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Cranfield, C.E.B. “The Parable of The Unjust Judge and The Eschatology of Luke-Acts”, Scottish Journal of Theology 16 (1963) 297-301.
Takes issue with Conzelmann’s thesis that Luke removes Naherwartung, using the example of the parable of the unjust judge. This parable refers to the eschatological coming of God ‘quickly’ or ‘soon’, and therefore “if Luke had really been intent on getting rid of the idea of the nearness of the End… he could very easily have done better here.” Cranfield takes takes μακροθυμεῖ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς (18.7) as reference to God’s patience to the persecutors, and explains problems of Jeremias’ misinterpretation of ἐν τάχει as “suddenly”. Overall, understands nearness in NT eschatology as follows: “It is near, not in the sense that it must necessarily occur within a few months or years, but in the sense that it may occur at any moment and in the sense that, since the decisive event of history has already taken place… all subsequent history is a kind of epilogue, an interval inserted by God's mercy in order to allow men time for repentance.”
Klein, G. “Apokalyptische Naherwartung bei Paulus”, in H.-D. Betz & L. Schottroff eds. Neues Testament und christliche Existenz (Tübingen: 1973) 241-262.
Argues for the different purposes of 1 Thess 4 and 1 Cor 15: unlike the former, the latter does not imply that Paul will survive to the parousia. (1 Cor 15.32 also strengthens the doubt that Paul will survive.) Both do, however, imply the end within a generation. The “we shall be changed” in 15.52 means the same as “we shall all be changed” in 15.51. Also touches on Rom 13,1 Cor 7.29; 7.31; 10.11; Phil 4.5, Maranatha and Rom 16.20.
Udo Schnelle, Wandlungen im paulinischen Denken, Stuttgarter Bibelstudien 137 (Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1989), 37–48.
(1) At Paul’s founding visit to Thessalonika he preached imminent rapture, not resurrection. (2) With the delay and the advent of deaths, the situation changed – hence resurrection of the dead is introduced in 1 Thess 4. (3) By the time of 1 Cor, deaths are the norm, hence the need for leveling: all need transformation. (4) The ἡμεῖς in 1 Thess 4.17 and 1 Cor 15.52 mean that there Paul still expects to survive till the parousia, but this is abandoned by the time of 2 Cor. Paul accepts Hellenistic conceptions there and tends towards dualism and individualism. (5) This is confirmed in Philippians, where Paul wants to de before the parousia.(6) Paul maintains ‘akute Naherwartung’ to the end – along with the experience of delay.
Wiefel, W. “Die Hauptrichtung des Wandels im eschatologischen Denken des Paulus”, ThZ 30 (1974) 65-81.
Emphasises continuity in Paul’s eschatology, lying in the idea of “being with the Lord (forever)”. 1 Thess 4 is completely tailored to the presenting issue (no discussion of the unrighteous dead, or final judgment), so this is clearly not a complete account or systematic exposition. In 2 Cor, Paul reckons with the possibility of his own and others’ deaths before the parousia, and Paul wants to be spared stripping. Individual eschatology doesn’t affect the wider picture – 2 Cor retains resurrection (while also tending in an individual and dualistic direction).
Cranfield, C.E.B. “The Parable of The Unjust Judge and The Eschatology of Luke-Acts”, Scottish Journal of Theology 16 (1963) 297-301.
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