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The life that lasts forever includes the redemption of a fallen nature. We have to do in the end with "a new heaven and a new earth" (Rev. 21:1) as well as a New Jerusalem and new saints. The latter live in a new kingdom settled on a new earth under a new heaven. In such a redeemed creation the struggle for survival will be over, for "the wolf will live with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the kid" (Isa 11:6). The animosity between human nature and cosmic nature is finished for "the nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adders den" (11:18).

While the Western tradition had a place for the natural dimension of everlasting life, certainly so in its teaching on the resurrection of the body, it was the Easter Church that gave it special accent: "The whole of nature is destined for glory....The divine Spirit which in its fulness is poured out from Christ on all who believe in him, whose ... Read More »

We look forward, as Christians, to an "everlasting" kingdom come, and in it the ultimate city of God (2 Peter 1:31; Luke 11:2, 13:29, 18:25, 22:16; 2 Timothy 4:18; Rev.21:10-26). Again the qualifier about the eschatological commonwealth, for we have to do with a realm like nothing we've seen on ourearth of ordinary flesh and blood (1 Cor. 15:20), a new Jerusalem "coming down out of heaven from God" (Rev. 21:10), not of human manufacture. The light imagery contrasts with the shadowy structures we inhabit: "It has the glory of God and a radiance like a rare jewel....And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb (Rev. 21: 11,23). And the coming together of waring states is so new to us, for "the nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it" (21:24). In every systemic setting, justice will "roll down as like waters, and rightesousness like an ever-flowing strea ... Read More »

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Life together in the triune Being is love in its purity. What else can communion with Christ everlasting be than eternal love? Indeed, a life together with the ultimate Life Together is one in which "love never ends" (1 Cor. 13:8).

The love of Christ for us in this world is a busy one. In the Gospels he reaches out ever and again to those with manifold needs. So too at the end he will "wipe away every tear from our eyes" and "mourning and crying and pain will be no more," for life everlasting has come when "death will be no more" (Rev. 21:4). He does this as the 'Alpha and Omega" who promises that "to the thirsty I will give water as a spring from the water of life" (21:6).And our response is one of unending praise and thanksgiving to God (7:15), and a loving outreach to others ( a christologically read Isa 11:6-9; 40:31). Can the never-ending love not include loving God with the mind, as well as heart and soul (Matt:22:37), perhaps ... Read More »

And just what is "life"? The Greek terms zoe and psyche are used throughout the New Testament, the former tending to be associated with our physical life, and the latter our life with God, though the former can sometimes include the latter (see Theological Dictionary of the Bible) Our focus is the person's life with God in its ultimate sense, the final act in the creedal drama. A thread of New Testament allusions to personal life everlasting speak of "seeing" and "knowing" God "face to face" ( 1 Cor 13:12; Rev. 22:4). But what poor words we have in speaking of this encounter. How different and deeper is it than our conventional seeings and knowings. Hints of it do exist in our Christian life, yes, for eternal/everlasting life begins in time, even as it comes to flower in eternity. As we see and know Jesus, God is among us as the Son...in his promised real presence in Word and sacrament..in ad hoc encounters of eternal life. But all this is seeing and knowing "in a ... Read More »

Everlasting life in classical Christian teaching is multi-dimensional--personal, corporate and cosmic. We begin with the personal Read More »

On our Confessing Christ open forum the role of experience in the making of theology continually pops ups. Nobody wants to eliminate experience from the mix (indeed how could you?), but serious issues arise. Whose experience is privileged? What is the relationship of human experience to scripture, tradition, and reason, the other three legs of the Methodist quadrilateral. I find this passage from P.T.Forsyth 1848-1921) from a hundred years ago insightful. His qualifying of experience with faith reminds me of Jonathan Edwards. This passage shows, too, that this issue is not new to our time:
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In one of threads on our Confessing Christ internet conversation we recently discussed the role of emotion versus intellect in Christian faith. It was agreed that these are not mutually exclusive domains, but that different figures have put more emphasis on one or the other.

Under the influence of my friend and fellow Confessing Christ blogger Clifford Anderson of the Princeton Theological Seminary Library I've started reading Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920). A fascinating figure, Kuyper was a Dutch pastor, theologian, author, editor and politician, who served from 1901 to 1905 as Prime Minister of the Netherlands. He also founded the Free Univeristy of Amsterdam.

Last night I was reading his 1898 Stone Lectures at Princeton, published as Lectures on Calvinism, and I was struck by this passage:


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A Hymn for Easter

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