Eschatology and Atonement

From this perspective, the atonement can never mean less than the realization of the eschaton. To characterize the atonement as a mere possibility to be realized later by our faith, or to regard it as objective-awaiting later subjective actualization(usually implying that this actualization is the decisive factor!) is to miss both the eschatological reality of the atonement and the radicality of a number New Testament statements (e.g., John 19:28; Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:18-19; Eph. 2:15-16; Col. 1:20; 2:4). Such statements concern nothing less than the peace which has been restored, the eschaton which has been realized, and the covenant, God's goal in creation, which has come into being. When God no longer holds our sins against us, when there is peace between ourselves and God, and when he has made us his friends, then he is our God and we are his people. Adrio Konig, The Eclipse of Christ in Eschatology,p. 83