O'Donoghue MTh_Thesis-FinalCopy.pdf - South African Theological ...
O'Donoghue MTh_Thesis-FinalCopy.pdf - South African Theological ... O'Donoghue MTh_Thesis-FinalCopy.pdf - South African Theological ...
established on earth in this present age. Those who hold this view maintain that thekingdom of God can be established by human effort which will in turn pave the wayfor the second coming of Jesus.Fourthly, there is a widespread contemporary view of the Kingdom of God whichviews it as something which can be entered only once one dies (Young 1995:76).Clearly Jesus would disagree with this. Jesus, in the Lord’s Prayer of Matthew 6:10taught His disciples to pray for the kingdom to come on earth. Further as Bowden(2005:690) argues Luke 11:20 contains the story of Jesus casting out a demon, withJesus making the point that if He does this enabled by God then the kingdom of Godwas present.Ladd presented the idea of the Kingdom being already present and still to come,often referred to as the “already but not yet (Young 1995: 76).” The idea of God’sKingdom being a reality that is already present and still to come is the view that willbe adhered to in this thesis. As just mentioned Jesus clearly believed and proved itto be a present reality. Jesus also taught the Kingdom as a future/still to come reality(Matthew 25:34).That the Kingdom of God includes its present existence on earth nullifies the viewsheld by Weiss and Dispensationalist. That it is also a future reality nullifies the viewof the Kingdom Now Movement. Further the Kingdom Now Movement ignores thatthe age people live in now, that is the age before eternity will be imperfect. This isknown as the scriptures look forward to eternity as a time will there be no more curse(Rev. 22:3).The idea of the Kingdom being both present and future seems at best a paradox andat worst contradictory. Metzger (1992:148) helpfully resolves the contradiction andnotes that scholars do not have to eliminate either the present or future aspect of theKingdom. Metzger does this by examining the verbs associated with the Kingdom inthe Gospels. The verbs show that God’s Kingdom refers to the “reign” or “kingly rule”of God and not a physical territory. I.e. there is no point in asking whether or not theKingdom is future or present as the Kingdom includes both realities.71
It has now been established that The Kingdom of God is both a present and futurereality. As mentioned before Jesus does give a clear concise definition as to whatthe Kingdom of God is. The idea of God’s Kingdom, while not defined is foundthroughout the OT (Lioy 2004:87). The OT showed the following characteristics ofGod’s Kingdom. Firstly it is shown in Psalms 145:13 that the Kingdom of God iseternal (Lioy 2004:87). Psalm 145:13 declares, “Your Kingdom is an everlastingkingdom, and your dominion endures through out all generations.”Secondly, Psalm 103:19 showed that God’s kingdom is “universal (Lioy 2004:87).”Here the Psalmist declares, “His Kingdom rules over all.” Palmer (1986:18) notesthat this “universal concept” of God’s Kingdom was present even before the nation ofIsrael became a nationalised monarchy. The idea of God reigning over the universewas already established. The universal concept sees God as reigning over all life,objects, events and history. There is “no exception” to this reign of God.The OT shows that there will be a time where all people recognise God’s reign butuntil then it is only acknowledged by some (Lioy 2004:87). Lioy (2004:87) says thatJewish people acknowledged that God reigned in their day over all creation, but stillprayed for a day when God’s rule would be established unchallenged. This presentreality of the kingdom and the future hope of the Kingdom to be acknowledged areseen to be continued in the person and work of Jesus. Thus one can conclude forGod’s kingdom to come His rule is to be acknowledged (Kee and Young 1986:118).The NT is full of descriptions regarding the nature of God’s Kingdom, i.e. what theKingdom is like and how it works. It is worth a brief survey of some of these texts inorder to better grasp the nature of what God’s reign is like. I.e. how does theKingdom that Jesus instructed His disciples to seek look and work. Matthew 25:34shows that God’s Kingdom is a gift and to gain entrance into the Kingdom is a giftthat God alone can give and that one gains access to by believing (Lioy 2004:87).Even though it is a gift that is received through faith, there is a paradox in that “it cancost everything he or she has.”Matthew 13:31-33 contains the parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven (Young1995:77-88). Both these parables show that the Kingdom grows progressively and72
