1. A being present, presence. 2. Arrival.
The Complete
Biblical Library — The New Testament Greek-English Dictionary
(Springfield,
MO: The Complete Biblical Library, 1991) Pi-Rho, p. 101, c1,
#3814.
“Parousia”
— Presence, coming, advent, arrival. Classical Gk. from verb
pareimi #3780, compound of #3706 para “beside” and
#1498 eimi “I am.” Means “presence.”
Also, denotes the
“arrival” of someone or something. In the papyri, for example, a
woman writes that her “presence” (parousia) is necessary
in order to take care of certain financial concerns….
New Testament
Usage. Paul…illustrated this same understanding when he
contrasted his presence (parousia) with his absence (apousia
[#660]). Personal presence…
F. L. Cross, ed.,
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1997) p. 1223, c1.
“Parousia”
— Presence or arrival.
Matthew S. DeMoss,
Pocket Dictionary for the Study of New Testament
Greek (Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 2001) p. 94.
“Parousia”
— Presence or arrival.
George C. Divry,
ed., Divry’s Modern English-Greek and Greek-English Desk
Dictionary (New York: D. C. Divry, Inc., Publishers,
1961) p. 634.
“Parousia”
— Presence.
Walter A. Elwell,
ed., Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids:
Baker Book House, 1988) V2, p. 1616.
“Parousia”
— Transliteration of a Greek word meaning “presence,” “arrival,”
“appearance,” or “coming.”
Sinclair B. Ferguson
and David F. Wright, eds., New Dictionary of Theology
(Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 1988) p. 299, c2.
“Parousia”
— The word means “presence” or “arrival,” and was used of visits
of gods and rulers.
David Noel Freedman,
ed., The Anchor Bible Dictionary (New York:
Doubleday, 1992) V5, p. 166, c1.
The Greek
word parousia is used in the New Testament to speak of
the arrival or presence of someone. It is also used as a
technical term to speak of the arrival or presence of Christ in
glory…
David Noel Freedman,
ed., Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2000) p. 1009, c2.
“Parousia”
— A Greek noun used of persons or things, meaning “arrival” or
active “presence” (from the verb pάreimi,
“to be present”).
Timothy Friberg,
Barbara Friberg, Neva F. Miller, Analytical Lexicon of the
Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000) p.
302, c1.
“Parousia”
— 1. Being present, presence. Opposite of
άπουσία
(absence, being away) 2. Coming, arrival.
Henry Snyder Gehman,
New Westminster Bible Dictionary (Philadelphia:
Westminster Press, 1970) p. 703.
“Parousia”
— Gr., presence.
William H. Genty,
ed., The Dictionary of Bible and Religion
(Nashville: Abington, 1973).
“Parousia”
— The Greek term parousia, literally “presence” or
“arrival,” used in first century literature of the visit of an
important dignitary to a city or land…
James Hastings, ed.,
A Dictionary of the Bible (New York: Charles
Scribner’s Sons, 1903) V3, p674, c2.
“Parousia”
— Lit. “presence” as opposed to absence, hence the arrival which
introduces that presence.
Alvah Houg, ed.,
An American Commentary on the New Testament. Commentary on
the Gospel of Matthew, by John A. Broadus (Philadelphia:
American Baptist Publications Society, 1886) p. 482, c1.
“Parousia”
— Presence or arrival.
Wilbert Francis
Howard and James Hope Moulton, A Grammar of New Testament
Greek (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1920) V2, p. 320.
“Parousia” —
παρουσία, in which the RV marginal note (Gr. “Presence”) would
suggest that the idea of “motion towards” is to be excluded;
outside evidence for the technical meaning “royal visit” shows
that advent is as literal a rendering as presence,
which occurs in some places.
A. N. Jannaris,
A Concise Dictionary of the English and Modern Greek
Languages as Actually Written and Spoken (London: John
Murray Publishers, Ltd., 1959) p. 289, c2.
“Parousia” —
Presence, appearance.
Gerhard Kittel and
Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Co., 1967) V5, p. 858.
“Parousia” — 1.
Presence — to be present. 2. Appearing — to have come.
G.W.H. Lampe, ed.,
A Patristic Greek Lexicon (London: Oxford
University Press, 1961) p. 1043, c2.
“Parousia” — A.
Presence B. Arrival, appearance, personal visit, advent.
RCH Lenski,
Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (Columbus, OH:
The Wartburg Press, 1943) p. 928. (To the American Lutheran
Conference)
“Parousia” —
Coming and Presence.
Henry George
Liddell and Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), p. 1343.
“Parousia”
— 1. Presence, of
persons. 2. Arrival. Note, many ancient Greek writings are cited
for these conclusions.
Johannes P. Louw and
Eugene A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament
(New York: United Bible Societies, 1988) p. 726, 85.25.
“Parousia”
— The presence of an object at a particular place—“presence,
being at hand, to be in person.” 2 Cor. 10:10, when he is with
us in person (literally “…his bodily presence”).
Alan Hugh McNeile,
The Gospel According to St. Matthew (London:
MacMillon and Company, Ltd., 1915) p. 344.
