Already

2 Cor 6.2: λέγει γάρ· καιρῷ δεκτῷ ἐπήκουσά σου καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σωτηρίας ἐβοήθησά σοι. ἰδοὺ νῦν καιρὸς εὐπρόσδεκτος, ἰδοὺ νῦν ἡμέρα σωτηρίας.// For it says, ‘I heard you in the acceptable time, in the day of salvation I helped you.’ Look! Now is the day of salvation.

I am translating through 2 Corinthians for a class and I was struck by how confusing this must have sounded to the average adherent to Judaism in Paul’s day. I mean, to say that the time promised by Isaiah in Is 49.8 is now being realized—and realized among these fledgling group of house churches!—surely sounded ludicrous to say the least. The promised time of the renewed creation and people of God, according to Paul, was already happening in and through an executed Jewish peasant and a rag-tag group of bickering folks throughout the ancient Mediterranean world. It is easy to forget how bizarre this must have sounded to the ‘real world’ of Paul’s day.