Pauline Eschatology

by Geerhardus Vos

The foreword describes this book as “a classic of unprecedented insight into the structure of Paul’s theology.” Vos’s basic thesis is that to unfold Paul’s eschatology is to set forth his theology as a whole, not just his teaching on Christ’s return. The author discusses the structure of Paul’s eschatology, the interaction between his eschatology and his soteriology, and the religious and ethical motivation of his eschatology. This volume also discusses the coming of the Lord and its precursors, the man of sin, the resurrection, chiliasm, the judgment, and the eternal state. The Pauline Eschatology, originally published in 1930, includes a bibliography and an appendix on the eschatology of the Psalter.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Christianity, Biblical Studies, New Testament

384 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1979

About the author

Geerhardus Johannes Vos was an American Calvinist theologian and one of the most distinguished representatives of the Princeton Theology. He is sometimes called the father of Reformed Biblical Theology.

Vos was born to a Dutch Reformed pastor in Heerenveen in Friesland in the Netherlands. In 1881, when Geerhardus was 19 years old, his father accepted a call to be the pastor of the Christian Reformed Church congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Geerhardus Vos began his education at the Christian Reformed Church's Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, before moving to Princeton Theological Seminary. He completed his studies in Germany, receiving his doctorate in Arabic Studies from the Philosophy Faculty of Strassburg University in 1888.

Herman Bavinck and Abraham Kuyper tried to convince Vos to become professor of Old Testament Theology at the Free University in Amsterdam, but Vos chose to return to America. Thus, in the Fall of 1888, Vos took up a position on the Calvin Theological Seminary faculty. In 1892, Vos moved and joined the faculty of the Princeton Theological Seminary, where he became its first Professor of Biblical Theology.

In 1894 he was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in the USA.

At Princeton, he taught alongside J. Gresham Machen and Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield and authored his most famous works, including: Pauline Eschatology (1930) and Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments (1948). Despite his opposition to the growing modernist influence at Princeton in the late 1920s, he decided to remain at Princeton Seminary after the formation of Westminster Theological Seminary by Machen, as he was close to retirement. Vos did indeed retire to California in 1932, three years after the formation of Westminster.

Vos's wife, Catherine, authored the well-known Child's Story Bible. She died in 1937, after 43 years of marriage. They had three sons and one daughter, and their son J. G. Vos studied at Princeton Theological Seminary and also became a minister.

Reviews

[Peyton Gunter]

This book had me questioning whether or not I am literate.

[Samuel G. Parkison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding in content. Laborious in form.

[Grant Carter]

Level of understanding first time: 5%
Level of understanding second time: 5.1%

[Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent survey of eschatology in Paul's letters, demonstrating how the eschatological concept pervades the Apostle's doctrine. No major concept in Psul's letters is devoid of the idea that we are in the final phase of redemptive history, looking toward final consummation.

Certainly, some of the content is outdated. Vos was addressing current debates in his day (see esp. the chapter on "Chiliasm"). This also predates issues such as the New Perspective and the newer Apocalyptic approaches to Paul. But it's no criticism to say a book is somewhat limited by when it was written.

This is a criticism: Vos included no section headings or clear outlines for each chapter. This makes the book unnecessarily difficult to follow in a number of places. I'd love to see a newly typeset edition of this work that adds headings. The 100th anniversary is coming up in just a few years -- that seems as good an opportunity as any! I would have rated the book 4/5 if it weren't for this.

Possibly the best chapter (or at least the most interesting to me) was the appended article on eschatology in the Psalter. The book is worth getting just for those 40+ pages!

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I could’ve read it even more slowly than I did, but alas, the obligations of seminary had me plowing through this book. Helpful things throughout, but also it’s a tough book to read. Vos was quite a brilliant man and is difficult to understand at times. Read this if you’d like to better understand, as an example, a reformed view of Paul’s eschatology and the millennium, and who the Antichrist is

[Lu Tsun · Rating 5 out of 5]

REVIEW Vos, Geerhardus. The Pauline Eschatology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1953.

The full-blown conception of the “two-age semi-eschatological scheme” arrived in Vos’s masterful thesis “The Eschatological Aspect of the Pauline Conception of the Spirit” of 1912.

