The SBJT Forum

Editor’s Note: Readers should be aware of the forum’s format. D. A. Carson, Barry Joslin, C. Everett Berry, and Denny Burk have been asked specific questions to which they have provided written responses. These writers are not responding to one another. The journal’s goal for the Forum is to provide significant thinkers’ views on topics of interest without requiring lengthy articles from these heavily-committed individuals. Their answers are presented in an order that hopefully makes the forum read as much like a unified presentation as possible.

SBJT: What are the most common errors “For he has rescued us from the domin- that people make when it comes to ion of darkness and brought us into the understanding and proclaiming the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we kingdom? have redemption, the forgiveness of sin” D. A. Carson: I shall list a handful. They (Col 1:13–14). are in no particular order of impor- Second, sometimes the inverse error tance, primarily because several of these is promoted. The old hymn by Timothy interpretive errors belong to distinctive Dwight promotes the view that “king- groups. To rank the importance of the dom” and “church” refer to the same error would require ranking the influence thing: of each group—and that, of course, is an I love Thy kingdom, Lord, entirely different question. But several of The house of Thine abode, these errors have something in common: The church our blest Redeemer saved they are errors because they succumb With His own precious blood. to reductionism. They rightly see some corner of the truth, but then absolutize But this is a category mistake. The word it in such a way that they fail to see how “church” refers to a gathering, an assem- “kingdom” is, linguistically speaking, a bly, of people; the word “kingdom,” in tensive symbol, with a very broad array the first instance, refers to the dynamic of referents and overtones in the Bible. notion of “reign” (whatever the more To absolutize only a part of the evidence precise meanings it carries as it interacts D. A. Carson is Research Professor not only makes exegetical nonsense out of with particular contexts). Even if there of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical other passages and thus skews the com- is some sense in which God rules over Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He prehensiveness of the ways in which the his church in a different way than he is the author of numerous commentar- Bible speaks of the kingdom of God (and rules over everyone else—and we shall ies and monographs, and is one of this related expressions), but it ends up with see that that is the case—the two words country’s foremost New Testament distorted theological synthesis. “church” and “kingdom” belong to differ- scholars. Among his many books are First, some forms of theology inject ent categories and should not be treated The Cross and Christian Ministry (Baker, a temporal barrier between “kingdom” as synonyms. Sometimes this mistake is 2004), How Long O Lord: Reflections and “church”: the church belongs to this made by people who argue that we ought on Suffering and Evil (2nd ed., Baker, dispensation, and the kingdom to the to expect the church to be made up of 2006), and the forthcoming Christ and next. At least some passages cannot eas- believers and unbelievers alike, and who Culture Revisited (Eerdmans, 2008). ily be squared with such an outlook: e.g., 104 attempt to defend the point by appealing John foresees a time when “[t]he kingdom to the parable of the wheat and the weeds of the world has become the kingdom of (Matt 24:13–29, 36–43). But Jesus explicitly our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will tells us that this is a parable of the king- reign for ever and ever” (Rev 11:15), when dom. And, as we shall see, it is a parable the hosts of darkness face crushing defeat designed, in part, to establish a certain (Rev 19:11-21); Paul announces a time stance on the present and the future, not when every knee will bow (Phil 2:10–11). to give us a profile of the church. Many passages picture believers “inherit- Indeed, that is the third arena where ing” the kingdom at the end. errors about the kingdom are not uncom- There are pastoral implications to this mon: tensions between the biblical running tension between the “already”- descriptions of inaugurated eschatology reigning kingdom and the “not yet” king- (the kingdom has come) and futurist dom. It has been plausibly argued that eschatology (the kingdom comes at the Corinthian believers were tempted by an end). On the one hand, Jesus tells certain over-realized eschatology: already they parables of the kingdom in order to get think of themselves as kings beginning across that the expected “big bang” is not their reign (1 Cor 4:8), and thus they have yet. For instance (if I may use the formula overlooked the call to suffer exemplified much loved by the rabbis when they told by the apostles themselves. By contrast, their parables, and used by Jesus himself), it appears that some Thessalonians, it is the case with the kingdom as with the insufficiently grateful for the gospel soils: there is varying receptivity to the blessings they had already received, and word that is sown, and varying degrees eagerly anticipating the coming of the of fruitfulness. The kingdom did not come future kingdom which they thought to in instantaneous and utterly effective be right around the corner, could stint division. It came