Underrealized Eschatology: The Other Extreme to Avoid
Introduction
For years, we’ve heard about the dangers of overrealized eschatology, the theological term for the error that’s most prominently displayed today in the prosperity gospel. Overrealized eschatology, in simple terms, is a category error in which we incorrectly apply future promises of the eschaton (the last days or the end times) to the present. For example, having all our material needs met so that we don’t experience any pain, hunger, or lack is not a promise God makes anywhere in the Bible for this life. But He does promise to wipe away every tear and that there will be no sickness, pain, or death in the next life (Rev. 21:4). So, claiming the promise of having all our material needs (i.e. health and wealth) met now would be an example of overrealized eschatology.
Another example would be the doctrine of sinless perfection. Some Christian traditions teach that believers can reach such a degree of sanctification in this life that they attain a state of actual sinlessness. No disrepect to any other tradition or denomination, but that idea seems to fly against the witness of Scripture (James 3:2; 1 John 1:8-10). The only time the Bible says we will be sinlessly perfect is in the next life. Therefore, claiming sinless perfection in this life would also qualify as overrealized eschatology.
The dangers of overrealized eschatology have been expounded upon and warned against for years and there is now a broad awareness of this error in the evangelical church. Pastors have preached against the prosperity gospel consistently such that there is now a clear line in the sand.
But what about the other end of the spectrum? If there’s such a thing as overrealized eschatology, is there such a thing as underrealized eschatology?
Underrealized Eschatology Explained
If overrealized eschatology is misguidedly applying the promises of the next life to this life, then underrealized eschatology would be misguidedly ignoring or denying the promises of the next life in this life. It would involve bifurcating the biblical principle of “already but not yet”, throwing away the “already” and holding on to the “not yet” exclusively. The result of such a view would be an expectation that all promiseses and blessings from God—even the ones meant for this world—will be delayed and pushed off to the next world. Underrealized eschatology would then produce a mindset that doesn’t expect any good from God now, only suffering, discipline, and refinement, which would then be rewarded in heaven only for those who endure to the end. Through this lens, the Christian life isn’t a journey with ups and downs, or a love relationship with highs and lows, but an endless series of tests for which all the gains are backloaded.
“…underrealized eschatology saps Christianity of its hope, joy, and beauty and reduces it to a spartan, disciplinarian slog.”
In this way, underrealized eschatology is just as skewed and unbiblical as its twin, overrealized eschatology, only far more subversive because it can take on the guise of pious longsuffering. While overrealized eschatology twists Christianity into some kind of fun house “wind chamber cash grab”, underrealized eschatology saps Christianity of its hope, joy, and beauty and reduces it to a spartan, disciplinarian slog.
Indeed, some have criticized certain Reformed preachers of doing exactly this, of swinging the pendulum too far the other way and preaching a “suffering gospel”. John Piper, a noted and fierce critic of the prosperity gospel, acknowledges that some interpret his teaching as advocating a masochistic view of suffering. One reason, he admits, that he has focused so much on suffering over the years is because he knows that as soon as people hear the term Christian hedonism (the hallmark of his theology), they’ll mistake it for the prosperity gospel.
Perhaps, in some circles within evangelicalism, we have gone too far. Or, more precisely, we have elevated suffering to the point that we now see it as a badge of honor, or an ideal to be pursued, because we believe God is more glorified in our suffering than in our flourishing. But is that what the Bible teaches?
A Balanced, Biblical View
“Already but not yet” is one of the most important hermeneutical themes in the Bible. It’s the key to avoiding both extremes of overrealized and underrealized eschatology. The “not yet” half of the equation puts the brakes on overrealized eschatology by reminding us that many of the promises and conditions of the final state are for then, not now. And the “already” half reminds us that God has given us His Holy Spirit as a deposit that guarantees not only the future fulfillment of our inheritance in Christ, but also our enjoyment of that deposit this side of heaven. The Greek word arrhabōn, used in 2 Cor. 1:22, 2 Cor. 5:5, and Eph. 1:4, is translated as deposit, down payment, guarantee, or first installment, and is always used of the Holy Spirit. The indwelling Spirit in us is God’s proof that the Kingdom is here with us now, that the rule and reign of Christ is in us now, that the fruit of the Spirit is being produced in us now, and that we can experience salvation and new life now.
“…God doesn't save us from embodied existence but for embodied existence.”
A Christian who believes that God wants to bring nothing but testing, discipline, and refining into his or her life ignores half of the counsel of Scripture and dishonors the work of the Holy Spirit. We can see that in the present, Christ is with His people, prayers are answered, people are healed, relationships are restored, churches are built, and lives are transformed. Dualism teaches that the physical world is evil and only the spiritual world is good. But the gospel tells us that Jesus was resurrected not in spirit but in the flesh. This shows that God doesn't save us from embodied existence but for embodied existence. Therefore, the gospel message isn’t:
"Endure a miserable earthly existence because the real life starts after death."
It's:
"The life of the coming age has already invaded this age, but it hasn't arrived in its fullness."
The latter is a message that gives hope. The former is a message that leads only to resignation and resentment.
A Final Encouragement
Those who take on an underrealized eschatological mindset become vulnerable to seeing themselves as martyrs, or as modern-day Jobs who are called to a life of suffering. But the truth is, we are not Job! Not even Job was “Job”, or what we often think of as Job, that is, a man of endless suffering. We often forget that in the latter days of his life, Job was extremely blessed and that God restored to him twice as much as he had lost (Job 42:12). He lived a long, fulfilled life and died having experienced so much of God’s goodness, not after death, but before. Rather than being a support for underrealized eschatology, Job serves as a timeless witness against it, and a reminder to us that we can trust in and experience the goodness of God here and now, not only in the next life, because the kingdom of God is both already here and not yet in its fullness.
