I will not list those that fit this category. They are popular and their teachings prevalent. But woe to them. They happily teach that the Kingdom is some future state. They deny its existence. They teach that it is merely the eschatological restoration of Israel. They imagine it is simply a life in heaven after death. They reduce it to social work. All are wrong.
Knowledge is more than intellectual perception; it is spiritual possession resting on revelation (R. Bultmann, TDNT 1:700).
The authority given to Peter is grounded in revelation. It is spiritual knowledge and it was shared. Many "Church" leaders today have never experience the Kingdom and they deny it to those they shepherd.
Woe to them. Repent - the Kingdom of God is at hand.
Technorati Tags: Kingdom of God
4 comments:
Rick, Could you please explain the difference in makes in how we conduct our lives based on our beliefs about the Kingdom? If I believe the Kingdom is here and now, what would I do diffently from if I believe the Kingdom is some future time? It seems less significant to me than you want to make it. Thanks. You can send me a personal note if you don't want to blog the answer.
no-blog: fair question and one worth answering here. I'm just not sure I can give a concise yet logical answer. I'll try to deal with a couple of aspects nonetheless.
First, I'd like to address the significance thing. If one looks at Jesus aside from all He accomplished through His death and resurrection, His ministry was about demonstration and proclamation of the Kingdom. I don't believe I am not making more of it than He. Many make less of it. And more concerning, most make nothing of it or worse misrepresent it.
Secondly, a practical difference is not required to validate the truth but I think you and I agree that a practical difference should come with the truth. So I'll take a stab at it. The difficulty is that this is not unlike our conversation regarding God's sovereignty and the doctrine of election. It's more of a watershed point. It appears minor but as you work out other things, it comes into play and has great effect.
So to that end, I'll simply give you two categories I see today that most of Christendom err to one side or the other on simply because they have a faulty view of the Kingdom.
- healing, prophecy, etc. would be present but you would not think of it as a switch you turn on and off
- care for the poor, orphaned, environment, etc. would be present but you would not see it as the primary role of the Church
OK, I was with you until the end. In reference to the two items you mentioned at the end (healing, poor, etc.), are you saying the "Kingdom" proponents would advocate that, but the future Kingdom people would not?
no-blog: in a sense "yes" but it's much more complex than that. I'm not sure if this is measurable. I'm confident if it were there would be a great deal of overlap across the various groups. There's also the question of same event but to whom/what do we attribute it. Etc..
But I think in a general way I can say the Evangelical world does not experience the degree of physical/emotional healing of others and when they do they may not accredit the work to the Kingdom. Certainly prophetic and similar guidance is out. Etc. As cessationists there is pride that God isn't doing this stuff right?
On the other extreme there are those that think they experience healing when they clearly have not. They think they can switch it on and off. They take every blow of the wind as a sign. Etc. As charismatics there is pride to help God is do more than He really is.
Similarly, I think it is a safe generalization that caring for others an organization/institutional thing while in the Emergent world it seems that the thinking is the the Kingdom will come faster if we serve others more (and there is the element of social works over miraculous power).
One wouldn't have to read much to find evangelical leaders railing on emergent leaders for their love of the ecology and concern for the poor and aids victims, etc..
I find both positions not accurate and a proper perspective of the Kingdom would help that.
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