slowly, with varying on mundane responsibilities, don ascen- responses. Elsewhere we are told that this sion robes, sit on a hill in California and side of Jesus’ resurrection and exaltation, sing advent songs. There are negative all authority in heaven and on earth is his: repercussions to getting the balance of in other words, Jesus Christ reigns, even Scripture wrong. though we do not see everything and A fourth arena of reductionism is found everyone cheerfully submitted to him. To where Christians overlook the fact that in use the language of Paul in 1 Corinthians some passages “kingdom” is a sweeping 15, Jesus must reign until he has destroyed category that leaves nothing out from all his enemies, the last of those enemies the arch of its reign—nothing in heaven being death itself. So all of the Father’s or on earth, no human being redeemed royal authority is now mediated through or otherwise—while in other passages Christ: he reigns, even though his reign the “kingdom” is that subset of God’s must be contested until the last enemy is sweeping, providential sovereignty under destroyed. All of these images and pas- which there is forgiveness with God and sages (and there are many more) conjure eternal life. Not everyone falls under this up a picture of a kingdom already here, latter “reign” or “kingdom.” already operating, already inaugurated, It is easy enough to recall texts on still contested. On the other hand, the seer both sides of this pair. On the one hand, 105 “The LORD has established his throne in problematic, but which, when it is taken heaven, and his kingdom rules over all” almost on its own, makes “kingdom” an (Psa 103:19). In the parable of the wheat adjective that blesses whatever I want and the weeds, to which I’ve already blessed. Thus we hear a lot today of “king- referred, it is the kingdom that is likened to dom ethics”: the actual content can come this situation, a situation of mixed wheat from that part of the Reformed camp that and weeds until the end when a final sep- speaks fluently of redeeming the culture, aration takes place. When “kingdom” has or from that part of the Anabaptist/Hau- so broad an embrace, we must conclude erwas/Emergent camp that nods repeat- that everyone is in the “kingdom” in that edly and appreciatively at either pacifism sense of “kingdom”; all of us are wheat or or 1920s liberalism, or both. Neither camp weeds. It is equivalent to saying that all of is entirely wrong: certainly to live under us live under God’s reign whether we like the saving reign of God entails the trans- it or not; all of us live under his reigning formation of life, including the transfor- providence; it is simply unavoidable. On mation of ethical life. Yet the ease with the other hand, elsewhere Jesus can teach which other biblical emphases regarding that unless people are born again they the kingdom are lost is disconcerting. cannot see or enter the kingdom of God In the present climate I’m suspicious of (John 3:3, 5). Clearly “kingdom” in this anyone who uses “kingdom” only as an context is more restrictive: some people adjective, for usually it is merely a theo- are in it, and some people are not. To focus logically posh way of approving one’s entirely on the former sometimes engen- current theological and ethical agenda. ders conclusions made up of equal parts If we like some ethical course, we label it of truth and of mushy sentiment: “All “kingdom ethics” and bless it with a text, human beings are children of God, all are and epistemology is satisfied. in his kingdom.” Well, yes, in exactly the A particularly virulent form of this same way that Pol Pot, Adolf Hitler, and approach is hidden behind what Tony Joe Stalin remained, all their lives, under Campolo now approvingly calls “red the unavoidable aegis of God’s sovereign letter Christians.” These red letter Chris- sway, but this will not strike thoughtful tians, he says, hold the same theological people as an adequate basis for establish- commitments as do other evangelicals, ing discernment or for fostering utopian but they take the words of Jesus especially inclusivism. On the other hand, to focus seriously (they devote themselves to the entirely on the kingdom as presented “red letters” of some foolishly printed in John 3 may regrettably lead some so Bibles) and end up being more concerned to focus on the circle of the regenerated than are other Christians for the poor, the that they overlook the sweeping ways in hungry, and those at war. Oh, rubbish: which God’s reign, however mediated by this is merely one more futile exercise in secondary causalities, is truly over all. trying to find a “canon within the canon” Increasingly during the last couple of to bless my preferred brand of theology. decades, two vociferous groups focus on That’s the first of two serious mistakes a fifth emphasis which, if it were well- commonly practiced by these red letter integrated with everything else the Bible Christians. The other is worse: their actual says about the kingdom, would not be grasp of what the red letter words of Jesus 106 are actually saying in context far too fre- us that, this side of the cross, this side of quently leaves a great deal to be desired; the resurrection, all authority belongs to more particularly, to read the words of Jesus (28:18–20). These constitute parts of Jesus and emphasize them apart from the the narrative framework without which narrative framework of each of the canonical Jesus’ red-letter words, not least his