Presence (3952) parousia by Greek Word Studies

Coming (3952) (parousia) is a combination of two Greek words para = with, alongside + ousia = being (ousia is the participial form of the verb eimi = to be) which together literally mean to be alongside. See related study on Imminency, Imminent - Christ's Second Coming Most lexicons in fact state that parousia is derived from pareimi (from para = near, with + eimi = to be) which means to be present, to be nearby, to have come. Parousia then literally means a being beside or a presence. The word denotes both an arrival and a consequent presence with. Parousia conveys the thought of an arrival (advent or coming) of a person to a place plus the idea of their presence at that place until a certain event transpires. The word parousia has no English equivalent and therefore is often transliterated in writings. John MacArthur writes that... Parousia refers to more than just coming; it includes the idea of “presence.” Perhaps the best English translation would be “arrival.” The church’s great hope is the arrival of Jesus Christ when He comes to bless His people with His presence. That glorious truth appears in more than 500 verses throughout the Bible. (Macarthur J. James. Moody or Logos) (Bolding added) Parousia - 24x in 24v in the NT (none in non-apocryphal Septuagint) -Mt 24:3, 27, 37, 39; 1 Cor 15:23; 16:17; 2 Cor 7:6f; 10:10; Phil 1:26; 12" class="scriptRef">2:12; 1 Thess 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23; 2 Thess 2:1, 8, 9; Jas 5:7f; 2 Pet 1:16; 3:4, 12; 1 John 2:28 NAS = coming - 22x and presence-2x. Note that parousia is used 3 times by Peter in this brief letter. In an ancient Greek letter a lady speaks of the necessity of her parousia in a place in order to attend to matters relating to her property there. Moulton and Milligan have these secular quotes... the repair of what has been swept away by the river requires my presence “we await your presence,” (a man to his “brothers) it is no use if a person comes too late for what required his presence In another secular Greek writing we find parousia used to refer to the coming of a king or other noted official (see note below). In the visit of the ruler was accompanied by magnificent ceremonies, delicacies to eat, gifts of money, street improvements, new buildings, addressing of complaints and requests! Sounds like the coming of the King to take His throne in the 1000 year Millennial or Messianic Kingdom! Moulton and Milligan add that... What, however, more especially concerns us in connexion with the NT usage of parousia is the quasi-technical force of the word from Ptolemaic times onwards to denote the “visit” of a King, Emperor, or other person in authority, the official character of the “visit” being further emphasized by the taxes or payments that were exacted to make preparations for it. Thus in P Petr II. 39(e)18 (iii/b.c.) mention is made of contributions for a “crown” (stephanou) to be presented to the King on his “arrival” (parousias), and in a letter of b.c. 264 or 227, P Grenf II. 14(b)2, a certain Appenneus writes that he has prepared “for the visit of Chrysippus” (the dioecetes) by laying in a number of birds for his consumption. Other examples from the papyri are P Par 26i. 18 (b.c. 163–2) (= Selections, p. 15), where the Serapeum Twins lay their grievances before King Ptolemy Philometor and Queen Cleopatra on the occasion of their royal visits to Memphi... “the 80 artabae of wheat for the supplies imposed in connexion with the King’s visit” (Edd.). Deissmann has a fascinating, albeit lengthy note on parousia writing that... Yet another of the central ideas of the oldest Christian worship receives light from the new texts, viz. parousia, “advent, coming,” a word expressive of the most ardent hopes of a St. Paul. We now may say that the best interpretation of the Primitive Christian hope of the Parousia is the old Advent text, “Behold, thy King cometh unto thee.” From the Ptolemaic period down into the 2nd cent. a.d. we are able to trace the word in the East as a technical expression for the arrival or the visit of the king or the emperor. The parousia of the sovereign must have been something well known even to the people, as shown by the facts that special payments in kind and taxes to defray the cost of the parousia were exacted, that in Greece a new era was reckoned from the parousia of the Emperor Hadrian, that all over the world advent-coins were struck after a parousia of the emperor, and that we are even able to quote examples of advent-sacrifices. The subject of parousia dues and taxes in Egypt has been treated in detail by Wilcken. The oldest passage he mentions is in the Flinders Petrie Papyrus II. 39 e, of the 3rd cent. b.c., where, according to his ingenious interpretation, contributions are noted for a crown of gold to be presented to the king at his parousia. This papyrus supplies an exceptionally fine background of contrast to the figurative language of St. Paul, in which Parousia (or Epiphany, “appearing”) and crown occur in collocation. While the sovereigns of this world expect at their parousia a costly crown for themselves, “at the parousia of our Lord Jesus” the apostle will wear a crown—the “crown of glory” (see note 1Thessalonians 2:19) won by his work among the churches, or the “crown of righteousness” which the Lord will give to him and to all them that have loved His appearing (see note 2 Timothy 4:8). I have found another characteristic example in