by Peter Phillips
Already/Not Yet
The question regarding the timing of the Kingdom of God has been one of considerable debate throughout the centuries, and it will have a significant impact on whether one thinks Christ is reigning presently or not. However, to set the proper context for “the reign of Christ” discussion, it will be helpful to lay some theological groundwork. The problem of timing has everything to do with the seemingly contradictory body of textual support the Scriptures provide on this issue. Ladd introduces the threefold problem that scripture presents, as follows:
(1) Some passages of Scripture refer to the Kingdom of God as God’s reign. (2) Some passages of Scripture refer to the Kingdomof God as the realm into which we may now enter to experience the blessings of His reign. (3) Still other passages refer to a future realm which will come only with the return of our Lord Jesus Christ into which we shall then enter and experience the fullness of His reign. Thus the Kingdom of God means different things in different verses.[1]
Therefore, the task of the theologian is to have a broad enough view that can account for all the biblical data, yet be true to the context of each relevant passage. For the purposes of this paper, and the personal convictions of the author, the inaugurated eschatological view seems to make the most sense of the biblical data.
The basic idea behind an inaugurated eschatology of the Kingdom is the fact that there is a sense in which one clearly sees a present Kingdom in Scripture (primarily in the Gospels), and yet, one can readily see a body of evidence that the Kingdom is an event yet future. Thus, Jesus could say, “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven [God] is at hand” (Mt. 4:17), and without batting an eye, he could pray, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done” (Mt. 6:10). Jesus declared that the Kingdom of God had burst onto the scene of this world in His own person and ministry.[2] Hoekema explains, “We may say, therefore, that Jesus himself ushered in the Kingdom of God whose coming had been foretold by the Old Testament prophets. We must always see the Kingdom as indissolubly connected with the person of Jesus Christ.”[3] Therefore, inaugurated eschatology sees the Kingdom as “inaugurated” or brought into this world in the person and work of Christ, and yet still awaiting a future consummation when the Messiah King rules over the new heavens and earth. The Kingdom of God is actually in an “already here,” but “not yet” fully consummated state.
One important highlight of the inaugural view of the Kingdom of God is that it emphatically demonstrates that God’s Kingdom is present in the world in some sense, and dynamically so. Ladd maintains:
The Kingdom in this age is not merely an abstract concept of God’s universal rule to which men must submit; it is rather a dynamic power at work among men…. Before the apocalyptic coming of God’s Kingdom and the final manifestation of his rule to bring in the new age, God has manifested His rule, His Kingdom, to bring to men in advance of the eschatological era the blessings of His redemptive reign.[4]
Therefore, the “already” aspect of the inaugurated view is clearly showing that God is giving a foretaste of his not yet fully consummated Kingdom, in which the blessings of the age to come are spilling out into this age, and preeminently through the person and work of Christ. The reign of God, so to speak, has begun in Christ’s coming. In their book Kingdom Ethics, Gushee and Stassen attempt to show just how significant this foretaste of the Kingdom really is, “Our argument thus far has been that Jesus came announcing the reign of God; that the prophet Isaiah—to whom Jesus frequently referred—offers us a rich picture of the coming reign of God as a state of affairs characterized by God’s salvation and deliverance, God’s presence, justice and peace, and great joy.”[5] Gushee and Stassen argue that God is reigning now through Jesus Christ, because His person and work have ushered in the salvation blessings of the Kingdom, though they are careful not to say that the Kingdom is fully consummated. Yet, if this is true, which the New Testament fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies seems to suggest, then one can confidently conclude that God is reigning in some sense through Christ.
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