Everything but Plowshares

"Evangelical Christianity—like all branches of the historic church—maintains a tension between the "already" and the "not yet" of this kingdom. That tension seeks to avoid bringing the kingdom too near (in utopianism or political gospels) or keeping it too far (in prophecy-chart fixations or withdrawal from society). From the apostolic age to the digital era, the "already-not yet" tension has proven difficult to understand. But it's really no more complicated than reconciling Jesus' declaration that the "kingdom of God is in your midst" with the fact that two millennia have passed with swords still used for everything but plowshares. The difference between what's "already" and what's "not yet" is summed up in the question, "Where is Jesus ruling now, and how?" The kingdom comes in two stages, because King Jesus himself does."

--Russell Moore

The Meaning of Marriage and Singleness

The following is the epilogue from Barry Danylak's excellent book Redeeming Singleness: How the Storyline of Scripture Affirms the Single Life. Here he summarizes the practical conclusions from his detailed discussion of the biblical texts.

"Christianity is distinctive from its monotheistic sibling faiths of Judaism, Islam, and Mormonism in its affirmation of singleness. While on the one hand Christianity, like the others, affirms a high view of marriage and family and a high sexual ethic, understanding sexual relations as something designed by God for and within marital union, it differs from the others in distinctly affirming both singleness and marriage as something good within the new family of God. The reason for this difference has its roots in what makes Christianity fundamentally different from its sibling faiths, namely, its affirmation that Jesus Christ has come in human history as God’s offspring and that through him come all the blessings of the new covenant.

Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the promised seed of Abraham, and in him are Abraham’s true offspring, heirs of the eternal inheritance promised by God. Since all the blessings of the new covenant are realized through our reconciliation to God through Christ, marriage is no longer a fundamental marker of covenantal blessing as it was in the covenant of Sinai. Singleness lived to the glory of God and the furtherance of his kingdom testifies to the complete sufficiency of Christ for all things. The Christian is fully blessed in Christ, whether he or she is married or single, rich or poor, in comfort or duress. The distinctive calling of singleness within the church testifies to this truth. 

Paul distinguishes the spiritual gift or charisma of singleness by three elements. First, it is characterized by one who, by the grace of God, lives a continent life apart from marriage, that is, above reproach in the sexual arena. Second, it is distinguished as a life free from the distractions of a spouse and children, a life characterized by freedom and simplicity, which testifies to the complete sufficiency of Christ. Third, it is a life enabled for constant service to the King and the kingdom. It emulates the model of the eunuch who is ready and waiting to serve the king whenever and however he is called.

The macro-trend in Western society indicates that the institution of marriage is in steady decline. This largely reflects the continued waning influence of Judeo-Christian presuppositions in the wider public sphere, i.e., the fundamental presumption that marriage between a man and a woman is something good and to be cherished. From the limited data I have examined from the ancient world, the macro trend of the West is moving much closer to approximating the marriage and sexual behavior patterns of pagan Roman culture—patterns characterized by a wider variety of living arrangements and a dissociation between marriage and the locus of one’s sexual behavior. Thus, the distinctively biblical-Christian view of singleness and marriage needs to be articulated again to an increasingly pagan wider world. 

This re-articulation should draw people to the positive vision the Christian Scriptures provide for both marriage and singleness as well as for human sexuality: Christian marriage is a testimony of the utterly faithful and unchanging love of God for his people in a permanent covenant relationship with him;1 Christian singleness is a testimony to the complete sufficiency of Christ for the present age and gives visible witness to the hope of our eternal inheritance yet to come; and Christian sexuality is an expression of the exclusive unity and oneness in the bond of the marriage relationship. 

Within the church this message is also in need of fresh articulation. Our youth are subject to an endless barrage of confusing messages concerning relationships and sexuality. Our culture idolizes the never-satiated lusts for sexual intimacy and the trappings of material comforts. To this end the Christian church needs to be intentional in teaching the biblical vision for both Christian singleness and Christian marriage. This entails not “Christianizing” the pervasive relational and material lusts of our culture into a preoccupation with building perfect families and exquisite homes. What is needed is a vision for promoting lifestyles in accordance with the fundamental tenets of the gospel, that the kingdom of God is at hand and that consummate satisfaction is to be found ultimately only in being reconciled to our God in Jesus Christ.
In accordance with this, the church should encourage all those who can to receive the challenge of both Jesus and Paul to remain single and free for the kingdom of God as a visible testimony of Christ’s sufficiency in the present age and the true inheritance yet to come. Similarly, the church should again articulate within its ranks Paul’s admonition that the choice to remain single is not independent of one’s sexual behavior. Sexual union was ordained by God to be a physical expression of marital union, and the two go together necessarily and exclusively. Christian marriage is thus a holy and blessed alternative to Christian singleness, testifying to the exalted covenantal union of God with his people and modeled after the relational intimacy of that union. 

