Beale discusses “already and not yet” end-time perspective at MBTS’s 2010 Sizemore Lectures

posted on Nov 11, 2010 by Austin Mayfield

     Dr. G.K. Beale, professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Penn., presented two discourses on inaugurated eschatology and its implications for the Church during Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s 2010 Sizemore Lectures. The event took place in the Seminary’s chapel auditorium on Nov. 2 and 3.

     In his first lecture, “The Inaugurated Eschatological Indicative and Imperative in Relation to Christian Living and Preaching,” Beale challenged believers to fix their ministries in the urgent context of the ongoing, end-time storyline that began with the first-generation Church.

     Citing Scripture passages from Acts 2, 1 Corinthians 13, Galatians 4, 2 Timothy 3 and others, the University of Cambridge graduate illuminated the Apostles’ impressions of their own chronological location in the Biblical, apocalyptic timeline.

     “The New Testament repeatedly uses precisely the same phrase, ‘latter-days,’ as found in the Greek Old Testament. The meaning of the phrase is identical except for one difference,” Beale said. “It has begun fulfillment… Just as when you put on green sunglasses everything you see is green, so, too, Christ placed eschatological sunglasses on his disciples so that everything they looked at had an end-time tint.”

     Beale went on to discuss some practical implications of this “already and not yet” end-time perspective.

     “How does the idea that the latter-days have already begun help us understand the relationship that Scripture gives us in the New Testament to the commands? Every major doctrine of the Christian faith is charged with eschatological electricity,” Beale said.

     Operating under this belief that the “latter days” began with the death of Christ, Beale averred that, as Christian citizens of the last days, our identification with the “eschatologically-raised Christ” empowers us to obey God’s commands. For, the Westminster professor affirmed, Christ’s resurrection was both physical and spiritual. “If the spiritual dimension of things is not literal,” Beale proposed, “(then) let’s just pack it up and leave right now.”

     The lectureship continued on Nov. 3 with Beale’s second lecture, “Inaugurated Eschatology and Ecclesiology.” In this session, the theologian discussed the implications that an “already and not yet” end-time perspective should have on our understanding of the Church. Specifically, Beale portrayed the Church office of “elder” as an eschatological necessity in counteracting end-time, tribulation deception.

     According to the lecturer, the prophecies in Daniel suggest that the primary characteristic of the inaugurated phase of the tribulation during the church age is not the destruction of the Cosmos; rather, the Great Tribulation is chiefly characterized by false teaching and deception.

     “Throughout the Synoptics, Paul, 1 Peter and Revelation, false teaching, deception and Christian suffering as a result of persecution are essential features of the end-time inaugurated tribulation,” Beale said. Citing Titus 1, 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, the scholar displayed that the first-generation Church often appointed elders to guard against and counteract such false teaching and deception.

     Beale argued that the same “inextricable link between the ongoing role of elders and this end-time tribulation” exists in churches today, understanding that, roughly 2,000 years later, we are still citizens of that same tribulation. “It’s not that it’s ‘like’ we’re in the tribulation,” he reiterated. “We are.”

     In light of this perspective, the featured speaker affirmed a present, corresponding need for church elders. “I believe the elders are needed in order to maintain the doctrinal purity of the covenant community, which is always either being influenced or threatened from the infiltration of eschatological…movements,” Beale said.

     The New Testament scholar added that such a conclusion is but one of many implications that an “already and not yet” end-time perspective effects regarding our understanding of the Church.

     In closing, Beale asked, “What difference does this make for Christian living?” In reply, the theologian analyzed the similarities between the temptations that Adam and Eve faced, the temptations that Jesus faced, and the temptations that believers face in the tribulation. He argued that Jesus and his followers undergo a recapitulation of the temptations seen in Eden, asserting that this recurrent pattern provides a model for resisting even the temptations that face modern-day believers.

     Beale outlined the different ways that Adam and Eve were tempted, observing that their failure ultimately resulted from forgetting God’s Word. “Once the Word of God goes down—whether it was intentional on (their) part or unintentional—it affected the meaning of the Word. The shield of the Word went down, and so the trial resulted in their fall,” Beale said.

     Drawing an analogy from a conversation he once had with his dental hygienist, Beale spoke to the furtive consequences of neglecting one’s studies of the Scriptures during this time of tribulation. The dental hygienist, pointing to a chart of degenerative gum diseases, had urged Beale to take precautionary measures against such ailments. “But I don’t feel bad,” Beale had said. “That’s the genius of gum disease,” was his hygienist’s reply. “When you feel bad, it’s too late.”

     Applying the story to vigilant Bible study practices, Beale said, “We are like that. If we’re really living in a final tribulation, we need to realize that theological rottenness can creep in quickly…If we don’t come to God’s Word every day, then we can be affected by this tribulation.

     “May God give us grace to focus on his Word,” Beale concluded. “As Adam and Eve didn’t, but as Jesus, the last Adam, did.”

     Beale’s related book on the subject, New Testament Biblical Theology: Transformation of the Old Testament in the New, is set for publication by Baker Book House in the fall of 2011.

     The Sizemore Lectures were established in 1978 in memory of Dr. Burlan A. Sizemore Jr., a professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Midwestern.