It is widely recognized that the main emphasis in Jesus' teaching was the 'Kingdom of God'. Many have debated over whether the kingdom is present or future. Augustine identified the kingdom with the Church, but this does not fit all the uses (e.g. 'your kingdom come'). Albrecht Ritschl (1822-1889) translated βασιλεια τoυ θεoυ as the 'dominion of God', and suggested that with the coming of Jesus the time had come for the 'dominion of God' to become effective over God's people. "The expression 'Kingdom of God' means the Dominion of God which is made effective through their will in accordance with our conviction that the Dominion of God through Christ has established a community which allows itself to be ruled by God". He viewed the kingdom as totally this worldly and ethical, and thus devoid of eschatological character. Adolf Harnack (writing c.1900) did see a future event in the coming of the kingdom, but made it wholly secondary to the inward aspect that was already present, the spiritual communion of the soul with God, the dominion of God in the individual heart. This view of the kingdom led to the strong influence of the 'social gospel', which emphasized the cooperation of man with God in conquering the earth and bringing about God's will, and the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.
Ritschl's son-in-law, Johannes Weiss, writing in 1892, caused the discussion to take a very different turn. He attempted to show that the kingdom was not the result of immanent development, but of the intervention of God. The kingdom was at hand (εγγικεv o βασιλεια τoυ θεoυ), but has not arrived yet, and thus we are to pray 'Thy Kingdom come' (rather than praying for it to 'grow' or 'be fulfilled'). On this view, Jesus was regarded as 'Messiah-designate', a teacher and prophet now, but to receive his full position when the kingdom comes. This sort of view was taken to an extreme by Albert Schweizer (cf. The Quest of the Historical Jesus, 1906).
There is now a large agreement now that the phrase 'Kingdom of God' translates the Aramaic phrase Malkuta diemaya, which usually refers to the 'rule of God' (demonstrated by G.Dalman, The Words of Jesus, 1898). It is, like most things in the NT, complicated by an 'already/not yet' tension; Christ has brought about the rule of God, but not yet over the whole earth. The community who are faithful to their heavenly king continue to live in a world which is hostile to them and their king, as they seek to win the allegiance of any among them who will respond to God's call. They can go against the world, because they know that one day it will be forced to subject to the rule of God.
Rudolph Otto sees the kingdom of God as basically referring to the expulsion of the kingdom of Satan. While W. R. Hutton points out that εγγικεv and εγγυς can mean 'present' as well as 'near', Werner G. Kümmel points out that in all NT uses of the perfect tense (i.e. εγγικεv), it means 'has come near' (Chilton, The Kingdom of God, p.38).
C. H. Dodd (in The Parables of the Kingdom, 1935; see especially chapter 2) understood the Dominion of God as existing where people obey God; this is a helpful view, since we can see how this is true of a small remnant now, but will be enforced universally in the future. Dodd takes εγγικεv to mean 'over the threshold', i.e. the forces of the age to come intervene and force the world to respond in and through the person and acts of Jesus. Dodd regarded teaching about the Parousia as an adaptation by the Church of Jesus' teaching, to fit current eschatological expectations. Dodd's eschatology goes too far in the direction of 'realized eschatology', although in correcting him R. H. Fuller (The Mission and Achievement of Jesus, 1954) went too far in the other direction. The most popular term today in English is 'inaugurated eschatology', a translation of a phrase used by J. Jeremias. See also the Lion Handbook of the Bible, p.484.
The distinctive note between the summaries we are given of the preaching of John and Jesus is the emphasis on fulfillment in that of Jesus. H. Ridderbos (The Coming of the Kingdom, Philadelphia 1962, p.48) wrote, "'The time is fulfilled' indicates that the threshold of the great future has been reached, that the door has been opened, and the prerequisites for the realization of the divine work of consummation are present, so that now the concluding drama can start. Owing to this, Jesus' initial proclamation of the nearness of the kingdom seems to speak of a more advanced point of time than that of John who had not yet mentioned the beginning of fulfillment".
