Posted on April 24, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

Eschatology Matters to Mission

I think my friend John has hit the nail on the head with this post. I made similar rumblings about this a while back. I know some of my colleagues disagree with me on this issue and most of the disagreement centers on the amount of continuity/discontinuity there is between this life and the life after death – particularly within the church.

I would tend to argue for slightly more continuity than a lot of my colleagues would, yet to date none of them have really provided me with any solid biblical exegesis to suggest that I’m allowing more continuity than the New Testament does. So some see my efforts towards a more communal and holistic church community as over-realised eschatology (yes I’ve had that big word sent my way) and I’m just not convinced that it is. I’m still convinced that any Christian theology must be proclamation centered, and must see the reconciling of individuals to God as central but it must also allows for the world to come to break in at certain stages and certain ways.

Some argue that this is contradictory to the suffering and hardship which is the experience of the New Testament saints. I would argue that the experience of the New Testament saints is a mixture of suffering, hardship and yet great heavenly, yet tangible blessing and behaviour. I think the two should be held in tension as the experience of the believer.

Under-realized eschatology says everything is going to pot so we save souls and get out as soon as we can. Over-realized eschatology says the kingdom is now, and we make it come (that’s why I think some forms of the emergent church are doing exactly the same thing as those in the prosperity gospel movement – demanding kingdom blessing now). I reject both those views. God will bring in and consummate his kingdom but he calls on us to be a visible foretaste here on earth in the interim.