por- gospels, in which the plot-line takes the reader trayals of the kingdom, cannot be rightly to Jesus’ redeeming death and resurrection, not understood. only has the result of down-playing Jesus’ In short: serious Christians will want death and resurrection, but regularly fails to avoid reductionism. We must carefully to see how the red-letter words of Jesus study the sweep of “kingdom” uses, pay point to and unpack the significance of close attention to the immediate context, his impending crosswork. In other words, and faithfully emphasize what all of it is not only Paul who says that Jesus’ Scripture declares to be matters “of first cross and resurrection constitute matters importance.” “of first importance” (1 Cor 15:3), and not only Paul who was resolved to know noth- SBJT: Is the kingdom of God the same ing among the Corinthians except Jesus thing as the church? If not, are they Christ and him crucified (1 Cor 2:1–5), but related? the shape of the narrative in each canonical Barry Joslin: The relation of the kingdom gospel says the same thing. In each case the of God to the church is a difficult ques- narrative rushes toward the cross and res- tion. They are not to be seen as one and urrection; the cross and resurrection are the same, though they are related. While the climax. So to interpret the narrative, the church is the bride of Christ and including the red-letter words of Jesus, the new covenant community of God, apart from the climax to which they are the kingdom is God’s redemptive and rushing, is necessarily a distortion of the sovereign rule that has broken into the canonical Gospels themselves. present evil age. It was inaugurated in the Some of the Gospel passion accounts ministry of Christ, and His church awaits make this particularly clear. In Matthew, its consummation and global, visible rule for example, Jesus is repeatedly mocked (Matt 25:31-46). as “the king of the Jews” (27:27–31, 37, Both the kingdom of God/heaven (also 42). But Matthew knows that his readers called the kingdom of Christ, Eph 5:5; Col have been told from the beginning of his 1:13) and the church are major themes in Barry Joslin is Assistant Professor of book (even the bits without red letters) the New Testament, yet in Jesus’ ministry Christian Theology at Boyce College of that Jesus is the king: the first chapter it is clearly the kingdom that takes center The Southern Baptist Theological Semi- establishes the point, and tells us that, as stage—being referred to well over forty nary. He received his Th.M. from Dallas the promised Davidic king, he is given the times each in Matthew and Luke alone. Theological Seminary and his Ph.D. name “YHWH saves” (“Jesus”) because he Beginning with his forerunner John the from The Southern Baptist Theological comes to save his people from their sins. Baptist (whose message was identical to Seminary. Dr. Joslin has written numer- Small wonder for its first three centuries that of Jesus—compare Matt 3:2 and 4:17), ous dictionary and journal articles and is the church meditated often on the irony our Lord’s central topic of preaching was the author of the forthcoming Hebrews, of Jesus “reigning” from a cross, that the kingdom of God (Mk 1:15). When the Christ, and the Law: the Theology of barbaric Roman instrument of torture and seventy were sent out, their message was the Mosaic Law in Hebrews 7:1-10:18 shame. And it is Matthew who reminds the same (Luke 10:9). When Jesus teaches (Paternoster, 2008). 107 his disciples (and his church) how to pray, As defined above, the kingdom is God’s they and we are taught to pray “Thy king- saving, redemptive rule into which we dom come.” Further, the message of the are summoned. One enters the kingdom, kingdom was so apparent in Jesus’ own and God’s kingdom rule in Christ delivers ministry that the dying thief on the cross each of its subjects from the dominion of next to Jesus requested to be part of this darkness, spelling defeat for Satan and kingdom (Luke 23:42). the powers of evil. His rule invades the Luke records for us that the proclama- kingdom of Satan and overthrows it one tion of the early church was centered on soul at a time, binding the strong man the matter of the kingdom. The disciples’ (Mark 3:24-27; Matt 12:26-29). Therefore an forty days of training before Pentecost important distinction between the two is consisted of Jesus speaking about a cen- that the kingdom creates the church and tral issue—the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). not vice-versa. The church is the result of In addition, it is helpful to note several the kingdom’s inauguration into the world things concerning the earliest record through the proclamation in and through of the church in Acts: Luke begins and Jesus. While the New Testament regularly ends Acts with the matter of the kingdom refers to believers as the church, it does (Acts 1:3 and 28:30); Philip’s message as not refer to believers as the kingdom he preaches is the kingdom (8:12); Paul (except in Rev 1:6 and 5:10, the context of reasons with the Jews for several months which indicates that the saints are “a king- about the kingdom of God (Acts 19:8); dom” in that they will share in Christ’s the kingdom is the summation of Paul’s reign). It is right to say that the church is a preaching to the Ephesian church (Acts people who have received the offer of the 20:25); and Acts concludes with Paul in kingdom of God, but that is not the same Rome preaching and reasoning from the thing as saying that the