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What's the reign of God?

Posted 6 September, 2005 - 13:23 by mars-hill

Hi,

It seems we have different ideas about the "reign of God" that Stuart first mentioned. Andrew has a firm idea about what it meant for first century church, but the issue of relevance demands that we ask what does it mean for us? now? (Even if we place it historically in the first century it must have some bearing on our current place in the story.)

Unfortunately I don’t have time to put together more than a few scraps of thought…

1. The reign of God is not political. Mention of Bush’s regeime has already been made. As someone who would probably not agree with his government on most issues, I’m glad that God isn’t going to crush me.

2. The reign of God supercedes political affiliation. I quote Philip Yancey:

"A political movement by nature draws lines, makes distinctions, pronounces judgment; in contrast, Jesus’ love cuts across lines, transcends distinctions, and dispenses grace. Regardless of the merits of a given issue…political movements risk pulling onto themselves the mantle of power that smothers love. From Jesus I learn that, whatever activism I get involved in, it must not drive out love and humility, or otherwise I betray the Kingdom of Heaven."

3. The reign of God is to be understood both then, now and forevermore in terms of individual lives and (more importantly) our communities. It is in place wherever these structures line up with God’s explicit or general will. ("Your kingdom come…")

4. Following the reference to the Lord’s prayer, the reign of God is apocalyptic and current.

5. I don’t believe that the reign of God going to be fully manifest anytime soon. It is outworked as we re-present Christ (the idea of "ambassadors" reflects the idea of a reign) in the world. With any luck Christ-likeness will be continued and continue to grow throughout the evolution of mankind.

Sorry for the brevity and incompleteness. I wish I had as much time to write as some people!


ADDITION: To explain my mention of the LP, let me quote again. This time from everyone’s favourite, Mr Wright in “The Lord and His Prayer”:
“‘Heaven’ and ‘earth’ are the two interlocking arenas of God’s good world. Heaven is God’s space, where God’s writ runs and God’s future purposes are waiting in the wings. Earth is our world, our space. Think of the vision at the end of Revelation. It isn’t about humans being snatched up from earth to heaven. The holy city, new Jerusalem, comes down from heaven to earth. God’s space and ours are finally married, intergrated at last. That’s what we pray for when we pray ‘thy Kingdom come’.” (Wright, 24)
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Comments

soon

by andycjp - 07/09/2005 - 01:40

Jesus himself said the Kingdom is coming soon.

Untangling kingdom and new creation

by Andrew - 07/09/2005 - 10:56

I wonder if we’re not perhaps getting the kingdom and new creation motifs muddled up. As Andy points out (though he may not have meant it this way), Jesus said that the kingdom was coming soon: the reign of God through the resurrected and vindicated messiah would soon (in biblical historical terms) replace the satanically inspired reign of Caesar. This is what the Lord’s prayer refers to: thy kingdom come, deliver us from the evil one, the accuser of the people. The disciples prayed for the kingdom to come because they were a small beleaguered, persecuted sect facing eschatological crisis.

But, if I may be so bold, I’m not sure Wright is correct to associate this language so closely with the new creation theme in Revelation. I don’t think we pray for the new creation. We hope for it, it inspires faith and mission, and in a very important way the renewed, Spirit-filled people of God anticipates the reality of it. But we don’t cry out for the renewal of creation in the way that the suffering early believers cried out to God to intervene and vindicate them against their enemies (Luke 18:7-8). The new creation is the terminus ad quem, but as far as we are concerned it is given to us as a gift for the sake of the present: we are involved in the renewal of creation now through our life and worship together.

Ongoing persecution

by andycjp - 08/09/2005 - 01:56

Many Christians today especially in Muslim and ex Communist countries in Central Asia are still beleaguered and persecuted.

Kingdom and point of view

by Andrew - 08/09/2005 - 11:34

This is a valid rejoinder. From the perspective of a realistic and intrinsic New Testament theology, however, I think two points need to be made (see ‘10 principles for reading the Bible in a postmodern context’ section 4 for the use of ‘intrinsic’ here).

First, it is realistic to suppose that the early church’s outlook on the future was dominated by the eschatological crisis of the confrontation with Rome. I am inclined to say that the New Testament barely looks beyond that crisis to the situation of the ‘post-eschatological’ church. It was their future that mattered when they spoke about the coming of the kingdom and vindication against their enemies, not ours.

Secondly, Rome constituted an absolute threat to the proclamation of the gospel and the survival of the church. Certainly Christians are persecuted in parts of the world today and perhaps they are right to look for the same sort of vindication. But such persecution does not threaten to suppress the gospel completely or annihilate the whole church globally: the lordship of Christ over the people of God has been secured.

and/or...both

by mars-hill - 09/09/2005 - 02:55

OK, I understand your differentiation between kingdom and new creation. I think it’s an important distinction, but I cannot see them as an and/or dichotomy as I think you are presenting them here.

Yes, the gospel writers were looking for something soon, and they got it as discussed elsewhere. However the church (correctly) has not left these prophesies and prayers to get moldy, but have infused them with new meanings that bring relevance to their communities. I think most biblical scholars would also agree that this is what the gospel writers were doing with the actual words of Jesus.

Without wandering too far off topic, I think this is important and leads to my next point: My understanding is that the new creation is present, in part, wherever God’s reign is accepted/re-presented. What good is a reign if it doesn’t influence the things under it? So I imagine these motifs working both together…From Pentecost, when Christ through the Spirit took up leadership of His disciples again, through to now-and-beyond as he is the leader of the church.

I think God’s reign and new creation must coexist.

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