7: Reimagining God’s Future
7.1 Introduction. Jewish thought expected God to act in the future to put things right.
7.2 Jewish Eschatology in the First Century. In the time of Paul, the Jews still thought they were in a way exiled and they were still looking for an ending. Lots more detail in the book
7.3 Eschatology Reimagined around the Messiah. Most important: the complex event for which Israel had hoped had already happened in the events of Jesus of Nazareth.
Paul has 4 things in theology of the eschaton:
- The Day of the Lord. For Paul, the day of the Lord was not the end of time.
- The second coming. The word originally referred to the king returning after a journey or a battle. It is Jesus’s return, not Caesar’s that is important.
- Judgment. Paul assigns Jesus the role of judge, reinforcing his belief that Jesus is the Messiah.
- Renewal of creation. The current creation will not be abandoned as worthless. Rather, it will be restored to its original state before the fall.
7.4 Eschatology Reimagined around the Spirit. The work of the Spirit was to inaugurate the new covenant where the Gentiles were welcomed and the Jews were renewed.
7.5 Eschatology in Context. Paul wrote in dialog with the OT and other interpreters of it. He retains the Jewish ides of confronting paganism.
7.6 Conclusion.