To Infinity and Beyond
Part 3: Implications
Almighty Father, What a wonder it is that You care so much for us, that You are willing to give everything that we may be saved. It is truly awesome how everything You do is for our good. Amen.
This is the final installment in a three-part series establishing theological foundation for systematic Kingdom theology. Part 1 identified the problem. Part 2 presented the correction. Part 3 traces the complete transformation that follows.
We’ve diagnosed the problem: treating God’s transcendence as quantitative superiority (endless time, boundless space, spatial distribution) produces a three possible issues—Gnosticism, pantheism, or panentheism. We’ve articulated the correction: God’s eternity, infinity, and omnipresence mean transcendence beyond temporal and spatial categories entirely, not an endless extension of them.
Three simple corrections at the cornerstone transform every doctrine in the structure above it. We’re seeing in modern terms what Scripture (and many early church fathers) has been revealing all along, unobscured by Platonic categories that compressed transcendence into comprehensible (but incorrect) terms.
What follows is a survey, not an exhaustive treatment. Each doctrine deserves—and will receive—detailed exploration in future essays. But first, let’s see the breadth; how one correction cascades through the entire theological system. See how material redemption replaces Gnostic escape when the foundation is properly laid.
Christology: The Incarnation
What the Old Framework Produces
If eternal means endless time and infinite means boundless space, then the Incarnation becomes a paradoxical tension requiring maneuvering. How does an infinite God “fit into” a finite body? How does an eternal God “enter” temporal existence?
The answers usually invoke kenosis (self-emptying) as limitation—God giving up divine attributes, constraining Himself, accepting boundaries. The Incarnation becomes God descending from a superior mode of being (timeless, boundless) into an inferior mode (temporal, spatial). Jesus is God “compressed” into humanity, divine greatness reduced to human smallness.
This produces christological problems that have vexed theology for centuries: How can Jesus be fully God if He’s limited? How can He be fully human if He’s unlimited? The hypostatic union (two natures in one person) becomes logical puzzle requiring precise philosophical categories to avoid heresy.
Practically, it makes the Incarnation seem like God is reluctantly entering the inferior material realm for salvific purposes, planning to leave as soon as the job is done.
What the Corrected Foundation Enables
However, if God’s eternity transcends temporal categories and God’s infinity transcends spatial categories, then the Incarnation isn’t paradox—it’s presence.
The eternal (beyond time) can fully enter the temporal (within time) without being reduced because transcendence isn’t quantitative superiority but qualitative difference. Like a three-dimensional object intersecting a two-dimensional plane—fully present in that dimension without being contained or limited by it (to be clear, I’m not claiming that God is a being in the fourth dimension or something).
The infinite (beyond space) can fully inhabit the finite (within space) without being compressed because infinity isn’t boundless extension but transcends spatial categories entirely.
The Incarnation is God’s eternal, infinite nature manifesting in temporal, spatial reality. It’s not God becoming less (losing attributes) but God revealing more (making transcendent presence materially visible). The Word becomes flesh (John 1:14) not by ceasing to be the Word but by the Word taking on an additional mode of existence—remaining fully divine while becoming fully human.
Kenosis (Philippians 2:5-8) isn’t losing divine attributes but setting aside divine privileges—choosing to work within creaturely limitations. Like a novelist choosing to experience their story from inside rather than above, without ceasing to be the author.
Biblical Passages In This Light
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14)—not God abandoning transcendence but transcendence entering materiality without contradiction
“In Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9)—not paradox but transcendent presence fully manifest
“He is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15)—the transcendent made visible without ceasing to be transcendent
“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1:18)—the unknowable revealing Himself through a knowable form
The Practical Implication
If the Incarnation is dimensional presence, then the Eucharist makes perfect sense.
Christ can be fully present in bread and wine not through magical transformation or mere symbolism, but through the same dimensional presence that enabled the Incarnation. The infinite God who dwelt fully in Jesus’ finite body can manifest fully in material elements. Divine presence inhabits material reality sacramentally.
