Eschatology

Creation and Covenantal Participation through Union with Christ

Creation and Covenantal Participation through Union with Christ (PCG 4/4)

Contemporary theology has increasingly engaged the question of participation (methexis, μέθεξις)—the manner in which believers are united to God in salvation. Hans Boersma’s (Anglican) retrieval of “sacramental ontology” and Michael Horton’s (Reformed) covenantal-participation alternative represent two markedly different accounts of this union, differing not merely in emphasis but in their underlying metaphysical and methodological commitments. This article examines Horton’s covenantal-participatory model, his use of Speech-Act theory in its defense, and his resulting critique of Boersma’s ontological participation.

I. Two Competing Ontologies of Salvation
Boersma’s Sacramental Ontology
Boersma argues that “created being is simply of the borrowed kind; created being is being only because by grace it participates in the being of God.”¹Drawing on the Neoplatonic tradition, which holds that a hierarchy of beings emerges because things possess differing capacities to participate in divine reality, Boersma regards this hierarchy as an ontological anchor that prevents the world from collapsing into meaningless materialism. His “sacramental participation” thus conceives of creation as sharing in the being of God in varying degrees. Salvation is understood as an intensification of this participation, in which humans are drawn upward into the divine life (theosis).

Horton’s Covenantal Alternative
Michael Horton discusses salvation within the framework of Speech-Act theory and covenant theology. Continue reading “Creation and Covenantal Participation through Union with Christ”

1
Hans Boersma, Heavenly Participation, p. 73 ↩︎

Debate with AI on N.T. Wright’s Truncated Eschatology

Debate with AI on N.T. Wright’s Truncated Eschatology – “Believers Will Not Be Going to Heaven”

My conclusion after a debate with AI on issues raised by N.T. Wright who teaches that “believers will not be going to heaven.” (A brief version of the debate is given at the end of this post):

The deeper question is whether Wright’s reconstruction of Second Temple Judaism and its cosmology should have the final word on the believer’s eschatological state. Wright argues that reading the New Testament “in its own world” yields his conclusion, yet he also admits that the apostles transformed these inherited categories in light of Christ’s resurrection and enthronement. The question is where that transformation leads. Because the New Testament is God’s final revelation, the categories of “place” and “sphere” need not be bound by pre-New Testament usage.
My critique is not that Wright confines believers to an earth from which heaven is absent. He affirms that heaven and earth are united in the new creation. Rather the problem lies in his rhetoric. Asserting that “believers do not go to heaven” claims more than his own framework can justify. If God’s space and human space are completely fused, then believers in the new creation can participate in heaven’s reality. Ultimately, his denial of heaven as the believer’s destination amounts to a difference of emphasis, not a demonstrated conclusion. His strict either/or framing is therefore unwarranted. Continue reading “Debate with AI on N.T. Wright’s Truncated Eschatology”

Will N.T. Wright Go to Heaven?

New video from N.T. Wright
What if the Reformers had Emphasized Ephesians Instead? What the Reformers Missed about Justification: –

Will NT Wright go to heaven? Given all his polemics against the idea of saved souls going to heaven, I will certainly rejoice with the angels in heaven upon hearing an affirmative answer from NTW. Furthermore, given NTW’s rejection of soul-body dualism (of which there are various forms), it would be most enlightening to know how NTW would describe the nature of his existence in heaven (however defined by NTW).

The title of the video should have been – “What NT Wright missed about justification, the soul being forgiven and received into presence of God.” Continue reading “Will N.T. Wright Go to Heaven?”

The Soul Between Death and Resurrection (the Intermediate State). Section 2. (BADR Part 4)

The Soul Between Death and Resurrection (the Intermediate State). Section 2
Kairos Podcast Series 8: Biblical Anthropology, Death and Resurrection (BADR Part 4)

Question: In the light of the terrifying prospect of Sheol awaiting the dead, what led Israel to believe in the resurrection of the dead? What is the basis for Israel’s hope (Dan. 12:2-3)?

A. The OT gives two reasons. First, the OT affirms that Yahweh is the living God (Psa. 18:46; Jer. 23:36; Hos. 1:10). With the ever living God, death cannot be the sovereign power in the universe. Second, God’s reign of righteousness and justice extends even to Sheol (Job 26:6; Psa. 139:8; Prov. 15:11; Amos 9:2). Vindication will come at the final resurrection where the wicked will be punished and the righteous will be rewarded (Dan. 12:2). Continue reading “The Soul Between Death and Resurrection (the Intermediate State). Section 2. (BADR Part 4)”

Series 3: The Prophecies of the Messiah and His Kingdom in the Book of Isaiah Part 6. Are the prophecies of Isaiah credible and trustworthy?

God in Isaiah: His Sovereignty and Glory (Isa. 40:5, 8; Isa. 55:10-12; Isa. 42:8-9; Isa. 43:10-12; Isa. 48:3-8; Luke 24:46-49).

Question: You have presented how Isaiah prophesies mind-boggling and outrageous truths: the human Messiah is God to be anointed by the Spirit; God is triune; God is born a human baby to die for human sins. As a prophet, does Isaiah provide his audience with credible evidence that what he prophesies is credible and trustworthy?

Discussants: Dr. Leong Tien Fock and Dr. Ng Kam Weng.

