R.C. Sproul
 PARTIAL PRETERIST

Comments RKM: (For How Long !!)

"Maybe the terms that best describe the two positions are Full Preterism and Partial Preterism. Both are Preterits with respect to some eschatological events, but both are not Preterits with respect to all eschatological events. The terms full and partial can then be safely applied to these two positions."

“I share Gentry’s concerns about full Preterism, particularly on such issues as the consummation of the kingdom and the resurrection of the dead.”  (Sproul, Quoted by Swanson - Reformation or Retrogression?)

Memoriam "No one, with the exception of Karl Barth, ever had as many American students study under him as did Berkouwer. Among those students was R. C. Sproul."

Sproul, Sandlin and Hibbard | Interview with Sproul | The Last Days According to Jesus (1998) | Video Series, Dust to Glory (1997)

The Judgment on Jerusalem according to History
Destruction of the temple
Heavenly phenomena	- A star resembling a sword - A comet (Halley's Comet) - A bright light shing around the altar and the temple - A vision of chariots and soldiers running around among the clouds and all cities of Palestine.
Earthly phenomena (reported by priests)	- A quaking - A great noise - The sounds of a great multitude saying, "Let us remove hence."  Source: The Last Days According to Jesus, R.C. Sproul

 

"Obviously the full Preterists have no desire to deviate from Scripture. They bear the burden in this controversy of showing that creedal orthodoxy has been wrong at crucial points of eschatological understanding." (The Last Days According to Jesus, RC Sproul, pp.156-157)

Objection to Preterism  "To maintain that these events [the Olivet teaching] were indeed fulfilled in the first century, one must interpret the relevant passages in a way that makes early fulfillment possible. The most severe obstacle [to that] is the absence of any historical record that the rapture of the living and the resurrection of the dead occurred." (R.C. Sproul, The Last Days According to Jesus, Baker Books, 1998, pg 161)

"The first difficulty is that it [Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 15] involves propositions and assertions that can be neither verified nor falsified empirically. ... if one announces or predicts things that will take place in the arena of real history involving physical reality, then empirical verification becomes relevant and crucial...It is unfortunate that the apostle failed to alert the Corinthians-and us, by extension-that he was speaking of a secret, hidden, spiritual resurrection. His language certainly suggests something else, particularly as Paul so clearly conjoins the resurrection of our bodies with the resurrection of Christ's body. The resurrected Christ is the first fruits of all who will be raised." (R.C. Sproul, The Last Days According to Jesus, Baker Books, 1998, pg 162)

But...

"To be completely candid, I must confess that I am still unsettled on some crucial matters." (Last Days, pp. 157-158)

"Maybe the terms that best describe the two positions are full Preterism and partial Preterism. Both are Preterits with respect to some eschatological events, but both are not Preterits with respect to all eschatological events. The terms full and partial can then be safely applied to these two positions."

"Russell's book has forced me to take the events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem far more seriously than before, to open my eyes to the radical significance of this event in redemptive history.  It vindicates the apostolic hope and prediction of our Lord's close-at-hand coming in judgment.  My view on these matters remains in transition, as I have spelled out in The Last Days According to Jesus.  But for me one thing is certain:  I can never read the New Testament again the same way I read it before reading The Parousia.  I hope better scholars than I will continue to analyze and evaluate the content of J. Stuart Russell's important work." ("Forward," in The Parousia (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999)
 

(On the Significance of A.D.70)
"We conclude that the day of visitation refers partly to the incarnation. This event brought a double-edged crisis. Jesus’ earthly ministry brought the gracious presence of God’s redemption to those who received him, but set the stage for a soon-to-occur visitation of wrath and judgment to Jerusalem and the impenitent children of Israel." (R.C. Sproul on Luke 19:43-44 , The Last Days According To Jesus, p.81)

"The most significant, redemptive, historical action that takes place outside the New Testament, is the judgment that falls on Jerusalem, and by which judgment the Christian Church now emerges as The Body of Christ." (R.C. Sproul, Dust to Glory video series, 1997)

"While partial Preterists acknowledge that in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D.70 there was a Parousia, or coming of Christ, they maintain that it was not the Parousia." (The Last Days (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998, 158.)