a petition, circa 113 b.c., which was found among the wrappings of the mummy of a sacred crocodile. A parousia of King Ptolemy, the second who called himself Soter (“saviour”), is expected, and for this occasion a great requisition has been issued for corn, which is being collected at Cerceosiris by the village headman and the elders of the peasants. Speaking of this and another delivery of corn, these officials say: "and applying ourselves diligently, both night and day, unto fulfilling that which was set before us and the provision of 80 artabae which was imposed for the parousia of the king" … Are not these Egyptian peasants, toiling day and night in expectation of the parousia of their saviour king, an admirable illustration of our Lord’s words (Luke 18:7) about the elect who cry day and night to God, in expectation of the coming of the Son of Man (Luke 18:8)? Again among the Tebtunis Papyri there is a bill, from the end of the 2nd cent. b.c., which mentions “the parousia of the king,” while an ostracon of the 2nd cent. b.c., from Thebes, reckons the expenses of the “parousia of the queen.” As in Egypt, so also in Asia: the uniformity of Hellenistic civilisation is proved once more in this instance. An inscription of the 3rd cent. b.c. at Olbia mentions a parousia of King Saitapharnes, the expenses of which were a source of grave anxiety to the city fathers, until a rich citizen, named Protogenes, paid the sum—900 pieces of gold, which were presented to the king. Next comes an example of great importance as proving an undoubted sacral use of the word, viz. an inscription of the 3rd. cent. b.c., recording a cure at the temple of Asclepius at Epidaurus, which mentions a parousia of the healer (saviour) god Asclepius. Other examples of Hellenistic age known to me are a passage in Polybius referring to a parousia of King Antiochus the Great, and two letters of King Mithradates VI. Eupator of Pontus at the beginning of his first war with the Romans, 88 b.c., recorded in an inscription at Nysa in Caria. The prince, writing to Leonippus the Praefect of Caria, makes twofold mention of his own parousia, i.e. his invasion of the province of Asia. It is the legitimate continuation of the Hellenistic usage that in the Imperial period the parousia of the sovereign should shed a special brilliance. Even the visit of a scion of the Imperial house, G. Caesar († 4 a.d.), a grandson of Augustus, was, as we know from an inscription, made the beginning of a new era in Cos. In memory of the visit of the Emperor Nero, in whose reign St. Paul wrote his letters to Corinth, the cities of Corinth and Patras struck advent-coins. Adventus Aug(usti) Cor(inthi) is the legend on one, Adventus Augusti on the other. Here we have corresponding to the Greek parousia the Latin word advent, which the Latin Christians afterwards simply took over, and which is today familiar to every child among us. How graphically it must have appealed to the Christians of Thessalonica, with their living conception of the parousiae of the rulers of this world, when they read in St. Paul’s second letter of the Satanic “parousia” of Antichrist, who was to be destroyed by “the manifestation of the parousia” of the Lord, Jesus! A whole host of advent-coins resulted from the numerous journeyings of the Emperor Hadrian; we have specimens, I suppose, from most of the Imperial provinces, and these, it may be remarked, were official coinages of the Empire. The arrival of Hadrian at Rome on 9 July, 118, was even celebrated by the Arval brothers with solemn sacrifices in the Emperor’s presence, to which the inscriptions containing the Acts of their college bear record. The parallelism between the Hellenistic and the Imperial period is seen also in the fact that the expenses attending a parousia of the sovereign were considerable. How deeply a parousia stamped itself on the memory is shown by the eras that were reckoned from parousiae. (Ed note: Think about this secular use in light of the truth of the new Millennium inaugurated by our Lord's glorious parousia!) We have heard already of an era at Cos dating from the epiphany of G. Caesar, and we find that in Greece a new era was begun with the first visit of the Emperor Hadrian in the year 124;—the magnificent monuments in memory of that parousia still meet the eye at Athens and Eleusis. There is something peculiarly touching in the fact that towards the end of the 2nd century, at the very time when the Christians were beginning to distinguish the “first parousia” of Christ from the “second,” an inscription at Tegea was dated: in the year 69 of the first parousia of the god Hadrian in Greece. To make the circle of Hellenism complete once more, this inscription from Arcadia gives us again the word parousia, which we found in Egypt, Asia Minor, and the New Testament. In Greece, however, a synonym is more usual. Even in early Christian times the parallelism between the parobusia of the representative of the State and the parousia of Christ was clearly felt by the Christians themselves. This is shown by a newly discovered petition of the small proprietors of the village of Aphrodite in Egypt to the Dux of the Thebaid in the year 537–538 a.d., a papyrus which at the same time is an interesting memorial of Christian popular religion in the age of Justinian. “It is a subject of prayer with us night and day, to be held worthy of your welcome parousia.” The peasants, whom a wicked Pagarch has been oppressing, write thus to the high official, after assuring him with a pious sigh at the beginning that they awaited him “as they watch eagerly from Hades for the future parousia of Christ the everlasting God.” (Deissmann, A., & Strachan, L. R. M.. Light from the Ancient East the New Testament illustrated by recently discovered texts of the Graeco-Roman World. Page 372. London: Hodder & Stoughton. 