The debates between Catholic (transubstantiation), Lutheran (consubstantiation), Reformed (spiritual presence), and memorial views all operate within frameworks that struggle because they lack proper understanding of transcendence. With a corrected foundation, real presence becomes coherent: Christ is present not spatially (His body isn’t “in” the bread locally) but dimensionally (His transcendent presence manifests through the material).
This opens the question: If Christ’s presence works this way in the Eucharist, how else does His body function materially? What does it mean that the Church is His body? How do we participate in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4)?
Anthropology: What Humans Actually Are
What the Old Framework Produces
Platonic eternal (endless) and infinite (boundless) necessitate soul-body dualism. If the spiritual realm is superior (endless/boundless) and the material realm is inferior (limited/bounded), then the spiritual part of humans (soul) must be superior to the material part (body).
This produces the standard anthropology: You are a soul that has a body. The real you is the immaterial soul, temporarily housed in physical form. Death is the soul escaping the body (liberation). The intermediate state is the soul’s true existence. The resurrection is the soul re-entering the body (but why, if soul is fine without it?).
This makes bodies disposable. Healthcare, nutrition, physical suffering become less important than “spiritual” concerns. The image of God locates in the soul, not the body. Salvation primarily addresses the soul. The body is at best a neutral vessel, at worst an impediment to spiritual growth.
What the Corrected Foundation Enables
With proper transcendence, the material-spiritual dichotomy dissolves. Both emerge from God who transcends the distinction.
Body + Spirit = Soul (unified person). Not a soul in a body but body and spirit constituting soul. You aren’t a soul that has a body—you are body-spirit unity, an integrated organism.
This recovers biblical anthropology: God forms body from dust, breathes spirit into it, and the result becomes living soul (Genesis 2:7). The becoming is crucial—soul isn’t preexisting entity entering body but the emergent reality of the body-spirit union.
Death is therefore bifurcation—spirit separating from body, soul split incompletely. Not liberation but tragedy, violence against human nature. The intermediate state (spirit surviving bodily death) is genuinely intermediate—incomplete existence, not ultimate destination.
Resurrection becomes essential, not optional—spirit reuniting with body (transformed but continuous with original), and soul restored to wholeness. It’s not the soul grudgingly re-entering the body but the person being completed, made fully human again.
Biblical Passages In This Light
“If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised... we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:13-19)—Paul’s entire argument assumes bodily resurrection is the hope, not soul’s immortality
“He will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21)—not discarding body for spirit but transforming body into glorified state
The Practical Implication
If humans are unified body-spirit persons, then bodies matter ultimately.
This means healthcare is a spiritual concern (bodies aren’t disposable). Nutrition matters (caring for body is caring for soul). Physical suffering must be addressed (not just spiritually comforted but materially relieved). Economic justice becomes imperative (poverty damages souls by damaging bodies). Environmental care is human concern (toxins in environment damage image-bearers).
The progressive movements pursuing healthcare reform, food justice, environmental protection, economic equality aren’t “worldly distractions from spiritual concerns”—they’re pursuing the material component of human wholeness that many in the Church spiritualized away.
This opens the question: If bodies matter ultimately, what does salvation accomplish for material creation? Is redemption only for humans or for all things?
Soteriology: What Salvation Actually Saves
What the Old Framework Produces
If material is inferior and spiritual is superior, salvation logically means evacuating souls from the material realm to the spiritual realm.
The gospel becomes: You’re going to hell (bad spiritual destination) unless you accept Jesus, then you go to heaven (good spiritual destination) when you die. Salvation primarily addresses your soul’s eternal location. Earth is temporary, disposable. Creation is a stage for soul-drama, discarded when the play concludes.
This produces evangelism focused exclusively on “saving souls”—getting people to heaven, concerned with death destination, often indifferent to earthly suffering. Why fix temporary problems when eternal ones matter? Why steward creation that’s burning anyway?
