Joel Green on the kingdom of God, part 3

In his rather short third post on the kingdom of God, Joel Green begins by asking what we can learn about God’s royal rule by examining how the expression is used in the Gospels. He summarises the various contexts: the kingdom of God is entered, proclaimed, possessed, has drawn near, etc. Then he makes the important point that, contrary to much contemporary talk, the kingdom of God does not depend on what people do. “Humans do not create, build, construct, extend, or make present the kingdom. The kingdom is God’s” (emphasis removed).

The conceptual priority given to entrance into the kingdom of God suggests that it must be understood as a “container” or “place,” which makes little sense if the kingdom is “all-pervasive and eternal.” So better to think of it as a sphere or field of divine influence or activity.

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