The Hope of Christ’s Second Coming (1864) is Samuel Prideaux Tregelles’s biblical examination of Christ’s return, presenting the doctrine of the “blessed hope” as essential element of Christian faith while critiquing both post-millennial views expecting gradual world improvement before Christ’s return and pre-tribulation rapture theories separating Christ’s coming from His appearing in glory.
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Written by the distinguished biblical scholar and textual critic, this work argues for the historical Christian position that believers should actively expect Christ’s personal, visible return at any time, an event that will transform the church, judge the world, and establish His kingdom.
Tregelles systematically examines New Testament teaching on Christ’s second coming, demonstrating that Scripture presents it as single event encompassing both the church’s gathering to Christ and His manifestation in glory to judge the world and establish millennial reign. He argues against dividing Christ’s return into multiple stages separated by years, contending that biblical passages teaching believers to watch for Christ’s appearing refer to one comprehensive event rather than secret rapture followed later by public manifestation. His careful exegesis shows how apostolic teaching emphasized imminent expectation of Christ’s personal return.
What distinguishes this work is Tregelles’s combination of textual scholarship with devotional warmth, demonstrating how precise biblical interpretation serves vital Christian hope rather than merely academic interest. Unlike purely speculative prophetic systems or devotional works lacking exegetical foundation, Tregelles grounds his eschatology in careful textual analysis while maintaining that doctrinal precision serves practical godliness, with proper understanding of Christ’s return affecting present Christian living and expectation. His treatment reflects conviction that sound biblical scholarship should inform and enrich devotional life.
The work addresses various eschatological positions including post-millennialism’s expectation of gradual world Christianization before Christ’s return and emerging pre-tribulation rapture teaching separating the church’s translation from Christ’s appearing to Israel and the world. Tregelles argues that both positions compromise the biblical teaching of imminency—that Christians should live in constant expectation of Christ’s return, with post-millennialism postponing hope into distant future and rapture theory focusing expectation on preliminary event rather than Christ’s actual appearing.
Tregelles particularly emphasizes that the apostolic church’s expectant watching for Christ’s return should characterize believers in every age, with no prophesied events requiring fulfillment before Christ could appear. He demonstrates from Scripture that early Christians lived in active anticipation of Christ’s return during their lifetimes, and that this hope remained valid across subsequent generations not because Christ’s coming was delayed in some technical sense, but because each generation rightly maintained expectant posture toward His appearing.
Author BiographySamuel Prideaux Tregelles (1813-1875) was a distinguished British biblical scholar and textual critic whose work on the Greek New Testament text significantly advanced biblical studies. Born into a Quaker family, Tregelles demonstrated exceptional linguistic abilities from youth, mastering Greek, Hebrew, and numerous other languages while working in his family’s iron business.
