Theological Term of the Week

kingdom of God
God’s sovereign reign, especially his “redemptive rule in Christ, destroying his enemies, and bringing to his people the blessings of his reign.”1

• From scripture:

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3 ESV)

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? [19] It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

[20] And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? [21] It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” (Luke 13:18-21 ESV)

• From George Eldon Ladd in The Gospel of the Kingdom:

Our problem [of various understandings of the kingdom of God], then, is found in this threefold fact: (1) Some passages of Scripture refer to the Kingdom of God as God’s reign. (2) Some passages refer to God’s Kingdom as the realm into which we may now enter to experience the blessings of His reign. (3) Still other passages refer to a future realm which will come only with the return of our Lord Jesus Christ into which we shall then enter and experience the fullness of His reign. Thus the Kingdom of God means three different things in different verses. One has to study all the references in the light of their context and then try to fit them together in an overall interpretation.

Fundamentally, as we have seen, the Kingdom of God is God’s sovereign reign; but God’s reign expresses itself in different stages through redemptive history. Therefore, men may enter into the realm of God’s reign in its several stages of manifestation and experience the blessings of His reign in differing degrees. God’s Kingdom is the realm of the Age to Come, popularly called heaven; then we shall realize the blessings of His Kingdom (reign) in the perfection of their fullness. But the Kingdom is here now. There is a realm of spiritual blessing into which we may enter today and enjoy in part but in reality the blessings of God’s Kingdom (reign).

We pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The confidence that this prayer is to be answered when God brings human history to the divinely ordained consummation enables the Christian to retain his balance and sanity of mind in this mad world in which we live. Our hearts go out to those who have no such hope. Thank God, His Kingdom is coming, and it will fill all the earth.

But when we pray, “Thy Kingdom come,” we also ask that God’s will be done here and now, today. This is the primary concern of these expositions, that the reader might meet the Kingdom of God, or rather, that the Kingdom of God might meet him. We should also pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” in my church as it is in heaven. The life and fellowship of a Christian church ought to be a fellowship of people among whom God’s will is done-a bit of heaven on earth. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” in my life, as it is in heaven. This is included in our prayer for the coming of the Kingdom. This is part of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Learn more:

1. George Eldon Ladd: What Is the Kingdom of God? 
2. Brian Schwertley: The Kingdom of God
3. Stephen Wellum: Reflecting on the Kingdom of God (pdf)
4. D. A. Carson: Common Errors in Understanding the Kingdom
5. The Gospel Coalition: The Kingdom of God from Confessional Statement
6. Brian Vickers: The Kingdom of God in Paul’s Gospel (pdf)
7. Don Carson: Carson on the Kingdom (video)

Related terms:

• final judgment
• already/not yet

Filed under Last Things

1George Eldon Ladd

Do you have a term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.

Theological Term of the Week

already/not yet
Jesus’s teaching that the kingdom of God was already here in his own life and ministry, but will not be fully here until his second coming; the belief that the kingdom of God has been inaugurated, but is not yet consummated. Also called inaugurated eschatology.

• From scripture:

“But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Matthew 12:28 ESV)

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. [32] Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. [33] And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. [34] Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:31-34 ESV)

• From D. A. Carson in Common Errors in Understanding the Kingdom:

On the one hand, Jesus tells certain parables of the kingdom in order to get across that the expected ‘big bang’ is not yet. For instance (if I may use the formula much loved by the rabbis when they told their parables, and used by Jesus himself), it is the case with the kingdom as with the soils: there is varying receptivity to the word that is sown, and varying degrees of fruitfulness. The kingdom did not come in instantaneous and utterly effective division. It came slowly, with varying responses. Elsewhere we are told that this side of Jesus’s resurrection and exaltation, all authority in heaven and on earth is his: in other words, Jesus Christ reigns, even though we do not see everything and everyone cheerfully submitted to him.

To use the language of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, Jesus must reign until he has destroyed all his enemies, the last of those enemies being death itself. So all of the Father’s royal authority is now mediated through Christ: he reigns, even though his reign must be contested until the last enemy is destroyed. All of these images and passages (and there are many more) conjure up a picture of a kingdom already here, already operating, already inaugurated, still contested.

On the other hand, the seer John foresees a time when ‘[t]he kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever’ (Revelation 11.15), when the hosts of darkness face crushing defeat (Revelation 19.11-21); Paul announces a time when every knee will bow (Philippians 2.10-11). Many passages picture believers ‘inheriting’ the kingdom at the end.

There are pastoral implications to this running tension between the ‘already’-reigning kingdom and the ‘not yet’ kingdom. It has been plausibly argued that Corinthian believers were tempted by an over-realised eschatology: already they think of themselves as kings beginning their reign (1 Corinthians 4.8), and thus they have overlooked the call to suffer exemplified by the apostles themselves. By contrast, it appears that some Thessalonians, insufficiently grateful for the gospel blessings they had already received, and eagerly anticipating the coming of the future kingdom which they thought to be right around the corner, could stint on mundane responsibilities, don ascension robes, sit on a hill in California and sing Advent songs. There are negative repercussions to getting the balance of Scripture wrong. 

Learn more:

1. John Piper: Is the Kingdom Present or Future?
2. Sam Storms: The Kingdom of God: Already, but Not Yet Part 1, Part 2.
3. Tom Schreiner: The Now and the Not Yet (audio)

Related term:

• final judgment
• kingdom of God

Filed under Last Things

Do you have a term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.

Theological Term of the Week

communicable attributes
Those attributes of God that Heshares with humans, although in a limited way, such as his love, goodness, justice and knowledge; those attributes of God that are to be imitated in our lives.

• From scripture:

The LORD is good to all,

and his mercy is over all that he has made. (Psalm 145:9 ESV)

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:10 ESV)

 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. [11] Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:10-11 ESV)

• From Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem, God’s communicable attributes listed in five categories:

A. Attributes Describing God’s Being

1. Spirituality 

2. Invisibility 




B. Mental Attributes

3. Knowledge (or Omniscience)

4. Wisdom

5. Truthfulness (and Faithfulness) 




C. Moral Attributes

6. Goodness

7. Love

8. Mercy (Grace, Patience)

9. Holiness

10. Peace

11. Righteousness (or Justice)

12. Jealousy

13. Wrath





D. Attributes of Purpose

14. Will

15. Freedom

16. Omnipotence (or Power, and Sovereignty)




E. Summary Attributes

17. Perfection

18, Blessedness

19. Beauty

20. Glory

15. Freedom

16. Omnipotence (or Power, and Sovereignty)

Learn more:

1. Blue Letter Bible: What are the various ways in which God’s attributes are categorized?
2. Bruce Ware: Attributes of God: Communicable Attributes, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (audio)
3. Wayne Grudem: The Character of God - Communicable Attributes, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9 (audio) 
4. R. C. Sproul: Communicable Attributes (video)

Related term:

• incommunicable attributes
• goodness
• grace
• holiness
• love 
• mercy
• omnipotence
• omniscience
• righteousness 
• truthfulness
• wisdom of God
• wrath

Filed under God’s Nature and His Work

Do you have a term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.