THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
KINGDOM OF GOD.
Jewish Views of the Kingdom (§1).
The Pauline Doctrine (§ 2).
The Teaching of Jesus (§ 3).
The Kingdom Previous to Augustine
(§ 4). Augustine's Doctrine of the Kingdom
(§5).
In the teaching of Jesus " kingdom of God " is a phrase denoting his adherence to the expectation of salvation developed from the Israelitic belief in God as the king of the people; although in modern systematic theology it implies a body of subjects who obey a ruler, so that the highest good, in the religious and ethical sense, is regarded as a saving gift of God and as a common aim to be attained. Since, however, the Oriental kingdom is not an organic nation, but dominion over a territory, the dominant idea is not so much the rule of God over his people, as manifested in their obedience, as the realization of the future kingdom (Isa. lii. 7; Ob. 21), overcoming its present obstacles in favor of his people. From this kingdom mankind shall reap abundant blessings, though for its progress they can do nothing, since it comes only through the miraculous intervention of God, and by means of a total and sudden change of the world (Dan. ii. 44). These deviating concepts of history and of systematic theology, however, are supplementary rather than contradictory, since the realization of the kingdom of God in favor of his people presupposes that they are obedient to the divine governance, as is evident from the prophetical writings (cf. Isa. vi. sqq., x. 20 sqq., xlv. 8, lx. 21).
The hope of the future " kingdom of God " in Jewish eschatology had various forms regarding the obstacles to God's rule, whom the kingdom concerned, the manner in which it was to be realized, and the consequences of its establish-
i. Jewish ment. The obstacle to God's rule was Views seen at first in the oppression of God's of the people by neighboring nations and by
Kingdom, the universal empires which followed each other; later in the oppression of the pious by impious factions and rulers; subsequently in the dominion of hostile spiritual powers, such as stars, avenging angels, and Satan; and finally, about the first century B.C., in the belief that the whole present world is evil and doomed. Those whom the kingdom of God concerned were originally the people of Israel; then righteous individuals, first in Israel, and later also outside the chosen people. Its realization meant primarily the restitution of the old national glory by the aid of God and the cooperation of man; but later, as conditions became worse, solely by miraculous divine intervention. Finally there was expected an entire change of all things, a new world which already exists in heaven and is brought about by the conquest of Satan, the last judgment, the resurrection of the dead, and the downfall of the old world. The gifts of the kingdom are partly temporal and partly heavenly, consisting on the one hand in the universal rule of Israel or of the pious, with peace on earth; and on the other hand in eternal life, the cessation of evil, Sabbath rest, and communion
Luther on the Kingdom (§ 6). Luther's Earthly Kingdom of God
(§7). Theories of Zwingli and Calvin (§ 8). Pietism and the Enlightenment on the
Kingdom (§ 9). Kant and Herder (§ 10).
The Theory of Schleiermacher (§ H). Reconciliation of Conflicting Views by
Schleiermacher (§ 12). Ritschl's Theory of the Kingdom
(§13). The Kingdom of God and the Church
(§ 14).
with God and the angels. Nevertheless, there was only a partial spiritualization, and the expectation of the blessings of salvation was still more or less connected with the idea of a recompense for the fulfilment of the law.
In the New Testament both the old elements of Judaism and the new concepts of Christianity are clearly represented by Paul. He shares with Judaism the pessimistic view of the present world which stands under the dominion of Satan (II Cor. iv. 4; cf. Gal. i. 4; Rom. viii. 20 sqq., xii. 2); and, as in Judaism, only the righteous, who fulfil the law, can inherit the future kingdom of God (Gal. v. 21; I Cor. vi. 9; I Thess. ii. 12, iii. 13; cf. I Cor. xv. 50 sqq.). With him, too, the " kingdom " is the dominion of God, who will be " all in all " (I Cor. xv. 28), and the just shall rule with him (Rom. v. 17, iv. 13). He goes beyond the Jewish conception, on the other hand, by dating the arrival of the kingdom from the coming of Jesus the Messiah, by substituting universal human moral requirements for specifically national conditions, by spiritualizing the gifts of the kingdom (Rom. xi. 17, cf. viii. 19 sqq.), and by abolishing the concepts of legalism and reward, which are replaced by ethical fulfilments (Rom. xiv. 18; Gal. vi. 7 sqq.). While these changes may still be considered as purifying
and completing the Jewish idea, Paul
2. The differed essentially from Judaism by
Pauline the new concept that the future world
Doctrine, with its miraculous powers projects
into the present world (Rom. viii. 24 sqq.; Phil. iii. 20), and that upon earth God grants the blessings of the kingdom to those who believe in Christ, as partaking already, in a sense, of the life of the world to come (II Cor. i. 22, v. 5, 17; I Cor. xv. 24 sqq.; Gal. i. 4; Col. i. 13). Nor does the Pauline equation of the Church and the kingdom of Christ (which represents no essential change in the concept, but only a divergent view of the initiation and the development of the consummation) denote a human society for the independent solution of ethical problems, much less a legalistically organized association, but an organism of divinely granted powers or " graces," by which God permits the Church to grow as the body of Christ (Eph. ii. 19-22, iv. 16). Paul again transcends the Jewish concept by not considering these divine powers to be ethically indifferent " graces, but by regarding the moral life of the Christians in sanctification and love as the fruit of the supranatural and supramundane power of the Spirit (Gal. v. 22 sqq.), and by valuing the other " graces " according to their usefulness for the moral upbuilding of the Church (I Cor. xiv. 5).
In consequence of this projection of the future kingdom of God with its powers into the present world, the fundamental ethical and religious ideas