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The Last Things

The Common Confession

We confess that the Lord Jesus Christ shall come again in glory — visibly, bodily, and in power — to judge the living and the dead. At His coming the dead shall be raised: not as disembodied spirits, but in their bodies, for the resurrection is a resurrection of the flesh. All humanity shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and He shall render to each according to what has been done. The present heavens and earth shall be transformed, and God shall make all things new — a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. And the life of the age to come shall be life everlasting in the presence of God: the beatific vision, the unending communion of the saints with their Lord, world without end.

This is the hope of the Church. It is confessed in every creed, sung in every liturgy, proclaimed at every funeral. It is not a speculative appendix to Christian doctrine but its consummation — the goal toward which the entire economy of salvation moves. On the timing, the sequence, and the details of these events, Christians differ sharply. But that Christ will come, that the dead will rise, that judgment will fall, that creation will be renewed, and that the redeemed will live forever with God — this is the common faith.

Scriptural Warrant

The bodily return of Christ in glory:

“This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11)
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:16)
“Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him” (Revelation 1:7)
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne” (Matthew 25:31)

The general bodily resurrection of all the dead:

“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22)
“Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29)
“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2)
“It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:44) — not immaterial, but a body animated and perfected by the Spirit
“He will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21)

The final judgment of all humanity:

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10)
“Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:32)
“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened… And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done” (Revelation 20:12)
“He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31)

New heavens and new earth:

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind” (Isaiah 65:17)
“But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13)
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Revelation 21:1)
“Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5)

Life everlasting in communion with God:

“And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3)
“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory” (John 17:24)
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12)
“They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads… and they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:4-5)
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore” (Revelation 21:4)

Creedal and Conciliar Anchor

The Apostles’ Creed

He shall come to judge the living and the dead… I believe in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

The Nicene Creed (325/381)

And He shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end… And I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The eschatological confession is embedded in the very structure of both creeds. The resurrection of the body (carnis resurrectionem, Apostles’; anastasis nekron, Nicene) is not a metaphor: it is the Church’s confession that the material creation will be redeemed, not discarded.

Constantinople I (381)

In expanding the Creed, the council added “whose kingdom shall have no end” (hou tes basileias ouk estai telos) — against Marcellus of Ancyra, who taught that Christ’s kingdom was temporary and would be dissolved back into the Father’s undifferentiated unity. The Son’s reign is eternal; the eschatological kingdom has no terminus.

The Eleventh Council of Toledo (675)

“We confess that the true resurrection of the flesh of all the dead will take place. We do not believe that we shall rise in an ethereal body or in any other body, as some madly suppose, but in this very body in which we live, exist, and move.”

While a regional council, its formulation distills the universal confession: bodily resurrection means this body, glorified — not replacement by an alien form.

Patristic Witness

Justin Martyr (c. 100-165)

“He shall come from heaven with glory, accompanied by His angelic host, when also He shall raise the bodies of all men who have lived, and shall clothe those of the worthy with immortality, and shall send those of the wicked, endued with eternal sensation, into everlasting fire with the wicked demons.” — First Apology 52

Irenaeus of Lyon (c. 130-202)

“For since there are real men, so must there also be a real establishment, that they vanish not away among non-existent things, but progress among those which have an actual existence. For neither is the substance nor the essence of the creation annihilated… but ‘the fashion of the world passes away’ — that is, those things among which transgression was committed… But when this present fashion of things passes away, and man has been renewed and flourishes in an incorruptible state… then there shall be the new heaven and the new earth.” — Against Heresies 5.36.1

Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 313-386)

“We shall be raised therefore, all with our bodies eternal, but not all with bodies alike: for if a man is righteous, he will receive a heavenly body, that he may be able worthily to hold converse with angels; but if a man is a sinner, he shall receive an eternal body, fitted to endure the penalties of sins, that he may burn eternally in fire and never be consumed.” — Catechetical Lectures 18.19

Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

“In the end there shall be a City which shall have truth for its king, love for its law, and eternity for its span… Then there shall be true glory, where no one shall be praised by error or flattery. True honour, which shall be denied to none who is worthy, and bestowed on none who is unworthy… True peace, where no one shall suffer opposition either from himself or from any other.” — City of God 22.30, c. 426

John of Damascus (c. 675-749)

“We believe also in the resurrection of the dead. For there will be in truth, there will be, a resurrection of the dead, and by resurrection we mean resurrection of bodies. For resurrection is the second state of that which has fallen. For the souls are immortal, and hence how can they rise again? For if they define death as the separation of soul and body, resurrection surely is the re-union of soul and body, and the second state of the living creature that has suffered dissolution and downfall.” — Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 4.27

Cross-Tradition Attestation

Roman Catholic

CCC §1038: “The resurrection of all the dead, ‘of both the just and the unjust,’ will precede the Last Judgment. This will be ‘the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man’s] voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.’” CCC §1040: “The Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in glory. Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only He determines the moment of its coming.” CCC §1042-1048: “At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness… The visible universe, then, is itself destined to be transformed… Sacred Scripture calls this mysterious renewal, which will transform humanity and the world, ‘new heavens and a new earth.’” CCC §1023: “Those who die in God’s grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live forever with Christ.”

