Yes, I think that is what he means as well. But, my thought is that if they believed it, then that is what they would have taught their followers and the next generation of believers. In that case there should be writings, perhaps numerous writings, suggesting all prophecy has been fulfilled.

I haven’t had a chance to do a lot of my own research, but just from searching on the internet I have found these quotes:

“But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there WILL BE a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, [as] the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare” (Justin Martyr, 100-165 A.D., Dialogue With Trypho, Chapter LXXX.-The Opinion of Justin with Regard to the Reign of a Thousand Years. Several Catholics Reject It).

“And on this account we believe that THERE WILL BE a resurrection of bodies after the consummation of all things….” (Tatian’s Address To The Greeks, circa 150 A.D., Chapter VI.-Christians’ Belief in the Resurrection).

Polycarp-Pupil of John the Apostle (AD. 70-156)

CHAPTER II.–AN EXHORTATION TO VIRTUE

“But He who raised Him up from the dead WILL raise up us also”

PAPIAS-Pupil of John the Apostle (AD. 70-155)

FRAGMENTS OF PAPIAS FROM THE EXPOSITION OF THE ORACLES OF THE LORD. V.

“those who are deemed worthy of an abode in heaven SHALL go there, others SHALL enjoy the delights of Paradise, and others SHALL possess the splendour of the city; for everywhere the Saviour WILL BE seen, according as they SHALL BE worthy who see Him.”

VI.

“there WILL BE a millennium AFTER the resurrection from the dead, when the personal reign of Christ WILL BE established on this earth”

There is more here if you want to look at it:
http://www.velocity.net/~edju70/Preterism.htm

My point is that full-preterism would be more convincing if we could find evidence that those closest to the disciples were teaching that the new heavens and earth have arrived.

Do you think this is a fair assumption?

When J. Stuart Russell referred to “the apostles and primitive Christians,” I understand him to mean the immediate disciples of Jesus, the authors of the New Testament, and the very first generation of believers living in the first century. When he says, “No hint is dropped anywhere…,” I understand him to be speaking of the text within the New Testament. This is my interpretation at least.

I’m really not sure who would have been the first commentator (let’s say after 70 AD) to say that they were living in the new heavens and new earth, that all prophecies were fulfilled, or any equivalent statements. I’m not sure which database I could turn to in an attempt to locate the very earliest of statements to that effect, or which search terms in any online database could uncover that type of statement belonging to the first or second century AD. I wish I did better know how to do that.

What I have seen, though, at least by the 2nd – 3rd centuries AD, is quite a bit of disunity when it came to the field of eschatology. There were Chiliasts (premillennialists), and there were those who denounced Chiliasm as heresy. There were those who declared Daniel’s 70 Weeks prophecy to be completely fulfilled, and there were those who said otherwise. There were those who declared the Olivet Discourse to be completely fulfilled, including the promise of Jesus’ coming in the clouds with great power and glory, and there were those who said they were still looking for that coming to take place. Some said “the antichrist” and/or many antichrists had already come, and others speculated that a future antichrist was yet to come in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. They were simply all over the place on these things, as far as I’ve been able to see at this point.

Here are some interesting quotes I came across from the period between 90 AD – 150 AD, with some statements being clearer than others as to what the writers meant:

90 AD: Clement of Rome (On the Last Days) “the Books and the Apostles teach that the church is not of the present, but from the beginning. For it was spiritual, as was also our Jesus, and was made manifest at the end of the days in order to save us. (Chap. XIV.– The Second Epistle to the Corinthians)

130 AD: Barnabus (On the demise of the Temple in the last days) “Moreover I will tell you likewise concerning the temple, how these wretched men being led astray set their hope on the building, and not on their God that made them, as being a house of God. . . . So it cometh to pass; for because they went to war it was pulled down by their enemies. . . . Again, it was revealed how the city and the temple and the people of Israel should be betrayed. For the scripture saith; and it shall be in the last days, that the Lord shall deliver up the sheep of the pasture and the fold and the tower thereof to destruction. And it so happened as the Lord had spoken. ” Epistle of Barnabus16:1 ff.)

