God calls what is not as though it were. He's so fond of doing this that He states His penchant directly in Romans 4:17, "...calling
what is not as though it were." This fascinating (and sometimes confusing—if you're not careful) figure of speech announces a future event as a present reality. (The formal figure is called "prolepsis.") When some future event is so sure to occur, so guaranteed that it casts not a shadow of doubt, nothing communicates this better than stating that the future event has already occurred. If someone tells you to, "Take out the trash," and you respond, "Consider it done," you are employing the
figure. Even better to say, "Done."
The new humanity and the new creation keep company. "All is new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). This statement is clearly proleptic, for God says
it of a creation that is obviously still old. But based on God considering things thus, He is currently at peace with the world. God being at peace with the world is NOT proleptic because it is His PRESENT disposition based upon what He knows He will do.
We must resist the temptation to speak of God in the terms of timelessness. I have seen people make this mistake concerning, for one thing, the resurrection. "Since God is timeless," the theory goes, "then any talk of the resurrection as being future is not in keeping with this. Therefore, the resurrection has already occurred." It is possible that the theological miscreants Hymeneus and Philetus fell into this precise trap
when insisting that the resurrection had already occurred (2 Timothy 2:16-18).
Since God always speaks of Himself according to linear time (past, present, and future), so must we
speak of Him. In fact, God's own name, "Yahweh," means "Will-Being-Was." And Paul calls Him (in Romans 16:26, "the eonian God."
It is ridiculous, therefore, to assert that we are
presently IN the new creation/new humanity. It is not ridiculous, however, to consider ourselves AS THOUGH we are a new creation/new humanity, for Paul continuously implores us to do so.
Since it's possible to make the mistake of insisting that we are IN the new creation, is it also possible to deny that God sees things this way? Oh, it's more than possible. In fact, denying this is default disposition of all Christianity. The result of this mental miscue? I will demonstrate that for you in the life of a Japanese soldier who was still fighting World War II in 1974.
Buckle in, this show is a doozie.
