Hey College people, here’s my paper I wrote for my gospels class on the Kingdom of God. Keep in mind I got a B+ (so not everything is perfect) and there are a lot of good answers to this question, this is by no means the end all answer
1. Introduction
Though one of the most prominent themes in the Synoptic Gospels, the full concept of the Kingdom of God, however, is not entirely clear. In the Gospels, there is no explicit statement about what the Kingdom of God really is. There are hints, allusions, and inferences, but Jesus does not give his disciples or the readers a clear definition. Indeed, any attempt at a definition requires a multilateral look at a complicated subject. It requires definition not only for what the Kingdom is, but when it occurs and is complete, how humans should respond, and who, then, is qualified to enter. The Kingdom of God, therefore, is the inbreaking of God’s reign both in His presence on Earth and the human response and subsequent mission. God’s reign, though existing since creation is inaugurated by God himself through the incarnation of Christ, is characterized by divine grace and love and the human response is defined by the Greatest Commandment, loving God and loving one’s neighbors. This can be broken down into living righteously, doing God’s will and bearing fruit, which, though multi-faceted, notably includes the extension of God’s grace through the inclusion of those left out of community. The Kingdom will exemplify values taught by Jesus and will be completed by the divine judgment, effectively reconciling humanity back to God.
2. The Kingdom, Jesus, and Daniel: What is the Kingdom of God?
As mentioned above, the Kingdom of God is not a kingdom in the conventional sense. Rather, it is the reign of God that is important. This reign of God is simply God’s rule in the world. Though it can be said that God never truly stopped ruling after the fall and up to the time of Christ, God’s true Kingdom had yet to be established on Earth. This changes, however, with the coming of Jesus. Jesus takes much of his messianic identity from the Son of Man figure in the book of Daniel as evidenced by his quotation in Mark 13 in “His mini-apocalypse”. Notably in chapters two and seven, the Kingdom of God of prophesied in dreams. To this end, the Kingdom of God is the inbreaking of God’s reign. God and/or his agent, the “son of man,” judge the earthly Kingdoms and pronounce judgment on the wicked and the righteous. It is important to note this is “God’s direct divine intervention.” This is opposed to an older, less apocalyptical view of the coming Kingdom which included the “renewal of Jerusalem…ingathering of the exiles [and] reestablishment of the Davidic monarchy”. In this view, the Kingdom is primarily material. However, Jesus’ interpretation of the Messiah and Kingdom of God blends both these views (probably in academic hindsight but the purpose remains). Not only is the Kingdom of God brought about by God through Jesus and His reconciling grace, but indeed an earthly ministry must follow, not necessarily a restoration of the Israelite nation, but of a reality that “demands immediate response”. We must seek, however, to define when the Kingdom exists for timeliness and implications for a response depend greatly on the time frame of the Kingdom.
3. Existence in Time: Past, Present, and Future
The Kingdom of God, in fact, has existed (at least in some spiritual infancy form) from creation and God started His reign with Christ as the “bearer of the divine Kingdom”. All this will be completed in the future. Therefore, in the first century AD, it is past, present, and future. Both John the Baptist and Jesus preach that the Kingdom of God was near (in various forms) throughout the Gospels (Mt 4.17, Mk 1.15, Luke 10.11). Jesus demonstrates the presence by his exorcisms of demons. In Lk 11.20 and Mt 12.28, he says that the Kingdom has come if He was driving out demons by God. Obviously, the testimony of the Synoptic Gospels support Jesus’ claim of casting out demons through God, therefore concluding that the Kingdom has come, at least in the presence of Jesus. The Kingdom is “already mysteriously present in the work and words of Jesus Christ“. More obvious though is the fact that the Kingdom is not yet fully realized or complete. The future eschatology evidenced in the gospels indicates a coming judgment. Jesus speaks of the “age to come” (Lk 18.30) and that he would drink “anew in the Kingdom” (Luke 14.25). Also, Jesus’ many parables in the Synoptic gospels speak of a time where the righteous will be separated from the wicked in various different parabolic terms. Obviously, this did not happen during any of the gospel accounts nor has it been witnessed since then. Therefore, the final judgment of the Kingdom is yet to come. Additionally, there is evidence that the Kingdom has existed in the past, though perhaps simply in preparation. Jesus teaching in parables in Mt 13.34-35 indicates that the teachings he brings are “things hidden since the creation of the world”. In the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Mt 25.31-46), those who helped the poor and needy are given the “Kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” While the second example also verifies the future aspect of the Kingdom (see verses 31-32), both teachings infer that the Kingdom existed in the past. It was in God’s plan all along, but with the coming and resurrection of Christ, the Kingdom is “a complex of events that have been set in motion but await final consummation”, a process requiring human participation and response, that will finish in the climactic judgment of the universe. Thus, as Christ does the will of the Father with the redemption of humanity, God’s Kingdom comes and begins its reign with the victory over evil to bring about the reconciliation of all mankind because of the fall.
