This past week, we concluded HCC’s sermon series on the doctrinal commitments of our church. The final message focused on Postmillennialism. As mentioned in the sermon, this doctrine is about more than just an interpretation of Revelation 20—it serves as a biblical framework that inspires and animates much of what we do at HCC.
In recent years, Postmillennialism has experienced significant growth. Yet despite its resurgence, myths and misunderstandings about the position persist. The purpose of this post is to clarify and correct three of the most common misconceptions.
Myth #1: Postmillennialism Is a Newcomer
Some claim that Postmillennialism is a recent development, lacking historical precedent. This myth often assumes that dispensational premillennialism was the unanimous eschatological view of the early church.
For example, dispensationalists Thomas Ice and H. Wayne House write in Dominion Theology: Blessing or Curse?:
“The early church was solidly chiliastic until the time of Augustine.”
Similarly, Hal Lindsey laments:
“I have not seen any evidence whatsoever for Postmillennialism in the early church.”
However, these claims have been challenged as the writings of the Church Fathers have been examined more closely in light of eschatological themes. D.H. Kromminga, in his study of the Apostolic Fathers, concludes:
“An inquiry into the extent of ancient chiliasm will serve to show the untenableness (emphasis added) of the claim that this doctrine was held with practical unanimity by the Church for the first few centuries.”
According to Kromminga, only Papias clearly held to a chiliastic (i.e., premillennial) view. Charles Hill goes further, noting that this position was not only unadvocated by many early Christians, but at times received “outspoken repudiation.”
Thanks to scholars like Kromminga and Hill, the idea that dispensational premillennialism—or even historic chiliasm—was the default early church position must be set aside. But does this mean that Postmillennialism was present in the early church? The answer is yes. Kenneth Gentry’s He Shall Have Dominion offers citations from various Church Fathers that reveal early hints of postmillennial thought.
Myth #2: Postmillennialism Spiritualizes Scripture
A second misconception is that Postmillennialism overly spiritualizes biblical texts—particularly Revelation 20—rather than taking them literally. Critics argue that postmillennialists abandon a plain reading of Scripture in favor of allegory or metaphor.
Revelation 20 introduces the concept of a millennium. For both dispensational and historic premillennialists, this millennium is a literal, future 1,000-year reign of Christ on earth. Postmillennialists (and Amillennialists, with some variation) interpret the passage differently, believing the “1,000 years” to be symbolic of a long, indeterminate period during which Christ reigns from heaven through His Church.
Is this “spiritualizing” the text? Not necessarily. In fact, the postmillennial hermeneutic is grounded in the grammatical-historical method, which seeks to understand a passage in light of its original context, grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and especially literary form.
This is especially important for Revelation, a book full of symbolic and apocalyptic imagery—beasts, dragons, stars, keys, chains, and thrones. These elements are clearly symbolic and must be interpreted within the genre and context of the book.
Take, for example, Revelation 20: it includes an angel with a key, a dragon (Satan) being bound with a chain, and a “thousand years” of reigning. These are not likely literal objects or events but vivid, symbolic representations of spiritual realities.
The number 1,000 itself is used symbolically throughout Scripture:
- Deuteronomy 7:9 – God’s faithfulness extends to “a thousand generations”
- Psalm 50:10 – God owns “the cattle on a thousand hills”
- 2 Peter 3:8 – “With the Lord, a day is as a thousand years”
Each of these uses conveys abundance, completeness, or timelessness—not a literal quantity. Likewise, Postmillennialists interpret the millennium in Revelation 20 as a symbolic representation of Christ’s victorious reign over time—not a fixed 1,000-year period.
Myth #3: Postmillennialists Believe They Will Bring About God’s Kingdom
This final myth is perhaps the most damaging. It suggests that Postmillennialists believe they can usher in God’s Kingdom through human effort alone. Thomas Ice expresses it like this:
“There used to be a group called ‘postmillennialists.’ They believed that the Christians would root out the evil in the world, abolish godless rulers, and convert the world through ever increasing evangelism until they brought about the Kingdom of God on earth through their own efforts… These people rejected much of the Scripture as being literal and believed in the inherent goodness of man… No self-respecting scholar who looks at world conditions and the accelerating decline of Christian influence today is a ‘postmillennialist.’”
There’s a lot to unpack in this statement. Some of it we’ve already addressed (e.g., biblical interpretation), but the central claim is that Postmillennialism teaches that the Church will build God’s Kingdom on its own, apart from divine intervention. This is simply false.
Postmillennialism teaches that Jesus is already reigning (Matt. 12:28; 21:5; 27:37), having been installed after being resurrected from the dead and ascending into heave. The kingdom of God is now advancing—by God’s sovereign power—through the preaching of the gospel, the discipleship of the nations, and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. The optimism of Postmillennialism is not rooted in human ability, but in God’s faithfulness and the certainty of Christ’s triumph (Matt. 13:18–33).
Postmillennialists believe that over time, the leaven of the gospel will spread through the whole lump of human culture—not because Christians are inherently good or capable, but because God is faithful to accomplish His redemptive purposes through Christ.
Conclusion
Postmillennialism is often misunderstood or misrepresented. It is neither a modern invention, nor a system that undermines Scripture, nor a utopian dream of human achievement. Rather, it is a hopeful, biblical vision of Christ’s present and ever-expanding reign, grounded in the promises of God and the victory of the risen King.
For further study, consider:
- He Shall Have Dominion by Kenneth Gentry
- Paradise Restored by David Chilton
- A Case for Postmillennialism by Keith Mathison
Works Cited:
H. Wayne House and Thomas Ice, Dominion Theology: Blessing or Curse?
Hal Lindsey, Road to Holocaust
D. H. Kromminga, The Millennium in the Church: Studies in the History of Chilliasm
Charles Hill, Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Millenial Thought in Early Christianity
Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth