The Kingdom According to Paul
Primarily future, 5x in Acts (14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23; 28:31);
For Luke the good news was closely connected to Jesus’ announcement of the kingdom, since the church retained the hope for Israel’s restoration as part of the overall divine purpose, even while it focused on Jesus’ death and resurrection (Acts 3:19-21; 8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31).
We should not “drive a wedge between Jesus message in the Gospels and the gospel of Paul.”
15x in his Letters, Epistles.
The cross, resurrection and exaltation should “not lead to an abandonment of his kingdom message.” For Paul the kingdom “was a virtual abbreviation for the work that he was doing (Rom. 14:17; 1 Cor. 4:20; Col. 1:13; 4:11), something still to be entered into or inherited in the future(1 Cor. 6:9-10; 15:24, 50; Gal. 5:21; 1 Thess. 2:12; 2 Thess. 1:5). Paul could regard Jesus the Messiah and God’s kingdom as items intertwined together (see Acts 28:31; Col. 1:12-14; Eph. 5:5; 2 Tim. 4:1).
See Michael Bird, The Gospel of the Lord: How the Early Church Wrote the Story of Jesus, 2004, p. 16:
Romans 14:17 “For the Kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in holy spirit.”
The context is about living a Kingdom lifestyle now;
In this instance, by putting up with the weaker brethren among us in church;
This requires strong Kingdom principles based on the fruits of the spirit, i.e., “righteousness, peace, and joy in holy spirit.” We could add that that Kingdom law is the “royal law” mentioned by James 2:8;
That royal law is required of all of us now, if we hope to enter the future Kingdom when Jesus returns.
Paraphrase: Do not lay such stress on this freedom of yours as to cause a breach in the harmony of the Church; for eating and drinking are not the principle of that kingdom which you hope to inherit.
From A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans By William Sanday, Arthur Cayley Headlam, 1905:
"The kingdom of God. An echo of our Lord's teaching. The phrase is used normally in St. Paul of that Messianic kingdom which is to be the reward and goal of the Christian life; so especially i Cor. 6.9, 10 where it is laid down that certain classes shall have no part in it. Hence it comes to mean the principles or ideas on which that kingdom is founded, and which are already exhibited in this world (cf. 1Cor 4.20). The term is, of course, derived through the words of Christ from the current Jewish conceptions of an actual earthly kingdom."
Do not conflate the idea of telling the church to behave like KOG people now (e.g., Rom 14:17) with that future kingdom on earth.
Colossians 1:13 God “rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of the Son whom He loves.”
The point by Ryrie Study Bible: “Believers have been rescued from the authority of Satan to that of Christ.”
So that Christians waiting for the Kingdom are radically separate and different from this world, cp. Jesus John 17:14-17, we are in this world but we are not of this world.
Paul alludes to this fact throughout Colossians 1:
v.9 “And so, since the day we heard this, we have not stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the Lord."
v.21 "You were once alienated and hostile in your minds, participating in evil activities. But He has now reconciled you through the death of His Son, to present you before Him holy, faultless, and blameless.”
And once again note the emphasis on the future:
vv. 4-5 “We heard about your faith in Messiah Jesus and your love for all the saints. This faith and love are based on the hope stored up for you in heaven. You heard about this hope in the word of the truth, that is, the Gospel."
v.23 [You must] remain in the faith, grounded and steadfast, without shifting away from the hope promised in the Gospel which you heard."
NOTE elsewhere Paul says that Christians as we are presently constituted, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 15:50).
You're not in the Kingdom now!
For more visit https://jesuskingdomgospel.com/building-growing-the-kingdom-now/
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