The tension between the already and not-yet dimensions of kingdom fulfillment helps us understand that while there is a certain measure of life that we will only be able to experience in the future, there is also a vibrant fullness of life that can be experienced now. It’s not that we receive a little bit of life now and then at a later point we will receive eternal life; we receive eternal life now. We receive the very Spirit of God. We are renewed in Christ and the Spirit. We are transformed. We are made alive in a way we neither experienced nor understood before.
Is this transformation made instantaneously complete? Not at all. What has begun is a process of transformation that will endure a lifetime and beyond, into chronological eternity. However, our incomplete transformation is not because we receive an incomplete (or insufficient) life, but because the two ages (the old age and the age to come) overlap. It is not that we have been given only partial life in Christ, but rather that the full life in Christ that is ours is “crowded out” and “cluttered” by the old age.
Please note: I am not proposing a reformulation of the no-more-problems version of the gospel. I affirm the truth that we will not experience the complete and final fullness of God-intended life prior to our own death. We will continue to struggle with sin, illness, sickness, and death. This is due to the fact that we are living between the times. We are living in the overlap of the old age and the age to come.61 We cannot (nor should not) do away with the tension between these two ages. However, too many Christians erroneously assume that the tension is between a fully powerful-and-present old age and a partially powerful-and-present age to come. Thus, the biblical and theological concern here is that we not undermine or minimize the fullness of what God has done in Christ. The new age (the age to come) has come in its fullness. We have already received the possibility of new life in Christ in full measure. The reason we sometimes do not yet experience the full measure of this new life is that we live in the overlap between the old age and the age to come, and thus, the complete destruction of the old age has not yet taken place.62
It is also not that we live in some third age in which the fullness of life is weaker than it will be in the age to come. Rather, it is that the old age continues to exert its influence and power, or as Dallas Willard phrases it, “other ‘kingdoms’ are still present on earth along with the kingdom of the heavens.”63 These other kingdoms play a role in the extent to which we experience the full measure of life that God’s kingdom brings, but their presence does not mean that God’s kingdom has only come in partial measure.64
Thus, instead of focusing on the impossibility of experiencing full life in Christ due to the presence and power of the old age, Christians, in both discipleship and evangelism, should focus on the possibility of experiencing full life in Jesus due to the presence and power of the age to come.
In this recommendation I do not assume that the ministry of evangelism will deliver full God-intended life-in-Jesus, for that is more appropriately the role of the ministry of discipleship. I do, however, suggest that the ministry of evangelism should cast the vision of the full God-intended life-in-Jesus. This is more faithful to the core message of the good news of the gospel, it helps non-Christians more fully understand what they are being invited to embrace (on the front end of their journey), and it more appropriately “sets up” the ministry of discipleship by providing a more complete biblical frame of reference for the full life that discipleship is to help us grow into.
Life Is Central: It Is God’s Prior Intent
You might surmise from this discussion that the kingdom provides the foundation for an understanding of life. To a certain extent this is true. The prevalence of kingdom language in the Synoptic Gospels prompts us to consider the kingdom to be a central (for some people, the central) theme for biblical and theological work. However, a strong case can be made from a different perspective: the biblical theme of life could also quite legitimately serve as the central organizing principle of the Bible.
Several Old Testament scholars highlight the importance of life in the Bible. As mentioned in chapter 1, Hans Klein postulates that the Old Testament focuses on life and the New Testament on new life. Edmond Jacob notes that “the idea of eternity is secondary to that of life. God is not living because he is eternal, but he is eternal because he is living.”65 Otto Baab observes that the designation of God as living (or alive) is attached more than sixty times to formulaic oaths that include God’s name.66 Eichrodt refers to two leading motifs regarding the Jewish attitude to the defeat of death. One relates to “the conquest of death as an eschatological event.”67 The second refers to the belief that prior to history’s end there is a sense in which, through our relationship (encounter) with God, life “acquires an indestructible content.”68 Eichrodt notes that we are speaking not so much of resurrection as we are of the realization that included in our life with God is an understanding that God provides a life-filled yes to God’s worshippers. This yes provides the God-follower with a vision and experience of life that supersedes whatever may happen in physical death.
John’s Gospel offers insightful perspectives on the life theme too. Raymond E. Brown suggests that “the Fourth Gospel may be called the Gospel of life,”69 and Rudolf Schnackenburg remarks that “everything the Johannine Jesus says and does, all that he reveals and all that he accomplishes as ‘signs’, takes place in view of man’s [sic] attaining salvation, in view of his gaining divine life.”70 D. Moody Smith concurs, writing that “the eschatological goal, the essence of salvation, according to the Fourth Gospel is life.”71 Finally, Leon Morris writes that John’s purpose is to convince his readers that Jesus is the Christ, “in order that he may bring them to a place of faith and accordingly to new life in Christ’s name.”72
These are a few examples that illustrate the importance of the life theme among some Old Testament and Johannine scholars. Space does not permit further treatment at this time, but more attention will be given to this subject in a subsequent chapter. For the moment, my purpose is simply to illustrate that a strong case can be made for placing a premium value on the theme of life in the Bible. One may agree, however, that the life theme is important in the Bible, yet question whether it could serve as the Bible’s central organizing principle. Some persons believe that it is inappropriate to even look for a central organizing principle of the Bible.73 Others may find such a search to be appropriate but would choose some other theme, such as covenant, promise, or redemption. I will not attempt to address all the permutations of an objection to the life theme as the central organizing principle of the Bible. It would be helpful, however, to deal with the life theme in relation to the kingdom, and proceed from there.
In chapter 1, in my discussion concerning the evangelistic visions of William Abraham and Scott Jones, I offered examples of how we could link kingdom-based evangelistic visions with a life-based evangelistic vision. I would now like to introduce a related yet different concept for you to consider: that we frame the relationship between life and kingdom in reference to ultimate goal or purpose, as distinct from the instruments or means that lead to that ultimate goal or purpose. In this context, the kingdom of God could symbolically serve as an instrument of God’s desire (goal) to bring restoration of life to God’s human creatures (and all of creation).
It is helpful to analyze kingship in the Ancient