Theme · theological
Kingdom of God
God rules as king over creation from the beginning, but after the fall, his kingdom must be reasserted. Israel's request for a human king is a qualified rejection of God's direct rule. The prophets look for a day when God's reign will be universally acknowledged. Jesus announces that the kingdom has drawn near, describes it in parables — mustard seeds, hidden treasure, a great banquet — and demonstrates it by healing the sick and casting out demons. The kingdom is already present in Christ's victory yet awaits its full consummation when he returns.
Related doctrines
Passages expressing this theme
- 1Chr 29:11 — Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exa
- 1Chr 29:12 — Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.
- 1Cor 4:20 — For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
- 1Cor 6:9 — Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
- 1Cor 6:10 — Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
- 1Cor 8:6 — But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
- 1Cor 15:24 — Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
- 1Kgs 3:28 — And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.
- 1Kgs 10:1 — And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.
- 1Sam 17:46 — This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air
- 1Thess 2:12 — That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.
- 2Chr 17:5 — Therefore the LORD stablished the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presents; and he had riches and honour in abundance.
- 2Pet 3:11 — Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
- 2Thess 1:5 — Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
- 2Thess 2:14 — Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 2Tim 4:1 — I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
- 2Tim 4:18 — And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
- Acts 1:3 — To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
- Acts 9:15 — But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
- Acts 9:20 — And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.
- Acts 10:36 — The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)
- Acts 13:47 — For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.
- Acts 28:23 — And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, a
- Acts 28:31 — Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.
- Amos 9:11 — In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
The Church Fathers on Kingdom of God
By "the kingdom of God" Paul means the church, in which God reigns.
The kingdom of God is not of this world, But it is not equality with God, but likeness to Him, unto which man must aspire. For Christ alone is the full image of God, on account of the unity of His Father's glory expressed in Him. But the righteous man is after the image of God, if for the sake of imitating the…
Or the kingdom of God means that He Himself is placed in the midst of them, that is, reigning in their hearts by faith.
(Hom. 32. in Ev.) Or, by the kingdom of God in this place, is meant the present Church; and some of His disciples were to live in the body up to that time, when they should behold the Church of God built and raised up against the glory of the world.
(lib. iii. ep. 206.) Now this kingdom of God some think to be higher and better than the heavenly kingdom, but some think it to be one and the same in reality, but called by different names; at one time the kingdom of God from Him who reigneth, but at another the kingdom of heaven from the Angels and Saints, His…
Now this kingdom of God some think to be higher and better than the heavenly kingdom, but some think it to be one and the same in reality but called by different names; at one time the kingdom of God from Him who reigns, but at another the kingdom of heaven from the Angels and Saints, His subjects, who are said to…