Christ makes every one a debtor to all those for whom Christ died

Paul S. Minear, 1906-2007

It may be said, then, that as Paul sees it, Christ makes every man a debtor to all those for whom Christ died. He thereby creates a fabric of mutual interdependence which defies the usual method of computing obligations in proportion to tangible, direct contributions. This new interdependence is not two-sided but triangular. For example, Paul teaches that Gentiles are indebted to the Jews because Christ became a servant to the circumcised for the sake of the Gentiles (15.7-12). So, too, Paul magnifies his ministry to the Gentiles for the sake of the Jews (11.13f.). This triangular logic also lies back of his injunction to the ‘strong in faith’ (who were predominantly Gentile) that they should honour their obligation to the ‘weak in faith’ (who were predominantly Jewish, 14.1ff.). This obligation was incurred when Christ chose not to please himself but to accept as his own the reproaches which in all justice should fall on others (15.1-3). In Christ, therefore, each man becomes a debtor to every man.

Paul S. Minear, The Obedience of Faith: The Purposes of Paul in the Epistle to the Romans (Studies in Biblical Theology, Second Series 19. London: SCM, 1971), pp. 104-5.

(with apologies for the non-inclusive language)

Moltmann on God's future for the earth

When the Eternal One comes to "dwell" on the earth, the earth will become God's cosmic temple, and the restless God of hope and history will come to his rest. That is the great biblical -- Jewish and Christian -- vision for this earth. It is the final promise: "Behold, the dwelling of God is with [human beings]. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people" (Rev 21:3 RSV, following Ezek. 37:27). The ultimate Shekinah, this cosmic incarnation of God, is the divine future of the earth. In this expectation we shall already treat the earth as "God's temple" here and now, and cherish its creatures as sacred. We men and women are not "the masters and possessors" of the earth, but perhaps we shall one day become its priests and priestesses, representing God to the earth, and bringing the earth before God, so that we see and taste God in all things, and perceive all things in the radiance of his love. That would be a sacramental view of the world which would be able to take up and absorb into itself the worldview held at present in science and technology.

Jürgen Moltmann, "Progress and Abyss: Remembrances of the Future of the Modern World," p. 26 in The Future of Hope: Christian Tradition amid Modernity and Postmodernity, Miroslav Volf and William Katerberg, eds. Grand Rapids and Cambridge: Eerdmans, 2004.