The excessive value the Western world has placed on individualism fosters a psychological tendency to associate singleness with living alone. This is a tendency the church should resist. Christian singleness is not a denial of the underlying principle of Genesis 2:18, that it is not good to be alone. Neither Jesus nor Paul as single men was devoid of relationships. On the contrary, their relationships flourished in both number and depth by the freedom and flexibility their singleness afforded them. 

There are many possible living arrangements for single Christians. As a single adult, I have lived alone in a house, with roommates, as part of a community of singles, as part of another Christian household, and with elderly parents. Of all these arrangements, living alone was least satisfying for my personal and spiritual welfare. The flexibility and simplicity of singleness can be a strategic asset for building quality and substantive relationships within the family of God—living arrangements are an opportunity to leverage this asset. 

Like Christian marriage, Christian singleness lived in its fullest expression is a powerful testimony to the gospel. In the unchanging commitment of love and submission expressed between husband and wife, Christian marriage testifies to God’s faithful covenantal love toward his people and their submission and reception to his sovereign love. Christian singleness is a testimony to the supreme sufficiency of Christ for all things, testifying that through Christ life is fully blessed even without marriage and children. It prophetically points to a reality greater than the satisfactions of this present age by consciously anticipating the Christian’s eternal inheritance in the kingdom of God. Christian singleness lived as testimony of this gospel truth is a redeeming singleness.

--Barry Danylak, Redeeming Singleness: How the Storyline of Scripture Affirms the Single Life 

A (Biblical!) Bible Prophecy Chart

The chart below appears in the ESV Study Bible in an article by Thomas Schreiner entitled "The Theology of the New Testament." It reflects a similar chart that was (as far as I know) originally drawn up by a Christian scholar named Geerhardus Vos (whose wife Catherine wrote The Child's Story Bible). It helpfully shows the biblical framework of history, and how that framework became clearer as Jesus came and fulfilled the Old Testament hope, in ways that were unexpected to some (see John the Baptist's confusion in Matthew 11:1-6).

The New Testament part of the chart depicts history as composed of two ages ("this age and the age to come"), which are represented by the two parallel lines. This age begins at creation and ends with the second coming of Jesus. The age to come (and here's the amazing part) begins with the first coming of Christ while this age is still going on. Thus the two ages overlap, which means that we Christians have a foot in both ages. This is what is meant by saying that as New Testament Christians we live in the already/not yet: the age to come (call it 'the kingdom of God,' 'eternal life,' etc.) has already been inaugurated by Christ's first coming, but it will only be consummated by Christ's second coming. At the first coming of Christ, the age to come entered its first days, while this age entered its last days (Heb. 1:1-2; 1 Cor. 10:11; 2 Pet. 3:3; 1 John 2:18; Acts 2:17; 2 Tim. 3:1; Jude 18). In the mean time, we continue to live in this present evil age, though Christ has delivered us from its dominion (Gal. 1:4, Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Rom. 12:1-2). And we wait for his glorious appearing, which will bring this present evil age to an end (Matt. 13:39, 40, 49; 24:3; 28:20; Titus 2:13).

(The framework seen in this chart has become the standard consensus among evangelical New Testament scholars. For books that explain it, a good place to start would be:
The End Times Made Simple, Sam Waldron, http://www.amazon.com/End-Times-Made-Simple-Everybody/dp/1879737507/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322943109&sr=1-1
The Kingdom of Christ, Russell Moore http://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Christ-New-Evangelical-Perspective/dp/1581346271/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322942945&sr=1-1)



(p.s. In order to make the print readable, I have blown the chart up to a ridiculous size.)