Vos’s monumental master piece The Pauline Eschatology of 1930 was, in fact, an elaboration of viewpoints of this overlooked article of eighteen years earlier. The Pauline Eschatology was self-published after the reorganization of the Old Princeton Theological Seminary in 1929, leaving Vos a lonely orthodox voice in the institution.

The appearance of The Pauline Eschatology marked the apex of Vos’s career as a biblical theologian. In this masterful presentation, Vos demonstrated the most mature biblical-theological exegesis of I Cor. 15:35-50 and II Cor. 5:1-8 with great care and sensitivity.

Vos greatly enhanced the conventional view of revelation and interpreted it as an eschatological movement of world history, from Creation to Consummation, marked by the progressive self-unfolding character of redemptive history.

Furthermore, he draw the thread of the redemptive history in the past with the continuous heavenly blessedness given to the church at the present time, to the ultimate end time of eternal glory, through the spiritual union with Christ now experienced by faith in believers.

In this unparalleled presentation, Vos integrated the heavenly-earthly aspect and the now-future aspect of biblical eschatology into one organic whole. He treated the whole biblical revelation of the redemptive history as eschatological, and concluded that eschatology must precede history itself and philosophy, for God ordained the eschatological plan before the inauguration of the history. This renewed framework of eschatology was, undoubtedly, a Copernican revolution.

Vos is concerned about premillennialism in light of its discontinuity with Paul’s eschatological scheme. Vos severely critiqued Chiliasm as “psychologically” charged by its “eccentric interest in the superficial, visible, curiosity-attracting events in eschatological perspective (227).”

Vos's “two-age semi-eschatological scheme” has made exceptionally profound impact on the systematic theology in the Westminster Theological Seminary today, especially in the works of Dr. Richard Gaffin's By Faith, Not By Sight.

[Jacob Aitken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Painful, tortured prose. Great insights on the structure of New Testament eschatology and how it structures our view of salvation. Wonderful meditation on the Psalter.

His critiques of premillennialism actually conceded the strength of the position to premils.
He rightly contrasts Plato's Two-Worlds with Paul's Two-Ages, but he never fully capitalizes on that brilliant insight Indeed, one fears that if Vos is occasionally pressed hard enough, he himself would opt for the Platonic reading.

He gives a wonderful account of forensic justification's relation to eschatology. Also, good insights on Christ's relation to the Spirit. Doesn't develop any filioquist themes, but the material is certainly there.

Conclusion:

It was hard to get excited about this. I knew he had good insights but the style was so...yeah, that.

[Eric Yap · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easily (pun intended) one of the toughest books I've ever read. The reasons: 1) Vos' prose is too verbose, 2) engaging higher-critical view in NT scholarship that has been a bit dated (this was written in the 1930s), and 3) quite a handful of Greek exegesis going on.

Vos is known as the "father of Reformed biblical theology," and this is one of his signature works that has shaped the stream of biblical theology up to this very present time. In his time, "biblical theology" has not taken the distinct shape that it has now, so this work is more of a building block towards the stream of biblical theology we have now. Most prominently, Vos' paradigm-shifting contribution is that "already-not yet framework," or "inaugurated eschatology" to approaching the scripture as a unified whole redemptive history that is constructed upon an eschatology. The more mainstream scholarship usually associates this framework of biblical theology to names like Oscar Cullman, Albert Schweitzer, C. H. Dodd, and George Ladd, but Greg Beale noted that Vos' was the pioneer architect that constructed Pauline-biblical theology based on the eschatology of the OT and Pauline corpus ("Vos appears to be the first European or American scholar to espouse an already–not yet eschatology as a major theological approach to Paul!"). In fact, Richard Gaffin, in his preface to this work, noted that this work is an elaboration of Vos' magnificent but overlooked essay nearly two decades titled "The Eschatological Aspect of the Pauline Conception of the Spirit."

And so this is the central focus of this work, Vos examines with careful, detailed exegesis all the eschatological aspects in the entire Pauline corpus, including the parousia, the man of sin, the resurrection and the extent of it, the debate of Chiliasm (premil/postmil/amil), final judgement, the immediate and the eternal state and so on, all the while engaging the scholars of the higher criticism and Religionsgeschichtliche school. During the academic context of that time, the beliefs in divine inspiration, infallibility and authority have fallen on hard times, and higher criticism is the growing mainstream consensus. But in today's arena, the Scripture remains the anvil that has worn out many hammers, and not without the influence of Vos' seminal work and contribution of eschatological-biblical theology.