You are welcome to join the discussion at:
Part 6. Are the prophecies of Isaiah credible and trustworthy?

Please forward this message if you find the video discussion helpful.

Daniel Prophesied Christ’s Death 500 Years (Seventy-Sevens) Before It Happened

Daniel’s Prophecy of the Seventy Sevens
Guest writer: Dr. Leong Tien Fock

[The Book of Daniel prophesied that the Messiah will be killed during the time of the Roman Empire. The prophecy was fulfilled 500 years later when Jesus Christ was crucified by the Romans]

The Book of Daniel, written by about 530 BC, laid out in advance the historical time-frame within which the Messiah would come. Through dreams given to Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2) as well as to Daniel (Daniel 7 and 8), God revealed that the Babylonian Empire (Dan. 2:38) would be subsequently replaced by the Medo-Persian Empire (Dan. 8:20; cf. Dan. 5:28), the Greek Empire (Dan. 8:21), and an unnamed fourth kingdom, which we know from history to be the Roman Empire (for a thorough defense that the fourth empire is the Roman Empire, see Young 1977: 275-94).

It is specifically revealed that the Kingdom of God would come during the fourth kingdom to replace all earthly kingdoms (Dan. 2:44-45). And this would happen when “one like a Son of Man” is given “dominion … and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and languages should serve Him” and whose “dominion is an everlasting dominion” and whose “kingdom is one which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7:13-14). In other words, the Messiah would come during the Roman Empire…

Continue reading “Daniel Prophesied Christ’s Death 500 Years (Seventy-Sevens) Before It Happened”

God Has Answered our Coronavirus Lament. Contra. N.T. Wright

The headline of N.T. Wright’s piece published in Time Magazine (29/03/2020) is both shocking and provocative: “Christianity Offers No Answers About the Coronavirus. It’s Not Supposed To.”

We may summarize NTW’s piece accordingly – There is no explanation, whether rationalist or romantic. We should not rationalize away or spiritualize our suffering especially in times when “the only advice is to wait without hope.” It is better just to grieve or lament. This is because lament reminds us that God himself is the one who grieved and lamented when his people betrayed him. NTW concludes, “It is no part of the Christian vocation, then, to be able to explain what’s happening and why. In fact, it is part of the Christian vocation not to be able to explain—and to lament instead.”

Lament without an explanation for suffering without rhyme or reason? Doesn’t this sound like Greek catharsis in the face of cruel and capricious fate? Isn’t this a strange amalgamation of sentimentalism with Roman stoicism? In which case, why lament? Why not just accept our fate? In this regard, maybe the Muslims got it right – just throw up your hands and exclaim “takdir”, and get on with life. Continue reading “God Has Answered our Coronavirus Lament. Contra. N.T. Wright”

Reclaiming and Renewing Creation

Creation Reclaimed
Modern philosophy, which began with Descartes, is premised on the idea that objective knowledge is possible only if the cognitive agent first separates himself mentally from the external world around him. Kant reinforced the separation when he postulated a dichotomy between the phenomenal order (things as empirically observed) and the noumenal order (things-in-themselves) in order to give room for human freedom in a world determined by fundamental laws of nature. That is to say, both human knowledge and human freedom entail a flight from nature. The resulting loss of vital connection between man as knowing subject and the world of nature is one of the causes of human disregard of the environment today.

In contrast, the Bible upholds nature, or creation, as the theatre where knowledge of God is revealed. It acknowledges that God is transcendent but he reveals himself through his mighty works of creation, providence and redemption. T. F. Torrance emphasizes that our knowledge of God is mediated to us in and through this world as the sphere of his activity toward us. Torrance writes, “We know God, then, in such a way that our knowledge (theologia nostra) is correlated with the world as his creation and the appointed medium of his self-revelation and self-communication to mankind. Everything would go wrong if the creaturely reality of this world were confused with or mistaken for the uncreated Reality of God, or if knowledge of God were cut off from the fact that it is our knowledge, that is, knowledge of God by us in this world.” /1/ Continue reading “Reclaiming and Renewing Creation”

Critiquing N.T. Wright’s Eschatology: Why the Huffs and Puffs?

N.T. Wright commends an eschatology that is supported by three fundamental structures of hope: 1) the goodness of creation, 2) the reality of evil in God’s permissive will and 3) God’s work of redemption as a re-creation. His vision of the future is comprehensively explored through six biblical images: 1. Seedtime and Harvest [1 Cor. … Continue reading “Critiquing N.T. Wright’s Eschatology: Why the Huffs and Puffs?”

1. Seedtime and Harvest [1 Cor. 15]
2. The Victorious Battle [1 Cor. 15]
3. Citizens of Heaven, Colonizing Earth [Phil. 3:20-21]
4. God will be all in all [1 Co.r 15:28]
5. New birth [Rom. 8], and
6. The marriage of heaven and earth [Rev. 21-22]

[Source: N.T.Wright, Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection & the Mission of the Church (Harper Collins, 2008)

Wright’s eschatology marches towards an exciting grand finale when there will be a union of the new heavens and the new earth, “the final accomplishment of God’s great design, to defeat and abolish death forever—which can only mean the rescue of creation from its present plight of decay.” [p. 105] He emphasizes there will be both continuity and discontinuity between the old and new creation. Continue reading “Critiquing N.T. Wright’s Eschatology: Why the Huffs and Puffs?”