already but not yet
Definition
Already but not yet describes the eschatological condition of the Church in the present age: she is already installed in heavenly realities (Mt. Sion, Christ at the right hand of God) but not yet in complete fulfillment of all things. This is not incompleteness or failure, but the structural form in which God’s kingdom now operates — visible in faith, not yet in full visibility.
In George Warnock’s The Vision and the Appointment (b9), “already but not yet” is not a problem to solve but the normal condition in which the Church is called to live. The tension between both realities — heavenly dwelling and earthly task — forms the ethical and spiritual framework of Christian life.
George Warnock (b9)
Warnock situates the church in both realities at once:
“We have not come to Mount Sinai with its terrors and thunderings, but to Mount Sion — the city of the living God. This is our inheritance. This is our appointed place.”
(The Vision and the Appointment, Eschatology, Chapter 4)
The church lives in the tension: already secure in heavenly Sion, not yet in the full day. Refusing to resolve this tension (neither fleeing in escapism nor falling into materialism) is the calling of overcomers. The “already” gives assurance; the “not yet” gives urgency.