The chapters are not equally hard to read, and some of them grabbed my attention more than the rest. Chiefly it is the first two chapters on Pauline eschatology and the interaction between eschatology and soteriology, where the common phrase "eschatology precedes soteriology" was inspired from, and now continue to shape much of biblical theology in and outside of the Reformed tradition. The chapters on the resurrection and the extent of the resurrection were also magnificent, so much so that Vos' theological successor at Westminster Philadelphia, Richard Gaffin, really ran with it and made the resurrection the architectonic plate of Pauline soteriology-eschatology/redemptive history in his doctoral dissertation (not to eclipse the crucifixion, but to bring it to equal level). Others at WTS continue to develop this resurrection piece, like Crowe in the studies of Luke-Acts. Something interesting of note here is Vos' view of the resurrection (if I have not misread him), tended to lean towards being purely forensic and vindicative, i.e., that it is the pivot for the salvific benefit of justification. Though he does not EXPLICITLY separate the renovative and transformative aspect of salvation, i.e. progressive sanctification from the resurrection, he seems to describe the resurrection as mainly a forensic and vindicative event and does not seem to draw connection or equal attention to the salvific benefit of progressive sanctification:

"And this deeper principle is that of the acquisition of righteousness, a forensic principle through and through, and yet no less than the resurrection a transforming principle also. It is especially by considering the nexus between Christ and the believer that this can be most clearly perceived: in the justification of Christ lies the certainty and the root of the Christian's resurrection. For the supreme fruit of Christ's justification, on the basis of passive and active obedience, is nothing else but the Spirit, and in turn the Spirit bears in Himself the efficacious principle of all transformation to come, the resurrection with its entire compass included. Resurrection thus comes out of justification, and justification comes, after a manner most carefully to be defined, out of the resurrection; not, be it noted, out of the spiritual resurrection of the believer himself, but out of the resurrection of Christ. On the basis of merit this is so. Christ's resurrection was the de facto declaration of God in regard to his being just. His quickening bears in itself the testimony of his justification. God, through suspending the forces of death operating on Him, declared that the ultimate, the supreme consequence of sin had reached its termination. In other words, resurrection had annulled the sentence of condemnation."

Now I think Vos' instinct is to separate distinctly the forensic and the renovative benefits, as the Reformers contended as one of the main issues against the Roman Catholic Church. Place in today's more niche debate in the Reformed academics (if I have not misread him), Vos would lean towards the Westminster Cali's camp (Horton, R Scott Clark, Fesko?), that postulate justification as the pivot and crux of all salvific benefits, that "sanctification flows from justification" (oversimplifying it here), over against Westminster Phila (Gaffin, Ferguson, Tipton, Garner, my own personal position) that hangs both justification and sanctification on the crucial piece of union with Christ as distinct but inseparable benefits. But it is perhaps unfair to place Vos in a modern debate that he was not acquainted with nor was it a contention of his time. Vos does describe some transformative aspect of the resurrection, but he seems to describe it as the "somatic-eschatological" transformation at the parousia, at least if I had understood him correctly.

The chapter on Chilialism (an earthly political-millennia kingdom) was also great for me. Vos contended greatly against "purely literalistic exegesis" of the premil and dispensationalists position (sorry MacArthur), and even suggested that a psychological study of the advocates of premillennialism/dispy could shed some light on their "this earthly political hope":

"It must be admitted, however, that the likelihood of finding Chiliasm in Paul is not favored by the trend of the Apostle's teaching as a whole. Not merely does his general concatenation of eschatological events, in which the parousia and the resurrection of believers are conjoined with the judgment exclude every intermediate stage of protracted duration, it is of even more importance that Paul conceives of the present Christian state, ideally considered, as lived on so high a plane that nothing less nor lower than the absolute state of the eternal consummate Kingdom appears worthy to be its sequel. To represent it as followed by some intermediate condition falling short of the perfect heavenly life would be in the nature of an anti-climax. It is, as shown before, of the very essence of salvation that it correlates the Christian's state with the great issues of the last day and the world to come. And in this connection it should be once more observed, that what the earthly Christian state anticipates is in each case something of an absolute nature, pertaining to the eternal life. No matter with what concrete elements or colors the assumed Chiliastic règime be filled out, nevertheless to a mind so nourished upon the very firstfruits of eternal life, it can for the very reason of its falling short of eternal life, have had little significance or attraction."

