A Standard Sacred Text and the Eschaton

As Christians we are citizens of another kingdom, a heavenly Kingdom. This Kingdom is the greatest of all kingdoms and it ruled but the greatest of all Kings. So as we walk this earth we should be giving the world around us a foretaste of that Kingdom and what it will be like when Christ rules and reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Theologically speaking there is a component of already being but not yet attaining. Christ is already ruling but it is not that all things are under His feet [Hebrews 2:8]. Still, we should live Christ and His Kingdom in the present even when things seem to be going sideways. This is to say that we work to live out Christ’s Kingdom though it is already here but not yet completely full in its coming.

For example, we do this by emulating the relationship of the King and his bride as they are depicted in the marriage bond of husband and wife. Image standing in the back of the church and seeing individual representations of the bride’s relationship to the King. The husband as the leader of the home and lover of his wife as Christ loved the church. There in the assembly he worships with his head uncovered and under the lordship of Christ manifest through the teaching and preaching of the word. His wife, with her head covered, shows outwardly her voluntary submission to Christ and to her husband. Then with the husband and wife are their children, each a sign of blessing upon that home in that the fruit of the womb is God’s reward, and it is the parent’s duty to return that fruit to their Lord. In all of this we see the Lordship of Christ in a world that is in stark rebellion against God and His Christ.

So what does this have to do with the textual issue we are so fond of discussing here at StandardSacredText.com? Well it seems to me that if we are to live out the Kingdom here on earth until Christ returns then it seems we ought to live out the words of our King and how they are received until He returns.

The question now is, “Will there be multiple version of Christ’s words in Christ’s Kingdom or will there be one version of Christ’s words?” If the former, then bravo, we are living the kingdom of Christ as versions of God’s word proliferate in the English-speaking Church. If the latter, than the advent of multiple versions and insistence of multiple versions only is a step backward from manifesting the Kingdom of God and of His Christ in the present Church age.

So which is it? In the Eschaton will there be many versions or one version of Christ’s words to us?