In classical Greek it
tends rather to the meaning “presence” than “arrival,” but the
latter is illustrated by the use in papyri (2nd and 3rd
century AD) for the visit of a king or other official.
Paul Kevin Meagher
and Thomas C. O’Brien, eds., Encyclopedic Dictionary of
Religion (Washington, DC: Corpus Publications, 1979) V2,
p. 2680, c1 (Catholic).
“Parousia”
— A transliteration of the classical Greek word for presence or
arrival.
Allen C. Meyers,
ed., The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1987) p. 795, c2.
“Parousia”
— Arrival, presence.
James Hope Moulton
and George Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament
(Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1960),
Foreword.
“Parousia,”
as applied to the return of the Lord, is simply the anglicizing
of the Greek word which literally means “presence.”
William D. Mounce,
The Analytical Lexicon to the Greek New Testament
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993) p. 360, c2.
“Parousia”
— Presence; a coming, arrival, advent.
Wesley J.
Perschbacher, ed., The New Analytical Greek Lexicon
(Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1990) p. 315, c1, (3952).
“Parousia”
— Presence; a coming, arrival, advent.
Charles F. Pfeiffer,
John Rea, and Howard F. Vos, eds., Wycliffe Bible
Encyclopedia (Chicago: Moody Press, 1975) V2, p. 1392,
c1.
“Parousia”
— …Gr. Parousia in certain cases conveys the idea of
presence (II Cor. 10:10; Phil 2:12). …The word parousia
as an eschatological term signifies the moment of arrival of the
returning Christ plus His subsequent presence with His redeemed
people.
J. T. Pring,
The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Greek (Oxford: The
Cclarendon Press, 1982) p. 148, c1.
“Parousia”
— Presence, attendance.
Harry Rimmer,
The Coming King (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Co., 1941).
Harry Rimmer (D.D., Sc.D.),
who was styled “Fundamentalism’s outstanding spokesman” until
his death, admitted that the word parousia meant personal
presence. In his book,
The Coming King,
he observed that the Greek word parousia is used
13 times in describing the return of Christ and not once does it
have the thought of “coming.”
W. Robertson,
The Expositor’s Greek Testament (Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1974) V1, p. 289.
“Parousia” — Literally
presence, second presence.
Joseph Bryant
Rotherham, The Emphasized Bible, 3rd
ed., (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1984) Appendix,
p. 271.
In this edition the word
parousia is uniformly rendered “presence” (“coming,” as a
representative of this word, being set aside). The
original term occurs twenty-four times in the New Testament,
viz.: Matthew 24:3, 27, 37, 39; 1 Corinthians 15:23; 16:17; 2
Corinthians 7:6, 7; 10:10; Philippians 1:26; 2:12; 1
Thessalonians 2:19; 3:3; 4:15; 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 8, 9;
James 5:7, 8; 2 Peter 1:16; 3:4, 12; and 1 John 2:28. The sense
of “presence” is so plainly shown by the contrast with “absence”
(implied in 2 Corinthians 10:10, and expressed in Philippians
2:12) that the question naturally arises, Why not always so
render it? The more so, inasmuch as there is in 2 Peter 1:16
also, a peculiar fitness in our English word “presence.” This
passage, it will be remembered, relates to our Lord’s
transformation upon the Mount. The wonderful manifestation there
made was a display and sample of “presence” rather than of
“coming.” The Lord was already there; and, being there, he was
transformed (compare Matthew 17:2, footnote) and the “majesty”
of his glorified person was then disclosed. His bodily
“presence” was one which implied and exerted “power;” so that
“power and presence” go excellently well together — the “power”
befitting such a one and the same moment witnesses of both. The
difficulty expressed in the notes to the second edition of this
New Testament in the way of so yielding to this weight of
evidence as to render parousia always by “presence,” lay
in the seeming incongruity of regarding “presence” as an event
which would happen at a particular time and which would fall
into rank as one of a series of events, as 1 Corinthians 15:23
especially appeared to require. The translator still feels the
force of this objection, but is withdrawn from taking his stand
upon it any longer by the reflection that, after all, the
difficulty may be imaginary. The parousia, in any case,
is still in the future, and may therefore be enshrouded in a
measure of obscurity which only fulfillment can clear away: it
may, in fine, be both a period — more or less extended
during which certain things shall happen — and an event,
coming on and passing away as one of a series of divine
interpositions. Christ is raised as a firstfruit — that is one
event; He returns and vouchsafes his “presence,” during which he
raises his own — that is another event, however large and
prolonged; and finally comes another cluster of events
constituting “the end.” Hence, after all, “presence” may be the
most widely and permanently satisfying translation of the looked
for parousia of the Son of Man.
Ceslas Spicq, Theological
Lexicon of the New Testament, trans. and ed. James D.
Ernert (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994) V3, p. 53.
“Parousia”
—
Presence, arrival, visit, manifestation. Sometimes the presence
of persons or things. Sometimes arrival, coming, visit.
