A Simple Syllogism

If Jesus Christ is the Life of the world (John 1:4), then that means when he was crucified, the world itself died, for its Life lay in the grave. The old mode of existence, the one brought on by Adam, is gone: death has been trampled down by death. The power of sin is broken. That means, if the Life is resurrected, and we are joined to that Life, we no longer need to live by the modes and ways of the dead world -- crucified once for all -- but rather can live in newness of life. This means eschatology that looks exclusively to the future, whether that future is AD 70 or AD 3000 (or whenever) is missing the point: the eschaton was fulfilled on the Cross. The Resurrection started on Resurrection Day, an unceasing Day of the Lord that brings all things into God's Light ("the Life was the Light of men"). Certainly, we are awaiting the fulness of this Day to dawn, but St. Paul says that "If anyone is in Christ, behold, a new creation is!" (2 Corinthians 5:17): it is here, we must live it. There is no reason to be an optimist: the world was died. There is no reason to be a pessimist: the world has been made alive. Rather, Jesus Christ is raised from the dead -- that is the ground of our whole existence. Hallelujah!