130 AD: Barnabus (On the fulfillment of prophecy) “Moreover understand this also, my brothers. When ye see that after so many signs and wonders wrought in Israel, even then they were abandoned, let us give heed, lest haply we be found, as the scripture saith, many called but few chosen. . .” (4:14, Epistle of Barnabus)

130 AD: Barnabus (On the fulfillment of prophecy) “Therefore the Son of God came in the flesh to this end, that He might sum up the complete tale of their sins against those who persecuted and slew His prophets.” (5:11, Epistle of Barnabus)

150 AD: Justin Martyr (On the fulfillment of Isaiah 2:4) CHAP. XXXIX.–Direct Predictions By The Spirit. “And when the Spirit of prophecy speaks as predicting things that are to come to pass, He speaks in this way: “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” And that it did so come to pass, we can convince you. For from Jerusalem there went out into the world, men, twelve in number, and these illiterate, of no ability in speaking: but by the power of God they proclaimed to every race of men that they were sent by Christ to teach to all the word of God; and we who formerly used to murder one another do not only now refrain from making war upon our enemies, but also, that we may not lie nor deceive our examiners, willingly die confessing Christ.” (First Apology of Justin Martyr, ch. 39)

“There is not a scintilla of evidence that the apostles and primitive Christians had any suspicion of a twofold reference in the predictions of Jesus concerning the end. No hint is anywhere dropped that a primary and a partial fulfillment of His sayings was to take place in that generation, but that the complete and exhaustive fulfillment was reserved for a future and far distant period.”

I would expect to find some ancient commentator to state explicitly that all prophecies are fulfilled and we are now living in the new heavens and earth. To your knowledge, who is the earliest person to clearly make this sort of statement? Do any of the “Apostolic Fathers” say this?

Thanks.

“And when those that believed in Christ had come thither [out] from Jerusalem [in obedience to Matthew 24:15-16], then, as if the royal city of the Jews and the whole land of Judea were entirely destitute of holy men, the judgment of God at length overtook those who had committed such outrages against Christ and his apostles, and totally destroyed that generation of impious men (Proof of the Gospel, Book III, Ch. 5)… [When] the lamentation and wailing that was predicted for the Jews, and the burning of the Temple and its utter desolation, can also be seen even now to have occurred according to the prediction, surely we must also agree that the King who was prophesied, the Christ of God, has come, since the signs of His coming have been shewn in each instance I have treated to have been clearly fulfilled” (Proof of the Gospel, Book VIII).

I disagree that there has been no general resurrection of the dead. Paul declared in Acts 24:15 that there was “about to be” a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. I would ask you to consider the following argument by Vernon C. Klingman III in comparing Daniel 12 and Matthew 24. I believe he does a good job articulating why Daniel 12 (which predicts the resurrection) can’t be future, especially if a person believes that Matthew 24:1-34 has been fulfilled:

“Perhaps the clearest Biblical preclusion of the partial preterist view rests in a comparison between Christ’s teaching in the Olivet Discourse and Daniel 12. In these passages, we find both Jesus and Daniel foretelling of the time of the end (Dan. 12:4; Mat. 24:3), the great tribulation (Dan. 12:1; Mat. 24:21), the abomination of desolation (Dan. 12:1; Mat. 24:15), and the gathering of the elect (Dan. 12:2-3; Mat. 24:31). These parallels demonstrate that Jesus and Daniel were speaking of the same time and events. In fact, Jesus stated directly that He was discussing the things that Daniel had predicted (Mat. 24:15).

Now, Jesus taught that all these things, along with His coming in glory and the destruction of the temple, would occur before His generation would pass away (Mat. 24:1-34), and the partial preterist believes this was fulfilled. However, Daniel recorded that all these things, along with the resurrection of the righteous and the wicked, would occur by the time the power of the Jews would be shattered (Dan. 12:2-7). Clearly, both of these prophecies were delimited by the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This means that all these things, including the coming of Christ to resurrect the righteous and the wicked, would occur by this time.”

You need to go back to read the OT free of your preconceptions and attempted interpretations.