In the Helenistic
period it refers…either to a divine manifestation often very
close to epiphania or the formal visit of a sovereign,
his “joyous entry” into a city “that honors him as a god”…. In
line with these usages, the New Testament uses parousia
for the glorious coming of the Lord Jesus…. The royal and
imperial “visits.” There were great feasts…glory and joy on the
part of the people were in response to the prince’s active and
beneficent presence…
Merrill C. Tenny,
ed., The Zondervan Pictoral Encyclopedia of the Bible
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975) p. 601, c1.
The noun parousia (παρουσία)
which occurs twenty-four times in the New Testament, is a
compound form composed of the preposition παρά “along side,
beside” and the substantival form of the very είμι, “to be.” It
basically means “being along side of” and conveys the sense of
the English word “presence.” It is used in the New Testament of
a person’s presence as contrasted to his absence (Phil. 2:12).
It contains the thought of the “coming” or “arrival” of a person
as the first stage of his presence that is to follow.
Joseph Henry Thayer,
Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976) p. 490 c2.
“Parousia”
— 1. Presence… 2. The presence of one coming, hence the coming,
arrival, advent.
Archibald Robertson Thomas, Word
Pictures in the New Testament (New York: Harper and
Brothers Publishers, 1930), V1, p. 188.
“Parousia” — Presence as
opposed to absence (Phil. 2:12) … [p. 187] Presence, common in
the papyri for the visit of the emperor.
Robert L. Thomas,
ed., New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the
Bible (Nashville: Holman, 1981) p. 1673, c3.
#3952
Parousia from the present part. Of #3918b. A presence or
coming.
#3918b Pareimi — to be present, to have come.
Verlyn Verbrugge,
ed., The NIV Theological Dictionary of New Testament Words
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000) p. 978.
“Parousia”
— Presence, appearing, coming, advent. Denotes general presence
and arrival.
Marvin R. Vincent,
Word Studies in the New Testament (Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1946) V1, p. 127.
“Parousia”
— Originally presence, to be present. Also arrival.
W. E. Vine, An
Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words
(Westwood, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1962) p. 208.
“Parousia”
literally, a presence, para, with, and ousia,
being…denotes both an arrival and a consequent presence with.
Daniel D. Whedon,
Whedon’s Commentary, 14 Vols. (New York: Carlton &
Porter, Hunt & Eaton, 1866) p. 277.
The word parousia,
never in the whole New Testament, signifies anything else than
presence.
Robert Young,
Analytical Concordance to the Bible, 8th ed.
(London: Lutterworth Press) p. 770, c2.
“Parousia”
— A being alongside, presence.
Max Zerwick and Mary
Grosvenor, A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New
Testament, 4th
ed.,
(Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1981) p., 77 (Catholic).
“Parousia”
— Be at hand/present, presence; coming, arrival.
Christianity Today
(a well-known
evangelical magazine) published a series of essays on
“Fundamentals of the Faith.” The essay in booklet form on “The
Second Advent of Christ” had this to say about parousia:
“…let us look at the Greek words used in the New Testament for
the idea of the return. First of all, there is the word
parousia, which means basically ‘presence.’”
Bible Translations:
Parousia in Matthew 24:3.
American Standard
1901: “presence” is in
the footnote.
Concordant Greek
Text,
4th ed. (Canyon Country, CA: Concordant Publishing
Concern, 1975) p. 101, c2:
“beside being”
The Emphatic
Diaglott,
Benjamin
Wilson: “presence.”
Ferrar Fenton:
“presence.”
The Four Gospels and
the Revelation,
Richmond Lattimore:
“presence.”
The Interlinear
Hebrew/Greek English Bible,
Jay Green, Sr.
(Wilmington, DE: Associated Publishers and Authors, 1976):
“presence.”
The Interlinear
NASB-NIV Parallel New Testament in Greek and English,
Alfred
Marshall (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993) p. 77:
“presence.”
The Jerusalem Bible:
“presence” is in the footnote.
James Moffatt
(New
York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1935):
“arrival.”
The New Testament
from the Geek Text as Established by Bible Numerics,
Ivan Panin: “presence.”
Revised New
Testament,
Isaac H. Hall (Philadelphia: Hubbard Brothers Publishers):
“presence” in
margin.
The Unvarnished New
Testament,
Andy Gaus: “presence.”
Weymouth New
Testament,
(Third Edition, Boston Pilgrim Press, 1909):
“presence” is in the footnote.
Word Study
Greek-English New Testament,
Paul R. McReynolds, ed. (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1998): “presence.”
Young’s Literal
Translation of the Bible,
3rd ed., Robert Young (Grand Rapids: Baker Book
House, 1898) p. 18, NT: “presence.”
The Zondervan
Parallel New Testament in Greek and English
(Grand
Rapids: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1980) p. 79:
“presence.”
From Online Dictionaries:
Merriam-Webster
Online Dictionary:
“Greek,
literally, presence, from paront-, parOn, present participle of
pareinai to be present, from para- + einai to be …”
TheFreeDictionary.com
“Par·ou·si·a (pär  -s   , p-rz-) Greek
parousi ,
presence, Parousia, from parousa, feminine present
participle of pareinai, to be present : para-, beside;
see para-1 + einai, to be; see es- in
Indo-European roots.”
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