Among believers who take time-indicators in Scripture seriously, Partial Preterism offers a compelling hermeneutic. It rightly recognizes that passages like Matthew 24:1-34, Revelation 1-19, and the Olivet Discourse speak directly to the generation of the apostles, culminating in the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in AD 70. That judgment marked the definitive end of the Old Covenant order, validating the enthronement of Jesus Christ at the Father’s right hand.
However, a dangerous theological overreach has gained ground in recent decades: Full Preterism (Hyper-Preterism or Pantelism).
Full Preterists assert that all biblical prophecy was fulfilled in AD 70, including the Second Coming (Parousia), the final judgment, and the resurrection of the dead. In their view, the resurrection is purely spiritual, a collective covenantal transition from Old Covenant death to New Covenant life, rather than a physical event for individual believers.
While Partial Preterism upholds orthodox Christianity, Full Preterism collapses the biblical tension between the "Already" and the "Not Yet." To abandon the future physical resurrection is to abandon the historical Christian faith and distort the fundamental hope of the Gospel.
1. Christ’s Bodily Resurrection as the Prototype
The foundational flaw in Full Preterism is a failure to link our resurrection directly to the nature of Christ’s resurrection.
Paul leaves no room for ambiguity in 1 Corinthians 15:20:
"But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."
In Jewish agrarian life, the "firstfruits" were not a different kind of harvest; they were the first installment of the exact same crop. Christ’s resurrection was physical, tangible, and bodily, he explicitly told His disciples, "Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have" (Luke 24:39).
Because those who are justified by faith are united to Christ, our future sanctification and ultimate redemption must follow His pattern. If Christ’s resurrection was physical, our future resurrection, the full harvest, must also be physical. To redefine the believer's resurrection as merely a spiritual or covenantal shift disconnects the harvest from the firstfruits.
2. 1 Corinthians 15 and the Transformation of the Physical
Full Preterists often appeal to 1 Corinthians 15:44 "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body" claiming that a "spiritual body" (soma pneumatikon) implies an invisible, non-physical entity.
Exegetically, this misunderstands Paul's use of the Greek adjective pneumatikos.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul contrasts the "natural man" (psychikos) with the "spiritual man" (pneumatikos). A "spiritual man" is not a ghost; he is a physical person directed by the Holy Spirit.
Likewise, a "spiritual body" is not a body made of spirit, but a physical body energized, sustained, and perfected by the Holy Spirit imperishable and no longer subject to decay.
Furthermore, Paul insists in 1 Corinthians 15:52-53 that a temporal event will occur at the "last trumpet," where the mortal puts on immortality. This cannot be allegorized into the fall of Jerusalem without stripping the physical creation of its promised redemption (Romans 8:19-23).
3. The Fallacy of the Hymenaean Error
The New Testament directly addresses the claim that the resurrection had already occurred in the first century. Writing to Timothy, Paul issues a severe warning:
"Their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some." 2 Timothy 2:17-18
Hymenaeus and Philetus were likely teaching a proto-Gnostic or purely spiritualized view of the resurrection that had supposedly taken place in their time. Paul did not commend them for understanding apocalyptic metaphor; he called their doctrine spiritually fatal. Full Preterism stumbles into this exact error by insisting that the resurrection occurred entirely within the first century context of AD 70.
4. Distinguishing AD 70 from the Final Parousia
Partial Preterism maintains a vital distinction that Full Preterism erases:
The Judgment on Jerusalem (AD 70): A localized, historical judgment of the Old Covenant Jewish state via the Roman armies. It was an invisible "coming in judgment" of Christ reigning in heaven (Matthew 24:30).
The Final Consummation: The personal, visible return of Christ at the end of human history to execute final judgment, destroy the last enemy, physical death (1 Corinthians 15:26), and raise the dead in Christ.
When Paul writes that those who are justified will be raised, he points toward a history-ending event where death itself is physically swallowed up. By conflating every judgment text with AD 70, Full Preterists leave history without a proper final resolution and reduce the future of the cosmos to an endless continuation of the present fallen order.
Our Blessed Hope
As Partial Preterists, we can enthusiastically celebrate the fulfillment of Old Covenant prophecies in the catastrophic collapse of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70. But we must never let the reality of AD 70 eclipse the ultimate hope of the Gospel.
The work of redemption is not merely internal or covenantal; it is cosmic. The God who created the physical world will redeem the physical world. Just as we are justified by His grace and being sanctified by His Spirit today, we wait with eager expectation for the final step of our redemption: the literal, glorious, bodily resurrection of the dead at the return of our Lord.