Paul and Jesus by James D. Tabor

Author:James D. Tabor
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

SEVEN

ALREADY BUT NOT YET

Paul and his followers faced an insurmountable problem, and unwittingly their failure to overcome it resulted in incalculable human suffering and misery. They had pushed themselves hard up against the cruel reality of time. It is one thing to believe that one is living at the end of history, right on the cusp of its transformation, but quite another to continue to deal with the hard, relentless reality of ordinary day-to-day life, unchanged year after year. The passing of time is something that every apocalyptic group has had to face, in whatever period they have lived.

However, for Paul and his followers it was even worse. It was not just a matter of time, of waiting. Not only did they believe that the transformation of the world was near: they were convinced it had already begun—but it had not yet arrived! They believed they were “in Christ,” and thus already participating in God’s grand reshaping of the cosmos. At the same time, “outside” in the natural world, human life and history continued as always. They were not simply living between two worlds, waiting for one to end and the other to begin. They were living within two worlds. Plato had taught that one could leave this world and go to a higher heavenly existence. Jesus and other apocalyptic Jews expected the imminent end of this world and the arrival of the new age. Paul’s gospel said that the chosen ones were already in the kingdom of God, by being in Christ even while waiting for its arrival.

The term “kingdom of God” refers to the reign of God, usually understood in Jewish apocalyptic texts in this period as the time when God decisively intervenes in human affairs to bring about a new age of God’s righteous rule. God’s anointed one, or Messiah, was expected to usher in this dramatic halt and turnabout of human history. The Messiah would be exalted above every other authority so that through his reign the will of God would be done on earth, as it is done in heaven. Paul taught that Jesus, who was a royal descendant of David, had fulfilled the role of the expected Messiah. But more important to Paul, he had been “declared Son of God in power by his resurrection.” Paul believed that Jesus had been raised from the dead and glorified to sit “at the right hand of God” (Romans 1:3–4). Since his reign was a heavenly one, the kingdom of God had already arrived and would shortly be manifested to the surprise of the entire world.

As we have seen, Christ’s rule from heaven, not just over the earth, but the entire cosmos, will continue until he destroys all rule, authority, and power, putting “all things” under his feet (Romans 8:34; 1 Corinthians 15:25). Paul’s cosmos is a disrupted one, a cosmos in rebellion, currently controlled by Satan, “the god of this age.” But Satan’s time is short-lived. Paul triumphantly declares to the Christians at Rome: “The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20).

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