Kingdom Tension

“The Kingdom is virtually here but still future. We await its final manifestation even as we enjoy a kind of inaugural preview.”
Trevin Wax

“The revolutionary Kingdom yet to come has, in Christ, already entered into the reality of this world.”
Dallas Willard

“The cost of trying to maintain simplicity is that we distort the Bible’s message and deny its breadth of meaning.”
Graeme Goldsworthy

“A Christian finds his home in a torn fabric of reality, drawn in two directions by the Spirit and the flesh...Christianity embraces agonized duality. A double-minded man is what we praise in hymns about faith.”
Cornelius Plantinga

As Christians, we are called to live in the unique tension of the “already but not yet” of God’s Kingdom. Through Jesus Christ, the powers of the coming Kingdom age have already broken into this present fallen world. Yet Jesus’ reign is not yet fully established on the earth. We await the future day when Christ will return to complete His Kingdom work, and this concept creates an undeniable tension in the Christian life and theology. On one hand, astounding things are already ours in Christ: Victory over sin and death, healing of diseases, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, freedom from condemnation, intimacy with God as Father, and supernatural power over the demonic realm. Miracles, healing, prophecies, and all the gifts of the Spirit are part of the believer’s inheritance today. Yet, on the other hand, we still groan under the weight of sickness, oppression, spiritual attack, relational strife, and the presence of sin. The Kingdom has come in part, yet not in fullness, and calls us to continually hold together two intertwined aspects of our Christian faith.

The Dangers of Imbalance
Throughout church history, theological imbalance has led to practical excess. Overemphasizing one biblical tension at the expense of the other inevitably results in distortion. Consider some believe all sickness results from personal sin or demonic affliction, demanding deliverance or healing conferences for the infirm. However, correlation does not imply causation. (For more on this, read the blog series; Understanding Suffering, Punishment vs Correction, Death & Disease). Others relegate miracles to a bygone apostolic era, leaving no room for supernatural intervention today. The balanced Kingdom view sees Christ’s atonement providing redemption and healing while awaiting ultimate resurrection and freedom from sickness for all who endure illness with persevering faith. Whatever the case, this dangerous tendency toward imbalance extends across theology: Dispensationalism radically divides biblical history into distinct periods or “dispensations” in which God relates to human beings under different biblical covenants. It traditionally sees a radical distinction between Israel and the Church and, thus, nullifies the Church’s authority. Triumphalism is an attitude of self-importance and self-reliance that sees the Kingdom of God as fully manifested, leading to a presumptuous perspective, breeding entitlement and results in disillusionment. Reformed theology often overstates depravity, while charismatic pneumatology over-realizes eschatology. In correcting one extreme, we must guard against replacing it with the opposite. A balanced tension understands the Kingdom has arrived, but consummation awaits. Believers have died to sin yet struggle with its pull. We are a new creation yet being renewed in our minds. Christ’s work is finished yet He is still working within us. We have been given everything for life and godliness yet still experience lack, hunger, and sin. We participate in Christ’s triumph yet engage in intense warfare. Orthodoxy requires maintaining both poles of these tensions and guarding all aspects of Kingdom tension is indispensable for theological soundness.

Living Between Two Worlds
Perhaps the greatest tension occurs within our regenerate state. Some traditions overemphasize Christ’s imputed righteousness that personal holiness seems optional, while others fixate on self-effort. But the already-and-not-yet paradigm recognizes we are, as Martin Luther put it, “simul justus et peccator,” both saint and sinner at once until glory. Through Christ, we are declared wholly righteous yet still battling sin as we mature. Our right standing is secure, yet our character must continually yield to the Spirit’s transforming work within. In Christ, we are a new creation; the old has passed away
(2 Corinthians 5:17), we have new life through the indwelling Holy Spirit and share in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Nothing needs to be added, for we already possess everything pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), yet we daily battle temptations, mindsets, habits, and addictions stemming from the flesh. We are simultaneously saints and sinners, righteous yet regularly missing the mark (Romans 3:10, 7:14). We have fellowship with the Holy Spirit and our fallen nature. We waver between two opposing gravitational pulls – life in the Spirit versus catering to self (Galatians 5:16-17). Perhaps no one captured the tension of the Christian life better than Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He described believers as living in a constant state of “semi-eschatological tension.” Through faith, we have already received vast spiritual blessings seated with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6), being new creations equipped with the Spirit’s power. Yet as we walk about on earth still facing sorrows, trials, and sin, we yearn for the future day when God’s Kingdom work is complete. Lloyd-Jones called this a “partially realized eschatology,” we exist between the decisive victory of the cross but awaiting the final consummation at Christ’s return, and calls us to live empowered yet dependent, conqueror yet engaged in battle, owning a sure promise yet persevering in patience. We are empowered conquerors and desperate dependents. Like Lazarus, we have emerged from the tomb yet still must shed our grave-clothes. Thus, no biblical truth can be fully grasped without holding these tensions in dynamic balance. This war within every believer cries out for the already-and-not-yet balance of the Kingdom. With Paul, we rejoice, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Yet we readily admit with him elsewhere, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me?” (Romans 7:24). This tender balance characterized Jesus’ earthly ministry. He inhabited the overlap of two ages as the inaugurator and prototype of the powers to come, yet limited Himself from exercising the full rights of His divinity. He enjoyed intimate fellowship with the Father yet agonized in prayer. He demonstrated absolute authority over sickness and demons yet submitted to human rejection that would lead to the cross. Jesus lived fully in both this age and the age to come. He embodied overlapping realities—the incarnation joined two divergent realms into His very person. If Jesus Himself modeled such nuanced theological balance, how much more must His followers today hold fast to Kingdom tension at every turn?

Scripture resists flattening its multifaceted truths into simplistic formulas. Doctrinal maturity requires acknowledging paradoxes: God’s timeless foreknowledge and human free will, Christ as fully divine and fully human, and salvation is a gift received by faith alone yet worked out in fear and trembling. The distortions of dispensationalism, triumphalism, hyper-grace, and other extremes remind us that sound theology must give full weight to the “already” and “not yet” at every point. As Kingdom citizens, may we faithfully mirror the poise of Jesus by living expectantly empowered yet humbly dependent, as more-than-conquerors who boast only in our weakness. Maintaining this tension is central to mature Christian faith and life. Our King calls us to lovingly embrace the already-and-not-yet of His Kingdom. Embracing both equips us for responsibly participating in something grander than ourselves today while anticipating a sweeter tomorrow, assured by God’s faithfulness. Partial realization and eager anticipation hold hands as friends, and tension is a companion on the journey as we learn to love this complex and fragmented world as Christ does. There awaits glory beyond measure through means that require desperately dependent faith today. Friends, let us enter the fray with eyes wide open. Our King beckons – welcome to the beautiful struggle!