4. Human Response: The Greatest Commandment, Judgment, and Urgency
The Kingdom of God, however, is not simply static, nor is it limited to the person of Christ. Rather, the Kingdom requires a response and participation from humankind. Neither the response nor the participants are themselves the actual Kingdom but they are an integral part of it. An important revelation, Jesus makes it clear that not all are worthy to enter the Kingdom of God. Indeed, all three synoptic gospels show Jesus confirming the greatest commandment of loving God and loving one’s neighbor. All three Synoptic Gospels attest this truth. Mark’s account is the most telling, with Jesus telling an agreeing scribe that he was “not far from the Kingdom of God” (Mk 12.34). In a way, the greatest commandment reflected the entire Kingdom. Loving God meant humility and righteousness while loving one’s neighbor meant inclusion, compassion, and healing as “ethics that God expects from those who are set to do his will” in the Kingdom.
The urgency to respond to the kingdom is marked by future judgment. For example, the Parable of the Sower (Mt 13.1-9, Mk 4.1-9, Lk 8.4-8) shows that not every one will be chosen in the last days. Jesus says that his followers must bear fruit. Indeed, only those who hear and do the will of God will enter the Kingdom (Mt 7.21). Part of this goes back directly to Jesus’ (and John the Baptist’s) call for repentance and belief. Jesus explains the parable to the disciples saying that at the “end of the age…[the angels] will weed out of his Kingdom everything causes sin and all who do evil…[and] the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father” (Mt 13.40-41, 43). Jesus provides an interpretation that cites righteousness as a requirement for entering the Kingdom. In Mt 21.28-32, Jesus tells the chief priests that prostitutes and tax collectors who listened to John the Baptists’ message of repentance would enter the Kingdom ahead of them, indicating Kingdom changing the assumed requirements.
5. Human Response: Loving God by Personal Change
Part of God’s reign on Earth demanded that those who wished to enter the Kingdom radically alter their lives. What made good standing in traditional Jewish culture did not represent the values of the Kingdom, indeed there would be a “[reversal of] accepted social norms”. Humility and not status or wealth was required. The righteousness of the Kingdom asks those who wish to enter to humble themselves. In fact, Jesus tells his disciples that the greatest in the Kingdom would humble themselves like children (Mt 19.14, Mk 10.15, Lk 18.16). In Jesus’ contemporary culture, children had few rights and held low status is society. Humility of a child, then, was like becoming a slave, as the “had little implicit value as human beings”. Along with human pride, the Kingdom also asks humans to be willing to give up much of the world, exemplified in the famous story of the Young Rich Man. Worldly wealth was not of Kingdom important, but human value, and indeed could be a hindrance to the Kingdom. The Gospel of Matthew describes the Kingdom as a treasure or a pearl of so much value that it was worth selling everything (Mt 13.44-46). Clearly, entry to the Kingdom required a response, and not all were willing to respond. God wants his Kingdom to reign not just in the world, but in human hearts as well. Loving God in the Kingdom often necessitated sacrifice and change, whether it is in status, pride, or righteousness.
6. Human Response: Loving Neighbors, Spreading the Gospel
The second part of the response to the Kingdom deals with the relationships of community. Loving neighbors as oneself was key to living in the Kingdom of God. The first part of Kingdom outreach was spreading the Gospel. Many of Jesus’ parables compare the Kingdom to something that spreads and grows. One example is in the parable of the dough (Mt 13.32-34, Lk 13.20-22). Jesus teaches that the Kingdom is like a bit of yeast that spreads all throughout the dough a woman was making. Another common motif is the seed theme. All three synoptic gospels carry numerous parables comparing the Kingdom of God to seeds. This corresponds to spreading the gospel in a few ways. The first is the idea that the seeds are scattered about in different places, the path, rocks, among thorns, in good soil, implying the Gospel must be spread all around. Or in the case of the mustard seed, though it is small, it grows allowing birds to perch and build homes (Mt 13.31-32, Mk 4.30-32, Lk 13.18-19). In this way, the seed grows in size, like the good news spreading out, albeit slowly, and allows others to take comfort and be safe in it. It is an outpouring of the Kingdom that then does well for those who hear it. This all goes back, however to the idea that there will be a harvest after the Kingdom has grown and spread, symbolizing the divine judgment. Mt 9.35 and Lk 10.2 point out the one should pray for harvesters to send out for the harvest is plentiful. The implications of this verse are two fold. First, workers must go out into the harvest. The Kingdom has spread far and wide and is not isolated to a particular area, implying a need to go places to spread news of the Kingdom. Second, that indeed there will be harvest and judgment, conveying the urgency of the task. Tying into the other harvest and agricultural motifs, the weeds and bad seed will be uprooted and burned, while those of the Kingdom, symbolized by good seed and soil are alive in the Kingdom. Even without his parables, Jesus demonstrated the necessity to spread the gospel for his own ministry is an example of such outreach. He went out and traveled across Judea to heal and proclaim the Kingdom of God. He also sent his disciples to do the same. The time of the Kingdom has begun and it is the Christian task to spread this good news to the world, bringing the love and grace of God to one’s neighbors.