It also struggles to explain why material redemption language saturates Scripture—creation groaning, earth renewed, bodies resurrected, new heavens and new earth. These get spiritualized as metaphors for heaven or relegated to mysterious footnotes.
What the Corrected Foundation Enables
With God transcending the material-spiritual dichotomy while affirming both, salvation can address all reality—souls and bodies, humans and creation, spiritual and material.
Salvation is transformation, not evacuation. God doesn’t rescue souls from creation—He redeems creation itself. The Kingdom isn’t “up there later” but breaking in “down here now.” Eternal life begins in present participation (John 17:3—”this is eternal life”), not future destination.
The cross doesn’t just pay penalty for sin (though it does)—it defeats powers enslaving creation (Colossians 2:15), reconciles all things (Colossians 1:20), makes peace between heaven and earth. The resurrection isn’t proof of afterlife—it’s firstfruits of creation’s renewal (1 Corinthians 15:20-23), the preview of material reality transformed.
Biblical Passages In This Light
“The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God... the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption” (Romans 8:19-21)—not just humans but all creation participates in redemption
“Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5)—not “making all new things” but renewing existing creation
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5)—not heaven but transformed earth
“The dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them” (Revelation 21:3)—God coming to renewed earth, not souls escaping to distant heaven
The Practical Implication
If salvation includes material creation, then ecological stewardship is a spiritual imperative.
Climate change isn’t a political issue Christians can ignore—it’s damaging God’s good creation that He’s redeeming. Species extinction matters eternally (this earth becomes new earth, continuously). Environmental justice (toxins disproportionately affecting poor communities) combines economic and ecological concerns. The environmentalists fighting for creation aren’t “nature worshipers”—they’re pursuing the material redemption Scripture promises.
This opens the question: If individual and cosmic salvation are linked, how does the Church function as an agent of material redemption? What’s the Church’s actual mission?
Ecclesiology: What the Church Actually Is
What the Old Framework Produces
If salvation is soul evacuation and earth is temporary, the Church becomes an institution preparing people for heaven—teaching right doctrine for entry, maintaining moral standards for qualification, providing religious experiences for spiritual nurture. Success is measured by conversions (souls saved), attendance (engagement with institution), and doctrinal purity (right beliefs maintained).
The Church relates to the world as a rescue operation—pulling people out before the ship sinks. Cultural engagement means evangelism (getting them out), social justice is an optional add-on (nice but not essential), political involvement is suspect (worldly distraction), and material conditions don’t matter much (temporary anyway).
This produces Church-world dualism: sacred space (church building) vs. secular space (everywhere else), spiritual activities (worship, prayer, Bible study) vs. worldly activities (work, politics, entertainment), Sunday identity vs. weekday identity.
What the Corrected Foundation Enables
With material redemption as the goal, the Church becomes the material embodiment of the Kingdom breaking in—not an institution preparing for evacuation but organism demonstrating transformation.
The Church is Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 12:27), not metaphorically but ontologically. It’s the material continuation of the Incarnation, the way Christ’s presence remains embodied in the world. We don’t just represent Christ or symbolize His body—we are His body, the location where His transforming presence manifests materially.
The mission becomes building the Kingdom now—not just saving souls for later but embodying the reality of the resurrection in the present. This includes evangelism but also expands to justice, mercy, creation care, and cultural renewal.
Biblical Passages In This Light
“You are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27)—not symbolic but real participation in Christ’s ongoing embodiment
“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession” (1 Peter 2:9)—corporate identity as Kingdom people
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10)—works aren’t afterthought but purpose
“The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power” (1 Corinthians 4:20)—material demonstration, not just verbal proclamation
The Practical Implication
If the Church is the material Kingdom embodiment, then mutual aid networks are ecclesial practice.
The networks I described in earlier visions—people paying each other’s debts, sharing resources through gift economy, caring for material needs collectively—this isn’t a “social program” separate from “spiritual ministry.” This is spiritual ministry. This is the Church functioning as Christ’s body.
