his religion is centred on the union with Christ in the Spirit. He lives his life ‘in Christ’ in the firm hope that he will one day be ‘with Christ’—for ever. Indeed, one may wonder, whether someone, who had once been raptured (harpazein!) to the third heaven and there heard divine secrets (2 Cor. 12:2–4), could have conceived of the final consummation as being located on a ‘lower’ plane.94 Can we, then, posit a transitional messianic kingdom in Paul’s thought? No. A final kingdom on the earth