Kingship and kingdom of God
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The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms kingdom of God and kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" but does not include the term "Kingdom of God".[1][2]
The "Kingdom of God" and its equivalent form "
The
Hebrew Bible
The term "kingdom of the LORD" appears twice in the Hebrew Bible, in 1 Chronicles 28:5 and 2 Chronicles 13:8. In addition, "his kingdom" and "your kingdom" are sometimes used when referring to God.[2] "Yours is the kingdom, O Lord" is used in 1 Chronicles 29:10–12 and "His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom" in Daniel 3:33 (Daniel 4:3 in the verse numbering used in Christian Bibles) for example.[8] There are also verses like Exodus 19:6 that show how Israel, as God's chosen people, are considered to be a kingdom, mirroring some Christian interpretations that view God's kingdom as Christendom.
"The Hebrew word malkuth [...] refers first to a reign, dominion, or rule and only secondarily to the realm over which a reign is exercised. [...] When malkuth is used of God, it almost always refers to his authority or to his rule as the heavenly King."[9] The "enthronement psalms" (Psalms 45, 93, 96, 97–99) provide a background for this view with the exclamation "The Lord is King".[5]
1 Kings 22:19, Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1 and Daniel 7:9 all speak of the Throne of God, although some philosophers such as Saadia Gaon and Maimonides interpreted such mention of a "throne" as allegory.[10]
Intertestamental period
The phrase the Kingdom of God is not common in intertestamental literature. Where it does occur, such as in the
The term does occasionally, however, denote "an eschatological event", such as in the Assumption of Moses and the Sibylline Oracles. In these works, "God's Kingdom is not the new age but the effective manifestation of his rule in all the world so that the eschatological order is established."[12] Along these lines was the more "national" view in which the awaited messiah was seen as a liberator and the founder of a new state of Israel.[13]
New Testament
The Gospel of Luke records Jesus' description of the Kingdom of God, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation;[14] neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."[15]
In the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus speaks frequently of God's kingdom. However within the New Testament, nowhere does Jesus appear to clearly define the concept.[16] Within the Synoptic Gospel accounts, the assumption appears to have been made that, "this was a concept so familiar that it did not require definition."[16] Karen Wenell wrote, "Mark's Gospel provides for us a significant place of transformation for the space of the Kingdom of God, precisely because it can be understood as a kind of birthplace for the Kingdom of God, the beginning of its construction ...".[17]
Within the non-canonical, yet contemporary
The
The Kingdom of God (and its possibly equivalent form
Most of the uses of the Greek word, basileia (kingdom), in the New Testament involve Kingdom of God (or Kingdom of Heaven).
Christianity
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The
No overall agreement on the theological interpretation of "Kingdom of God" has emerged among scholars. While a number of theological interpretations of the term Kingdom of God have appeared in its eschatological context, e.g. apocalyptic, realized or Inaugurated eschatologies, no consensus has emerged among scholars.[28][29]
R. T. France points out that while the concept of "Kingdom of God" has an intuitive meaning to lay Christians, there is hardly any agreement among scholars about its meaning in the New Testament.[30] Some scholars see it as a Christian lifestyle, some as a method of world evangelization, some as the rediscovery of charismatic gifts, others relate it to no present or future situation, but the world to come.[30] France states that the phrase Kingdom of God is often interpreted in many ways to fit the theological agenda of those interpreting it.[30]
In the
Islam
The term "kingdom of God" does not occur in the Quran. The modern Arabic word for kingdom is mamlaka (المملكة), but in the Quran mul'kan (مُّلْكًا), refers to Heaven, e.g. in 4:54 "Or do they envy mankind for what Allah hath given them of his bounty? but We had already given the people of Abraham the Book and Wisdom, and conferred upon them a great kingdom" and 6:75 "Thus did We show Abraham the kingdom of the heavens and the earth."[6] The variant Maalik (Owner, etmologically similar to Malik (king)) occurs in 1:4 "[Allah is] The owner of the Day of Judgement".[34]
Bahá'í Faith
The term "kingdom of God" appears in the writings of the
See also
- Apocalypse
- Christ the King
- Divine presence
- Emperor of Heaven
- Qaddish
- Queen of Heaven
- New world order (Baháʼí)
- Sermon on the Mount
- Throne of God
- Genesis 2
References and notes
- ISBN 1565181042p. 315
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8010-2694-2. Archivedfrom the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
- ^ ISBN 080282501Xpp. 101–103
- ^ ISBN 0865543739p. 490
- ^ ISBN 0830814515pp. 478–479
- ^ ISBN 0700713948p. 27
- ^ ISBN 0-85398-975-3. Archivedfrom the original on 6 June 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
- ISBN 0664234399pp. 438–439
- ^ George Eldon Ladd, The Presence of the Future: The Eschatology of Biblical Realism, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids: 1974), 46–47.
- ISBN 0-19-861053-X.
- ^ George Eldon Ladd, The Presence of the Future: The Eschatology of Biblical Realism, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids: 1974), 130.
- ^ George Eldon Ladd, The Presence of the Future: The Eschatology of Biblical Realism, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids: 1974), 131.
- ISBN 0860120066p. 1351
- ^ Luke 17:20 NKJV
- ^ Luke 17:21 KJV
- ^ a b George Eldon Ladd, The Presence of the Future: The Eschatology of Biblical Realism, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids: 1974), 45.
- S2CID 144390379.
- ^ John 3:3–5
- ^ Meyer, H. A. W. (1880), Meyer's NT Commentary on John 3, translated from the German sixth edition, accessed 8 January 2024
- ^ a b Gospel of Thomas’s 114 Sayings of Jesus Archived 5 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine Biblical Archaeological Society. 4 June 2017. Downloaded 4 September 2017.
- ^ Romans 14:17 NIV
- ISBN 0802847552p. 473
- ISBN 0801026849p. 41
- ^ Missler, Chuck. A Kingdom Perspective http://www.khouse.org/articles/2013/1117/ Archived 20 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 0813206677p. 176
- ^ ISBN 0801022509pp. 391–392
- ISBN 0567084663pp. 390–391
- ISBN 0802826806pp. 77–79
- ISBN 9004111425p. 255–257
- ^ ISBN 1573832448pp. 1–3
- ^ ISBN 0-8028-2245-2.
- ^ William Barclay The Gospel of Matthew: Chapters 11–28 p. 340 Matthew 23:22 "And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it."
- Philip Edgecumbe Hughes A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews p. 401 1988 "The theme of Christ's heavenly session, announced here by the statement he sat down at the right hand of God, .. Hebrews 8:1 "we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven"
- ^ Quran 1:4
- ISBN 0-87743-187-6.
- ISBN 0-85398-999-0. Archivedfrom the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
- ISBN 0-87743-162-0. Archivedfrom the original on 22 May 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
- ISBN 1-57607-355-6.
- ISBN 978-0-521-86251-6.
External links
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Kingdom of God
- Jewish Encyclopedia: Kingdom of God
- Strong’s Greek Dictionary
- Selman, Martin J. (1989). "The Kingdom of God in the Old Testament" (PDF). Tyndale Bulletin. 40 (2): 161–83. S2CID 26571026. Archived from the original(PDF) on 26 January 2012.