Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Alfaro, Juan. Reflections of The Eschatology of Vatican II
Alfaro, Juan. Reflections of The Eschatology of Vatican II
Reflections on the
Eschatology of Vatican II
Summary
This article is a theological reflection on the eschatology of Vati-
can II, carried on in the light of Christian christology and
soteriologv, that is, of the unique event of Christ, considered
both in its totality and unity, and in the light of its salvific
meaning for humankind, for the world and history.
501
502 Juan Alfaro, S. ].
The coming into the world and history of the Son of God had to
be a work of the creative power of God (Lk. 1:35), and by this very
fact, an absolutely new event, surpassing all possibilities of nature
and history: a qualitatively supreme and unique event, one
irrepeatable and definitive: eschaton. No other salvific act of God
is conceivable that surpasses it: God made himself "God-with-us"
(Mr. 1:23), in our world and history. Thus, we understand that in
the person, the activity, and the message of jesus, the kingdom of
God is already present (Lk. 11:20): in these acts, the definitive
salvific act of God accomplished and revealed itself. ]
The existence of Christ in history was marked by the fallen
state and by the tension of human time. It is a time of ordeal,
temptation, inner struggle, and suffering; a time in which the
anticipated presence of the end of life lends an irreversibilitv to
free choices, and integrates them into the definitive dimension
of death ("once for all": Heb. 9:27). Because of death, each
moment of life is given an ultimate meaning (eschaton). Human
time finally sinks into the "no more time" of death.
But the time lived by Jesus was different from ours: in him
there was not this division, this inner contradiction, called sin,
which alienates us from God. The human existence of Jesus was
internally unified by his constant and growing attitude both of
self-gift to God on behalf of humanity and of confident abandon-
ment to the Father: a time of hope in the coming of the Kingdom. In
him, the fallen state of time that is oriented toward death was
integrated into and overcome by the ultimate salvation, already
anticipated in his option of hoping in the Father and of giving up
his life for humanity.
The temporal existence of Jesus in our world and history
reached its greatest depth in the mystery of his experience of God
the Father: his personal and filial relationship to God, attested by
the synoptic gospels and deepened in the fourth gospel, was the
reflection of his divine sonship." Jesus enjoyed a unique, abso-
lutely singular experience of God that cannot be repeated
(eschaton), because it is peculiar to the man who is personally the
Son of God. The self-communication of God, which rendered
Jesus his Son, was achieved and expressed through his commit-
ment to the Father for our sake, and through his fundamental
option in favor of the kingdom.
Therefore, the time of Christ the man was a singularly unique
time that, although undermined by death, was definitively saved
through his communion of life with God: an existence in the
504 Juan Alfaro, S. ].
escharon, that is, always lived in supreme union with God for the
sake of humanity, an experience oriented toward future plenti-
tude with God, toward his own final salvation and that of others.
Christ's death was by nature eschatological: it not only put an
end to his existence in the world, but also consummated his
definitive commitment to the Father; Jesus' death was the means
by which he embodied in a supreme way his filial relationship to
God. Therefore, the death of Jesus did not concern the simple
fact of undergoing a painful death inflicted with violence, but rhe
act of dying, of freely accepting his death by committing his life
to the Father for the sake of humanity. 5
Christ underwent his death with all the enigmatic, annihilat-
ing, and heart-rending experience each dying entails: the feeling
of being abandoned by the Father. Jesus lived his death as the
crisis of his mission, the ordeal that summarized the meaning of
his life (Mt, 27:46; Mk. 15:35-37). Abandoned by God, Jesus
committed himself to him with confidence. And, thus, he trans-
formed the escharon of his death into the escharon of his life, the
ultimate and supreme consummation of his self-giving to the
Father: he conquered death and integrated it into the hope of the
kingdom (Mt. 26:29; Mk. 14:25; Lk. 22:14-18, 30). He made of
his death a victory over dying, a defeat of the fallen temporality
of his existence: the definitive moment of becoming man that
was peculiar to the Son of God.
By his attitude of definitive self-giving and by abandoning him-
self to God "who could deliver Him from death" (Heb. 5:7), Jesus
allowed his experience of time to reach the supreme degree of
tension between death and communion of life with God. And by
maintaining this attitude, Jesus received from the creative power
of God new and ultimate life, the resurrection: "he lives for God"
(Rom. 6:10); he entered into the imperishable plenitude of life
with God. The fullness of the divinization of Christ's humanity
and the fullness of his incarnation are indistinguishable. The resur-
rection confers the character of escharon on the whole Christ
event, from his coming into the world until his death.