Now, would I recommend this book? Honestly, it took way longer to read this than I thought (close to 2 months), and it was even harder to read than his OT eschatology, mainly for the reasons I have stated above. If it is not for that fact that I have been familiarized with Vos' contributions because of the work of his theological successors in the Reformed tradition (mainly Gaffin, Beale, Garner for me), I would have an even greater struggle and would leave with little gain from this book. Vos' writing style is really verbose because he tends to say too many things and use too many words to describe a single idea. Nevertheless, the effect of his writing style is that some chunks of paragraphs, especially in coming to conclude an idea, can be really eloquent and moving, and that is the strength of his chapel sermons (Grace and Glory) that I've enjoyed reading devotionally. But it doesn't work really well in an academic work full of Greek exegesis, sidetracking to an idea or two often when it comes to an engagement with the higher criticism or less conservative views, and the result is one easily lose the train of thought and development halfway through a paragraph. Unless you are a fanboy like me, go read his chapel sermons, or read the works of Gaffin (Ressurection and Redemption, Paul and the Order of Salvation), Beale (A New Testament Biblical-Theology), Garner (Sons in the Son), and easily many more modern authors/scholars that write on Reformed biblical theology, or the "already-not yet/inaugurate eschatology" framework (Don Carson) and you will see the far-reaching effects and contributions of Geerhardus Vos.

[Anne Michal]

Vos won this round

[Adam Nesmith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first couple chapters of this book are a Copernican shift in how you think about eschatology. No other recent book I’ve read has helped my reading and understanding of the New Testament more than this one. Is Vos dense? Incredibly so. Do I need to re read this book if and when I learn Greek and Hebrew? For sure. But the big ideas this book puts forward will help you understand Paul’s letters so much more.

I found the book after the first couple chapters less paradigm shattering and more solid expositions of different topics in eschatology. I think my appreciation for those chapters was less merely because the first chapters were so brilliant. Another slight complaint is a lot of the scholars Vos engages with in this book are now around 100 years old. But I learned a lot in each chapter, and I especially appreciated Vos analytic methodology as he engaged with and refuted different scholars

As a final point: the edition I have has an amazing paper on the eschatology of the Psalter put in as an appendix. It is a must read. That paper alone is worth the price of the book and is just as eye opening as the first chapters of the main text.

If you think you have a good grasp of the New Testament and need a challenging book to engage your thinking, I highly recommend Vos.

[Josh Pannell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Groundbreaking! Most modern biblical theology work has been built upon this volume. Indispensable for biblical theological studies.

[Kelle Craft · Rating 5 out of 5]

So thankful for Vos. Not an easy read but well worth a slow reading to digest his condensed thought

[James Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

It can be a slog in certain areas (opening with a lengthy word study), but Vos is extremely gifted in laying out Paul's thought. In summation, Paul's view of our hope is in an Eternity with God, Life empowered by the Spirit in this age, and Union with Christ. Our hope is in Divine Intervention, not in the Work of Man.

[Grayce Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Eschatology… yields ipso facto a philosophy of history.… All eschatological interpretation of history, when united to a strong religious mentality cannot but produce the finest practical theological fruitage. To take God as source and end of all that exists and happens, and to hold such a view suffused with the warmth of genuine devotion, stands not only related to theology as the fruit stands to the tree: it is by reason of its essence a veritable theological tree of life.” (Vos, 61)

The Pauline Eschatology was both dense and devotional. I knew it would be a more demanding read, but it was truly worth the time commitment and the effort. A few brief notes:

1. Vos is really competent and capable in defending his interpretations of Paul. He sets forth dozens of varying interpretations (which differ in degree as to how heretical/mistaken they are) and is faithful in dealing with each opposing view. Even when he could have resorted to the inerrancy of Scripture to answer faulty interpretations (which often assume error or disagreement in Scripture itself), he argues against these interpretations from the textual evidence.

2. Vos is helpful in understanding the centrality of the concept of the pilgrim life of believers on earth. We are strangers and aliens, citizens of another kingdom. Our life as believers follows the pattern of Christ’s life: suffering, then glory.

