This is one of those books where the theological position it contains is popular and helpful but the book itself isn’t often referred to. Ladd helped us understand the kingdom of God in terms of ‘the now but not yet’. In other words, the rule of God has indeed broken in as a result of Jesus’ coming, but is not fully or perfectly realised. The full impact of God’s absolute reign comes later, after Jesus’ return. So we expect to see breakthrough now but understand we don’t have the fullness of God’s power yet. Probably for many it was John Wimber who introduced this teaching in terms of having a healthy understanding of how we can expect God to heal, but yet not everyone is healed. We’re in the in-between stage of Kingdom realisation and so should keep clear of the two dangers of unbelief at the one extreme (not expecting healing) and unreality at the other (no Christian should ever be sick or die of sickness, or not be healed when prayed for)
Lex Loizides
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