Partial Preterism vs. Full Preterism

Some readers might be familiar with the term “preterism”, and some might have been warned to stay away from preterism. This might be due to the fact that what is called “full preterism” is heretical, such that it denies the future and final coming of Christ to judge the whole world and to usher in the consummation of the kingdom of God. But what’s the difference between “partial preterism” and “full preterism”, and is the distinction based on the Scriptures?

Redemptive-Historical Preterism

Readers will notice that the position that I hold to and will present in this blog is partial preterism, or also known as “redemptive-historical preterism”. To make it clear, full preterists believe that all of Revelation has been fulfilled in AD 70 or some time in the first few centuries after the ascension of Christ. Partial preterists believe that most of Revelation has been fulfilled in AD 70 or some time in the first few centuries after the ascension of Christ, but there is still a final coming of Jesus in the future to usher in the consummation of the kingdom.

Now this distinction is not arbitrary, that is, partial preterists did not decide that most of Revelation has been fulfilled so that these preterists would not be considered heretics. Rather, as I will show when we reach Revelation 20, there is biblical warrant to believe that most of Revelation has been fulfilled in AD 70, but that the scenes depicted as taking place at the end of the millennium are to occur in the future at the final coming of Christ, which has not taken place to date. Therefore, partial preterists come to their distinctive conclusions based on the textual evidence, as I hope to demonstrate in this blog.

For the readers who are new to preterism in general, I hope that this blog will help to demonstrate that a redemptive-historical preterist interpretation of the text is biblical and quite simple to grasp in light of the Old Testament allusions found throughout Revelation, but also the New Testament background in which John wrote, that is, in light of the teachings of Jesus and the apostles as recorded in the NT.

Soli Deo gloria!