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The not-yet factor - introduction

THE BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS OF MARRIAGE

Copyright © Rosemary Bardsley 2004

PART FIVE:

THE 'NOT-YET' FACTOR

The Incarnation Factor and the Redemption/Regeneration/Reconciliation Factor have radically and permanently impacted many of the changes initiated by the Sin Factor. But this impact, this alteration, is by no means complete. Christians exist in an in-between era, an 'already-but-not-yet' era.

We are already saved from sin's penalty, but we are not yet saved from sin's presence.

We are already children of God, but we are not yet fully expressing the nature of our heavenly Father. We already possess eternal life, but we are not yet liberated from suffering and death.

We are already perfect in Christ by his imputed righteousness, but we are not yet perfect in practice.

We are reconciled to God and to each other in Christ, but we are not yet free from all inner and inter-personal alienation.

We belong to Jesus and want to honour him, but Satan has other ideas, and does all he can to pressure us into denying our faith by word or action.

We understand the truths of the Redemption, Regeneration, Reconciliation Factor to varying degrees, but we have not yet learned how to fully implement its implications into our lives and relationships.

  • We ourselves, though believers, are still sinners who sin
  • We live in families and societies in which there are still unbelievers
  • We live in families in which the possibility of a person having false faith is very real.

In this interim period we find ourselves confronted with difficult marriage issues, which are sometimes so intense and so confusing that no option seems to be without sin. It is to those issues that we now turn.