The Fullness of Time

The Fullness of Time.  An African gentleman at a Christian conference on the African Continent told a joke to a cosmopolitan group of Africans, Europeans, and Americans: “In America, you say, ‘Wait a second.’ In Europe, you say, ‘Wait a minute.’ In Africa, we just say, ‘Wait.’” His point was immediately received with light-hearted laughter, especially since we started the conference an hour late. Unilateral punctuality is not a highly held value in the global south. Unplanned flexibility is not a highly held value in the global north.

Not only is time culturally perceived, but it is also culturally assumed of others. Europeans and Americans often view the stereotype of African lateness as offensive. Africans often view the stereotype of European and American strictness as offensive. In truth, each culture contains a mixture of presumptions and unspoken moral categories. There is always something to admire in another culture and something to outgrow in one’s own culture.

Added to the linear calculation of time, and the abstract recognition of timeliness of certain seasons, the experience of time is socially interpreted as full or empty. But as with all the modalities and expressions of time, God is above all. It is he who starts time, counts time, tells time, and decides time. God the Father announced the fullness of time for Jesus’ incarnation. “But when the fullness of time (chronos) had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4-5).

All in all, the fullness of time is a nuanced phrase that signaled the end of the epoch of God’s law through Moses and the beginning of the epoch of God’s grace through Christ. This great switch in time from law to grace culminated with the birth of Christ, correlating with the suitability in the Mediterranean Rim cultures for the timeliness of Christ’s arrival. Andreas Kostenberger (The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown, p. xvii) highlights four characteristics that made the first century ideal for Christian expansion. (1) Roman Peace (27 bc -180 ad), militarily imposed, brought a roughly 200-year repression of large-scale war. (2) Roman Roads, which were engineered for the Roman Army, also opened easy trade and travel routes for missionaries. (3) The Greek Language, imposed during the massive conquests of Alexander the Great (356-323 bc), Rome left intact when it conquered Greece, assimilating Greek culture into its political system. (4) A widespread Jewish Messianic Expectation, although steeped in misunderstanding, pressed the Jewish people to look for Messiah during their occupation.