I. Kingdom and Church

A. Review and Overview

In our first five lessons, we’ve explored in a detailed way the Old Testament’s understanding of the kingdom of God and its significance to the overall narrative unity and meaning of the Bible.

We’ve also undertaken a close examination of the gospels of Matthew and Luke, as well as the Book of Acts, in order to consider how the kingdom was understood in the preaching of Jesus and in the proclamation of the apostolic Church.

In this final lesson, we want to look at the kingdom theme as found in the remainder of the New Testament writings.

It’s true that outside of the synoptic gospels and Acts, explicit references to the kingdom of God are sparse. However, it is clear that these New Testament writings share the same presumption that the kingdom proclaimed by Christ is the restoration of the everlasting kingdom promised by God to the son of David (see 2 Samuel 7).

Throughout the New Testament, Jesus himself is designated as the messianic offspring promised to David (see Romans 1:3; Revelation 5:5, 22:16; Sirach 47:2). Hebrews applies a messianic psalm to Christ, identifying Him as David’s anointed son whose kingdom will last forever (see Hebrews 1:8-9; Psalm 45:6-7).

Christ’s resurrection and ascension are described as a heavenly enthronement at God’s right hand. In this, Christ is shown to fulfill the messianic promise of Psalm 110:1 (seeEphesians 1:20; Hebrews 1:13).

He is depicted as ruling from heaven over a restored Davidic kingdom - a kingdom that embraces both Jews and Gentiles (see Ephesians 3:6; 2:18-19).

Christ is said to have dominion and authority over both "those in heaven and on earth" (seePhilippians 2:9-11; Revelation 5:10; 2 Timothy 4:18). Furthermore, his rule is for all ages - "not only in this age but also in the age to come" (see Ephesians 1:20-21; Revelation 1:5; 2 Peter 1:11).

B. The Beloved Son/h5>
The core of Christ’s gospel - the proclamation of the kingdom - underlies the New Testament writings, even if the term "kingdom" itself is only infrequently used. And in these writings, we’re given a richer and fuller understanding of the identity and characteristics of the kingdom.

The kingdom is closely associated and, in a certain way, identified with the Church.

Colossians, for instance, uses language that hearkens back to the exodus to describe the salvation that comes in the Church: "He delivered us from the power of darkness andtransferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption" (seeColossians 1:13).

This passage introduces Colossians’ great hymn to the beloved Son, who is described as "the head of . . . the Church" (see Colossians 1:18).

Thus, the kingdom of the beloved Son and the Church seem to be very nearly identical in the mind of Paul.

In Ephesians, too, it seems that the terms "Church" and "kingdom" are used almost interchangeably. Jesus is called the head of the Church (see Ephesians 1:22; 5:23) and His dominion is described as "the kingdom of Christ and of God" (see Ephesians 5:5).

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