Essay: Give an outline of the teaching of Jesus
On the kingdom of God.
Is there one essential idea in this teaching?
Jesus & Paul (Course Code FFRS096UACB)
Birkbeck College , University of London
Patrick LAM
Birkbeck College, University of London
Course:
Jesus & Paul (Course Code FFRS096UACB)
Student:
Patrick Lam
Date:
20-Nov-07
Essay:
Give an outline of the teaching of Jesus on the kingdom of God.
Is there one essential idea in this teaching?
Word Count:
1,482
On surface, Jesus’ teachings on the citizens, spatial and temporal dimensions of the
Kingdom of God appear diverse. This essay will examine these through Jesus’
teachings via proclamations and parables and more importantly His actions.
According to Hooker, the Kingdom of God could be better translated as “‘the kingship
of God’: the emphasis is on the rule of God, rather than on the territory where this rule
is exercised”1
Matthew normally referred to this as “the Kingdom of heaven”,
reflecting Jewish avoidance of reference to God.
Jesus proclaimed from the beginning of his public ministry in Mk1:14-15 and Mt 4:17
that God’s Kingdom has come near.
From Mt10:7-8, Jesus also sent out his disciples
to proclaim the same gospel, and also to heal and cast out demons. The narration of
Jesus’ proclamation of the good news of Kingdom is often followed by His action of
healing (Mt 4:23). An example of this can be found in Mt 8:5-13. Jesus’ instructions
for his disciples reflect on this (Mt 10:7). The Jewish eschatological tradition
associate Healing and the presence of the Spirit with the age to come, in God’s
Kingdom.
Jesus’ healing, therefore, could be seen as re-affirming his message that the
Kingdom “is near” or being realised. This line of though also tie in with Jesus’
response to question from John the Baptist, who could be seen as the last great prophet
Morna D Hooker, Black’s NT Commentaries: The Gospel According to Saint Mark, Hendrickson
Publishers, 1991, p55
1
Page 1 of 6
Essay: Give an outline of the teaching of Jesus
On the kingdom of God.
Is there one essential idea in this teaching?
Jesus & Paul (Course Code FFRS096UACB)
Birkbeck College , University of London
Patrick LAM
in Mt 11:2, when “Jesus replied, ‘…report to John what you hear and see: The blind
receive sight, the lame walk….the good news is preached to the poor’ ”(Mt 11:3-5).
Hence, as Jesus went on to explain to His disciples in Mt 11:7-19, as great as John was
in Jesus’ days, “the disciples of Jesus are more privileged than the prophets and kings
who desired the coming of the Kingdom of God, because they ‘see and hear’….because
they are ‘within the Kingdom of God’”2 Jesus himself explained that “…if I drive out
demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Mt 12:28).
Jesus’ first coming could be seen as marking the start of God’s Kingdom, when His
divine power began to be released.
When Jesus answered the Pharisee about “when the kingdom of God would Come” (Lk
17:20), several scholars have proposed that Jesus’ answer may mean “the kingdom of
God is within your reach”, “it can be shared in by you if you want it"3. This rare phase
entos humōn is referred ESV’s footnote as “within your grasp”.
Although God’s Kingdom is only sparingly mentioned within the Sermon of the Mount
(Mt 5-7), from the Beatitudes (Mt5:1-12) to teaching on how to pray (Mt 6:5-14), for
instance, Jesus is teaching what lives his disciples should live, following repentance.
One possible interpretation could be that through living changed lives, the Kingdom of
God would be manifested through Jesus’ disciples.
From Jn 3:3-5 Jesus taught that
one must be born again of water and the Spirit to see and enter God’s kingdom.
The
Greek word for born again, gennao anothen, may also be rendered “from above”.
Jesus also taught his disciples to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Mt
2
3
C H Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom, Nisbet & Co. Ltd, 1936, p47
Graham Stanton, The Gospels and Jesus 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 2002, P211
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Essay: Give an outline of the teaching of Jesus
On the kingdom of God.
Is there one essential idea in this teaching?
Jesus & Paul (Course Code FFRS096UACB)
Birkbeck College , University of London
Patrick LAM
6:33a) and reiterated that those who does the will of God will enter the Kingdom (Mt
7:21)
The use of present tense in “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” the Beatitudes (Mt 5)
again suggests the Kingdom of God as a present reality.
The Beatitudes also suggests that the kingdom’s citizenship includes those who are
“poor in Spirit” or “persecuted”. Those who are “poor in spirit” can be viewed as
those who recognise their unworthiness before God. This teaching of humility is
repeated in Mk9:33-37 (cf Mt 18:1-9). This call to humility ties in with Jesus’ call to
“Repent and believe” (Mk 1:14-15) right from the beginning. Jesus also taught of the
importance of leaving everything behind to follow him (Mt 19:16-30), explaining that it
is hard but not impossible with God for those materially rich to do so. Jesus enacted
such explanation through action by accepting Zacchaeus the wealthy tax collector
(Lk10:1-10).
Lk 19:10, the narratives on the calling of Matthew in Mt 9:11-12 and the
Lk 15’s Parables of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin and the Lost son illustrated that the
Kingdom’s citizens include sinners, sick and/or lost.