The primary meaning of the Aramaic term which underlies the phrase 'kingdom of God' has already been shown to be 'sovereign authority' rather than 'kingdom'. We should note the use in the Targumim, where the Hebrew verb is rendered by the Aramaic noun. For example:
Ex.15:18 "The Lord shall reign for ever"
Targum Onkelos "The sovereignty of the Lord endures forever"
Isa.40:10 "Behold, the Lord will come as a mighty man, and
his arm will rule for him"
Targum "The sovereignty of your God will be revealed"
Some have suggested that the Lord's Prayer derives from or is based in some way on the words of the Kaddish prayer (used in synagogues since before Jesus' time until today): "Magnified and sanctified be His great name in the world that He has created according to His will. May He establish His Kingdom in your lifetime and in your days and in the lifetime of all the house of Israel, even speedily and at a near time".
'Kingdom' suggests God's presence, willing obedience by the faithful, enforcement of God's will on all, the judgment and elimination of evil powers. The first-fruits of this can be seen in the coming of the Holy Spirit, who (through the Church; Jn.16:7-11) brings sinful men into obedience, creating the lifestyle of the kingdom (Acts 2:42-47), casting out the devil & demons, healing disease and raising the dead, and on occasion punishing the disobedient (Acts 5:1-11).
One of the Jewish sections of the Sibylline Oracles (ca.2 B.C- 1 A.D.) reads: "and then He will erect a kingdom for all ages, aver all men, He, who once gave the holy law to the pious, to whom he promised to confer the whole earth and the world and the gates of the blessed and all joys and an immortal spirit and a happy heart...The prophets of the great God will take away the sword; for they themselves are judges of mortals and just kings. There will also be just riches among men; for that is the judgment and the rule (kingdom) of the great God".
The Testament of Dan 5:10-13 reads:
"And He Himself will make war against Beliar,
And will exact victorious revenge from His enemies,
And He will take the prisoners from Beliar,
And He will turn the disobedient hearts to the Lord,
And He will grant eternal peace to those who call on Him,
And the saints will repose in Eden,
And the Just will rejoice over the new Jerusalem,
And Jerusalem will no longer endure desolation,
Nor will Israel remain in captivity,
For the Lord will be among them,
And the Holy One of Israel will be king (βασιλευωv) over
them".
Hans Bald (in "Eschatological or Theocentric Ethics?", The Kingdom of God, ed. Bruce Chilton, SPCK, London 1984) writes: "Only in discipleship do eschatology and ethics come together to form a unity...The conduct of a disciple is, in principle, expected of everyone, but it is possible only to the believer...It accordingly points beyond the present creation to God's new creation, when God the Creator's saving will, which maintains and keeps the world as we know it, will come to perfection" (p.146). The Church is thus not called just to tell people what God intends to do in the future, but to show them, because he has already begun the work in the present. Chilton himself (op.cit.) defines the Kingdom as 'the self-revelation of God', 'the saving revelation (in power) of God himself', and 'God in strength' (p.123f).
The prayer 'Thy Kingdom come' seems to be explained by the words 'Thy will be done', which Luke omits, and thus the two are perhaps almost synonymous. The kingdom has both a present and a future aspect, both of which are thuoght of as the result of God's intervention in history.
James D. Tabor, "The Kingdom of God in the Synoptic Tradition" http://www.uncc.edu/jdtabor/kingdom.html
Norman Perrin's book, Jesus and the Language of the Kingdom http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showbook?item_id=1620
Rudolf Bultmann, "The Teaching of Jesus: The Coming of the Kingdom of God" http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showchapter?chapter_id=279
Martin Dibelius, "The Kingdom of God" http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showchapter?chapter_id=1318
Georgia Harkness, Understanding the Kingdom of God http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showbook?item_id=577
Thomas Sheehan, The First Coming: How the Kingdom of God became Christianity http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/thomas_sheehan/firstcoming/index.shtml
The Present and Future Kingdom of God http://www.wcg.org/lit/gospel/kingdom.htm
The Meaning and Significance of the Phrase 'Kingdom of God' http://www.robibrad.demon.co.uk/kingdom.htm
Albert Schweizer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/schweitzer/
Schweitzer on the kingdom: http://www.pcisys.net/~jnf/schauth/rq2.html
Jesus' Proclamation of the Kingdom of God http://www.abu.nb.ca/courses/NTIntro/KingdGod2.htm
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