When believers materially support each other (Acts 2:44-45, Acts 4:32-35), this isn’t an early church quirk to be admired but not practiced—it’s Kingdom economics, the pattern for how Christ’s body operates. The church that spiritualized this into metaphor while maintaining institutional budgets missed the entire point.
This opens the question: If the Church embodies Kingdom now, what’s the relationship between present reality and ultimate consummation? What are we waiting for?
Eschatology: What We’re Actually Waiting For
What the Old Framework Produces
If eternal means endless time and salvation means soul evacuation, eschatology becomes timeline of future events culminating in earth’s destruction and souls’ relocation to heaven.
Standard sequence: Tribulation → Antichrist → Return → Judgment → Old earth destroyed → Souls in heaven forever. Debates focus on timing (pre/mid/post-trib), mechanisms (rapture details), but share assumption: this earth is temporary, ultimate destination is elsewhere.
This produces “evacuation theology”—emphasis on being ready to leave, watching for signs, preparing for departure. Earth is disposable (even eagerly anticipating its destruction), suffering is expected (getting worse until the end), and building anything lasting is futile (it’s all burning anyway).
It also creates escapist culture where “this world is not our home” justifies neglecting present suffering, environmental destruction, and injustice—all temporary problems awaiting Christ’s return to solve.
What the Corrected Foundation Enables
If God’s transcendence enables eternal-temporal intersection and salvation is material transformation, then eschatology becomes progressive manifestation of the Kingdom already breaking in, culminating in full renewal.
The “second coming” isn’t a first-century man returning in clouds but Christ’s presence (already reigning as King—Matthew 28:18) becoming universally manifest, undeniably visible, and completely transformative. Every knee bowing (Philippians 2:10) is universal recognition of what’s always been true—Christ is Lord.
“New heaven and new earth” isn’t replacement but renewal—this creation transformed, not discarded. Continuity matters: our bodies resurrected (transformed but continuous), this earth made new (purified but same earth), and material reality glorified (not abandoned for spiritual realm).
The “already/not yet” tension resolves: the Kingdom is already here (wherever Christ’s presence manifests), and not yet complete (awaiting full manifestation when all recognize and embody Kingdom reality).
Biblical Passages In This Light
“The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption” (Romans 8:21)—not destroyed but liberated
“But according to his promise we are waiting for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13)—the promise is renewed earth, not escape from earth
The Practical Implication
If ultimate hope is earth renewed, then everything we build for the Kingdom lasts eternally.
The mutual aid networks, the just economies, the sustainable practices, the reconciled relationships, the beautiful art—none of this is “temporary until heaven.” It’s all material for the new earth, groundwork for the Kingdom fully manifested.
This transforms how we live now: environmental care (stewarding inheritance), economic justice (building Kingdom economics), cultural engagement (shaping culture toward Kingdom), creative work (making earth more like new earth). It’s not futile activity awaiting destruction but Kingdom building that lasts.
This opens the question: If all life can participate in Kingdom building, how do we practice this daily? What does Kingdom ethics actually look like?
Ethics: How to Actually Live
What the Old Framework Produces
Soul-body dualism creates sacred-secular split in ethics: spiritual activities (worship, prayer, evangelism, Bible study) are “real” Christian life; worldly activities (work, politics, economics, entertainment) are necessary but lesser, tolerated but not celebrated.
This produces two-tier Christianity: clergy do “full-time ministry” (spiritual work), laity do “secular work” to fund ministry (second-class service). Sacred spaces (church, mission field) are where Kingdom work happens; secular spaces (office, home, marketplace) are where you make money for sacred work.
Ethics becomes primarily restrictive—lists of what not to do, lines not to cross, behaviors to avoid. “Be holy” means “be separate from world,” creating withdrawal culture. Engagement with “worldly” concerns (politics, economics, arts) requires justification, defensiveness.
What the Corrected Foundation Enables
If material-spiritual dichotomy dissolves and all creation participates in redemption, then all life becomes potential worship, every act can embody the Kingdom.
