The Pauline Eschatology

In a sense, the gentile mission in Paul's days was locally embodied in the city of Rome and doctrinally given expression in the book of Romans. If Jerusalem was the center of the Jewish Christians, Rome was the center of the gentile Christians. As for the eschatology of Romans, it transformed the kingdom eschatology of the Gospels into the resurrection eschatology of Acts and Paul. Central to Pauline eschatology is the resurrection of Christ and the Spirit of Christ in the church. In union with the resurrected Christ through the Spirit, the church does not just wait and hope for the end times. It begins to live in the dual reality of the last days of this age and the first days of the coming age. Thus, the basileia eschatology of the New Testament has undergone a transformation from the Gospels to Acts and Paul. In Paul, the basileia has gradually transformed into the realities of union with the resurrected Christ and its significance for the church awaiting the end times.