1910) As Jesus sat with Peter and James and John and Andrew, on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, (parousia) and of the end of the age? (Mt 24:3) This passage begins what is commonly referred to as the "Olivet Discourse" (Click for a discussion on Mt 24 entitled "When Jesus Returns to the Earth: Where Will the Church Be?") Parousia refers to the Second Coming of the Lord, but be aware that the Second Coming is not just a single event taking place at a particular time. Rather the Second Coming is composed of a series of events. One can understand which event is being referred to only by a careful examination of the context ("Context is king" in interpretation in Inductive Bible Study!) In sum, the period referred to as the Parousia (coming) of Christ has a beginning, a course and a final conclusion. Although there is not uniform agreement, most conservative evangelical scholars would agree that the Parousia of Jesus Christ begins with the Rapture, when He comes for His saints, as mentioned discussed by Paul in (1Th 4:16). (For more on His coming see "The Comfort of His Coming (4:13-18)") This first phase is to followed by the period of His presence with the saints when, having come to the air for them, and received them to Himself, He will take them to the place prepared for them, the Father’s “House,” (cf Jn 14:2). At the end of the second half of Daniel's Seventieth Week (the last 3.5 year period being referred to as the "Great Tribulation") Matthew records that "then the sign (the sign is not mystical but is Christ coming on the clouds) of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other." (Mt 24:30-31) At that time Christ will come with His saints in manifest glory and will the overthrow of His foes and establish His kingdom on earth. (unless you do not believe the 1000 years is a literal period of time). (Click Chart summary of Daniel's Seventieth Week) (Click comparison of Day of the Lord, Day of Christ) Below are the seventeen out of 24 uses of parousia that refer to the return of Christ: (an interesting inductive study would be to simply list the truths associated with the coming of the Lord from these passages - be sure to check the context) Mt 24:3 And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” Mt 24:27 “For just as the lightning comes from the east, and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Mt 24:37 “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah...39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. 1Cor 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, 1Thes 2:19 (note) For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? 1Thes 3:13 (note) so that He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. 1Thes 4:15 (note) For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. 1Thes 5:23 (note) Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Thes 2:1 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him...8 And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming James 5:7 Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. 8 You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 2 Peter 1:16 (note) For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 2 Peter 3:4 (note) and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” 2 Peter 3:12 (note) looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 1Jn 2:28 And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. APPLICATION: The sure hope of Christ’s return motivates believers (or at least this truth should renew our minds, motivate and energize us) to seek to order our lives in light of the truth that they shall soon see Jesus at His coming. Dearly beloved are you looking for His parousia, and living as if it could be today? For completeness below are the 10 other NT uses of parousia which do convey a general and not an eschatological meaning... 1 Corinthians 16:17 And I rejoice over the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus; because they have supplied what was lacking on your part. 2 Corinthians 7:6 But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus; 7 and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more. 2 Corinthians 10:10 For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive, and his speech contemptible." Philippians 1:26 (note) so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again. Philippians 2:12 (note) So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling 2Thes 2:9 that is, the one whose coming (this coming of the Antichrist which is the counterfeit "coming") is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonder BUT WE WERE EYEWITNESSES OF HIS MAJESTY: all' epoptai genethentes (AAPMPN) tes ekeinou megaleiotetos: (Mt 17:1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Mk 9:2; Lk 9:28, 29, 30, 31, 32; Jn 1:14; 1Jn 1:1, 2, 3; 4:14) We were (ginomai) is aorist tense meaning that at some point in time they (Peter, James, John) became (literally "having become") eyewitnesses. 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Presence (3952) parousia

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