There’s no sacred-secular split. Work isn’t “secular activity to fund sacred ministry”—it’s participation in God’s creative and redemptive work. Politics isn’t a “worldly distraction from spiritual concerns”—it’s stewarding justice and mercy in community. Economics isn’t a “necessary evil”—it’s material expression of Kingdom values (gift, abundance, generosity).
Paul’s command “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31) isn’t an aspirational ideal but an actual possibility when we understand that God redeems material reality, not just souls.
Holiness shifts from separation to integration—not withdrawing from the world but bringing the Kingdom into all of world. “In the world but not of it” means embodying the Kingdom pattern within all structures, not hiding in Christian subculture.
Biblical Passages In This Light
“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1)—bodies, not just souls; daily life, not just religious acts
“Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17)—truly everything, no exceptions
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31)—eating and drinking are spiritual acts when done to God’s glory
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23)—work itself is worship, not just means to fund worship
The Practical Implication
If all life is worship, then vocation is a calling, not just a career.
The accountant bringing justice to financial systems, the teacher forming young minds, the farmer stewarding the land, the artist creating beauty, the parent raising children, the politician pursuing the common good, the engineer building sustainable infrastructure—all are doing Kingdom work when done as worship, embodying Kingdom patterns.
This doesn’t mean “be nice at your job” or “pray before meetings”—it means understanding your work as participation in God’s redemptive activity. The Kingdom advances through your faithful presence in whatever domain God has placed you.
The mother who stays home with children isn’t “just a mom”—she’s forming image-bearers, building the Kingdom through nurture. The software developer isn’t “worldly tech worker”—he’s creating tools that can serve human flourishing. Every vocation, pursued as worship, builds the Kingdom.
This opens the question: How do we practice this integration? What does Kingdom ethics look like in specific domains—economics, politics, work, creativity?
The Integration: How It All Connects
These aren’t six separate corrections but one systematic transformation. Each doctrine requires and enables the others:
Christology (Incarnation as dimensional presence) enables Anthropology (body-spirit unity) which requires Soteriology (material redemption) which produces Ecclesiology (material Kingdom embodiment) which anticipates Eschatology (earth renewed) which grounds Ethics (all life as worship). Each flows from the corrected foundation: God’s transcendence properly understood as beyond temporal and spatial categories, not endless extension of them.
When Platonic categories compress transcendence into comprehensible terms (endless, boundless, everywhere), the entire theological system distorts toward Gnosticism—material escape, soul salvation, sacred-secular split, future heaven, evacuation theology.
When transcendence is properly articulated (beyond time, beyond space, beyond categories), the entire theological system transforms toward material redemption.
This is what “the Gospel” actually means—not just “Jesus died for your sins so you go to heaven when you die” but “God is redeeming all creation, inviting you to participate in that redemption now, transforming you into an agent of the Kingdom breaking in.”
The Reunion: Conservatives and Progressives
This systematic reconstruction makes possible what seemed impossible: reunion between conservative and progressive movements.
Conservatives have:
Theological grounding (Scripture, tradition, revelation)
Transcendent reference (God as source and telos)
Grace-based transformation (not mere human effort)
Spiritual practices (worship, prayer, sacrament)
But lost:
Material embodiment (spiritualized Kingdom into soul-salvation)
Justice emphasis (relegated to optional add-on)
Creation care (dismissed as worldly distraction)
Holistic redemption (focused only on souls)
Progressive movements have:
Material embodiment (fighting for justice, care, sustainability)
Holistic concern (bodies, economics, environment matter)
Prophetic critique (recognizing the Church’s failures)
But lack:
Theological grounding (no transcendent reference when secular)
Grace understanding (can become works-righteousness)
Spiritual depth (activism without contemplation burns out)
Hope beyond human effort (despair when change is slow)
With the foundation corrected, reunion becomes possible:
Conservatives recognize progressive movements weren’t rejecting God but rejecting the Gnostic distortion—they were pursuing material Kingdom while the Church was spiritualizing it. Their hunger for justice, care for creation, fight for dignity—these are Christian impulses, the Holy Spirit at work.