church is the king- Old Testament about the kingdom of God dom. As the church, we await its full and (Acts 28:23, 30). Thus, on a most basic level, final expression at the end of the age—the what we see is that the church preaches coming of the kingdom of our Lord and the kingdom, yet it is never called to of His Christ—the glorious eschatological preach the church. The church is not the rule of God where justice reigns and death message. Rather, the church witnesses is no more. It is the day both of salvation to and is the instrument of the kingdom. and judgment, depending on whether one Therefore as the church, we are to preach has entered the kingdom (Matt 7:21; John the kingdom right up until the time the 3:3, 5) or remains outside (Matt 13:36-43; King returns to consummate His king- 47-50; 22:11-14; 25:1-13). dom. In short, Christ’s message was the What we also see as part of this insepa- kingdom of God, and this was passed rable relationship is that the kingdom of on to the founding pillars of the church, God works through the church. Matthew and must be the church’s message today. 16:18-19 informs us that the church holds Kingdom and church are related, but are the keys to the kingdom. Concerning this not synonymous. passage, many have noted that Luke 11:52 Now that we have seen that the king- is helpful in ascertaining that the “keys” dom and the church are not identical, in view are the keys of the knowledge of the question returns to how they relate. what the scriptures teach of Christ and 108 entrance into his kingdom. As such, the this age in the ministry of Jesus Christ, religious leaders do not enter, and their and creates the church by plundering the teaching prevents their followers from devil’s dominion and loosing many from entering as well. Yet Peter’s confession of the bonds of their captivity. The church Christ in Matt 16:18-19 is just the begin- is the instrument and custodian of the ning of what Peter is coming to under- kingdom, and witnesses to the kingdom stand. He will proclaim the gospel of the of Christ until it has been preached to kingdom and in so doing it will be opened all the nations. Then our King will come to many (“loosed”) while others will (Matt 24:14). be shut out (“bound”). We see that this occurs in Peter’s recorded ministry in Acts SBJT: How can the theological construct in which many are loosed (Acts 2:14-39; of inaugurated eschatology help us in 3:11-26) while others are bound and shut forming a biblical understanding of out (Acts 4:11-12; 8:20-23). This begins Christian sanctification? with Peter, but is not restricted to him. C. Everett Berry: The term inauguration This binding and loosing is accomplished essentially refers to an act of ceremonial whenever the gospel of the kingdom of observance whereby a given party offi- Christ is preached. Those who respond cially inducts another newly designated are loosed, while those who reject this party into a special position of author- message are bound. ity. Note also that this practice typically Through gospel preaching, whatever alludes to a significant transition wherein the church binds or looses will have the subject being inaugurated represents already been bound or loosed. This king- a new phase of leadership or service. dom binding and loosing is seen in Matt And it is here where insight has proven 18:18 in the context of discipline, and is an helpful to evangelicals as they attempt application of what is taught in 16:18-19. to conceptualize the theological flow of The church has the keys to the kingdom, the biblical storyline and delineate the and so long as its message adheres to the hermeneutical symmetry between Old divinely-given gospel, then it either ush- Testament promise and Christological ful- ers in or excludes those that have already fillment. Specifically, the concept known been loosed or bound by God. The church as “inaugurated eschatology” highlights a is God’s eschatological people of the king- theological tension in the New Testament dom that has already broken into this age, between the temporary co-existence of and we are summoned by the King to uti- two mutually exclusive realms. First there lize the keys to bind and loose. A correct is “the present age,” which is marked application of church discipline is part of by all the consequences of sin upon the what it means to follow Jesus during this world including the divine curse as well age of the inaugurated kingdom. As such, as Satanic oppression. This era continues it is often noted that the church is not only to wreak havoc upon humanity but now the instrument of the kingdom, but also the with one crucial difference. It exists on C. Everett Berry is Assistant Pro- custodian of the kingdom. borrowed time because of the beginning fessor of Theology at Criswell College In short, the church is not the kingdom, of another age established by the finished in Dallas, Texas. He received his Ph.D. yet the two are inseparable. The sovereign, work of Jesus Christ. His act of redemp- from The Southern Baptist Theological redemptive rule of God has broken into tion defeated death, made atonement for Seminary. 