All Things Hold Together in Christ by James K. A. Smith

Author:James K. A. Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Faith and Science;Christianity and culture;Church—Public worship;Virtues;Spiritual life—Christianity;Religion and science;REL106000;REL067000
ISBN: 9781493411801
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2017-09-28T00:00:00+00:00

Eight

What then is the Christian “goal” or “end” at which we aim? How can we “anticipate” it here and now?

First, a note about “anticipating.” This idea can be somewhat tricky, and we’d better spend a moment trying to make it clear. If I say, “I’m anticipating that it will rain later on,” I may mean simply that I expect it’s going to rain later even though it isn’t doing so at the moment. But if I say it to someone who asks me why I’m wearing a raincoat even though the sun is shining, it means something more: it means that I am already dressed in the way that will be appropriate for the later conditions. In the same way, when a fielder in cricket or baseball is told by the coach to “anticipate” which way the ball is going to fly once it’s been hit, this doesn’t mean just that the fielder should guess in advance what’s going to happen. It means he should start to move before the ball is actually struck so that he’s in the right position to make the catch.

To “anticipate” in this second, strong sense means, in other words, not only thinking about what may happen but doing something about it in advance. Sometimes the conductor will tell a singer or instrumentalist to “anticipate the beat,” meaning actually to sing or play the note a fraction of a second before the written music indicates. If a chess player guesses rightly what move her opponent is likely to play, she may “anticipate” that move by doing something which heads off the challenge and advances one of her own. If a child gets into the party room ahead of the guests, he may “anticipate” the formal opening of the meal by making a private start on the hors d’oeuvres.

All these point toward the reality that Paul and other early Christian writers are getting at, but that none expresses fully. It might be closer to home—“home” being the New Testament announcement of Jesus and his kingdom-bringing work—to think in terms of a rightful king coming secretly to his people and gathering a group to help him overthrow the rulers who have usurped his throne. When he becomes king fully and finally, his followers will of course still obey him. When they obey him in the present time, however—even though he is not yet publicly owned as king—they are genuinely anticipating the obedience they will offer him in the future.

Applying all this to Christian faith and life means doing a kind of calculation. Indeed, Paul uses the word for “calculate” at just this point: Jesus Christ has died and been raised, he says, and you are now “in him,” so you must “calculate” or “reckon” that you, too, have died and been raised (Rom. 6:11). This truth about who you already are, and the moral life which flows from it, anticipates your own eventual bodily death and resurrection and the life of the coming new age. The point

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