Jesus’ teaching through action on His call to belief, repent and inclusion of sinners in
His Kingdom carried right to the cross to those who put Him through the immense
sufferings at and before the Cross (Lk23:34) and as he He responded “…today, you will
be with me in paradise” (Lk 23:43) to the criminal who asked “Jesus, remember me
when you come into your kingdom” (Lk23:42).
Page 3 of 6
Essay: Give an outline of the teaching of Jesus
On the kingdom of God.
Is there one essential idea in this teaching?
Jesus & Paul (Course Code FFRS096UACB)
Birkbeck College , University of London
Patrick LAM
Jesus’ teaching does not explicitly exclude Jewish religious leaders from God’s
Kingdom, but through the parables of the two sons (Mt 21:28-32), the parables of the
tenants who killed the land-owner’s son (Mt 21:33-41), Jesus explained through Mt
21:43) that it is their lack of repentance and refusal to accept Jesus which would exclude
them from God’s Kingdom, which would be given away to those sinners, sick and/or
lost who in their eyes would not be in God’s Kingdom.
In terms of the ethnicity of the Kingdom’s citizens, Mt 15:21-28 illustrated through the
Canaanite Woman that though he primarily intended His Kingdom be for the Israelites
first, Mt 15:28 shows that Jesus also included this gentile woman, tying back to Mt
21:28-41.
However, although one could see Jesus’ first coming as marking the beginning of God’s
Kingdom, one could argue that signs of full consummation of God’s Kingdom in
Jewish’ eschatological traditions such as completed righteousness, full peace and health
are yet to come.
If one interpret Mt 16:28 as the three disciples who would see the Son of Man in His
Kingdom through the transfiguration (Mt 17) in this age, then Mt 16:27 could be
interpreted as some time in the future when Jesus would return to judge the world and
establish God’s Kingdom universally.
Indeed, Jesus has also foretold the final
judgement and completion of full redemption for those who repented and believed in
Him (Lk 21: 25-28) and judgement which lead to eternal death for those who do not
believe. This is something He taught through the Parable of the Net (Lk 13:47-52) when
the angels “will separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery
Page 4 of 6
Essay: Give an outline of the teaching of Jesus
On the kingdom of God.
Is there one essential idea in this teaching?
Jesus & Paul (Course Code FFRS096UACB)
Birkbeck College , University of London
Patrick LAM
furnace….” (Lk 13:49-50) at the end of the ages and reflected in Mk 8:38.
When questioned by both his disciples (Lk 21:7) and the Pharisees and Sadducees (Mt
16:1), as to when such a time will be, when God’s Kingdom and kingly rule will be
universally established and evil will be completely defeated; Jesus refused to give any
sign except “the sign of Jonah” to the Pharisees and Sadducees (Mt 16:3), which could
be interpreted as a call to repentance, just as the people of Ninveveh repented following
Jonah’s proclamation (Jnh 3), and warning to his disciples not to be deceived by natural
disasters, wars, and false prophets as signs of the end of the ages.
(Lk 21, cf Mt 24).
Jesus further warned that His disciples would be persecuted on account of Jesus’ name,
but Jesus reassured that “By standing firm, you will gain life” (Lk 21:19), and that
through the disciples’ witness, “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the
whole world as a testimony to all nations, an then the end will come” (Mt 24:14).
Though one view of Mt 11:12-13 is that on hearing the gospel of the kingdom, the
kingdom has been forcing its way forward, including sinners, another interpretation is
that the Kingdom of God is being opposed with violence (in this age)4
Hence, Jesus taught that one must “deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me”
(Mk 8:34). This is also reflected through Mt 13:44-45. However, Jesus taught his
disciples to pray for “your kingdom come” in Mt 6:10 (cf Lk 11:2) as a future hope. “A
Q tradition…declares that people will come from the east and west and eat in the
kingdom with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”5
In preparation for this, Jesus called upon
his disciples to store up treasures in heaven (Mt 6:19-24), products of good works
4
5
Graham Stanton, The Gospels and Jesus 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 2002, P212
Graham Stanton, The Gospels and Jesus 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 2002, P209
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Essay: Give an outline of the teaching of Jesus
On the kingdom of God.
Is there one essential idea in this teaching?
following and as a result of acceptance of Jesus.
Jesus & Paul (Course Code FFRS096UACB)
Birkbeck College , University of London
Patrick LAM
Through parables in Mt 13:31-33 and
Mk 4:26-29, Jesus also taught that through those who believe in Him, His Kingdom
would grow.
The first coming of Jesus, therefore, mark the beginning of the realisation God’s
Kingdom, which shall be fully consummated when Jesus return in full power to judge
the Living and the dead, when full redemption for his disciples will be completed and
evil completely defeated.
The one essential idea of the gospel of God’s Kingdom
Jesus came to proclaim is to repent, believe in Jesus and follow Him in order to enter
God’s Kingdom.
Bibliography
Dodd, C H
Fee, Gordon D et al,
The Parables of the Kingdom (Nisbet & Co. Ltd, 1936)
How to Read the bible for All Its Worth, 3rd Edition,
(Zondervan, 2003)
Hooker, Morna D.
Black’s New Testament Commentaries:
The Gospel According to Saint Mark
(Hendrickson Publishers, 1991)
Matthew: Structure, Christology, Kingdom (SPCK, 1976)
The Gospels and Jesus 2nd Edition
(Oxford University Press, 2002)
Kingsbury, Jack Dean
Stanton, Graham
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