109 sin, thwarted the works of the devil, and has tremendous implications for inter- provided a means whereby the kingdom preting numerous motifs in Scripture. Yet of heaven might eventually become a one theme often overlooked is its relation- full reality on earth. Consequently, the ship to the doctrine of sanctification. One completion of his Father’s mission marked notices when reading the ethical sections the dawning of a new eschatological era of the New Testament that biblical writers that would bring salvation and restoration frequently allude to believers’ identity from sin. as kingdom citizens of the age to come The key though is that the full realiza- in order to exhort them to live out their tion of this telos is not instantaneous. The faith in the world now. The portrait given biblical writers understood the resurrec- in Scripture is that believers are a people tion and ascension of Christ as events who live in the hostile convergence of two that set in motion, or inaugurated, the antithetical ages that overlap, thus creat- gradual ushering of “the age to come” ing a kind of parallel universe. On the one into the present. Now the present age hand, our redemption is not experientially commences on a divinely-set stopwatch culminated because we still struggle with ticking down the last days until the temptation, sin, and spiritual immaturity. impending kingdom of God arrives in its Yet on the other, we have been born again, consummate form on the last Day, which empowered by the Spirit, and thereby is otherwise known as the Day of the become new creations in Christ. Lord when the glorified Christ returns The net result of these dual truths is to save his people and judge his enemies. a clash of loyalties because now we as Furthermore, believers in the early church believers are admonished to repudiate were taught that this future was certain the immoral ways of our old identity as because of promises made by Christ and children made in Adam’s image by walk- his apostles regarding the imminent ing in the power of the Spirit so we can parousia. They were also assured of this be continually conformed into the image reality by virtue of the fact that Christ was of the second Adam. The theological currently executing in preliminary form irony, however, is that we do not reject the power of the future kingdom amidst our former way of life so we can gradu- the very time of spiritual darkness in ally achieve a new spiritual rank. We which they still lived. While they existed recognize instead that at conversion, we in a world blinded by Satan and cursed forfeit our spiritual link to the present age because of Adam’s sin, they were likewise and became full citizens and heirs of the experiencing many of the blessings of the future kingdom. Therefore, because of eschatological age. The forgiveness of sins, the dynamic of inaugurated eschatology, the indwelling of the Spirit, and the gift biblical sanctification does not focus on of eternal life were soteric foretastes that maintaining a certain life style in order were indicative of future realities not yet to gain something we do not have yet. received, such as resurrection from the Rather we are to grow in grace in order dead, the absence of sin’s carnal influence, to reflect the identity that is already fully and a new creation. ours. This is why believers in the New Theologically speaking then, the con- Testament are not described as sinners cept of inaugurated eschatology obviously who should change in order to be called 110 saints one day. It is because they already of a doctrine into every lexical parallel are saints positionally that they are to that one finds in the Bible. Such a proce- exhibit a certain life practically. So in a dure will inevitably lead to an eisegetical sense each ethical mandate placed before distortion of the Scripture. us as believers entails an eschatological So it is when we speak of the doctrine context that validates its authority. For of justification. At the level of systematics, instance, we seek those things that are justification is rightly used to describe the Christ-honoring because it is there where Bible’s total message about how God reck- we have already been seated (Eph 2:6; ons sinners to be righteous by faith apart Col 3:1). We forgive those who wrong from works. In this sense, justification is us because we have been forgiven (Eph grounded in the atoning work of Christ, 4:32; 1 John 4:11). We do not take fellow and it consists of God’s declaration that believers to civil courts because we are to the sinner is righteous. It is God’s forensic be judges of angels (1 Cor 6:2-3). We live declaration of “righteousness” upon the as loving servants in all social contexts believing sinner. It is an acquittal expe- because the ones exalted in the future are rienced by the sinner at the moment he the ones who serve in the present (Matt believes in Christ. In terms of the sinner’s 18:4-5; 19:28-30). We maintain physical experience, justification is a part of the purity because we are indwelt by the “already” of God’s salvific work. Spirit who is given to us as a promise of a It would be an eisegetical distortion of future eschatological reunion (1 Cor 6:19; the text, however, to read that systematic 2 Cor 5:5; Eph 1:14). Moreover, in the end definition of justification into every use we see that because Christ’s kingship is of righteousness language in Paul’s writ- a reality now, sin in our lives is not only ings. At the level of exegesis, it is plain to be understood as rebellion against God enough that Paul employs terms from the our Creator. It is also contrary to who we dikē word group with reference to both are as Christ’s redeemed people because the “already” and the “not yet” of God’s in the age to come, kingdom citizens will justifying work in Christ. walk in full obedience to their Lord. In