See also: Preterism
📖 Biblical Definition
Preterism is the interpretive approach that understands many or most of the prophecies of the New Testament—particularly the Olivet Discourse and large portions of the book of Revelation—as already fulfilled in the first century, especially in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans in A.D. 70. It takes seriously the time-texts of Scripture: Christ’s declaration that “this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled,” and Revelation’s repeated insistence on things which “must shortly come to pass.” A vital distinction must be drawn within preterism. Partial (or orthodox) preterism holds that while the judgment-coming upon Jerusalem and much apocalyptic language were fulfilled in A.D. 70, the great events of the end—the bodily second coming of Christ, the general resurrection, the last judgment, and the eternal state—remain genuinely future. This is a legitimate, historic, and confessionally compatible reading. Full or consistent preterism, by contrast, holds that all prophecy, including the second coming and the resurrection, was fulfilled in A.D. 70, leaving nothing future; this is heresy, treated separately, for it denies the bodily resurrection and the visible return the creeds confess. Partial preterism, often paired with postmillennialism, reads the A.D. 70 judgment as the vindication of Christ and the close of the old covenant order, while keeping the church’s forward-looking hope fully intact.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Webster 1828 has no theological entry for “preterism”; it defines PRETERIT (from praeteritus) as past, gone by—the root of the interpretive term.
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PRETERIT, a. — Past; applied to the past tense of a verb, expressing action or being perfectly past or finished.
“Preterism” is a modern theological coinage: the view that prophecy, in whole or in part, has already been fulfilled, chiefly in the events of A.D. 70.
📖 Key Scripture
Matthew 24:34 — "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
Matthew 24:2 — "And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
Revelation 1:1 — "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass."
Luke 21:22 — "For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Partial preterism is orthodox; the corruption is its slide into full (hyper) preterism, which denies the future bodily resurrection and the visible second coming by claiming all prophecy ended in A.D. 70.
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Partial preterism is a legitimate and historic reading of Scripture, embraced by sober Reformed interpreters and especially congenial to postmillennialism. It honors the plain force of the time-texts—“this generation,” “shortly,” “at hand”—by locating the judgment-coming of Christ upon apostate Jerusalem in A.D. 70, when the temple fell, the old covenant order was visibly closed, and the Lord was vindicated against those who crucified Him. So read, much of the Olivet Discourse and Revelation describes accomplished history, while the second coming, resurrection, and judgment remain genuinely and gloriously future. This is no error but a careful attention to when Scripture says its words would come to pass.
The corruption lies in pressing preterism past its limit into the full or “consistent” form—hyperpreterism—which claims that every prophecy, including the bodily return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment, was exhausted in A.D. 70, so that nothing whatever remains future. This is not a variant reading but a denial of the faith: it overthrows the creedal confession that Christ “shall come again to judge the quick and the dead,” empties the believer’s hope of resurrection, and repeats the very error of Hymenaeus and Philetus, who said the resurrection was past already and overthrew the faith of some. The line between partial and full preterism is the line between an interpretive school and a heresy.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
The view leans on the time-texts—genea (this generation), en tachei (shortly), engus (at hand)—reading the A.D. 70 judgment as their fulfillment.
Usage
"Partial preterism locates the judgment-coming of Christ in A.D. 70 while keeping the second coming and resurrection future."
"He took the time-texts seriously—“this generation,” “shortly”—and read the Olivet Discourse as preterist."
"Preterism becomes heresy only when it is pressed into the full form that denies a future resurrection."