The Monastic Pint Answers from church history on today's questions
Questions · Doctrine

Is heaven real?

What Christian writers said, from about AD 207 to 1915.

37 passages · 21 writers · 8 centuries

The short answer

Tillotson, Arndt, and Augustine cite 2 Corinthians 5:1 for a heavenly home, Barnes cites Hebrews 11 for the patriarchs' hope of a permanent home in the heavens, and Bruce says the many mansions of John 14 imply a state of happy existence to be reached by believers. Barnes says the patriarchs' looking for a permanent home in the heavens shows they believed in a future state, and Calvin says Christ took possession of heaven in the name of believers, so that in him we already possess heaven by hope. Tertullian (c. 207-212) says that even if Scripture held out no heavenly hope he would find a sufficient presumption of the promise in the earthly gift, Chrysostom says through hope we are already in heaven, and Watson says the hope of eternal life rests on God's promise, and God cannot lie. Watson and Spurgeon say the Spirit's earnest in the heart is a foretaste of heaven and an assurance of it, and Ryle says assurance gives the believer a sure home at the end. Taylor says it is infallibly certain that there is heaven for all the godly, and Barnes says it is possible for Christians to have the assurance that they shall enter it.

Scripture's promises of heaven

18 passages · 15 writers · 200s to 1800s

Tillotson, Arndt, Augustine, and Tertullian cite 2 Corinthians 5:1: Tillotson says we shall exchange these houses of clay for a heavenly mansion, Arndt says God has reserved a more illustrious mansion for us hereafter, Augustine says that in the eternal home we shall not be sojourners any more, and Tertullian says the passage offers consolation against the fear of death. Barnes says Hebrews 11 demonstrates that the patriarchs believed in a future state and looked forward to a permanent home in the heavens, and Mather says they looked for another country, of which Canaan was a type. Bruce says that whatever the many mansions of John 14 mean, they imply a state of happy existence to be reached by believers through death, and Calvin says Christ, the only heir of heaven, took possession of it in their name. Edwards says the heaven where Christ's body is must be a place, and Spurgeon says Paul's being caught up into Paradise shows that there is such a place. Chrysostom says that through hope we are already in heaven, and South says Christ speaks of heaven as already possessed, to seal the certainty of the promise. Tertullian says believers will be caught up into the clouds to meet the Lord and ever be with him, and that even if Scripture held out no heavenly hope he would still find a sufficient presumption of the promise in the earthly gift. Evans says heaven is sure because God by his Spirit would not raise hopes only to defeat them, and Barnes says the Christian is sure of an eternal home where the body never dies.

c. 207–212 · Tertullian, Against Marcion (Adversus Marcionem) 3.24

Accordingly the Spirit, admiring such as soar up to the celestial realms by these ascensions, says, “They fly, as if they were kites; they fly as clouds, and as young doves, unto me”—that is, simply like a dove. For we shall, according to the apostle, be caught up into the clouds to meet the Lord (even the Son of man, who shall come in the clouds, according to Daniel) and so shall we ever be with the Lord, so long as He remains both on the earth and in heaven, who, against such as are thankless for both one promise and the other, calls the elements themselves to witness: “Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth.” Now, for my own part indeed, even though Scripture held out no hand of heavenly hope to me (as, in fact, it so often does), I should still possess a sufficient presumption of even this promise, in my present enjoyment of the earthly gift; and I should look out for something also of the heavenly, from Him who is the God of heaven as well as of earth.

1553 · John Calvin, Commentary on John, part 2 (chapters 12-21) 14.2

For the conclusion usually drawn is, that believing souls were shut up in an intermediate state or prison, because Christ says that, by his ascension into heaven, the place will be prepared. But the answer is easy. This place is said to be prepared for the day of the resurrection; for by nature mankind are banished from the kingdom of God, but the Son, who is the only heir of heaven, took possession of it in their name, that through him we may be permitted to enter; for in his person we already possess heaven by hope, as Paul informs us, (Ephesians 1:3.) Still we will not enjoy this great blessing, until he come from heaven the second time. The condition of the fathers after death, therefore, is not here distinguished from ours; because Christ has prepared both for them and for us a place, into which he will receive us all at the last day.

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Hebrews 11.16

Nothing could more certainly demonstrate that the patriarchs believed in a future state than this passage. They did not expect a permanent home on earth. They made no efforts to enter into the possession of the promised land themselves. They quietly and calmly waited for the time when God would give it to their posterity, and in the meantime for themselves they looked forward to their permanent home in the heavens.

Hope and assurance

19 passages · 10 writers · 300s to 1900s

Watson says the Spirit's first-fruits of joy and peace are an earnest of the full glory of the kingdom of heaven, and that none doubt the certainty of the heavenly kingdom but those who doubt the truth of Scripture. Spurgeon says the Christian expects eternal happiness because God has promised it and given him an earnest of it, and that the Lord has taken possession of the new Jerusalem for the saints. Taylor says it is infallibly certain that there is heaven for all the godly, but that entering it is the object of hope, as sure as it is certain that one will persevere in the ways of God. Barnes says it is possible for Christians to have the assurance that they shall enter heaven, and Ryle says assurance gives the believer a sure home at the end. Augustine says our hope is not of this present time but of what God has promised and man does not yet comprehend.

391–430 · Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament (Sermones 51-147) 77.1

Our hope, Brethren, is not of this present time, nor of this world, nor in that happiness whereby men are blinded that forget God. This ought we above all things to know, and in a Christian heart hold fast, that we were not made Christians for the good things of the present time, but for something else which God at once promiseth, and man doth not yet comprehend. For of this good it is said, “That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.”

1650 · Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living 4.2.1

St. Austin thus accounts their differences: Faith is of all things revealed, good and bad, rewards and punishments, of things past, present, and to come, of things that concern us, of things that concern us not; but hope hath for its object things only that are good, and fit to be hoped for, future, and concerning ourselves; and because these things are offered to us upon conditions of which we may so fail as we may change our will, therefore our certainty is less than the adherences of faith; which (because faith relies only upon one proposition, that is, the truth of the word of God,) cannot be made uncertain in themselves, though the object of our hope may become uncertain to us, and to our possession. For it is infallibly certain that there is heaven for all the godly, and for me amongst them all, if I do my duty. But that I shall enter into heaven is the object of my hope, not of my faith; and is so sure as it is certain I shall persevere in the ways of God.

1692 · Thomas Watson, The Lord's Prayer 2

Luke 23: 43. By all that has been said, it is most evident that believers have a glorious kingdom laid up for them in reversion, and that they shall go to this kingdom when they die. None doubt the certainty of the heavenly kingdom but such as doubt the verity of Scripture.

1864 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 10 (1864) 580

Do you think God has prepared a kingdom and that He will not bring His people there? Moreover it is said, "Prepared for you"—for you—the chosen people of God. And do you imagine that the Covenant wisdom of God would prepare a kingdom for men who would not ultimately get there? Would He plan and arrange how to make them eternally blessed and yet allow them to perish by the way? "Prepared for you," remember, "from the foundation of the world."

1877 · J. C. Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots 7

In this way assurance makes him patient in tribulation, calm under bereavements, unmoved in sorrow, not afraid of evil tidings, in every condition content, for it gives him a fixedness of heart. It sweetens his bitter cups; it lessens the burden of his crosses; it smooths the rough places over which he travels; it lightens the valley of the shadow of death. It makes him always feel that he has something solid beneath his feet and something firm under his hands—a sure friend by the way, and a sure home at the end. Assurance will help a man to bear poverty and loss. It will teach him to say, “I know that I have in heaven a better and more enduring substance.

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