Joel, please note that Brian’s statement is tentative: ‘we should consider the possibility that many, and perhaps even all… fulfill much of what…’.

With regard to Matt. 10:28, my argument in COSM is that this forms part of Jesus’ warning to his disciples as they go about preaching the message of the kingdom throughout the towns and villages of Israel. Keep in mind the historical context. They will face violent opposition, but they are not to be afraid, for they will be vindicated at the coming of the Son of man (Matt. 10:32). Jesus uses the dualistic language of body and soul here to speak of the difference between their fate and the fate of apostate Israel. Obedience will lead to vindication and life; disobedience will lead to destruction (AD 70) without any prospect of sharing in the life of the age which has now come (ie. the age of the Spirit).

Again for Israel this is to be conceived historically - ‘gehenna’ (not ‘hell’) is an image of judgment on Jerusalem through military destruction (Jer. 19:6-7). In biblical thought aiōnios does not mean ‘eternal’ in the sense of ‘continuing forever beyond death’. It means something like ‘of the age’ or ‘continuing for the duration of the age’. Jesus is talking about the difficult transition from second temple Judaism to the renewed people of God in the Spirit - the birthpains of the new age.

In the case of the disciples, I think Jesus is talking about a postmortem reward for their faithfulness - they will share in the life of the age to come through resurrection to the right hand of God (ie. in heaven), and they will reign with Christ until all his enemies have been destroyed, including death. This hope is relevant for the early church insofar as it constitutes the Son of man community that suffers persecution from a satanicly inspired pagan oppressor. But it is specifically a hope for the oppressed, martyr community, which will share in Christ’s vindication at his parousia; it is not a universal paradigm.

I’m not sure how well the early church fathers understood this, but I would place them nevertheless within the same eschatological framework: they look forward to vindication and an end to suffering (Clement’s ‘rest’) and to judgment on a regime and society (Rome) that is idolatrous, wicked, and hostile to YHWH and his people (Clement’s ‘punishment of the age’).