Finally
in this chapter on eschatology McLaren discusses the issue of final judgement. This is not
something that can be shied away from for it is ‘a central theme across the
biblical library’. A ‘true accounting, evaluation or assessment of our lives,
our works, our nations, our world cannot help but happen’. However, under the
old Greco-Roman scheme the word ‘judgement’ has been misapplied and we need to
have a truer understanding of it.
Judgement as restoration
First,
suggests McLaren, it must not be used to refer to condemnation. A far better
understanding is that of God putting right what has gone wrong. ‘It means
reconciling, not merely punishing; healing, not merely diagnosing;
transforming, not merely exposing; revaluing (or redeeming), not merely evaluating.’
Second, it is crucial that the final reckoning will not happen in a grace-free
or mercy-free context. In God, ‘grace and truth, justice and mercy, kindness
and strength’ work together. And third, it is by Jesus’ way and life that this
judgment will take place, meaning that it is not the strong, the war-like, or
the dominant who will be judged winners but those who share the likeness of
Jesus. Judgement will see God being ‘all in all’ and all the wrongs of creation
put right.
In
producing this new eschatology – an ‘eschatology of hope, anticipation, and
participation’ - McLaren believes that it will ‘produce vision and motivation’
to help us co-work with God in the creation of a better future.
More from McLaren
in the new year.