Stein on the Message of Jesus

Jesus the Messiah--Chapter 9: "The Message of Jesus: The Kingdom of God has Come to You"

"During the first eighteen centuries of the church, parables were interpreted as allegories in which the individual details of the parable were to be searched for meaning. Today they are more correctly recognized as extended metaphors which tend to teach a basic point. At times, however, the details of the parable may bear allegorical significance (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43; 22:2-10; Mark 12:1-12). The key for detecting valid allegorical details is to ask whether Jesus' original audience would have interpreted these details in such a manner. Asking this question makes it evident that the ring and the fatted calf in the parable of the prodigal son could not be references the Christian baptism and the Lord's Supper, although the vineyard mentioned in Mark 12:1-12 would have been interpreted as a reference to Israel (Isa. 5:1-2)."

"In these passages [Luke 11:20, 16:16, 17:20-21; Mark 2:21-22] Jesus claimed that kingdom of God had in some way arrived. It was not just near but already here. It was realized...On the other hand, there are passages  in which Jesus taught that the kingdom of God involved some future event, something that had not yet occurred [Luke 11:2, 13:22-30; Matt. 5:19-20, 7:21-23, 8:11-12, 25:31-46; Mar 14:25; and so on]. In these passages Jesus taught that the kingdom of God was in some way still future--it was 'not yet.' In some instances the kingdom of God is even a synonym for eternal life (Mark 10:17, 23; John 3:3-5, 15-16]...According to Jesus, the kingdom/reign of God has now come in the a unique way in his ministry. Already the promised Spirit was at work, and after the resurrection he would baptize all of Jesus' followers, beginning at Pentecost. Old Testament prophecies were being fulfilled. A new covenant was inaugurated (Mark 14:24); the resurrection of the dead was about to begin (1 Cor. 15:20-23). Yet the final consummation of all things still lay in the future...Maintaining a balance between the 'already' and the 'not yet' of the kingdom of God is critical. When the tension between them is lost and one aspect is emphasized at the expense of the other, two major errors arise. To lose sight of the 'not yet' leads to a triumphal enthusiasm that is ultimately doomed to disappointment and disillusionment. The fallen character of the this world and our sinful nature will see to that. On the other hand, to lose sight of the 'already' leads to a defeatism and a defensive mentality that thwarts the spreading of the gospel throughout the world. Kept in proper perspective, Jesus' teaching leads to an optimistic and aggressive evangelism as well as an awareness that in this life we are still 'strangers and foreigners on the earth' (Heb. 11:13)."

Living in the Overlap of the Ages

"We live in the 'overlap of the ages.' The present age is not yet over--'I am with you always,' Jesus said, 'to the end of the age' (Matt. 28:20)--and yet the age to come has begun. We are, in Christ, 'new creation'! 'The old has passed away, behold the new has come' (2 Cor. 5:17)! As a result, we live with the tension of being in two 'ages' at once, a tension that no Jew ever thought would exist. When the Jews read the prophecies of Isaiah and Joel and Daniel, they expected that there would be a hard break between the present age and the age to come. The one would end, and the other would begin. But in God's wisdom, the coming of the Messiah turned out to be not just one event, but two--his first coming to inaugurate the age to come in the midst of the present age, and his second coming to end, finally, the present age and consummate the age to come. Thus we enjoy the forgiveness of sin even as we struggle with it;  thus we enjoy the presence of the Spirit even as we may still grieve him; thus we have been raised with Christ, seated at his right hand in the heavenly places, even as we know we will, for a time, return to dust. And thus we live in a world that is shot through with injustice and sin and oppression and evil and tears and sadness, even a world that we know will be shot through with such things until Jesus comes back, even as we strive to 'walk as children of light' and to 'shine as lights' in a crooked and twisted generation' (Eph. 5:8, Phil. 2:15)."

Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert, What is the Mission of the Church? Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission 

[The church library owns a copy of this if anyone is interested. http://www.amazon.com/What-Mission-Church-Justice-Commission/dp/1433526905/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320358349&sr=1-1 ]

The Future Has Already Begun

“Has the realization gripped you that the very life of heaven itself dwells within you here and now? Did you ever know that? I am afraid we live most of our lives in terms of promise. We often sing of the future, and so we ought to sing. Our gospel is a gospel of glorious promise and hope. Yes, the best, the glorious best, is yet to be. And yet we are not to live only for the future. The future has already begun. The Age to Come has reached into This Age; the Kingdom of God has come unto you. The eternal life which belongs to tomorrow is here today. The fellowship which we shall know when we see him face to face is already ours, in part but in reality. The transforming life of the Spirit of God which will one day transform our bodies has come to indwell us and to transform our characters and our personalities. This is what eternal life means. This is what it means to be saved."

--George Eldon Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom (1959 A.D.)