Presence/Parousia: A Translation Comparison

“Parousia” does it mean “coming”, “presence”, “advent”, “return”, or something else???

No.	Year	Version	Matt 24:27	Matt 24:37	Matt 24:39
1	1534	Tyndale New Testament	coming	coming	coming
2	1534	Joye N.T.	coming	coming	coming
3	1611	King James Version	coming	coming	coming
4	1866	Wilson Emphatic Diaglott	presence	presence	presence
5	1881	Crickmer N.T.	presence	presence	presence
6	1884	Hanson N.T.	presence	presence	presence
7	1897	Rotherham Bible	presence	presence	presence
8	1899	Grant Bible	coming	coming	coming
9	1901	Sanders & Kent Abridged Bible	coming	coming	coming
10	1903	Fenton Bible	presence	advent	appearing
11	1907	Young Bible	presence	presence	presence
12	1923	Ballentine Riverside N.T.	coming	coming	coming
13	1931	Concordant Version N.T.	presence	presence	presence
14	1932	Overbury N.T.	reappearing	reappearance	reappearance
15	1937	Johannes Greber N.T.	reappearing	reappearance	reappearance
16	1936	Joseph Smith, Inspired Version	coming	coming	coming
17	1938	Westminster Version N.T.	coming	coming	coming
18	1950	New World Translation	presence	presence	presence
19	1950	Moffat Bible	arrival	arrival	arrival
20	1956	Knox Bible	comes	comes	comes
21	1956	Moore New Testament	arrival	arrival	arrival
22	1956	Kleist & Lilly New Testament	advent	advent	advent
23	1958	Tomanek New Testament	presence	presence	presence
24	1958	Marshall Interlinear New Testament	presence	presence	presence
25	1963	Confraternity Bible	coming	coming	coming

What do the lexicons say?
Thayer's, "1. presence: 1 Co. xvi. 17; 2Co. x. 10; ...2. the presence of one coming, hence the coming, arrival, advent."

Vine's, "lit., "a presence," para, "with," and ousia, "being" (from eimi, "to be"), denotes both an "arrival" and a consequent "presence with." For instance, in a papyrus letter a lady speaks of the necessity of her parousia in a place in order to attend to matters relating to her property there. Paul speaks of his parousia in Philippi, Phil 2:12 (in contrast to his apousia, "his absence"...Other words denote "the arrival"...Parousia is used to describe the presence of Christ with His disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration, 2Pet. 1:16. When used of the return of Christ, at the rapture of the church, it signifies, not merely his momentary "coming" for His saints, but His presence with them from that moment until His revelation and manifestation to the world. In some passages the word gives prominence to the beginning of that period, the course of the period being implied, 1 Cor. 15:23; 1Thess. 4:15...In some, the course is prominent, Matt. 24:3, 37...in others the conclusion of that period, Matt 24:27..."

McKenzie,s Dictionary of the Bible, "Parousia (Gk parousia, "presence" or "arrival") ...In the Synoptic Gospels the Parousia is described as the coming of the Son of Man in glory (the glory of the Father) with the angels (Mt 16:27; 25:31; Mk 8:38; Lk 9:26), as a coming on the clouds with power and glory (Mt 24:30; 26:64; Mk 13:26; 14:62; Lk 21:27, omitted in Lk 22:69). The Parousia will be preceded by signs in the heavens...The coming will be like a flash of lightning (Mt 24:27; Lk 17:24); this image no doubt refers primarily to the sudden and unannounced appearance of the Son of Man, but it also suggests the brilliance of his appearance. He will come in the manner in which he ascended into heaven (AA 1:11). He takes his throne in the heavens (Mk 25:31)."

Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon (revised by H. Jones, Oxford, 1968, p. 1343) shows that pa·rou·si'a is used at times in secular Greek literature to refer to the "visit of a royal or official personage."

J. B. Rotherham's Emphasised Bible Appendix (p. 271): "In this edition the word parousia is uniformly rendered 'presence' ('coming,' as a representative of this word, being set aside). . . . The sense of 'presence' is so plainly [shown] by the contrast with 'absence' . . . that the question naturally arises,-Why not always so render it?"

TDNT (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament) "in the NT the terms [pareimi and parousia] are never used for the coming of Christ in the flesh, and PAROUSIA never has the sense of return. The idea of more than one PAROUSIA is first found only in the later Church . . . A basic requisite for understanding the world of thought of primitive Christianity is that we should fully free ourselves from this notion, which, so far as the NT is concerned, is suspect both philologically and materially" (TDNT 4:865).

In view of the above, let us look at other occurences of the word parousia:

Bible Version	1 Corinthians 16:17	2 Corinthians 10:10	Philippians 2:12	1Thess 2:19
New World	presence	presence	presence	presence
King James	arrived	presence	presence	presence
NASB	coming	presence	presence	presence
New Revised Stan	coming	presence	presence	presence
New King James	coming	presence	presence	presence
New International	arrived	omitted	presence	presence
New American	arrival	presence	present	presence
Rotherham	presence	presence	presence	presence
American Standard Version 1901	coming/presence	presence	presence	coming/ presence
New Jerusalem	arrived	omitted	present	presence
New English	arrived	presence	omitted	coming
Good News Bible	coming	omitted	omitted	presence
Revised Standard	coming	presence	presence	coming
Emphatic Diaglott	presence	presence	presence	appearing
Confraternity	presence	appearance	presence	coming
20th Century	come	appearance	omitted	coming
Smith/Goodspeed	come	omitted	omitted	presence
Moffatt Bible	arrived	omitted	present	presence
Douay	presence	appearance	presence	coming
Lamsa	coming	appearance	presence	presence
New Berkeley	arrival	presence	omitted	presence
Williams New Test.	come	omitted	omitted	presence
Beck	came	omitted	omitted	comes
Amplified	come	presence	presence	presence
Young's Literal	presence	presence	presence	presence

"omitted" = some dynamic equivalent rendering where the usual words are not present (like "I am with you").