fact, I would argue that it is impos- sible to understand properly Paul’s doc- SBJT: How does an inaugurated escha- trine of justification without recognizing tology feature in Paul’s teachings about both the already and the not yet features “justification/righteousness”? of God’s work for us in Christ. In terms Denny Burk: D. A. Carson has made an of the “already,” Paul teaches that when important methodological distinction sinners believe in the gospel, God reckons that must be taken into account as we the sinner to be righteous quite apart from consider how inaugurated eschatology his keeping of the law. For example, Paul informs our thinking about the doctrine writes, “Therefore, since we have been Denny Burk is Assistant Professor of of justification. We can speak of any given justified by faith, we have peace with God New Testament at the Criswell College theological concept in at least two differ- through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1). in Dallas, Texas. He is the author of ent domains of discourse—that of sys- In this instance, justification has already Articular Infinitives in the Greek of the tematic theology and that of exegesis. For been apprehended as a present reality of New Testament (Sheffield, 2006) and this reason, it would be a methodological the sinner’s experience (cf. Rom 5:9; 1 Cor also serves as Editor of The Journal for mistake to read the systematic definition 1:30; 2 Cor 5:21; Titus 3:7). Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. 111 Elsewhere, however, Paul uses the dikē the image of the resurrected Christ “that word group to refer to future, eschatologi- He might be the first-born among many cal realities. In Romans 2:13, it is not the brothers” (Rom 8:29). “hearers of the law” who are “righteous For Paul, believing in Christ means before God,” but the doers of the law who uniting oneself to the one Human for “will be justified.” Paradoxically, it is not whom God has already pronounced His by doing works of law that sinners “will eschatological judgment. God has con- be justified” (Rom 3:20). Paul says that demned sin in the death of Jesus. God God “will justify” both Jews and Gentiles has vindicated Christ in the resurrection. by faith (Rom 3:30). According to Robert The only refuge from the wrath to come Yarbrough (see SBJT 11, no. 3 [2007]: 53), is in the One who has already absorbed all three of these uses of the dikē word that wrath at the cross. The only hope for group refer to God’s end-time verdict of resurrection and vindication in the age to justification. Thus, justification in this come is to be united to the One who has sense is very much a part of the “not yet” already been resurrected and vindicated. of the sinner’s experience. Paul teaches that when the sinner believes But how does Paul integrate the in Christ, God declares him to be what he “already” and the “not yet” features of his will in fact be at the final judgment. Thus righteousness language? The answer to that God’s justifying verdict upon the believ- question lies in the eschatological verdict ing sinner in the present is grounded and acquittal that God enacted through solely in the cross and resurrection of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus. God’s justifying work at the final Paul believed that God’s end-time judg- judgment is merely the enactment of the ment had broken into history through verdict that was already received by the the death and resurrection of Jesus. When sinner through faith. Jesus died on the cross, God condemned It is only in this framework that the sin in the flesh (Rom 8:3). Paul believed, curious collocation of “justification” along with many other Jews of his day, and “resurrection” in Rom 4:25 makes that at the final judgment God would any sense: “He was handed over for our raise to life and blessedness the dead bod- transgressions, and he was resurrected ies of the righteous (e.g., Dan 12:2; John for our justification.” In the first clause, 5:28-29; 11:24). That general resurrection Paul is simply saying that Christ’s death would constitute a vindication of God’s (“handed over”) constitutes a sacrificial people. Paul therefore viewed Christ’s death in place of sinners. In the second resurrection through an eschatological clause, he is indicating that our final vin- lens. Jesus’ resurrection/vindication was dication (which consists in resurrection) not an isolated event. It was the signal is grounded in Christ’s own resurrection that God’s eschatological judgment had and vindication. begun and that in due time God would Paul teaches that the gospel compels resurrect and vindicate all of His people. sinners to trust Christ in the present for Thus Paul speaks of Christ as the “first a resurrection they will receive in the fruits” of those who have died and who future based on the resurrection of Jesus are to be resurrected (1 Cor 15:20, 23). accomplished in the past. Thus authentic God is working to conform believers to faith is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus 112 and in all of its implications for the future resurrection of the faithful. That is why Paul says in Rom 10:9, “If you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead ones, you will be saved.” Here we find present faith, rooted in the resur- rection of Christ, looking forward to the promised resurrection at the end of the age. In other words, justification involves both the “already” and the “not yet.”

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