3. Again and again, Vos reiterates the certain hope we have in Christ. “The ultimate is in a very important sense the normative.” The consummate Kingdom of God informs and shapes our lives now. The new age is breaking into this world, and the life-giving Spirit is ours in Christ and he will be faithful to preserve and sanctify us.

4. Finally, Vos reminds us that the Age to Come will not be boring. It is the perfect, divinely-orchestrated telos of all things. The joy of the people of God will be complete in our personal fellowship with him. We will enjoy his inexhaustible fullness without tedium.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Already, Not Yet" from before it was cool.

"Only one thing more, and that of supreme importance, needs to be remembered: all eschatological interpretation of history, when united to a strong religious mentality cannot but produce the finest practical theological fruitage. To take God as source and end of all that exists and happens, and to hold such a view suffused with the warmth of genuine devotion, stands not only related to theology as the fruit stands to the tree: it is by reason of its essence a veritable theological tree of life." P 61.

"A so-called called Christianity proving cold or hostile towards the interests of the life to come has ceased to be Christianity in the historic sense of the word." P 63.

"2 Thess. belongs among the many prophecies, whose best and final exegete will be the eschatological fulfilment, and in regard to which it behooves the saints to exercise a peculiar kind of eschatological patience." P 133.

"It is the special function of the Church to speak unceasingly and unfalteringly for this one supreme aspect of the future world, to insist in season and out of season that in it God and the service of God are to the highest good and satisfaction of mankind, that without which all other desirable things will lose their value and abiding significance." P. 358 (from "The Eschatology of the Psalms").

"The Church of Christ in all its complex service to the world can never forget that its primary concern is to call man into and prepare them for the life eternal. Now, if one compares these obvious facts with the spirit in which the modern humanitarian estimates this life and the future life in their relative importance, it cannot be denied, that the Christian point of view is not only not always consistently maintained, but that sometimes it is openly scorned and rejected. The taunt of the masses, who feel themselves discriminated against in the treasures and comforts of this world, is that religion seeks to reconcile them to their spoiling of the present with the promise of an illusory or at best doubtful future. The temptation is strong to overcome this prejudice through giving greater prominence to the secular advantage connected with the Christian life and promoted by Christian activity... Leaving for a moment higher things out of account, it is obvious that from the Christian standpoint no greater injury can be done to the true progress and healing of humanity in this present evil world than to make it promises and offer it remedies which have no vital connection with the hope of eternal life." P. 363-4 (from "The Eschatology of the Psalms").

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting little work addressing Paul's theology through the lens of eschatology. At times it is closely argued exegesis; at other times he is waxing poetic on some topic, such as the concept of "eternality" or the work of the Holy Spirit. When he stays out of the weeds of combating early-twentieth century liberal scholarship, he writes well.

Why does he approach Paul through the topic of eschatology? It's simple. As Vos puts it, "the ultimate is in a very important sense the normative, that to which every preceding stage will have to conform itself to prove the genuineness of its Christian character." Vos applies this most forcefully to the concept of hope. Does hope save? Properly understood, I would argue that it does. And what is eschatology if not the concept of that hope? And the fuel of the Christian life is that future hope imported into the days of the here and now.

[Dwayne Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

You see things on this site about the "painful, tortured prose" - that the book "isn't in English." It's true that Vos had poor prose style, but he's no more (or less!) unreadable here than in Biblical Theology. Go slow and rephrase his ideas in your notes.

It's also true that Vos spends some time engaging long-dead German critics. These parts are easy to skim if you desire, but they do demonstrate how a faithful Christian does the work of apologia in a scholarly sphere. I found it encouraging to see how Vos rebutted the arguments of higher criticism and de-spiritualizing liberalism.

Reading Vos' related essay, The Eschatological Aspect of the Pauline Conception of the Spirit, will serve as a useful introduction to the book.

The content will expand your mind. You can find better summaries elsewhere, but in general Vos demonstrates how Paul "reasons backward" from his eschatology - his understanding of the eternal state, Spirit, the glorified Christ, the world-age that was vs. the one to come - into all areas of his theology.

