Volume 1 No. 5  March 5, 2010

Church as Foretaste of the Reign of God

by Roland G. Kuhl

In continuing to examine the church’s relationship with God’s reign, it was expressed that the church points to God’s present and coming reign – that God’s reign is present and active in the world in which God is making all things new.  In this sense, the church is a sign of God’s reign.  Further, the church is called to partner with God in effecting the will of God on earth, just as it is in heaven, by which the church functions not to advance its own agenda, but yields itself to be used by God in accomplishing God’s agenda.  In this sense, the church is an instrument of God’s reign.  Today, our focus is on the third aspect, which Lesslie Newbigin expressed – the church being foretaste of God’s present and coming reign.

In Colossians 1:18, we read that Jesus is “the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy” – meaning that Jesus is the founder of a new humanity.  As Peter T. O’Brien expresses, “the resurrection age has burst forth and as the first who was risen from among those who had fallen asleep . . . he is the first-fruits who guarantees the future resurrection of others (1 Cor 15:20.23)” (O’Brien, Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 44, 51).    

The church is the community of the resurrected, ones who have identified themselves with Christ and Christ’s purposes in the world (cf. Romans 6:5-7).  As the new humanity rooted and formed in Christ we live being a foretaste of what human life looks like that is no longer under the dominion and power of sin and death.  In Christ, we have died to sin and so now we live as ones who should no longer be slaves to sin and death because in being buried and raised with Christ, we have been set free from the power of sin.   

Being this new humanity – a humanity no longer enslaved to the powers that alienate us from the presence of God, we are called to live as a foretaste of what humanity can become when rooted in Christ Jesus.  Therefore, as Inagrace Dietterich has expressed, “the church is a Spirit-filled community which manifests the first-fruits of God’s reign within its common life and shared ministry.  The church does this by sharing in the communion of the Holy Spirit (the life of the Spirit), celebrating diversity in unity (in Christ there is not Jew nor Gentile, etc), living as stewards of God’s gift (not as consumers but creators of life), participating in a community of mutual love and service (loving one another in all circumstances)” (Center for Parish Development, Transformation, Fall 2002, 4).

In Christ human life and human relationships are radically changed, and the church lives out this radical newness in its life together as a foretaste of human life under the reign and rule of God.  In Christ human life is re-birthed (cf. John 3), forming a new people who live their life as a new community, a new creation – where everything old has passed away, and all has become new (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17). 

The Spirit of God, alive in this new human community – the church – is not merely a sign guaranteeing our future inheritance, but is also meant to be a sign to humanity of a new life, a new way in which we are to be human in this world – humanity set free, liberated, from the principalities and powers which dominate and oppress.  In this way, the church is a foretaste of God’s present and coming reign.

Being foretaste has an eschatological dimension revealing that all God is accomplishing will indeed be accomplished, because it is being accomplished in us – the new humanity, the new community.  Our baptism into this new humanity through Christ is not merely the salvation of our souls, but our inauguration into the community of re-created humanity.

“The present reality of injustice, brutality, and war demonstrates the gap and the tension between our contemporary world and the kingdom of God.  Because baptism links believers with the death as well as the resurrection of Jesus Christ, they participate in his suffering and self-giving ministry.  They are called to ‘live into their baptism,’ to learn daily how to die and thus how to live, to offer their lives and their service in the fulfillment of God’s ministry of reconciliation.  . . .  The ecclesial practice of baptism incorporates believers into the complex, difficult, and ongoing missionary work of the church.  The vocation of the eschatological community is to cultivate disciples by inviting all people into God’s new age: ‘to participate in the blessings of the kingdom, to celebrate the hopes of the kingdom, and to engage in the tasks of the kingdom.’” (Dietterich, Cultivating Missional Communities, 29; also citing Arias, Announcing the Reign of God, 105).

This vision of our identity in the world as a human community that is a foretaste of human life under the rule and reign of God ought to set us free to live out our lives in radical different ways, and also to lead us to declare and invite all, whom God brings into our midst, or to whom God leads us, to participate in being recreated through Jesus Christ in order to become part of this new resurrected, Spirit-filled community.  May we be empowered to be communities which are a foretaste of God’s present and coming reign.  To God be the glory!

Next week: The Missionary Nature of God

© 2010 by Roland G. Kuhl