Eastern Orthodox

The Confession of Dositheus (1672), Decree 18: “We believe that the souls of the dead are either in rest or in torment, according to what each hath wrought… At the general resurrection all will rise, and with the selfsame bodies… to be judged.” The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom proclaims in the Anamnesis: “Remembering… His second and glorious coming.” The Paschal troparion — “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life” — confesses the resurrection as the pattern and promise of the general resurrection. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Making of Man 22, c. 379: “The resurrection is the restoration of our nature to its original state” — a return to and surpassing of the Edenic condition.

Lutheran

AC, Article XVII: “Our churches teach that at the consummation of the world Christ will appear for judgment and will raise up all the dead. He will give to the godly and elect eternal life and everlasting joys, but ungodly men and the devils He will condemn to be tormented without end. They condemn the Anabaptists, who think that there will be an end to the punishments of condemned men and devils. They condemn also others who are now spreading certain Jewish opinions, that before the resurrection of the dead the godly shall take possession of the kingdom of the world, the ungodly being everywhere suppressed.” The Large Catechism, Creed, Article III: “In the last day He will raise up me and all the dead and give to me and to all believers in Christ eternal life.”

Reformed

WCF 32.1: “The bodies of men, after death, return to dust and see corruption; but their souls… immediately return to God who gave them… At the last day, such as are found alive shall not die, but be changed; and all the dead shall be raised up with the selfsame bodies, and none other, although with different qualities, which shall be united again to their souls forever.” WCF 33.1: “God hath appointed a day, wherein He will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father.” HC Q&A 52: “What comfort is it to you that Christ ‘shall come to judge the living and the dead’? That in all my distresses and persecution, with uplifted head I look for the very same person who before offered Himself for my sake to the tribunal of God… to come as Judge from heaven.” BC Art. 37: “We believe, according to the Word of God, when the time appointed by the Lord (which is unknown to all creatures) is come, and the number of the elect complete, that our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven, corporally and visibly.”

Anglican

Article IV of the Thirty-Nine Articles: “Christ did truly rise again from death, and took again His body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of Man’s nature; wherewith He ascended into Heaven, and there sitteth, until He return to judge all Men at the last day.” The BCP (1662), Burial Office: “We give Thee hearty thanks, for that it hath pleased Thee to deliver this our brother out of the miseries of this sinful world; beseeching Thee, that it may please Thee, of Thy gracious goodness, shortly to accomplish the number of Thine elect, and to hasten Thy kingdom; that we, with all those that are departed in the true faith of Thy holy Name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in Thy eternal and everlasting glory.” The BCP Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed are recited at every major service, confessing the return, the resurrection, and the life everlasting.

Where the Accent Differs

The eschatological common ground is among the broadest in all of Christian doctrine. The differences, while real, largely concern details and timing rather than the fundamental hope:

The intermediate state. What happens between death and resurrection? Rome teaches purgatory — a state of purification for those who die in grace but imperfectly purified (CCC §1030-1032). Orthodoxy affirms a process of post-mortem growth [∗ — the “toll-houses” (telonia) tradition is debated within Orthodoxy itself] while rejecting the Latin doctrine of purgatory as such. The Reformation traditions reject purgatory but differ on whether the soul is conscious (Reformed, Anglican) or in a state of sleep (some Lutherans, Adventists [∗ — Adventism is not a magisterial tradition]). Layer 3/4.
The millennium. The thousand-year reign of Christ (Revelation 20:1-6) is interpreted as literal and future (premillennialism — the dominant view in early patristic writings [∗ — this claim is contested; amillennialism also has early attestation]), as a present spiritual reality (amillennialism — Augustine, most of the later tradition, Rome, Orthodoxy, confessional Lutheranism, much of Reformed theology), or as a golden age brought about by the gospel before Christ’s return (postmillennialism). Layer 3.
The nature of hell. All traditions confess final judgment and the exclusion of the impenitent from the blessedness of the redeemed. Whether hell is eternal conscious torment (the dominant tradition), annihilation/conditional immortality (a minority position with some patristic support), or something best described in relational terms (the Eastern emphasis on hell as the experience of God’s love by those who hate it — cf. Isaac the Syrian) is debated. Layer 3/4.
The scope of salvation. Whether salvation is possible outside explicit Christian faith — for the unevangelized, for the righteous under the old covenant, for those who seek God in invincible ignorance (Rome’s “anonymous Christians” per Rahner; CCC §847) — is not settled unanimously. All confess that salvation is in Christ alone; whether Christ may save those who do not explicitly know Him is controverted. Layer 3/4.
The timing of Christ’s return. “Of that day and hour no one knows” (Matthew 24:36). The Church has always confessed the imminence of the return — “He shall come again” is in the present expectation of faith — while declining to fix a date. Detailed eschatological timelines (dispensationalism, historicist schemes, date-setting) are modern and confessionally marginal. Layer 3.

For Further Study

Augustine, City of God, Books 20-22 — the foundational Western eschatological synthesis
Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 5 — the earliest extended patristic treatment of resurrection and new creation
Joseph Ratzinger, Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life (1977) — the finest modern Catholic treatment
N.T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (2003) — a comprehensive historical and theological defense of bodily resurrection
Sergei Bulgakov, The Bride of the Lamb (1945) — the Orthodox eschatological vision