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Editorial
RELIGIOUS TOPICS - THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Every time the Lord’s Prayer is said, the kingdom of God is mentioned. What is meant by the ‘kingdom’ is best understood in the light of the petition which goes with it. The coming of the kingdom is equivalent to God’s will being done, the kingdom being God’s realm or his sphere of rule and authority. The petition for its coming is a prayer for his rule and authority to be made effective and manifest.
Jesus’ message was a message about the kingdom: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news." Much of his teaching, especially in the parables, concerned the nature of the kingdom. The characteristic formula introducing each of his parables was, "The kingdom of God is like ... ", meaning "is to be compared to ... ".
There has been much discussion as to what extent the kingdom is to be regarded in Jesus’ teaching as a future event - "the harvest is the end of the age" - and in what manner it is something beginning with the ministry of Jesus himself - "the kingdom of God is within (or among) you". What is evident is that, in some sense, a new state of affairs is regarded as having been inaugurated by the death and resurrection of Christ. It is in this phase that the whole history of the Christian Church has taken place, suspended in between the ‘not yet’ of the Last Things and the ‘but already’ of what can be experienced by believers in the here and now, whilst still looking to the consummation of everything.
The pace of things cannot be forced, since the kingdom is compared by Jesus to the sowing of the seed, and even when the planting is contaminated by the arrival of weeds along with the seed, there must be the patience to allow "both to grow together till the harvest".
There is a kingdom ethic practised by those who are "in Christ" and in whom the Holy Spirit dwells. St Paul contrasts the "works of the flesh" with the "fruit of the Spirit", meaning by "flesh", not physicality as such but human sinfulness. The fruit of the Spirit is "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control". Where these are evident, there is, indeed, a real foretaste of the very kingdom of God.