3. Believers as kings.— In Rev 1^ the AV runs : ' and hath made us kings and priests unto God.' This is based on the reading ^acCKeh, which must be abandoned for the better-attested ^acnXelav. But in 5^", where tlie same phrase occurs in the song of the angels concerning the Church (though here again there is a variant ^aaiXeU, which, how- ever, would render the concluding clause super- fluous), there is the further addition : Kal /SactX- evovaiv iirl ^■^s. K reads ^aaiXevcrovixtv ; and if we accept that reading, then the reference is to the future dominion of believers as represented in 20*, where they live and reign with Christ 1,000 years. Other references to this future sovereignty are found in Ro 5'^ 2 Ti 2^^, and 1 Co 6"^'- (where they
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KING OF KINGS
KINGDOxM, KINGDOM OF GOJ)
judge the world and the very angels). But if ^aa-LAeijovcTiv be retained, then the standpoint of the author is that already that sovereignty of the saints prophesied in Dn 7-'-- ^"^ has begun. The Church, down-trodden and oppressed, is already the dominant power in the world. St. Paul ironi- cally congratulates the Corinthians on the assump- tion" of kingly authority (1 Co 4*). Their vaunting may have been due to a perversion of this doctrine of tlie present sovereignty of the saints.
Literature. — The various handbooks on NT Theol.; H. Weinel, Die Stellung des Urchristentums zum Staat, 1908 ; A. Deissmann, Licht vorn Osten, 1908.
G. Wauchope Stewart. KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.— The
title ' King of kings,' assumed of old by tlie Baby- lonian nionarchs and adopted by the Aclia>nienid;i3, is proved by coins and inscriptions to have been laid claim to, about the beginning of the Christian era, by various other Oriental potentates, e.g. the kings of Armenia, the Bosporus, and Palmyra (A. Deissmann, Licht vom Osten, 1908, p. 265). It liad been applied by the Jews to their God (2 Mac I?'', 3 Mac 5^-'), and is combined with the appella- tion ' Lord of lords ' (bestowed on Jahweh in Dt 10", Ps 136^) to form the supreme title ' King of kings and Lord of lords,' with which God is invested in 1 Ti 6^^ This heaping up of attributes has a parallel in 1". It is not evident what is its precise purpose in the context. Some would explain it as a counterblast to Gnostic misrepresentations. H. Weinel {Die Stellung des Urchristentums zum Staat, 1908, pp. 22, 51), who recalls the Babylonian origin of the title, finds some trace of the old Baby- lonian astrology in the further course of the pas- sage, ' who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach ' (cf. Ja P'', ' the Father of lights,' i.e. stars). The same lofty title is applied in Rev 17" 19^" to Christ, in earnest of the certainty of His triumph over the kings of the earth. In view of the hostility to the Roman Empire which breathes throughout the Book of Revelation, and the express references in it to the Avorship of the Emperor (13^-^^ 14" 20"'), it is pro- bable that this title is deliberately assigned to Christ in assertion of His right to that dignity and reverence which were falsely claimed by the Roman Emperor (see artt. King and Lord).
G. Wauchope Stewart.
KINGDOM, KINGDOM OF GOD.— 1. References in Synoptic Gospels.— The conception of the King- dom which occupies so large a place in the first three Gospels finds a relatively small place in the remaining books of the NT. In our earliest Gospel* — that of St. Mark — the Kingdom of God is the main topic of Christ's preaching. He began His ministry by announcing the good news that the Kingdom of God was at hand ( P^). To His disciples was entrusted the ' secret plan ' about the Kingdom (4'^). The Parable of the Seed Growing Secretly explained that it would come like harvest after a period of growth, i.e. it would present itself in due time when the period of heralding its advent was over (4-'''"2"). Its coming would not be long delayed, for some who heard Christ speak would see it come with power (9^). The possession of wealth was an impediment to entry into it; i.e. wealth hindered men from enrolling themselves as discii)les of Christ, the coming King (lO'-^"''^'*). Elsewhere we read not of the coming of the Kingdom, but of the Coming of the Son of Man (so in 13-« 14«-). Tiie meaning attached to ' gospel ' in this book as the good news of the coming Kingdom preaclied by Christ is primitive, and earlier than the Pauline use of ' gospel ' for the good news about Christ.
In the First Gospel the term is changed. We
* It does not fall within the scope of this art. to consider at length the idea of the Kingdom in Christ's teaching.
read now of the ' kingdom of the heavens ' rather than of the Kingdom of God. But the main line of idea is the same (see W. C. Allen, St. Mattheio [ICC, 1907], pp. Ixvii-lxxi). The emphasis which is placed in this Gospel upon the near coming of the Son of Man to inaugurate the Kingdom (cf. 16'^ 24^- ^■', etc. ) is due largely to the Matthsean collection of discourses used by the editor.