Present Tense or Not?

Today I received an email from someone who had listened online to the message I gave yesterday in The Hague. I quote:

Dear brother A. Piet,
This morning we listened to your Sunday morning message in “The Lord Will Provide.” The blessing of it was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that you quoted a few texts, in our view, as if they are in the present tense, while we believe they are written in the past tense. The following passages are in question:

25 Husbands, love your own wives, even as Christ also loved the Church (has loved, past tense) and gave Himself for her (has given Himself; past tense).
According to us, this would have taken place in the death and resurrection of Christ.

26 That He might sanctify her, having cleansed her with the washing of water by the Word (past tense),
When we came to believe and accepted the Word of truth.

27 That He might present her to Himself glorious, a Church not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
This position is fixed and will be fulfilled when we appear before His presence in glory. Philippians 3:21: Who shall change our lowly body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Himself.

29 For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it (that is, according to us, what He is doing now), even as also the Lord does the Church.

We would appreciate your thoughts on this.
Kind regards,
…

At the beginning of the message, I briefly pointed out the verb forms Paul uses in the Greek. When verse 25 says “loved” and “gave Himself up,” both are in what is called the aorist. Literally, that means: without horizon. An aorist states a fact without limiting it to a specific time – it is therefore timeless. And that’s a good thing, because otherwise we would have to conclude that Christ loved the ecclesia and therefore no longer loves her. That is obviously not the idea. In verse 26 as well, “to be hallowing” and “cleansing” are in the aorist form, so here too a timeless fact is being presented. The thought is that Christ hallows and cleanses the ecclesia – regardless of when. Because of the reference to “the bath of water in the word,” we should especially think of what Christ is presently doing to us. That’s why I made the link in the message to the foot-washing in the upper room.

That said, I fully agree with the letter-writer that the presentation of the ecclesia, radiant, without spot or wrinkle, will not be fully realized until the future, when we appear before His face. Nevertheless, this does not take away from the fact that Ephesians 5:26 most certainly also (and especially) speaks of the present work of Christ for the ecclesia.

Delen: