College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

Matthew 13:51-53

C. THE APPRECIATION FOR AND USE OF ALL TRUTH

TEXT: 13:51-53

51 Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea. 52 And he said unto them, Therefore every scribe who hath been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.
53 And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

Why would Jesus ask His disciples whether they understood everything He had preached that day?

Do you think they really did understand? Perfectly or partially? If you think they only partially understood what He had been driving at, how would you explain their answer?

If you are convinced that they understood only partially, how would you explain Jesus-' immediate reaction to their affirmative answer? That is, He goes ahead with His discussion as if their answer were in some way representative of their actual situation.

Have you ever heard of a scribe who ever became a disciple to the Kingdom of God? Practically every scribe in the New Testament was hostile to Jesus. Is Jesus picturing a practical impossibility, as if He were speaking humorously of a Jewish rabbi's eating a ham sandwich on the wedding day of a Catholic priest? What is there about a scribe that makes Jesus-' illustration live for the disciples, and, at the same time, urges them to achieve everything implied in the images here presented?

What peculiar treasure possessed uniquely by a Christian scribe would so enrich him that he could share things old and new?

PARAPHRASE

Have you understood all these stories?
They answered Him, Yes, we have.
Then He continued, This is why every theologian who has trained in the disciplines of God's Kingdom, like the master of the house who can provide out of his stores what is new as well as what is old, can teach old, long-known truth as well as the most recent revelations.

SUMMARY

Before concluding the private session with His disciples, Jesus checks the disciples-' own comprehension of the lessons. Since they affirm some understanding of His meaning, He can set before them the advantages possessed by a Christian scholar and teacher.

NOTES

Matthew 13:51 Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea. Earlier (Matthew 13:10), the puzzled disciples had questioned the propriety of His parabolic procedure, since it tended to obscure, rather than reveal, truth. Here the Lord pushes them to re-examine their own previous evaluation, because of their now greater understanding both of His methodology and the message thus relayed to them. They confess the effectiveness of the method, The highest theological truths have just been imparted impartially to everyone by means of the simple, accessible story. These disciples must see that high-sounding theological jargon and dry, uninteresting lectures cannot stimulate the imagination nor fire the will nor challenge the mind -nor smite the conscience like well-planned, pointed illustrations.

The explanations Jesus gave of some of the parables doubtless provided insight into the meaning and application of the others. (Cf. on Mark 4:13 before Matthew 13:18 notes.) Thus, in this limited sense, the disciples could honestly answer affirmatively. Naturally, fuller perception of the deeper significance of all the parables awaited the disciples-' personal experience of the truths taught. Looking back on their positive answer that day, they must have smiled at how little they had really comprehended, so inadequate had been their ability to fathom their meaning or project into the future any clear outline of what the Kingdom might be or accomplish.

Matthew 13:52 Therefore (dià toûto),On the basis of your answer, i.e., because you have understood these truths presented in parabolic form, I can now take you one step further. As conceded before, the disciples-' subjective understanding was probably far below Jesus-' objective intentions. Nevertheless, the Lord does not bother at this point to chide any overconfidence evident in their words, because He wants them to arrive at another, higher point in their growth. And, if He succeeds in bringing them to that point, they will themselves fill in any gaps in their knowledge. He sets before them an ideal that, whether He ever inspired them with supernatural guidance or not, would make these men avid students of God's Word and lead them to heights of growth in holiness and wisdom they had probably hitherto imagined inaccessible except to the well-born or especially gifted.

The phrase, every scribe who has been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven, must have seemed to the disciples almost itself a contradiction, since at practically every point at which they came into contact with Jesus-' ministry, the scribes as a class had done everything in their power to hamper Jesus-' progress, and logically so, because His theological position so often collided with their own. (See notes on Matthew 2:4; Matthew 5:20; Matthew 7:29; Matthew 8:19; Matthew 9:2-3; Matthew 12:38 for a description both of their origin, position and relation to Jesus.) Despite their foibles, the scribes walked in the long shadow cast by one skilled scribe whose godliness and scholarship established a high, noble tradition: Ezra! (Cf. Ezra 7:6; Ezra 7:10)

He set his heart to study (what an engrossing, lifetime job!)

the law of the Lord (not merely oriental wisdom)

and to do it (how often a rare quality in theologians?)

and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel. (He labored not for his own good and glory, but for others.)

Other men whose gifts differ may serve God with their hands, but the ideal scribe loves and serves God specifically with his mind. (Jewish rabbis knew that the pursuit of the Law and earning a living and practical helpfulness are not mutually exclusive, the question being one of emphasis, of zeal to study and of preparedness to teach.)

Every scribe that amounts to anything in Jesus-' service must have been made a disciple. The scholar who, because of his relative achievements in the disciplines of the Kingdom of God, somehow forgets his parallel role as a DISCIPLE of Jesus, is a positive danger for all under his influence: he must never get to the point where he ceases to learn from the Lord! The disciple can become a scribe, but the scribe must never cease being a disciple with all the obedience and teachability that that word implies.

But when Jesus spoke of scribes, did He mean them as a class existent in His day, or is He speaking more generally?

A scribe specifically? If so, He means the typical Jewish rabbi already educated in the Law, when converted to Jesus-' view of the Kingdom, could make a tremendous contribution. Look at the excellent work of that budding rabbi Saul of Tarsus when once he became a disciple trained in the spirit and power of God's Kingdom! What a wealth of experience and knowledge of OT religion he brought to his service as a Christian Apostle!

A scribe generically? Any disciple, well-read in the Word of the Kingdom, would be able to function as a theological teacher, expounding the Word with understanding, clarity and authority. Is Jesus, because of the disciples-' theological training in His school, describing His men as God's servants at the level of rabbis? Does He mean that what the scribes were to the OT, the disciples would become to the Gospel? (Cf. Matthew 23:34)

If He intended the former, He could hope for very few applicants from that group (however, see Matthew 8:19!), but just to mention them fixes in the disciples-' mind an ideal of zealous students and defenders of God's Word and teachers of the people.

Even as a provident master of the house keeps a larder well stocked with vintage wines and cheeses, heirloom lace and silver, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables and freshly-slaughtered meat, to be served on recently acquired table service, so it is with the Christian scholar. His treasure is his own personal repository of information and experience, his mind and memory. (See on Matthew 12:35 for fuller notes on this psychological reality.) Any learning, acquired by special studies or gained through experience, which helps the Christian better to understand God, His Word and His creatures, is his treasure. Consider, then, how rich indeed must have been the experience, how thorough the education, of these very Apostles. Despite their lowly beginnings, their day-by-day experiences in the constant company of Jesus of Nazareth while learning at His feet were beginning to qualify them as scribes discipled for the Kingdom. Only the most spiritually insensitive could have shared what these Twelve experienced with Jesus without becoming zealous scholars and no mean teachers of the Word.

The bringing forth out of his treasure speaks of the altruistic and effective use of what is there, distributing according to the need. There can be no ever learning and never coming to the USE of the truth for the good of others. What, then, are the things new and old which this Christian OT scholar and teacher is to share?

Is Jesus still on the subject of parables considered as a didactic method? If so, the old refers to any previous knowledge of nature or human affairs or divine revelation that could be brought forth in the service of the Kingdom. Good parables require not only an observant eye, but also an intuitive discernment that sees in the old, familiar facts parallels with which to illustrate and communicate the new, unfamiliar ideas to be taught. As an educational methodology, the Lord's principle functions marvelously as it takes the mind of the hearer from the known to the unknown.

If, on the other hand, Jesus intends some more specific knowledge, then by old He points to the rich, many-sided revelations of God already given through patriarchs, Moses, the prophets, poets, kings and priests, precepts and statues, miracles and signs, which, taken together, were all intended to prepare Israel for her King, Jesus. The new, accordingly, is the Savior's teaching which leads to the proper understanding of the old and completes it. (Cf. Luke 24:25-27; Luke 24:32; Luke 24:44-48; 2 Timothy 3:15) In this sense, then, the Christian OT scholar not only appreciates the ancient Scriptures, because he reads them in a new light, that of Christ, but also because he grasps clearly the new revelations now unveiled by Jesus, he can share his bountiful treasure in a way that does honor to the Kingdom and enriches all whom he teaches. (Study 2 Timothy 3:14-17 in this connection; 1 Corinthians 10:11; Romans 15:4.)

So, the new and old are truths, as Lenski words it, not known or taught before or long known and often taught. Many conservatives in Jesus-' audience would have rejected the new, preferring the old. (Cf. Matthew 9:16-17; Luke 5:39) Other doctrinaire zealots of modernity would be tempted to despise the old in favor of the most recently revealed truth. But either choice would be equally folly, since it would involve severing ties with all the rich preparations for Christianity that old, long-known truth had made. While there was no more vigorous exponent of Christ's triumph over the Law than Paul, this scribe now a disciple for the Kingdom of God, like a wise householder, could bring forth the old, long-cherished, now priceless heirlooms of understanding, knowledge and experience out of the OT for the eternal enrichment of Christianity. The so-called Jewish Gospel of our author, Matthew, is another superb illustration of this tasteful, harmonious blending of the best of ancient Judaism in the service of NT revelation. The Epistles to the Romans, the Galatians and the Hebrews, as well as numerous sections in others, point up the glorious realization, in Christ and the Kingdom, of all the truly essential concepts not only of Mosaic religion, but of the patriarchal faith as well. This merely underscores again the fact that all that is really truth is of necessity old as well as new. Truth is ancient, because, being reality itself, it dates back to the foundation of reality, however long it had been overlooked by man because of his ignorance, neglect and sin. (Cf. Matthew 13:35) This is why it seems new when called to his attention. (Example: 1 John 2:7-8; 1 John 3:11; 2 John 1:6) Since the things old, here, are the things of God's Spirit, they never become obsolete, breathing forth a new freshness and vitality with each generation of new minds that sets itself to understand them.

Woe be to the Christian preacher or teacher whose life is so full of busy-work that he has no time to study the Old Testament! Those who have a grasp of Christ's message will be able, out of both new and old revelations of God's will, to treasure rightly all that is of value and utility and to share its treasures with others. Granted, the New Testament is the will of Christ for the Church, but who can pretend to be qualified to expound even this document, who is an ignoramus of the great 39-stone pyramidal foundation upon which the New Testament is built and of which it is the glorious capstone? Who can read with intelligence Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, Revelation, even Matthew, with a view to understand just these superb volumes, who has no time for Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel and a host of others? Will we ever grow to be able adequately to appreciate and properly use every truth, old or new, that God puts into our store?

Matthew 13:53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. For the trusting reader, unoverburdened with scholarly prejudices, this sentence obviously signals the final conclusion of Jesus-' great discourse, especially for the disciples listening in private to His explanations. But some modern scholars (e.g. of the Redaktions-geschichte school) suppose that this verse just cannot be a simple declaration of fact that Jesus simply finished this series of parables and left. They see it as a literary device of Matthew (whoever HE was!) whereby the five major sections of this Gospeli.e., Matthew 7:28; Matthew 11:1; Matthew 13:53; Matthew 19:1; Matthew 26:1are brought to an end. (See R.V.G. Tasker, The Nature and Purpose of the Gospels, 35.) But granted for sake of argument that Matthew, for theological purposes, includes some such sentence at the conclusion of the five major sections as asserted, what would that prove about their authentic historicity, i.e., about the objective reality that Jesus really concluded the particular message in question and left the scene for another destination? It is a false dichotomy to demand that such sentences be read EITHER historically OR theologically, when it is intellectually honest and possible to have it both ways. The deliberate bias that forces such a choice is the conclusion of some that the Gospel cannot be read as a simple, forthright historical statement where it makes historical declarations. Despite any supposed theological overtones in this verse (Matthew 13:53), the evidence for its probable authenticity as history is seen in these factors:

its naturalness as the conclusion of the event narrated, which, without it, would have been left suspended;

its true chronological relationship to the subsequent events recorded by Mark 4:35;

and in the greater incredibility of deception by Matthew. That is, if our author has deceived us about a simple conclusion to a sermon, upon what grounds would or could we trust him to speak truly about the resurrection, since they stand upon the same grounds for us; i.e., his testimony?

FACT QUESTIONS

What is a scribe? What was the relation of the scribal class to the nation of Israel? What was their usual response to Jesus?

In what does the scribe's position and preparation consist that makes him an especially valuable asset to the Kingdom once he has become a disciple of Jesus?

Identify the things new and old which the provident master of the house could bring forth from his treasure.

Now that you have seen the entire sermon in parables, discuss what Jesus taught about the Kingdom, its nature and its various aspects. When did it come, or when will it arrive? Who is to be in it? Who were called the sons of the Kingdom? Should we pray for it to come today? What importance did Jesus attach to the Kingdom in His teaching? How important did He say it should be to His listeners? In answering each of these questions, cite key words, or, if possible, the entire texts that illustrate your answers.

List as many parabolic figures as you can, that demonstrate the fact that the Bible does NOT necessarily mean the same thing every time it uses the same figurative expressions. To start you out, remember that the lion can be a symbol either for Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, or of Satan who walks around as a roaring lion. Sheep are symbols both of Jesus, God's Lamb, as well as the errant people of God. Now make your own list. Why? Because a lot of bad theology is built on mechanical use of Bible figures of speech: parables, allegories and similes.

When and in what way are some of the features of God's Kingdom, predicted in any of these parables, already in the process of being fulfilled, or are already complete?

What is proved about Jesus in this sermon?

THE GLORIOUS LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST

As seen in the great Sermon in Parables, Matthew 13

While one of the distinguishing characteristics of Jesus-' message is His absolute respect for human free-will, it should be equally clear to all that only He who is a true Lord can permit Himself this luxury! Only He who enjoys a position of true power could permit the following situations to exist:

In the Parable of the Sower and varying types of terrain, the great truth everywhere noticed is the absolute freedom of the individual who can actually accept or reject the Word of the Kingdom. This freedom to choose is also the freedom to become a rebel against God's good government, but Jesus knows that this is a worthwhile risk in view of the end He has in mind.

In the explanation of His own methodology (Matthew 13:10-17) to whom does Jesus entrust the tremendous truths that would bring about far-reaching revolutions in the world? To a Peter, or a Matthew! But who are they? Rustic peasants from the provinces! many would have sneered, A minimum of good sense would have dictated greater seriousness in choosing more qualified personnel, perhaps from the nobility, in order to propagate a message of such consequence! Nevertheless, only a truly powerful Lord can permit Himself to use weak men do His bidding, to show that the greatness of the power is not of them, but in His own majesty and might.

In the Parable of the Weeds, the Lord of the field confidently orders His servants regarding the Wheat and the Tares: Let them both grow together until the harvest; and at the time of the harvest I will say to the harvesters. Evil can remain in the world clear up to the judgment, and Jesus does not feel Himself at all menaced by this fact! He will have the last word. (Matthew 13:41)

In the Parables of the Mustard Seed and of the Leaven, Jesus promises that the Kingdom of the great God of heaven, Creator of the heavens and the earth, will have an insignificant beginning! We usually judge the success of a thing by the auspiciousness of its beginning. Therefore, how is it born? great and powerful? or weak and hidden off in a corner somewhere? One can measure the stellar distance that divided Jesus from the politicians of this world, on the basis of His brothers-' pushy advice; Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples may see the works you are doing. For no man works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. (John 7:3-4) Jesus, however, did not hesitate to describe His Kingdom as having a disappointingly unpromising birth. Further, He affirmed that its growth would be gradual, almost imperceptible, however sure. This was bad news for the public relations men who needed exciting material to make a sensational proclamation of the Kingdom; But this great Lord believes in truth in advertising, even if many customers refuse to buy, because He is a true Lord who can well afford to tell people just how it is and still expect them to respond.

In the Parables of the Hid Treasure and the Precious Pearl, Jesus even pictures His precious Kingdom and His priceless truth as being discovered by chance, quite accidentally, by a fortunate person. Worse yet, He permits His truth to be freely evaluated along with all the other truth and so-called realities of this world! How confident He is that the supreme value of His Kingdom will not only be apparent, but especially desirable above everything else!

Jesus teaches, further, so as to hide certain truths from people, and, paradoxically, this fact demonstrates His Lordship. It is easy to feel a tender compassion for those few dear ones bound to us sentimentally. Sometimes this causes us to express an impulsive kindness toward them which actually frustrate our intentions to help them and results in positive damage to their highest good later. But Jesus was not that way: seeing the true need of every single hearer in His audience, and because of His-' profound love for each one, He composed a message that met their need by hiding under the parabolic form those truths that would have only been distorted by them to their ruin.

It is obvious that, in hiding these truths from people, Jesus feels Himself in a strong enough position to be able to run the risk that they would never have discovered them later when the Apostles would have revealed them in their preaching.

And so it is that Jesus does not impose His regime on anyone-yet. However, only He who enjoys a strong position can permit Himself this luxury, in the sense that He is sure to have the last word and that His truth is the only definitive reality to be reckoned with. The humanist must ask himself at this point, What is the basis of this confidence of Jesusuncanny, political astuteness alone? Even an unbeliever could admit that Jesus acted in character as Lord, because only a true Lord could be patient enough to permit everyone the possibility to accept, or else reject, His Gospel.

WHAT DOES THIS GREAT SERMON REVEAL ABOUT JESUS?

JESUS WAS NO CHILD OF HIS TIMES, gathering up into one message the aspirations and philosophy of the Jewish people! Eder-sheim (Life, I, 597) reminds how un-Jewisheven anti-Jewishis Jesus-' teaching concerning the Kingdom. This point becomes immediately clear when we remember what Jesus did NOT say in this sermon, quite as much as what He did, A.B. Bruce (Training, 43) indicated that

The kingdom whereof Jesus was both King and Lawgiver was not to be a kingdom of this world; it was not to be here or there in space, but within the heart of man; it was not to be the monopoly of any class or nation, but open to all possessed of the requisite spiritual endowments on equal terms. It is nowhere said, indeed, in the sermon, that ritual qualifications, such as circumcision, were not indispensable for admission into the kingdom. But circumcision is ignored here, as it was ignored throughout the teaching of Jesus. It is treated as something simply out of place that cannot be dovetailed into the scheme of doctrine set forth; an incongruity the very mention of which would create a sense of the grotesque· How truly it was so anyone can satisfy himself by just imagining for a moment that among the Beatitudes had been found one running thus: Blessed are the circumcised, for no uncircumcised ones shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. This significant silence concerning the seal of the national covenant could not fail to have its effect on the minds of the disciples, as a hint at eventual antiquation.

If Bruce's observation regarding the Sermon on the Mount be proper, how much more is it true regarding the Sermon in Parables, where Jesus had every opportunity to sanction His favorite current in Jewish apocalyptic writing! In the light of His further declarations is it conceivable that He should ever have told the following parable? The Kingdom of heaven is like a great king who organized his followers into a strong army. Together they marched against a great city to destroy the wicked and establish there the throne of David. Having established the Kingdom by the overthrow of all his enemies, the king ordered the conquest of all surrounding countries until his vast empire covered the earth, guaranteeing thereby to himself and all Israel great wealth and happiness. All the uncircumcised were destroyed and their property was confiscated and distributed among the children of Abraham. If such an illustration seems out of place, if not inconceivable, then, with Edersheim (ibid.) we may ask: Whence this un-Jewish and anti-Jewish teaching concerning the Kingdom on the part of Jesus of Nazareth?

JESUS IS A GREAT PROPHET. In each of the parables some prediction is made relative to the (then) future character of the Kingdom:

In the parable of the Sower and Soils the varying responses to the Gospel is foreseen and explained.

In that of the Weeds the presence of evil in the Messianic Kingdom is accounted for and its final removal predicted.

In that of the Mustard Seed the extensive growth of the Kingdom from a small beginning is foreseen.

In that of the Yeast the intensive expansion of the Kingdom by the power of its inner vitality is fore pictured.

In that of the Hidden Treasure we see the prediction that the Kingdom's great value would be hidden from all but the fortunate ones who stumble onto it and sacrifice all to acquire it.

In that of the Pearl Merchant the presentation of the Kingdom-idea on the world market of ideas is predicted as well as its superlative value for those who diligently seek it to acquire it.

In that of the Dragnet the final separation of good and evil is promised.

Edersheim (Life, I, 597f) feels the force of this argument too:

Our second question goes still farther. For, if Jesus was not a Prophet,and, if a Prophet, then also the Son of Godyet no more strangely unexpected prophecy, minutely true in all its details, could be conceived, than that concerning His Kingdom which His parabolic description of it conveyed. Has not History, in the strange, unexpected fulfilling of that which no human ingenuity at the time could have forecast, and no pen have described with more minute accuracy of detail, proved Him to be more than a mere manOne sent from God, the Divine King of the Divine Kingdom, in all the vicissitudes which such a Divine Kingdom must experience when set up on earth?

Even if, as was suggested in the notes, an unbeliever who had taken Jesus-' earlier teaching seriously and studied its implications could have predicted that sooner or later Jesus would have arrived at some of these predictions implied in the parables, nevertheless the ring of divine certainty that we hear in Jesus-' voice would be absent from the merely astute political sage. A mere human would have to hedge his predictions with expressions qualifying their likelihood, like: If things turn out in a given way, then the following may be expected, etc. If not, then perhaps we will see some other phenomenon come to pass. Since Jesus just tells it like it is going to be, we must pronounce Him either mad, or an imposter, or a great prophet worthy of our deepest respect!

JESUS IS DIVINE LORD. It is especially fitting that, in the very parable dealing with the thorny problem of continued evil in the world despite the establishment of Christ's Kingdom in it, Jesus-' divinity also comes to the fore with a clarity equal to the seriousness of the evil.

The Son of man owns the field which is the world! (Matthew 13:24; Matthew 13:37)

Jesus is Lord of the judgment who can afford to wait until both good and evil are fully mature! (Matthew 13:30; Matthew 13:41)

My barn into which the righteous are gathered is none other than the Kingdom of God (Matthew 13:30; Matthew 13:43), but it was out of His (i.e., of the Son of man) Kingdom, that the evil-doers will have been cast! (Matthew 13:41)

The ministers of justice directly responsible for the final separation of the souls of men are His angels, i.e., of the Son of man. (Matthew 13:41)

Plummer (Matthew, 197) asks: Who is it that makes these enormous claims upon all mankind? Who is it that offers, to those who respond to the claims, such enormous rewards? Indeed, who?

SPECIAL STUDY: THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Perhaps the most important question affecting the interpretation of Matthew 13, is, To what aspect of the Kingdom of God does Jesus refer?. Unless this problem receives a proper answer, unnatural interpretations will be forced upon the stories He told to describe the Kingdom. The essential aspects of a kingdom are themselves multiple, consisting of a king, a territory over which he rules, his subjects, the constitutional expression of the king's will, and the boundaries, or limits, of citizenship in his kingdom. There may be other essentials perhaps, however this multiplicity of essentials forewarns us that, in order to reveal the full nature of His Kingdom, Jesus might make use of various parabolic illustrations to clarify the various features. A system so many-sided as God's Kingdom is just incapable of exhaustive treatment by a single illustration or symbol! If this were untrue, Jesus could have told one, all-inclusive parable and dismissed the crowds that day! (Matthew 13) Let us, therefore, begin by examining the concepts of the Kingdom of God which God had taught Israel to understand, because this instruction served as background for Jesus-' use of the same terminology.

GOD'S UNIVERSAL RULE

It would be instructive here to recall that God's Sovereignty over heaven and earth proceeds in an orderly manner since before the creation of the earth and man upon it. (Deuteronomy 4:32; Deuteronomy 4:39; Psalms 47:2; Psalms 47:7-8; Psalms 93; Psalms 95-97, 99; Isaiah 66:1-2) As Ruler, Judge, Sustainer and Creator of the universe, His Lordship is an eternal Sovereignty which He will surrender to none. (2 Kings 19:15-19; Psalms 83:18; Isaiah 54:5; Jeremiah 23:24; Zechariah 4:14; Zechariah 6:5; Zechariah 14:9; Matthew 11:25; 1 Corinthians 10:26; Revelation 11:4) In this sense, then, God has always reigned and always will. The Kingdom of God in this sense is nothing less than His eternal sovereignty over the universe and all it contains.

GOD'S KINGDOM OF ISRAEL

Nevertheless, there is also a sense in which God began to reveal a new expression of His rule on earth among men. This He initiated by establishing a convenantal agreement with Israel when He freed that nation from Egyptian slavery. (Exodus 19:6) Whereas in the civil legislation God had foreseen the desire for a human king for the orderly exercise of kingdom (Deuteronomy 17:14-20), God Himself remained tacitly the real Ruler of Israel, as also of the rest of the world. (1 Samuel 8:7-8; 1 Samuel 10:19; 2 Samuel 23:3) The political principle is true even here: the king-maker is really king, for God remained Sovereign over the monarchs of Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:15: You may indeed set as king over you him whom the Lord your God will choose.) And every time those kings forgot the sovereignty of God, they and the whole nation of Israel paid the price of their insubordination.

Nevertheless, all the development of the Kingdom of God in Israel has as its final purpose the readying of a people through whom the coming of God's Anointed might enlarge the bounds of God's earthly rule so as to embrace all men, Predictions picturing this new expression of God's rule began to fork out in two directions:

God Himself is coming to earth to rule over Israel. (Zechariah 2:10-11; Zechariah 8:3; Zechariah 9:9; Zechariah 11:12-13; Zechariah 12:10; Zechariah 14:3-4; Zechariah 14:9) He will do this through His suffering Servant and Shepherd. (Zechariah 13:7; Malachi 2:17 to Malachi 3:2, Malachi 3:5; Malachi 4:3) He would be born as a child upon whose shoulders the government would rest and whose titles, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace, identify him as truly Immanuel, God with us (Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 40:9-11; Isaiah 42:1-4)

During the last of the great world empires, God, who continues to rule in the affairs of men, would set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor its sovereignty be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand for ever. (Daniel 2:44) The Anointed King over the Kingdom of God would be one

coming with the clouds of heaven like a son of man to the Ancient of Days. and to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall never pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed,. and the time came when the saints received the kingdom.. And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. (Daniel 7:13-14; Daniel 7:22; Daniel 7:28)

This Kingdom of God, thus, is to be an empire that would surpass the glory of all preceding ones, and, whereas the Kingdom of God in Jewish thought had been limited to Israel, it now becomes increasingly clear that God's design includes the whole world in its scope. (Daniel 2:35)

So, within Israel and beyond it, among the nations of the world, God's Kingdom would grow, wherever His rule be acknowledged or makes itself effectively felt. A Son of David, yet David's Lord (Psalms 110:1; 2 Samuel 7:11-16) would reign over God's Kingdom, yet not over Israel alone, but growing out of Israel, His authority would extend over the last man on earth. (Cf. Psalms 18:50; Psalms 117:1; Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 49:6)

As is evident from this briefest of sketches, the Kingdom of God is an expression which was already a complex subject before Jesus ever used it with the original hearers of this great sermon in parables. If any simplistic application of that expression to a limited phase of God's rule would have missed Jesus-' meaning, i.e., were a Jewish listener to have applied the message of Jesus in any given parable to, say, the nation of Israel exclusively, he would have totally misunderstood the Lord, to what extent would we blunder, were we to assume that the Kingdom of God must always refer exclusively to the Church?

EVIDENCES THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND THE CHURCH ARE NOT STRICTLY SYNONYMOUS NOT TO BE STRICTLY IDENTIFIED

In the overall picture presented by the parables it must be admitted that in the Parables of the Mustard Seed and of the Leaven, of the Hid Treasure and of the Precious Pearl, Jesus seems to be talking about the effective growth of the Church in the world, as well as about her surpassing value because of the truth she proclaims. Nevertheless, even this much precision of identification is modified by emphases evident in other parables:

THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER AND SOILS. If it be legitimately assumed that this entire parable pictures the inauguration of the Kingdom of God in the world as well as its continued progress through the proclamation of the Gospel throughout the world, then it may be said that the true Church is represented by the good soil alone; those who fall from grace, by the rocky and thorny soil. But the way-side soilor the indifferent individual,is also part of the total picture of God's Kingdom, in the sense that the Gospel of grace was offered to him too, but he turned it down, not really caring to understand it. In the final judgment, not specifically mentioned by this parable, he will be among the evil who will not be saved (Luke 8:12), a detail that is, however, covered by other parables. Nevertheless, this non-church member was ever under God's control or Kingdom.

THE PARABLE OF THE WEEDS. The Kingdom is compared to the whole picture of a man who sowed good seed in his field, in which also his enemy sowed weeds. (Matthew 13:24)

The good seed are the sons of the Kingdom, the true Church, the saints. But they are only a portion of the total picture of God's government which includes the field, the sower(s), the reapers, the concerned servants, the harvest. God reigns over the whole situation, not permitting anyone the right of precipitate and final judgment. His Kingship is over more than just the sons of the Kingdom, since His Word governs also those who would destroy the wicked. His gracious and sagacious determination to let them grow together until the harvest permits time for the wicked to become sons of the Kingdom, and for the sons of the Kingdom to mature.

The harvest is intended not merely to destroy non-church members, but to gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evil-doers. Since God's Kingdom includes the Church, wicked men will be removed from the Church too, but since the Kingdom is larger than the Church and includes the world also, the final separation will snatch all the sons of the devil from every quarter, be they in the world or in the Church.

Should we interpret the Kingdom as precisely equal to the Church, this parable could not but forbid church discipline, inasmuch as the order to let them grow together until the harvest would effectively prohibit any congregation of the Church to drive out the wicked person from among you. (Cf. 1 Corinthians 5:13) It would also force the saints to associate with immoral men. who bear the name of brother. (1 Corinthians 5:9; 1 Corinthians 5:11; Matthew 18:15-18; 2 Thessalonians 3:6 ff, 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15)

THE PARABLE OF THE DRAGNET The Kingdom is again compared to an instrument which gathers together men of every moral condition, the righteous and evil alike. Again, as in the Parable of the Weeds, the separation of the good and bad is pictured as the work of God's angels. The impression is left by the parable, although not specifically stated, that the net made one great sweep of the sea, inexorably taking with it all the fish therein, leaving none unnetted. Then, after the fishermen had separated the catch, there is no mention of further fishing to bring in those fish not previously caught. If this be important, then the implication is that the Kingdom of God includes the whole world in its scope, ruling over both Christians and non-Christians alike. The final judgment will distinguish them. Again, the Kingdom-net is greater in scope that either the Church-fish or the world-fish.

THE PARABLE OF THE POUNDS (Luke 19:11-27). The kingly authority of the nobleman included even those citizens who hated him, who proved to be his enemies, because they did not want him to reign over them.

There could be other Kingdom-parables, but let us now examine.

THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST

As promised in the prophecies, in the days of the Roman empire there arose in Israel in the person of Jesus of Nazareth a royal heir to David's throne who set in motion the very principles which would guarantee the success of God's government on earth. Eventually, the message He proclaimed and the movement He inaugurated developed into a reasonably well-trained corps of genuine disciples ready to evangelize the world. But this is not yet the Church, for that will be OFFICIALLY inaugurated on Pentecost. But first we must see.

THE EVIDENCES OF THE PRESENCE OF THE KINGDOM BEFORE PENTECOST:

The announcement: Repent for the Kingdom of God has arrived, when made either by John the Baptist, Jesus or His disciples-' preaching, is always expressed in the perfect tense, i.e., expressed as a fact that has taken place in the more or less recent past and its effect continues until the present time, It is always expressed by èngiken: Mark 1:15; Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; Matthew 10:7; [cf. Luke 9:2] Luke 10:9; Luke 10:11; [cf. Luke 9:60].

Jesus continually announced the good news of the Kingdom of God from the very outset of His earthly ministry. (Matthew 4:23; Matthew 9:35; Matthew 13:19; Luke 8:1)

Since the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and men of violence take it by force. (biàzetai, see on Matthew 11:12; Luke 16:16) There must be some sense in which, even in the days of Jesus-' ministry before the cross, that these words are true.

Jesus-' miracles evidence the reality of the Kingdom of God come upon you. (Matthew 12:28; Luke 11:20; éfthasen ef humâs: arrived clear up to you, overtook you, has already reached you, cfr. Rocci, 1952; Arndt-Gingrich, 864) The defeat of Satan and his demons is evidence, says Jesus, that the Kingdom of God is not merely on its way, but, rather, evidence in every demoniac's deliverance, that God's royal government has already arrived. In fact, the defeat of Satan must actually precede the plundering of his house in the sense that God's Kingdom must have already been manifest before the demonized could be freed as Jesus Himself was liberating them. (Matthew 12:29)

To hear with understanding the message of Jesus preached in Galilee is to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 13:11; Matthew 13:19; Luke 8:10) Although such explanations could well be given before the actual inception of the Kingdom, the disciples themselves were even then witnesses to the actual functioning of the Word of the Kingdom, the Word of God in men's hearts. (Cf. Matthew 13:16; Matthew 13:19; Luke 8:11)

The Kingdom consists of such as are like children in Jesus-' day. (Matthew 18:1-4; Matthew 19:14; contrast Mark 10:14-15 with Mark 10:23-25) Publicans and harlots precede you (Pharisees and lawyers) into the kingdom of God, because John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and harlots believed him. (Matthew 21:31-32; cfr. Luke 7:28-30) The Kingdom is the possession, says Jesus, of those who grasped its fundamental message. (Cf. Mark 12:34; Luke 6:20; Matthew 5:3; Matthew 5:10; Luke 12:31-32; Luke 18:16-17) Is it conceivable that some people understood this and so entered into this new relationship with God before Pentecost?

The scribes and Pharisees before Pentecost shut the Kingdom of heaven in men's faces, not entering yourselves, you forbid the ones who are entering to do so. (oudè toùs eiserchoménous afiete eiseltheîn) Were there some actually in the process of entering the Kingdom before the cross? (toùs eiserchoménous)

The Kingdom is not coming with observation, i.e., in such a way that its rise can be observed, because, Take note, the Kingdom of God is:

within you, i.e., inward or spiritual, not material, in nature;

or, among you, i.e., already present in the personal presence of God's Messianic King Jesus, standing in front of the Pharisees. (Luke 17:20-21; cf. John 18:36: My Kingdom is not of this world.)

Sons of the Kingdom existed before Pentecost, because they had already left (afêken) possessions and loved ones for the sake of the Kingdom of God. (Luke 18:29; cf. Matthew 19:29; Mark 10:29 for my name's sake, for my sake and for the gospel)

None of the foregoing statements, of course, must ever be thrown into conflict with the even clearer descriptions of the external and formal realization of the Kingdom of God on earth in the Church. In fact, until the King is on His throne, there can be no formal Kingdom, however many are the loyal supporters who swear and prove their loyalty to Him by acts of service rendered even before His coronation. Further, whatever special problems arose in Jesus-' earthly ministry and found their solution in the on-the-spot decisions of the King-designate, these solutions must be interpreted in the light of the King's constitutional law, once His will is ratified at His formal ascension to the throne and that will is now expressed through His new covenant with His people.
A mistaken application arising out of a misunderstanding of this evidence for the real existence of the Kingdom during, and expressed by, the personal ministry of Jesus, is that fostered by the faith-only branch of Christendom which urges, on the basis of examples of salvation of single individuals simply pronounced by Jesus, that such examples remain normative for the Church also after the personal ministry of Jesus, after Pentecost. They deny, thus, to baptism any relationship to salvation, simply because Jesus did not apparently require it for the salvation of any of these personal converts. (This is, of course, arguing from silence, since no faith-only teacher can prove that even one of these people had never been immersed by Jesus-' disciples,) This rite, however, being a term of pardon expressed in the ratified will of the King upon the formal establishment of His Kingdom at Pentecost, is normative and universally to be required of believers to express their obedience, on the basis of which they too will be saved, It should be noted that, even thus, the terms of pardon in the Kingdom are unchanged, ever the same in every age since the time of Abel's offering: faith and obedience to whatever God requiresfirstfruits, an ark, blood on the doorposts, the offering up of Isaac, looking at a serpent on a pole, being baptized, whatever God requires. This is why Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets and righteous men from the four corners of earth's geography and history are in the Kingdom of God, because they faithfully obeyed what was required of them in their historic situation. (Matthew 8:11-12; Luke 13:28-29) And THIS is the Kingdom.

THE INAUGURATION DATE OF THE KINGDOM

In very precise language, Jesus established the date for the inauguration of God's Kingdom on earth:

The preparation for the Kingdom was made by John the Baptist, Jesus and His Apostles. (Matthew 3:2; Matthew 9:35; Matthew 10:7; Matthew 11:11-12; Matthew 12:28; Matthew 21:31; Luke 4:43; Luke 10:9; Luke 10:11;

The Kingdom was to begin during the personal absence of Jesus. (Matthew 26:29; Luke 22:16; Luke 22:18 all in connection with John 14:16-18; John 14:25-28; John 16:4-7; Acts 1:3; cf. Luke 19:11-12; Luke 19:15)

The Kingdom was to begin during the lifetime of the Apostles themselves. (Matthew 16:19; Matthew 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27)

The Kingdom was to begin just a few days after the suffering, resurrection and ascension of Jesus into heaven. (Cf. Matthew 17:9; Luke 19:11-12; Luke 24:46-49; Acts 1:6; cf. Luke 22:16; Luke 22:18? Matthew 26:29?)

The Kingdom was preached throughout the world during the apostolic ministry as a realized fact even then in existence. (Matthew 24:14 [= Colossians 1:6; Colossians 1:23]; Acts 8:12; Acts 19:8 ff; Acts 20:25; Acts 28:23; Acts 28:31; 2 Thessalonians 1:4-5?)

Christ now reigns in His Kingdom. (Matthew 28:18-20; Matthew 13:37-43; 1 Corinthians 15:24-25; Colossians 1:13; 1 Thessalonians 2:12?; Revelation 1:6; Revelation 1:9; Hebrews 1:8) He shall reign until The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 11:15; Revelation 12:10)

HARMONIZATION OF THE TWO CONCEPTS

Thus far, we have the Kingdom of God as manifested in His universal government, and we have the Church sometimes thought of as an expression of His Kingdom. Someone might object: But if the Kingdom of God is everything, what is the use for the Church then? Edersheim (Life, I, 269) answers:

The Kingdom of God, or Kingly Rule of God, is an objective fact. The visible Church can only be the subjective attempt at its outward realization, of which the invisible Church is the true counterpart.

Ideally, then, the Church of Jesus Christ is nothing less than a colony of the Kingdom of God on earth. (Cf. Philippians 3:20) Christ's true congregation (ekklesìa) consists of those who submit to the rule of the King. Anyone else is a rebel against our Sovereign's government while camping on His land and taking ungrateful advantage of His benevolence. Also, because of the prevalence of evil in the world and its corruption even of people who have formally sworn allegiance to become subjects of the King, the boundary lines of the Kingdom are only imperfectly represented by the church-membership rolls.

The definition, which harmonizes these concepts, then, and explains how the great Kingdom of God is to be found in the heart of the Church and how anyone in the Church is a citizen of the Kingdom, is included in the following observations: The Kingdom is the total replacing of self with the will of God, even to the point of losing our lives in the service of God, losing all that matters of our lives. All that we could amass is bound up in our life, so Jesus urges us to give up our lives to receive what God would give us in its place. While our faith is important because it does things for God, it finds its highest value in what it is willing to receive from God. (Luke 12:32 in its context!) This is a blow to man's pride, but the Kingdom is entered by self-renunciation and is often resisted by self-assertion. Asceticism, per se, is not submission to the King, because it may be nothing but a willful abuse of the gifts intended to be pressed into His service, and becomes but another form of self-assertion. Finally, the ultimate rebellion against the Kingdom is the demand for self-rule, motivated by self-interest, to arrive at self-complacency. But God's Kingdom is not His power over the material world manipulated for our advantage, but primarily God's control over our wills for His advantage. This is the Kingdom, and the reason why many Church members are not in it.

SUMMARY

Edersheim's helpful summary bears restudy. (Life, I, 269ff; see his work also for Jewish views of the Kingdom.) His analysis of 119 passages in the NT where the expression Kingdom occursto which have been added eight more, shows that it means:

THE RULE OF GOD: Matthew 6:33; Matthew 12:28; Matthew 13:38; Matthew 19:24; Matthew 21:31; (Matthew 22:1); Mark 1:14; Mark 10:15; Mark 10:23-25; Mark 12:34; Luke 1:33; Luke 4:43; Luke 9:11; Luke 10:9-10; Luke 11:20; Luke 12:31; Luke 17:20-21; Luke 18:17; Luke 18:24-25; Luke 18:29; John 3:3; (John 18:36); Acts 1:3; Acts 8:12; Acts 20:25; Acts 28:31; Romans 14:17; 1 Corinthians 4:20; Colossians 4:11; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; Revelation 1:6; Revelation 1:9.

WHICH WAS MANIFESTED IN AND THROUGH CHRIST: Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; Matthew 4:23; Matthew 5:3; Matthew 5:10; Matthew 9:35; Matthew 10:7; Mark 1:15; Mark 11:10; Luke 8:1; Luke 9:2; Luke 16:16; Luke 19:12; Luke 19:15; (John 18:36); Acts 1:3; Acts 28:23; Hebrews 1:8; Revelation 1:9.

IS APPARENT IN THE CHURCH: Matthew 11:1; Matthew 13:41; Matthew 16:19; Matthew 18:1; Matthew 21:43; Matthew 23:13; (Matthew 26:29?); (Mark 14:25?); Luke 7:28; (Luke 22:16; Luke 22:18?); John 3:5; (John 18:36); Acts 1:3; Colossians 1:13; Revelation 1:6; Revelation 1:9.

GRADUALLY DEVELOPS AMIDST HINDRANCES: Matthew 11:12; Matthew 13:11; Matthew 13:19; Matthew 13:24; Matthew 13:31; Matthew 13:33; Matthew 13:44-45; Matthew 13:47; Matthew 13:52; Matthew 18:23; Matthew 20:1; Matthew 22:2; Matthew 25:1; Matthew 25:14; Mark 4:11; Mark 4:26; Mark 4:30; Luke 8:10; Luke 9:62; Luke 13:18; Luke 13:20; (John 18:36); Acts 1:3; Revelation 1:6; Revelation 1:9.

IS TRIUMPHANT AT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST (the end): Matthew 16:28; (sic!); Mark 9:1 (sic!); Mark 15:43; Luke 9:27(sic!); Matthew 19:11; Matthew 21:31; Matthew 22:16; Matthew 22:18; (John 18:36); Acts 1:3; 2 Timothy 4:1; Hebrews 12:28; Revelation 1:9. (See the special study The Coming of the Son of Man, Vol. II, 430ff, for my dissent from Edersheim's interpretation.)

AND, FINALLY, PERFECTED IN THE WORLD TO COME: (Hebrews 2:5) Matthew 5:19-20; Matthew 7:21; Matthew 8:11; Matthew 13:43; Matthew 18:3; Matthew 25:34; Matthew 26:29(?); Mark 9:47; Mark 10:14; Mark 14:25(?); Luke 6:20; Luke 12:32; Luke 13:28-29; Luke 14:15; Luke 18:16; Luke 22:29 (30); (John 18:36); Acts 1:3; Acts 14:22; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1 Corinthians 15:24; 1 Corinthians 15:50; Galatians 5:21; Ephesians 5:5; 2 Thessalonians 1:5; (2 Timothy 4:18); Js. Matthew 2:5; 2 Peter 1:11; Revelation 1:9; Revelation 12:10; (Matthew 11:15).

These conclusions may be represented graphically in the following way:

THE KINGDOM OF GOD BEFORE CHRIST

Romans 3:29

God's Kingdom rules over the entire earth and all humanity, Jews and Gentiles alike. (2 Kings 19:15; Daniel 4:2; Daniel 4:17; Daniel 4:25; Daniel 4:32-35; Daniel 6:26; Jeremiah 10:7; Jeremiah 10:10; Jeremiah 27:5; Isaiah 43:13; Psalms 22:28; Psalms 47:2; Psalms 47:7-8; Psalms 95:6; Psalms 96:10; Psalms 103:19; Malachi 1:14) However, within national Israel, there was always a remnant of believers who acknowledge God's rule. (Cf. 1 Chronicles 17:14; 1 Chronicles 28:5; Romans 9:6-8; Galatians 3:7-9; Galatians 3:29; Luke 2:25; Luke 2:38; Luke 3:8-9; Luke 13:16; Luke 19:9; Luke 23:51; Isaiah 1:9; Isaiah 4:3; Isaiah 10:20 f; Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 11:16)

THE KINGDOM OF GOD BEFORE PENTECOST

Romans 4:16

In the time of the last world empire God set up a worldwide Kingdom under the rule of the Son of man, a Kingdom of the saints, the spiritual throne of David. (Cf. Daniel 2:35; Daniel 2:44; Daniel 7:13-14; Daniel 7:28; John 18:36; Luke 1:32-33; Acts 2:30-36) But the Messianic King arose from within Israel, not from the pagan world. (Matthew 15:24)

THE KINGDOM OF GOD AFTER PENTECOST UNTIL JUDGMENT

While God controls the entire world, yet by His permissive will men are permitted to choose good or evil. Most choose evil to remain in it, while a minority choose to enter that subjective expression of God's Kingdom, the Church. (Matthew 13:24-30; Matthew 13:47-48; John 3:3-5; 1 Corinthians 1:18 to 1 Corinthians 2:16; 1 Corinthians 3:18-23; Colossians 1:13)

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN ETERNITY AFTER JUDGMENT

1 Corinthians 15:24-28

(Zechariah 14:9; Daniel 7:22; Daniel 7:27; Matthew 13:40-43; Matthew 13:49-50; Revelation 1:5; Revelation 11:15; Revelation 15:3)

The first thing to notice about each of these diagrams is the solid line of the Kingdom of God around every single diagram: God is ALWAYS on the throne! The next thing to observe in the first three diagrams is the broken line surrounding the world within the Kingdom of God, the dotted line of evil, because the whole world lies in the evil one, but only by the permissive will of a sovereign God who has the last word. (1 John 5:19) But the third thing to notice is crucial: within the evil world God has established a beachhead: spiritual Israel = the Church today. The fourth detail is the final and permanent separation of all evil doers into one place reserved for them: even Hell is positive proof of the power and reality of God's government. Note, contemporaneously, the glorious revelation of the people of God enjoying the perfect rule of the eternal Kingdom of God.

For further notes on the Kingdom and the great sermon in parables, see especially Seth Wilson's Special Study, Mark (Bible Study Textbook Series, pp. 499-506: What the Kingdom is Like and Treasures of the Kingdom) and R.C. Foster's Middle Period, pp. 79ff.

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