I took a bit of a break from The Community of the King book, as I wanted all the books you ordered to get in… okay, really, I was out of town most of the week. So now we’re back to:
Chapter 3 – God’s Master Plan
Snyder makes a convincing case from the first chapter of Ephesians, as well as Colossians 1:20, that God’s master plan is reconciling all things to himself through and in Christ. “The redemption of persons is the center of God’s plan, but it is not the circumference of that plan.” (48)
I’ve often heard it stated that God is going to destroy the present earth, and that destruction lets us off the hook for environmental issues. While this goes beyond the scope of Snyder’s writing, I want to look at that issue for a moment. The argument is basically the temporal world is passing away, so we should not concern ourselves with it. What really matters are eternal souls.
I have no problem with considering human souls of greater importance than the environment. Removing any importance to the rest of creation, however, raises difficulties for me. Even if you grant this world is destined to destruction, the reconciliation of persons to God in and of itself requires care for the creation. It was our original job description in the beginning of Genesis. If we are reconciled to God and fully restored, one of our primary job descriptions would be taking care of the creation.
Furthermore, I’m not sure the destruction of the present world lets us off the hook. Our present bodies, for example, are temporal and will one day be exchanged for glorified eternal bodies. The transformation which takes place can be considered nothing less than destruction for the temporal body. It is something completely different in the glorified state. I would not be stating the case absurdly to suggest the creation may undergo a similar transformation into a glorified state no longer subject to corruption. So unless one says God’s people shouldn’t care about our present temporal human bodies, the argument rings hollow that we can neglect this present, temporal world.
Back to Snyder…
The Word of God is very clear: we begin to understand the Church and its mission as we see the Church as part of God’s plan and purpose for the whole creation.
So maybe my aside was not too far off from Snyder after all? He doesn’t actually state what he means by the whole world being reconciled, except to state that it’s God’s master plan and it happens through Christ. I wish he would’ve expounded more as to what this reconciliation entails. Perhaps he thought it obvious it was working back to a pre-fall state, and so he did not feel the need to wax on about the specifics. Or maybe he’ll flesh it out some more in later chapters. It’s been a long time since I’ve read this book, and I’m taking it a chapter at a time as I blog it now.
Our hope is that orthodox Christians throughout the world can come to see that the Kingdom of God is neither entirely present nor entirely future. There should be no false antithesis between the presence and the future coming of the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God (the uniting of all things under Christ) is now here, is coming and will come. This is certainly one of the lessons of the parables of the Kingdom.
This book is entirely about the Kingdom of God, the community of the King. Snyder sees the reconciliation of all things as the work and the scope of the Kingdom of God. It is God’s rule and reign. When persons enter God’s Kingdom, they enter the Lord’s rule and reign and are part of the reconciliation of all things to God.
I like Willard’s take on the Kingdom’s present and future aspects better than Snyder’s. The “now and not yet” gives an incomplete picture of what is occurring, what Jesus ushered in through his life, death, and resurrection. The Kingdom of God is fully present now, but God allows other rulers to manage their kingdoms (individuals, powers demonic and human, and governments to name a few) outside of his rule and reign. In the end, there will be no competing kingdoms, but all things will fall under God’s rule and reign.
If you’re interested in going through this book with me, check out used book stores. They often have this and Snyder’s classic, The Problem of Wineskins: Church Structure in a Technological Age available at a very good price.
Or you could order it from Amazon: The Community of the King
Hey Alan… Okay, not to be a quibler, but…
“Our present bodies, for example, are temporal and will one day be exchanged for glorified eternal bodies. The transformation which takes place can be considered nothing less than destruction for the temporal body. It is something completely different in the glorified state.”
I’m not sure I agree. This present body I have will be resurrected to live forever in relationship with the Triune God in a redeemed community in a renewed creation. But it’s THIS body that will be resurrected. WHat that means for those who have decomposed and scattered, I have no idea… But in looking atthe resurrection of Christ and the way that Paul speaks of resurrection, I’m not sure I would go so far as to say “It’s something completely different.” It’s resurrection, not creation ex nihilo… there’s some sense of continuity, I think.
On the Kingdom, I think I like Snyder’s (though I haven’t read the book, just your description) take… I don’t know if I can say that the Kingdom is FULLY present now, particularly in light of Luke 19, which I get to preach this week: “The crowd was listening to everything Jesus said. And because he was nearing Jerusalem, he told a story to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away.”
Bob Hyatt
March 18th, 2006
Bob -
Quibble away
I think 1 Corinthians 15 uses language that implies a body totally other, while leaving open the room for some elements of the previous body (appearance, perhaps?). Destruction could be too strong a word, but in a practical sense, the spiritual body is not the earthly body.
My real issue was with the take on the new heavens and the new earth. I feel it’s at least possible the transformation of the body is similar to what happens with the new heaven and new earth. Besides being more than a tad ambiguous, the old earth and heaven are just said to “pass away.” Perhaps same as our earthly bodies? And the usage of destruction by fire in Isaiah 65:17-20 and 2 Peter 3:4-14 could point to the refining, transforming use of “fire” rather than annihilation. Still, a new heaven and a new earth would be something other than the current heaven and earth. In my opinion, same as the difference between our glorified bodies and our present bodies.
It is very possible that you have matter within your body which was once part of another human body. Through decomposition bodies not embalmed and put in a casket would get absorbed back into the earth, producing sustenance for plant life, in turn being eaten by animals and so on and so on. For it to be the same body raises serious practical issues.
I don’t know what translation you were quoting from for Luke 19, but the NAS has, “11 While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.” I think it is a significant difference, because your translation implies he was completely correcting them (hence the word “correct”), while the NAS just states he was responding to their supposition. The parable itself seems to show people already living in the rule and reign with someone choosing not to. I think this is the essence of what Willard says. God’s rule and reign is fully here, but it is not overpowering all other rule and reign at this time.
Alan
March 18th, 2006