- Page 27: instruction for the believing commu
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- Page 35 and 36: etween 6:19-24 and 7:1-11 that is c
- Page 37 and 38: would not have ever found such a li
- Page 39 and 40: and 7:7-11 are worth noting:a) Both
- Page 41 and 42: appealing. He seems to at times ack
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- Page 45 and 46: Chapter 4Literary Analysis - Matthe
- Page 47 and 48: common to a teacher like Jesus woul
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- Page 51 and 52: Blomberg (1992:123) shows that the
- Page 53 and 54: Talbert (2006:122) argues this by r
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- Page 57 and 58: The statement that one cannot serve
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- Page 83 and 84: “our Father,” i.e. the Father o
- Page 85 and 86: It must be noted that the Father-So
- Page 87 and 88: Matthew 25:31-36 presents Jesus as
- Page 89 and 90: unanimous among scholars. These rea
- Page 91 and 92: Unger and White (1985:171) note tha
- Page 93 and 94: interdependent interpersonal relati
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- Page 97 and 98: Chapter SevenConclusion7.1 Introduc
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- Page 101 and 102: them. The historical analyses highl
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- Page 107 and 108: captivity to sin. The SOM itself wa
- Page 109 and 110: APPENDIX ONETALBERTS FORMAL DIVISIO
- Page 111 and 112: BIBLIOGRAPHYAchtemeier PJ, Green JB
- Page 113 and 114: Clowney EP 1988. Church. In SB Ferg
- Page 115 and 116: Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishi
- Page 117 and 118: Peter Laing Publishing.Lloyd-Jones
- Page 119 and 120: 73-97.Smith KG 2008. Academic Writi
It has now been established that The Kingdom of God is both a present and futurereality. As mentioned before Jesus does give a clear concise definition as to whatthe Kingdom of God is. The idea of God’s Kingdom, while not defined is foundthroughout the OT (Lioy 2004:87). The OT showed the following characteristics ofGod’s Kingdom. Firstly it is shown in Psalms 145:13 that the Kingdom of God iseternal (Lioy 2004:87). Psalm 145:13 declares, “Your Kingdom is an everlastingkingdom, and your dominion endures through out all generations.”Secondly, Psalm 103:19 showed that God’s kingdom is “universal (Lioy 2004:87).”Here the Psalmist declares, “His Kingdom rules over all.” Palmer (1986:18) notesthat this “universal concept” of God’s Kingdom was present even before the nation ofIsrael became a nationalised monarchy. The idea of God reigning over the universewas already established. The universal concept sees God as reigning over all life,objects, events and history. There is “no exception” to this reign of God.The OT shows that there will be a time where all people recognise God’s reign butuntil then it is only acknowledged by some (Lioy 2004:87). Lioy (2004:87) says thatJewish people acknowledged that God reigned in their day over all creation, but stillprayed for a day when God’s rule would be established unchallenged. This presentreality of the kingdom and the future hope of the Kingdom to be acknowledged areseen to be continued in the person and work of Jesus. Thus one can conclude forGod’s kingdom to come His rule is to be acknowledged (Kee and Young 1986:118).The NT is full of descriptions regarding the nature of God’s Kingdom, i.e. what theKingdom is like and how it works. It is worth a brief survey of some of these texts inorder to better grasp the nature of what God’s reign is like. I.e. how does theKingdom that Jesus instructed His disciples to seek look and work. Matthew 25:34shows that God’s Kingdom is a gift and to gain entrance into the Kingdom is a giftthat God alone can give and that one gains access to by believing (Lioy 2004:87).Even though it is a gift that is received through faith, there is a paradox in that “it cancost everything he or she has.”Matthew 13:31-33 contains the parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven (Young1995:77-88). Both these parables show that the Kingdom grows progressively and72
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