 

(On Early Date of Revelation)
"If the book of Revelation was written after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, it seems strange that John would be silent about these cataclysmic events. Granted this is an argument from silence, but the silence is deafening. Not only does Revelation not mention the temple's destruction as a past event, it frequently refers to the temple as still standing. This is seen clearly in Revelation 11 ...Gentry gives impressive evidence to support this conclusion." (Last Days, pp.147-149)

“If the Book of Revelation was written after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, it seems strange that John would be silent about these cataclysmic events.  Granted this is an argument from silence, but the silence is deafening.” (The Last Days According to Jesus, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998; p. 147)

"If the sixth king is Vespasian, then we still fall short of the reign of Domitian, which is the time-frame usually given for the book of Revelation." (The Last Days According to Jesus; p. 146)

"A more natural approach, however, is to begin the list of kings with Julius Caesar, as was the custom of ancient historians such as Josephus and Suetonius, as well as Dio Cassius.  In this series (see table 6.3, option 3), the sixth king is Nero.  If he is the king referred to in Revelation in the present tense, then this adds considerable wright to the argument for dating the book in the mid- to late-sixties." (ibid., p. 147)

(On Matthew 24:1-3)
"To first-century Jews it was unthinkable that such catastrophic events as the destruction of the Herodian temple, the devastation of the holy city of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the Jewish people to the four corners of the earth could take place in the foreseeable future.  Such events were eminently not foreseeable, save to one who had information from the omniscient God himself."  (Last Days, pp.13)

(On Matthew 24:34)
"The most critical portion of this text is Jesus' declaration that 'this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place." (The Last Days According to Jesus, p.16)

(On Creeds and Tradition)
"Personally, I cringe at the idea of going against such a unified and strong testimony to the historic faith, even though I grant the possibility that they [the historic creeds] are wrong at points. All who are inclined to differ with the creeds should observe a warning light and show great caution. Of course this warning light pales in comparison to the authority of Scripture itself .... To be completely candid, I must confess that I am still unsettled on some crucial matters." (Last Days, pp. 157-158)

"Obviously the full Preterists have no desire to deviate from Scripture. They bear the burden in this controversy of showing that creedal orthodoxy has been wrong at crucial points of eschatological understanding."(The Last Days According to Jesus, RC Sproul, pp.156-157)

(On Second Coming and Deity of Christ)
"..the skeptism expressed by [Bertrand] Russell on these matters is by no means limited to him, but is the axe that is ground by a host of higher-criticism scholars of the Bible.. the chief ground for the radical criticism of modern biblical scholarship, which has resulted in a wholesale attack on the trustworthiness of Scripture and a far-reaching skepticism  ..is the thesis that the Gospels' records of Jesus' predictions contain glaring errors and gross inaccuracies ..The problem, however, is that Russell's is not a lone voice in recent history.  His criticisms are echoed by a multitude of highly learned specialists in the field of biblical studies... In seminary I was exposed daily to critical theories espoused by my professors regarding the Scriptures.  What stands out in my memory of those days is the heavy emphasis on biblical texts regarding the return of Christ, which were constantly cited as examples of errors in the New Testament and proof that the text had been edited to accommodate the crisis in the early church caused by the so-called Parousia-delay of Jesus." [The Last Days,  (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998), 14-15).]

"It is my fear that evangelicals today tend to underplay the significance of the problems inherent in Russell's assumptions." (ibid, p. 17)

"..skeptical criticism of the Bible has become almost universal in the world.  And people have attacked the credibility of Jesus.  Maybe some Church fathers made a mistake.  Maybe our favorite theologians have made mistakes.  I can abide with that.  I can't abide with Jesus being a false prophet, because if I am to understand that Jesus is a false prophet, my faith is in vain."  ("The Problem of Imminency" presentation, Covenant Eschatology Symposium, Mt. Dora, FL 1993)