Did Paul Want to Come Shortly?

I want you to consider inmillennialism,¹ a model for interpreting prophecy based on the Olivet Discourse and 1 Corinthians 15. This view supports an optimistic view of the kingdom of God—Jesus Christ is reigning and is subduing all His enemies. His ultimate conquest will be over death, in the bodily resurrection of the saints (1 Cor 15:25–26). In the meantime, He is blessing us, His church, to wage spiritual warfare with the weapons He has supplied (2 Cor 10:3–5). We will succeed and eventually, in this age, all nations will serve Christ (Ps 2:7–8; 72:6–11; 110:1; Matt 28:18–20; etc.).

Other prophetic models obscure this optimistic vision and substitute a gloomy prospect for the church in history. For example, George Eldon Ladd says the following about our spiritual battle: “Since these enemies are spiritual enemies—Satanic enemies—this is a victory that neither men nor the church can win.”²

Time texts play an essential role in these competing visions, and I want to use Paul’s words to Timothy to show how this works.³ The Apostles, says, 

These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly (Gk. tachos); but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1 Tim 3:14–15)

Historical pessimists interpret prophecies using amillennialism, historic premillennialism, or dispensational premillennialism. In most cases, they take time statements, like Paul’s shortly, at face value in non-prophetic contexts like this one. For example, William D. Mounce says, “Paul tells Timothy that he is hoping to visit him soon.”⁴ All is clear in this case.

And writers of this pessimistic persuasion have no issue with this word (shortly) in the following passages: 

Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly (Gk. tachos)!” And his chains fell off his hands. (Acts 12:7)

Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance and saw Him saying to me, “Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly (Gk. tachos), for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.” (Acts 22:17–18)

Festus answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself was going there shortly (Gk. tachos). (Acts 25:4)

The angel meant for Peter to get up immediately. Paul needed to leave the temple precincts before much time elapsed. And Festus intended to travel to Caesarea soon.

But commentators often change their perspective when dealing with the same word or concepts in prophetic passages. For example, consider the following passage where Jesus says:

Shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily (Gk. tachos). Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:7–8)

The Lord links the vindication of his elect to his coming and says it will happen speedily: “Will He delay to help them? I tell you that He will swiftly grant them justice” (Luke 18:7–8 HCSB). Still, because this is a prophetic context, Walter L. Liefeld says this refers to “the end of history.… God patiently listens to his elect as they pray in their continuing distress, waiting for the proper time to act on their behalf.”⁵ According to this view, God did not avenge his elect immediately, or before much time elapsed, or in the near future. It’s been almost two thousand years since Jesus spoke these words. No swiftness here!

Consider another example: to the Romans, Paul said, “The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly (Gk. tachos)” (Rom 16:20). Did God do this as Paul taught? Well, no, at least according to one commentator: “Paul means … not that the victory will be near, but that it will be speedily gained, once the conflict is begun.”⁶ 

How so? Did the angel mean for Paul to arise speedily once he started to do so? Did Christ mean for Paul to leave Jerusalem whenever he wished but sprint once he started? No, so why change the meaning in this prophetic context? And, if God crushed Satan in Paul’s near future, the way is open for an optimistic view of the ensuing messianic (kingdom) age.

The Bookends of Revelation post provides my last example. In his opening, John writes, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly (Gk. tachos) take place” (Rev 1:1). He closes by saying, “The Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly (Gk. tachos) take place” (Rev 22:6). “These things” include the coming of the Lord, the “great tribulation,” the evil works of the Beast, etc. But commentators use creative devices to avoid these explicit statements. Their prophetic models will not allow Revelation to be about events in John’s near future, so they use elastic time (a thousand years is as a day), dual fulfillment, prophetic foreshortening (these things only appeared to be soon), an already-not-yet perspective, and other devices to explain why “shortly” does not mean soon in these places. Their assumptions require another meaning.

Conclusion

I’ve used the Greek word tachos to show this shift in meaning because I’m working through 1 Timothy. But this phenomenon is widespread; commentators make definition changes for other terms and concepts in prophetic contexts.

I’m not saying that contexts should never affect word meanings; some changes are legitimate. However, when a prior commitment to a prophetic model forces consistent changes in one direction like this, we will do well to examine the assumptions and dynamics at play.

I recommend a model like inmillennialism that does not require these time statement changes. You will find that the kingdom God established in the “last days” of the Mosaic age will “not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (Dan 2:44). One day, in this age, “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isa 11:9; cp. Hab 2:14). A consistent interpretation of the Bible’s time texts leads to historical optimism.

Paul meant he wanted to come to Timothy soon, and Jesus meant He would return soon in His victorious kingdom to crush Satan’s head (Matt 16:27–28; Rom 16:20).

1. For a full-length account of this prophetic model, see Michael A. Rogers, Inmillennialism: Redefining the Last Days (Tullahoma, TN: McGahan Publishing House, 2020). It is available here. For a summary, see the free PDF here.
2. George Eldon Ladd, The Last Things: An Eschatology for Laymen (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 47.
3. The image in this post is Apostle Paul by Rembrandt (1606–69). This file (here) is in the public domain (PD-US).
4. William D. Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, vol. 46 of Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, 2000), 219.
5. Walter L. Liefeld, “Luke,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984), 1000 (emphasis added).
6. Everett F. Harrison, “Romans,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans through Galatians, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), 168 (emphasis added). Harrison is quoting Frederic Louis Godet.