With regard to heaven and earth, or the world which God created in the beginning, Gen. 1, 1, Holy Scripture teaches in unmistakable terms that they shall “pass away” (Luke 21, 33: παρελεύσονται; Heb. 1, 10—12: a.7ioXovmai, “they shall perish”; ἀλλαγήσονται, “they shall be changed”; Ps. 102, 26—28: יאברו ויחלפו).
The meaning of the words pass away, perish, be changed, etc., in these passages is clear from the contrast in which the perishable “works of God’s hands” stand to Him, the eternal, imperishable Creator; for while He remains, they perish; while He continues the same and His years do not fail, they “wax old as a garment,” “are folded up,” and are “changed.” In the same contrast “heaven and earth” stand (Luke 21,33) to the “words of Christ”; for while Christ’s words do in no wise pass away, heaven and earth will pass away.
In 1 Cor. 7, 31 St. Paul writes: “The fashion of this world passeth away (παράγει τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου). The “fashion of this world” is its present form, or the “present circumstances or conditions of all earthly things.” Similarly St. John writes: “The world is passing away” (ὁ κόσιιος παράγεται), 1 John 2,17. On the basis of these Scripture-passages Christian theology teaches that the world in its present form will be entirely destroyed (2 Pet. 3,10: “The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up”).
However, our dogmaticians are divided with respect to the manner in which this shall occur. While most Lutheran divines (Gerhard, Quenstedt, Calov, etc.) teach a total destruction (annihilation) of the world quoad substantiam, others (Luther, Brenz, etc.) affirm that only the form of this world as it appears now will pass away; in other words, that the world will be destroyed only as it appears now. This teaching is based also on Rom. 8, 21, where the apostle writes: “The creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”
Luther thus writes (St. L., XII, 729 f.): “The sun is waiting for another embellishment, which it shall have, together with the earth and all other creatures; namely, they shall be cleansed from every abuse of Satan and the world.”
Quenstedt rejects this doctrine and writes: “The form of this consummation consists not in the mere change, alteration, or renewing of qualities, but in the total abolition and reduction of the world’s substance itself to nothing.” (Doctr. Theol., p. 656.) This doctrine he bases on such passages as Ps. 102, 26; 2 Pet. 3,10—13; Rev. 20,11; Is. 34, 4; Luke 21,33; Job 14,12. He states, however, that this belief must not be defended as an article of faith, though “it corresponds more to the Scripture-passages which describe the end of the world.” Nevertheless those who regard the destruction of the world as a change or renewal “should not be accused of heresy.” (Cp. Christl. Dogmatik, III, 609 f.)
In view of the fact that the matter cannot be fully decided on the basis of clear Scripture-passages, other dogmaticians (Heer- brand, Hutter, Balthasar Meisner) suggest that the theologian also at this point place his hand upon his mouth and refrain from any definite teaching. Yet it may be added that even those dogmaticians who regard the destruction of the world as a renovation of all things teach that in its present form the world will indeed pass away. Cp. 1 Cor. 15, 24: “Then cometh the end” (τέλος). So also Luther teaches (St. L., VIII, 1222): “In short, all that shall cease which belongs to the substance of these temporal things, or to the perishable life and works.” It is therefore an open question whether the world will pass away quoad substaniiam, by annihilation, or only secundum accidentia, according to its form and external appearance, by transformation.
It is not advisable to take the passages speaking of a new heaven and a new earth (Is. 65, 17; 66, 22; 2 Pet. 3, 13; Rev. 21,1) in a literal sense, since the “new heaven and the new earth” are “symbols of the heavenly mansions and eternal life.” Buechner (Handkonkordanz) remarks concerning these passages: “Just as this earth now offers man a comfortable home, so the children of God receive the most comfortable homes, full of all manner of blessedness, in heaven.” (John 14,1—4.)