Progressive movements recognize their deepest aspirations require transcendent ground—justice isn’t just human preference but reflects God’s character, creation care isn’t just pragmatism but worship, human dignity isn’t just social construction but the image of God.
Both discover they’re building the same Kingdom from different angles—conservatives bringing theological depth, progressives bringing embodied practice. Integrated, they become what neither could be alone: Kingdom presence materially embodied with spiritual depth.
This is Stage 8 renewal—Orthodox mystery (transcendence preserved) + Catholic structure (institutional stability) + Protestant grace (personal faith) + Progressive justice (material embodiment) = Integrated witness to God’s redemption of all things.
Not going back to any previous form but moving forward to synthesis that honors all while transcending each.
The Path Forward: What Comes Next
This three-part series establishes the foundation. What rises on this foundation requires systematic development—each doctrine explored fully, biblical support examined comprehensively, and practical implications worked out carefully.
The series continues:
Theology Proper - Deep dive into God’s nature: transcendence and immanence, Trinity as relational reality, divine action in the material world
Christology - Complete exploration of the Incarnation: how it works, what it accomplishes, implications for our participation in Christ
Anthropology - Full treatment of human nature: body-spirit-soul relationship, image of God, what death actually is, resurrection hope
Soteriology - Comprehensive atonement theology: what Christ accomplished, how salvation works, scope of redemption
Ecclesiology - The Church as organism not institution, Kingdom embodiment, mission reimagined
Eschatology - Thorough vision: already/not yet, resurrection timing, new earth continuity, hope grounded
Ethics - Domain-specific: economics, politics, work, creativity, all as Kingdom participation
Each will build on this foundation systematically, showing how a proper understanding of transcendence enables orthodox theology without Gnostic distortion.
Closing: The Essay Completed
At twenty-two, I intuited something was wrong with infinity. I started an essay I couldn’t finish. The seed was planted but needed twelve years to germinate—through wilderness, breakdown, conversion, transformation, and revelation. At thirty-four, that essay is complete.
The cornerstone was the problem—treating transcendence as quantitative superiority instead of qualitative difference. Eternal as endless time instead of beyond time. Infinite as boundless space instead of beyond space. Omnipresent as spatially everywhere instead of relationally present.
Get the cornerstone wrong and everything above it tilts toward Gnosticism—material escape, soul salvation, sacred-secular split. Get the cornerstone right and everything transforms toward material redemption—creation redeemed, bodies resurrected, Kingdom embodied, earth renewed, all life worship.
For theologians: Examine your foundations. The categories you inherited might be producing problems you’re trying to solve.
For the wounded who left Church: The Kingdom you hungered for—justice, creation care, authentic community, material transformation—that’s what Scripture actually promises.
For faithful believers: Your service can be grounded in transformation, not evacuation. Every act of love, every work of justice, every care for creation—it all lasts. You’re building the Kingdom that endures eternally.
For everyone: The world we were made for is possible. Not someday, somewhere else, but here and now, breaking in wherever people embody Kingdom reality. Not through human effort alone but through participation in God’s redemptive work.
The cathedral can rise because the cornerstone is solid.
The pattern is revealed.
The reconstruction begins.
This concludes the three-part series. Future essays will explore each doctrine systematically. Subscribe to follow the complete rebuilding of systematic theology on proper foundation.
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. (Psalm 118:22-23)
I read all three of these articles. You make some great points that I have made to glassy-eyed friends for years, like eternal life starts now. But what impresses me is that your starting point is not the early church fathers, or some theological mumbo jumbo, but your relationship with Jesus. This is rare. Don't ever lose that. It's the mooring for all the great thinking. Without the anchor to the Love of God, great thinking becomes a razor slashing people to death. We have enough of that already. Just keep it simple enough for the ordinary Christian to understand!
God bless you, Kendall!
-- Hank