6. Human Response: Loving Neighbors, Including the Outcasts
Not only is Jesus concerned with the message, but an important part of bearing fruit for the Kingdom is Jesus’ concern with the new community. The Kingdom of God would be different from that Kingdom imagined and expected by the Jewish people. Indeed, the expectation of a political restoration of the Davidic Kingdom which in all likelihood included the overthrow of the Romans was never what Jesus intended, nor the violent upheaval expected in a purely Danielic fashion. Rather, the Kingdom of God created a new community with one of the most important factors being the inclusion of the outcasts, those who normally inhabited the margins of society, the status of outcasts, and those considered unclean. Part of God’s intention for the Kingdom and for the people was to bring those outside into the fold. This included lepers, children, women, the blind, and eventually, and most radically, the Gentiles, though this mission would be foreshadowed. As Jesus traveled on his ministries, he healed those who were afflicted unclean spirits or with conditions like leprosy, blindness, bleeding, etc. Many of these afflictions carried with them the disruption of community with their own people and/or with God. When Jesus healed these various afflictions, he was making things clean again. This in turn restored their community tie and reconciled people with each other and back to God. He gave this power to the apostles in the three synoptic gospels when he sent the out “giving authority over all demons and to cure diseases” (Luke 9.1). With this command, they were to also preach the Kingdom.
Jesus redefined community by also including those looked upon as sinners. He included a tax collector in his disciples, allowed prostitutes to come near him, and he even ate with sinners. Participation in table fellowship was extremely telling, as Jewish food customs often defined who was in community and who was not. Going back to the teachings about children, who also held little weight in community, Jesus means to teach his followers to love and include those normally outside the traditional lines, often those considered last. Like His teaching on humility of children, this is a true reversal of roles that matches his teaching that the last will be first in the Kingdom (Mt 19.30). The Kingdom turns the world upside down, bringing those who are “last,” who were pushed down by society, into God’s Kingdom. Clearly, healing and restoration go hand in hand with the news of the Kingdom. They are interrelated. Just as Christ’s mission to humanity reconciled us to God, so Christians can participate by reconciling others. God’s Kingdom, his reign, brings those outside into the fold of God, showing grace and justice where it was not shown before.
Perhaps even more radical (from a Jewish perspective at least) was the eventual mission of the Kingdom to the Gentiles. Though there was an “age-old barrier between Jew and Gentile” the Gentiles were the next phase of the spreading of the Kingdom. Jesus preached this in the Parable of the Laborers in Mt 20 as well as the Mt 22.1/Lk20.9-19 Parable of the Wedding Banquet. Jesus’ commission to the apostles to spread the Gospel to the nations meant that the “gentile mission is in view…the Kingdom preaching of Jesus merges with the Kingdom preaching about Jesus”. This is the transition from God’s start of the Kingdom through Christ to the larger evangelical response of those in the Kingdom. This obviously contrasted greatly to the supposed restoration of the Davidic Kingdom. Inclusion of the Gentiles was indeed radical as it brought the foreign non-elect into community. However, Jesus predicted this in Mt 8.11-12 saying that foreigners would “sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, while the sons of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness”. This was shocking and a complete paradigm shift in traditional Jewish thinking. Suddenly the chosen people would not be those automatically to inherit the Kingdom, but rather the (former) enemies of God would instead. To be sure, Jesus did not mean all Jews would be disqualified, but the Kingdom required a response as listed above, not the covenant or birth in the Jewish people. An example in the gospels would be Matthew 15 where a Canaanite woman shows great faith. Assuredly, those who respond to the Kingdom are to bring reconciliation to those who are unclean, but the great inclusion of the world was God’s grace to the Gentiles. The Kingdom of God, when properly responded to took God’s inbreaking reign of love and grace and extended it all the way to the Gentiles. Just as Christ acted as agent of reconciliation to those he healed during his ministry, so too could the apostles and early Christians (and Christians today) reconcile the Gentiles to God.
7. Conclusion
To reconcile all of humanity back to Himself because of the fall, God prepared the Kingdom of God for the mission of Jesus and His followers. Jesus’ ministry inaugurated God’s reign on Earth over sin, by ruling in the world and the hearts of men. Humankind must respond to the Kingdom by living righteously and humbly, spreading the good news, and including those normally left out. It is the kingdom of reversal, where the last are first. Out of a response to the good news, those that wish to follow must abide and follow closely Jesus’ teaching and uphold God’s reign. Grace is extended from the Kingdom reign of God and must be carried to the world.
Works Cited
Achtemeier, Paul J., Joel B. Green, Marianne Meye Thompson. Introducing the New Testament
Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001
Caragounis, C.C. “Kingdom of God/Kingdom of Heaven”, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels.
Joel B. Green and Scot McKnight, eds., Downer’s Grove: Intervarsity Press 1992
Cohen, Shaye J. D., From the Maccabees to the Mishnah,
2nd ed., Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press, 2006.
DeSilva, David. Private Correspondence via e-mail. February 26, 2008.
Duling, Dennis C. “Kingdom of God.” Anchor Bible Dictionary Vol. 4
David Noel Freedman, ed., New York: Anchor/Doubleday 1992
