The central issue is not even whether the term “Kingdom” is used to speak of the present. The term is not the big deal, as much as the reality which the term conveys. The central issue is whether the New Testament authors (yea, Jesus himself) understood that the promises of God given in the OT (i.e., eschatological realities) were being fulfilled and actualized in the present. I think this point is unmistakable. The concept of fulfillment is all through the Gospels. It is also all throughout Paul’s letters, though we often miss it. It is my conviction that the central message of the New Testament is that God has been faithful to his promises to Israel (specifically Abraham, but the promises to David and through the prophets as well) in and through Jesus the Messiah.

I think the hang-up comes when we think if the Kingdom is partially present then that takes away from the “futureness” of the Kingdom of God, or somehow “spiritualizes” the promises. However, we don’t get as hung-up over the notion of saying that “eternal life” is for now or that “salvation” is for now, when both terms are strongly and profoundly eschatological in the way the Bible uses them. What does it mean to say that I have “eternal life” even though my body is still dying? It means that somehow and in some way, the life of the age to come has infused my life in the present, sometimes in visible and sometimes in hidden ways.

In several places Paul calls the Spirit the “downpayment of our inheritance.” In other words, the Holy Spirit is the real, live presence of the “life of the age to come” in the present. The down payment is part of the full payment. It is the “real money.” It is not a nice thought about the money or pretend money or something like that. It is really the real deal. Likewise the Spirit is the “real money” of the life of the age to come. This does not take away from the reality of the future Kingdom, but rather confirms to us the certainty of its inevitability. It’s like saying if I put a down payment on a house, then I’m “taking away” from the full mortgage, or that since I’m paying the downpayment, I’m not interested in paying for the rest of the house. Rather, the opposite is true. If I give you real money for the downpayment, that gives the bank the confidence that I will follow through with the rest of the money.

All in all, inaugurated eschatology, far from taking away from the “futureness” of the Kingdom, heightens our anticipation of it and sharpens our confidence in its coming. Neither does it “spiritualize” eschatology. The literal reality with which the Kingdom has been inaugurated in and through Jesus is one of the most radical claims of Christianity. The fact that Jesus was raised bodily from the dead, and that Jesus’ miraculous ministry was overwhelmingly physical and bodily (healings, exorcism, cleansing lepers, food multiplication, etc.) should at least hint this to us.

You’re a very talented writer. You should definitely write books.