7. One topic more, of considerable importance, we must allude to before leaving this part of our subject. It is the much canvassed question of the relation of the idea of the kingdom of God to that of the Church. If our pre\'ious exposition is correct, these ideas are not quite identical, as they have frequently been taken to be. The kingdom of God is a wider conception than that of the Church. On the other hand, these ideas do not stand so far apart as they are sometimes represented. In soma cases, e.g. in Mt 16'*- ", the phrase ' kingdom of heaven' is practically synonymous with the Church. The Church is, as a society, the visible expression of this kingdom in the world ; is indLcd the only society which vtoes formally profess (very
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imperfectly often) to represent it. Yet tlie Cliureh is not the outward embodiment of tliis kiugdoni in all its aspects, but only in its directly religious and ethical, i.e. in its purely spiritual, aspect. The direct business of the Church, e.g., is not to take to do with art, science, politics, literature, etc., but to bear witness for God and His truth to men, to preach and spread the gosjicl of tlie king- dom, to maintain God's worship, to administer the sacraments, to provide for the self-edilication and religious fellowship of believers (cf. Christian View of God and the W orld, pp. 409, 410). That Jesus contemplated the union of the members of His kingdom into such a visible society — or Church — is evident from direct statements, as in Mt 10" (' on this rock I will build my Church ') ; from the institution of the apostolate (Mt 10''°) ; from the instructions about baptism (Mt 28"-*'); from the rules of discipline lie lays down (Mt 18"'"), etc. : while the important functions which He intrusts to this society are seen from the terms in wliich He speaks of it ; the promises He gives to it (Mt 16'*-*' 18") ; the authority He confers upon it (Mt 16'" 18", Jn 20»») ; the sacraments He leaves with it ; and tlie assurances of His perpetual pre- sence, which are among His last words to it (Mt 28™). In Jn the deeper root of the Church idea is manifest in the conception of the living union of the branches with the vine (Jn 1.5'"').
III. The Teaciiino of the Epistles and OTHER Books of NT on the Kingdom of God. — In passing from the Gospels, and especially the Synoptics, to the remaining writings of NT, we are sensible at once of a great dillcrence in the use made of this conception of the kingdom of God. It is no longer the central and all-comprehending notion which it was in the popular teaching of Jesus, but sinks comparatively into the back- ground, wiiere it does not altogether disapi)ear, and is employed, so far as retained, in an almost exclusively escliatological sense. The difference is accounted for by the altered circumstances of the Christian community. It was no longer the Jesus of the earthly ministry, but the Risen Lord, tliat was the centre of the faith and hope of the Christian believers. The Christ liaxl died, had risen again, was exalted to heaven, had poured out the Spirit, was expected speedilj' to return to judgment ; and interest was concentrated on the meaning and bearings of these great facts on salvation. The gospel had pa.s.sed over from Jews to Gentiles, and Churches were everywhere being formed and organized. Under these changed con- ditions it was inevitable al.so that nomenclature should change, and that the higher stage on which the kingdom of God had entered in history should evolve a speech, and forms of conception for itself, adapted to its new wants. And this is what actually happened. Instead of the kingdom, it is now Clirist Ilimself who is the centre of preach- ing ; in sjieaking to Gentiles, His work, the bless- ings of His salvation, the nature and fruits of the new life of the Spirit, the hopes connected with His appearing, are njiturally dwelt on without reference to the theocratic conception ; as respects the earthly form, thi> idea of the Church ncces.sarily dis])laces everj- other. The one sphere which these altered conditions did not touch was the escliato- logical, and here accordingly we tind the idea of the kingdom, as one among other forms of con- ception, retained.
The phenomenon which hero confronts us has, of course, struck every careful student of the NT. Harnack notices it in liis Dvymeiujfjrhirhte : ' It is not wonilerful,' he says, ' that in the oldest Christian preaching "Jesus Christ" meets us as frcquentlv as, in the preaching of .lesus, the king- dom of (Joii itself (i. p. 70; cl. I" ImIiI, Rechlferti-
yintrj, ii. p. 203 ff.; Kaftan, Das Wcsen, p. 229, etc.). In Ac there are a few references which show that 'the kingdom of God' was still the general formula for the substance of Christian preaching (8'- 14-- 19" 20» 28^"). But in the Epistles the term recedes decidedly into the back- ground, and, as just stated, is generally used in an eschatological sense. 1 P does not use the expres- sion : Ja only once (/3o<riXe(o alone, Ja 2°). The I'auline theology is developed from its own basis, witl.o it any svstematic attempt to lit it to this con- ception. In he it is otlier ideas that rule. The term ' kingdom ' occurs only once, with a future reference (12^). In the Johannine writings, the only occurrences are in two places in the Gospel, aiitf denote (on Christ's lips) the present spiritual kingdom (S*-' 18** — in the latter passage 'my kingdom'). Generally, in this Gospel, as in the Epistles, the idea of the kingdom recedes behind tliat of ' life.' The case of Rev reguires considera- tion by itself. Here, clearly, the idea of the king- dom is a governing one. Believers are made a kingdom unto God, and have the hope of reigning with Christ (1' 3' .T") ; the Lamb is ' Lord o) lords, and King of kings' (17" 19", cf. 1'); and the climax of His contlict with His enemies is that ' the kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ ; and lie shall reign for ever and ever ' (11"""). The peculiarity in the apocalj'ptic representation, however, is the inter- polation before the general judgment of IDOO years' reign of Christ with His saints on earth, following upon a binding of Satan, and a first resurrection (20'"'). The picture stands alone in NT, though the idea involved in it — that of a ' preeminent blossoming time' for the Church before the linal consummation — 'a time in which the Church shall celebrate her Sabbath eve, — the eve before the Sabbath' (Martensen) — stands in no contradiction with the teaching of Jesus, is in every way prob- able, and is not unfamiliar to OT prophecy (Is 11' 35, etc.).