So Paul's soteriology, doctrines on the spirituality of the Church, etc., are actually informed by his conception of what we broadly think of as "end times" rather than the other way around. In the process Vos conducts an exploration of both Pauline theology and eschatology, with a focus on their interaction. It will expand your mind and change the way you view your current state in Christ.

If you're like me and your first exposure to systematic theology was through Grudem, you'll also see the surprising inadequacy of Grudem's doctrines of the Spirit, e.g. “The work of the Holy Spirit is to manifest the active presence of God in the world, and especially in the church.” Vos finds in Paul a vision of the Spirit as a dynamic, personal, world-age-creating and making-new energy on a scale far beyond Grudem.

I've gone on long enough, but this is material worth struggling through. Although if you know an interpreter of Vos more easily recommended, let me know.

[Mark Seeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is profound and deep; a theological masterpiece written back in the 30's. Vos was a professor of theology back in the day of "Old Princeton." Especially his material on the resurrection of Christ from the dead and the intersection of that with the work of the Spirit provides fascinating insights into the Apostle Paul's theology. The book as a whole is quite rewarding to read, but saying that, it is also very dense and difficult read. That is why I gave it 3 stars. It will take quite a bit of patience and labor to get through it let alone understand it. Vos was a Dutchman. His background and writing style does not translate very well into standard English, plus the several Greek words and hyphenated words make it very challenging. I first read Pauline Eschatology back in 1980 after I graduated from Seminary.

[Ronnie Nichols · Rating 3 out of 5]

From time to time you come across a writer who you have a hard time connecting with. Vos is one of those writers for me. Do not get me wrong. Pauline Eschatology is a very good resource, biblically sound, and very helpful in understanding the "study of last things" from the Apostle Paul's writings and perspective. However, I found myself often rereading paragraphs and at times whole pages to get on board with the writers train of thought. I would recommend this book to any of you amillennialists out there who want to fill in the blanks on what we believe and why. I am afraid that many would find this book challenging and dull.

[Caleb Burkhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

If one is willing to sift through all the Germanic prose, then you will find gold that makes you long for the eschaton. Vos is a gift to the church, and his exegesis of Paul is a rare find. Essentially, Vos is arguing that eschatology is just as much of a strand of Paul's theology as soteriology and christology are, and I think that Vos does more than a fine job at arguing that. His discussions on the anti-christ, the resurrection, chiliasm, and the final judgment provoke many questions, all while making you want to go back and read Scripture. Lastly, his discussion on the Psalter in the appendix is a banger.

[Joshua Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good. Reading this you can tell how much of an impact this had on writers like Fesko and Gaffin - in many ways their theology is a development of throw-away lines and unexplained points that Vos makes. The section on the extent of the resurrection was very thought provoking and has made me want to do some serious study on Conditional Immortality, not that that's what Vos was arguing for, but it seems to me that his exegesis would lead there. The Eschatology of the Psalter was a brilliant appendix.

3.5 ⭐

[Peter Stonecipher · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Pauline Eschatology is not easy reading, but it is worthwhile. Vos meticulously unpacks and exegetes pertinent texts to build out a robust representation of Paul's theology of the eschaton. This volume ends with a bang, not a whimper, with the inclusion of Vos' "Eschatology of the Psalter". Not only is this one of the best introductions to the theology of the Psalms I've ever read, his concluding remarks on the mission of the church are worth the price of the whole book.

[Timothy Decker · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important contribution to Pauline theology.

[Philip Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bang on.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant and insightful but very difficult to read.

[Chris Land · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book is very academic and can be wordy. Otherwise, a good reference in the study of eschatology

[Timothy Tumutod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vos makes Ridderbos’s “Paul” readable.

[Scott Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps the best of its kind, but often times needs translation/simplification.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vos is dense, at times almost impenetrably so. And sections of his exegesis are given to debunking views no longer current in the academy. That said, there is a lot of meat in this book - more than one reading can take in!

Second reading: leave aside the "husk" of interaction with early 20th century scholars, and you are left with the (rather large) kernel of a vital insight into Pauline theology: eschatology is soteriology, and vice versa.

[John Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

While very helpful and illuminating, this is a book that will require multiple readings in the future before I will be able to fully appreciate the depth and richness. I would encourage those from a Chiliastic background to read Herman Bavinck's THE LAST THINGS first, but with the goal of eventually reading Vos.