"Come Lord Jesus"
I have been recently provoked to praise through reading, "God's Empowering Presence, the Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul," by Gordon D. Fee. I am not sure how much "already-not yet" you have read, but let me assure you, this understanding of the Spirit's work in you is wonderful. The idea is simply this, all believers live in the "already-not yet" phase of eternity. By virtue of your union to Jesus Christ the future age (eternity) is "already" here set in motion within you. The giving of the Spirit to you as a believer demonstrates this. However, the end has only begun, thus, we are "not yet" at the consummation of the ages. We still eagerly await the final event (second coming). Therefore it is said of us that we (Christians) live "between the times", that is, the future has "already" begun within us, but it is "not yet" completed. There you have it, you, Christian are a New Creation in the Lord best understood as living in the "already-not yet".
This paragraph from the book is excellent:
"The church is an eschatological community, whose members live in the present as those stamped with eternity. We live as expatriates on earth; our true citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20). Ethical life, therefore, does not consist of rules to live by. Rather, empowered by the Spirit, we now live the life of the future in the present age, the life that characterizes God himself...Believers have tasted of the life to come; and the full and final realization of the future is so certain that God's new people are completely radicalized as they live "already" but "not yet."
Gordon D. Fee, God's Empowering Presence, Peabody: Hendrickson, 2005, 804.
posted by adam at 1:01 PM
13 Comments:
I was just saying yesterday at church how "Casting Crowns" were really the first that I can think of to see the deadly side of the "O-show".
Rock on Casting Crowns!
That is my favorite Casting Crowns line. Period.
My wife has just informed me that she has seen these "weird" people pop up on blogs where they seem to be completely "out of context" and she thinks that is like blogger spam.
With regards to "Alien" I think that she may have something. I bet the "alien" has some sort of word scan that enables his advertisments for his website to show up on anyone's blog that uses "key" words, such as "eschatology" "The Secret" and so and so forth. Thus, I would conclude that I have been blogger-spammed. This is how they get people to go to thier cites.
If this is not the case, then yo, "alien" go tell your apocolyptic nightmares, blasphemous, ridiculous, and altogether foolish jokes to someone who has time for them.
Adam,
I saw the Alien and thought you went a little overboard with the Kingdom talk. Just kidding. Anyway, I really enjoyed your post. I am liking the consistency over the past week. Are you repenting of your unfaithful bloggerness? Keep up the good work.
James
james,
no, you were right the first time -
this guy could read a kingdom motif into the prayer of jabez...
Logan,
I thought that was what the prayer Jabez was about? Just kidding. I think I might be with Adam on this one, but I am not certain.
James
Adam,
To avoid blogger spam you need to change the settings on your blog so that when people leave a comment they have to type in a word verification code. It's annoying to do that, but it will save you from getting the spam. Once you starting getting spam, you'll get a lot of it.
freaky bloggers on your blog man. I have to say that Fee's book has been one of the most influential in my understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit. Thanks for your post. Actually when we started looking at Matthew 5-7 last semester, my mind immediately went this concept. Living as subjects of the kingdom of God is only possible with a union with Christ that gives us this relationship with the Spirit. Thanks man
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
gordan,
right...and i would be with him too - if he were with the text.
he would have us believe that "bless ME indeed, enlarge MY coasts, and make ME to prosper" is somehow compatible with Christ's model "...hallowed be THY name. THY kingdom come; THY will be done"
as for fee - what a gift to the church. i remember ploughing thru that work and loving it. can't wait to see what his new pauline Christology is like. from what i can tell, it's a simiar matrix - but applied to Christ.
Logan, as the Scriptures say, "Why do the heathen rage?" I am sorry that you cannot pray as our Lord instructed us when you pray "pray like this, Your kingdom come, your will be done".
As for Jabez, even the greedy, by grace, see the kingdom. Wouldn't you, the heathen, agree?
Love it guy.
jabez,
apparently (and customarily) you misread my post...
i'm with the Lord.
Yes, I'm a type of spammer. I make keyword searches and then post.
I've started my timebomb ticking over Sodom! Within months, if not years, by my hand, we will be in the post apocalyptic world of 'Jericho' on TV! Stay tuned!
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