The Second Coming
The doctrine of the Second Coming (or Second Advent or return of Christ) is found throughout the New Testament: in all four gospels, the apostle Paul’s epistles, the letters of Peter, James, John, and the book of Revelation.
The Second Coming is the grand event at the end of history as we know it, when Jesus Christ will come again in glory from heaven in the clouds as King of kings to bring victory over all the enemies of God and his people.
It is the time when dead believers will come out of their tombs and believers then alive be transformed to receive a glorified, resurrected body that is immortal and incorruptible. It is the time when the Last Judgment will be held.
The return of Christ will be visible and physical, and it will be final.
The Second Coming is clearly taught in the Scriptures and Jesus Christ himself spoke of it. Yet the expression itself does not occur in the Bible.
The scriptural passage closest to the expression ‘Second Coming’ might be Heb. 9:28 which speaks of Christ who, offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time.
There are a number of Greek terms that the inspired writers of the Holy Scriptures have employed to refer to the Second Coming:
The primary term used for the return of Christ is “parousia”. Its literal meaning can be either “presence” or “arrival”. Overall the New Testament uses the term “parousia” 24 times, out of these sixteen times it is referring to the Second Coming:
parousia (παρουσια) (Matt. 24:3.27.37.39, 1 Cor. 15:23, 1 Thess. 2:19, 3:13, 4:15, 5:23, 2 Thess. 2:1, 2:8, James 5:7-8, 2 Peter 3:4.12, 1 John 2:28)
In other instances the term is not used in reference to the Second Coming, but of the arrival of certain individuals, such as in 2 Cor. 7:6-7 the coming of Titus, 2 Cor. 10:10 and Phil. 1:26 the presence of Paul, or in 2 Thess. 2:9 the arrival of the evil one.
Another term used for the Second Coming is “epiphaneia” which means “appearing”. It is used in 1 Tim. 6:14, 2 Tim. 4:1.8, Titus 2:13 and in 2 Thess. 2:8 in combination with “epiphaneia parousia” (appearance of his coming, ESV, NASB). As with “parousia”, “epiphaneia” is not used exclusively for the Second Coming; in 2 Tim. 1:10 the term is clearly referring to Christ’s first coming.
Besides these three nouns, there are a couple of verbs that the inspired writers used when speaking about the Second Coming:
The most common verb is “comes” (erchomai), which can be used in a wide range of settings, but in some instances is unambiguously a reference to the Second Coming (Matt. 24:42.50, 25:31, Mark 13:.35, Luke 12:40.46, John 14:3, Acts 1:11, 1 Cor. 4:5, 2 Thess. 1:10).
Other verbs referring to the Second Coming are “appears” (φανερωθη) as in John 2:28, 3:2; “revealed” (αποχαλνπτεται) as in Luke 17:30; and “descend” (κσυσβηαεται) as in 1 Thess. 2:16.
Still, in other cases the Second Coming is simply referred to as “the day”, sometimes with qualifiers, such as in Luke 21:34, Rom. 2:5.16, 1 Cor. 1:8, 3:13, 5:15, 2 Cor. 1:14, Eph 4:30, Phil. 1:6.10, 2:16, 1 Thess. 5:2, 2 Thess. 2:2, 2 Tim. 1:12, 4:8, 2 Peter 3:12, 1 John 4:17.