In coming into the world, in existing in history, in dying and
finally in being raised to life, Jesus embodied in himself the inner
dimension of what is final and definitive, the escharon. His tempo-
rality was oriented toward the supratemporal plenitude to come,
toward the immediate encounter with God. His future resurrec-
tion was anticipated in his hope in the kingdom, in his actual
ESCHATOLOGY OF VATICAN II 505
taking into account the work of the Holy Spirit, precisely as the
gift of the risen Son On. 7:39). According to Paul, the dynamic
presence of the Spirit of Christ transforms human existence even
in its corporeal dimension: in the "filial adoption," brought about
by the Spirit, man becomes heir to the glory of Christ risen
(Rom. 8:12-18). The gift of the Spirit is not only the initial
possession (the first fruits) and the anticipated guarantee, but
also the vital principle of the resurrection to come: "God who
raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies
by the presence of his Spirit in you" (Rom. 8:11). Sharing the
resurrection of Christ is a reality that from now on takes place in
believers: the whole existence of the human persons, in their
interiority and corporeity, is oriented toward a full share in the
new life of the risen Christ. The presence of the Spirit within the
human person corresponds to two main themes of Pauline theol-
ogy: it essentially takes place within persons, making them living
temples of God; but it also extends to their corporeity that is
destined to rise from death.
With these reflections, we have arrived at the chief character-
istics of Paul's soteriology and anthropology: (a) Christian salva-
tion entails the complete salvation of human persons, both in
their interiority and corporeity; (b) corporeity is not just a part of
human beings, it is a unifying dimension of their existence, the
dimension by which they are open to the world and to the others;
(c) in Christ, corporeity is the basis of his union with the human
community, the world, and history; (d) the world was created by
God for humanity, in the final instance for a person Christ and
for a person conformed to Christ. 7
The complete transformation of the human person, brought
about by the work of the Holy Spirit, is described by Paul as a
"new creation" (Gal. 6:15); "the end of time," "the fullness of
time" (Eph, 1:10; 3:11): the new and definitive era has come.
Eschatological salvation is anticipated in the new existence of
the believers under the influence of the Spirit who invites them
to hope in the resurrection to come, the "redemption of their
bodies" (Rom. 8:23). Paul's theology of the salvific and eschato-
logical meaning of Christ's resurrection, and of the complete
salvation of humanity presupposes a unified view of salvation,
creation, and history. Nothing escapes the salvation achieved by
God in Christ: the identity of God the creator and God the
savior. Within the history of salvation, creation is an integral
ESCHATOLOGY OF VATICAN II 507
death. It is not a merely future reality, but one begun here and
now through the conversion of humanity to God and to love and
justice toward his neighbor. Christian eschatology thus bases its
code of ethics on fraternity and hope. Christ, by calling all
people to salvation through participation here and now in com-
munion of life with him, has created a new bond of solidarity
among them. The whole of humanity is called to form one single
people of God, which as a communion of brotherly love and of
shared hope is heading toward its promised homeland. 10 Chris-
tian hope cannot remain hidden within the person: it has to
manifest and express itself through the structures of society. The
only way for Christians to contribute to setting up the kingdom
of Christ is to foster a world of love and justice, and thus to
arouse true hope among people. II
Christian life in this world, therefore, is not only the time for
individuals to determine their ultimate salvation still to come,
but also the time for the whole Church to establish the kingdom
of God in the world, which is marked by fraternity and justice,
and in which the goods of the earth created by God for all people
will be shared and transformed into means to serve the whole
human family. Hence, commitment to establish a more just and
human world is required by Christian hope. Such a commitment
is at the very center of the present human decisions concerning
future salvation.
By proclaiming that all humanity is destined to take part, as a
community, in a future salvation that has already begun on
earth, Christianity insists that this participation in the new fu-
ture must actualize itself in this world and in all dimensions of
human existence. The salvation to come could not really begin
otherwise. Humanity cannot be saved by the mere promise of a
happy beyond: persons need the tangible reality of a fraternity
dedicated to justice so as to have a hint of a better future life.
In no other way will the Church be able to make hope in
"eternal life" credibile as participation of the human community
in the glory of Christ. To proclaim Christian hope without prac-
ticing the works of Christian love is to bring about its discredit,
to provide a contradictory testimony, and to deny in actions
what is attested in words.
Paul VI has spoken of the necessity for the Church to free itself
from the historical structures that are now perceived to be deformations
of its evangelic character and apostolic mission; and to undertake a
ESCHATOLOGY OF VATICAN II 511
Notes