Future Inheritance of Land in the Pauline Epistles e-bog

The Apostle Paul's vision of eternity is centered on the inheritance theme. Although Paul rarely unpacks this concept, he employs the inheritance in a manner that encompasses the hope of a renewed cosmos promised to Abraham and his descendants. Thus, the apostle does not redefine a theme grounded in the Old Testament and Second Temple literature--as if it now referred to heaven or some other spiritualized existence. He expects what every pious Jew expected--the tangible fulfillment of the promise, when at last God's people will dwell in a land where they will experience rest under the rule of Messiah. What Paul clarifies is that those who are "e;in Christ"e; are the beneficiaries of the inheritance. Although believers do not currently possess what has been promised to them, they have the hope that the Spirit will lead them on a new exodus through the wilderness of the present sinful age until they inherit the coming world.