Christ will return personally and bodily to judge and consummate history
The Church of the Nazarene affirms the personal, bodily return of Jesus Christ as certain and as the consummation of salvation history. The Articles of Faith state: 'We believe in the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, that this Second Advent is the blessed hope of the Church and of the individual believer.' His return will include the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, and the establishment of the eternal state.
Unlike some evangelical traditions, the Nazarene Manual does not specify a pre-tribulation rapture or a particular dispensational scheme as the official denominational position. The Church of the Nazarene officially holds the second coming as a firm conviction while allowing latitude on the specific eschatological sequence — a position that has historically prevented millennial controversy from fracturing the denomination.
The second coming is understood as the completion and vindication of God's redemptive plan: all things will be made right, sin and death will be finally defeated, and the kingdom of God will be fully and visibly established. This hope motivates both evangelism and the pursuit of holiness — living in anticipation of the day when every believer will stand before the holy God.
Key Distinctions
- Return expectation:
- literal, imminent return; Wesleyan tradition
- Tribulation view:
- varies — pre-trib and post-trib both present; no binding position
- Parousia nature:
- bodily, visible return
Scripture References
Sources
- Church of the Nazarene Manual, Articles of Faith, §XV: Second Coming of Christ