The already/not yet kingdom and why it matters.
Stephen is the pastor of Pepperell Christian Fellowship in Massachusetts. He has a PhD from Cambridge University in New Testament, teaches New Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and is the author of Eternity Changes Everything.
Ideas for further thought and discussion
1. Stephen asks: “Is the kingdom of which Jesus speaks a future reality? A present reality? Somehow both?”
How would you start to answer those questions? Which Bible passages would shed some light?
2. How are all the views Stephen describes on p8-10 ways of denying the future coming of the kingdom?
3. What reality does the diagram on p12 capture? Try drawing it for someone you know and explain it.
4. How can you or your church avoid “neither claiming too much nor too little for God’s transforming power within the community of faith”? (Richard Hays, quoted on p15)
Primer 