KINGDOM OF GOD. — A biblical expression bearing a twofold meaning, abstract and concrete: God’s dominion or lordship, and the territory or society in which such lordship or principality is exercised. This corresponds to the twofold use of the term βασιλεία already in classical Greek: “kingship,” dignity, royal power and, by derivation, “kingdom,” territory. The Hebrew words which the Septuagint rendered by βασιλεία have a rather abstract meaning (“kingship”; cf. G. von Rad, Βασιλεία, in Alt. Test., in Theol. Wört. zum Neuen Test., I, Stuttgart 1932, p. 569).
In the Old Testament, the expression “K. of G.” or the equivalent “your, his, my kingdom,” referring to God, is found rarely: in Tob. 13:1; Dan. 3:54, 100; Ps. 144 (145):11, 12, 13; Ps. 102 (103):19; 21 (22):29 (“the kingdom is the Lord’s”; a similar expression in Abd. 21), Wis. 6:4 (kings are ministers of God’s royal authority; the reference is uncertain in ibid. 10:10). The idea, however, that God is king permeates the whole Bible. God is king of all the earth (Ps. 46 [47]:3, 8). He reigns over all the nations (ibid. 9; 95 [96]:10). The kingship of Yahweh is celebrated in very ancient psalms (e.g., 23 [24]:7-8). An entire group of psalms (95-98 [96-99]) exalts the kingship of Yahweh. The idea of such kingship cannot be connected with a feast (of pre-exilic origin) of Yahweh’s enthronement (the theory of S. Mowinckel), nor with an annual feast of the Covenant (the theory of M. Weiser).
The K. of G. is promised for the future: God will reign from Zion, in restored Israel (Is. 24:23; 52:7; Dan. 7:14; Ps. 2; 71 [72]; 109 [110]); “the idea of the divine Kingdom fits perfectly into the messianic perspective” (J. Bonsirven).
In the mouth of Jesus, K. of G. (called by Matthew “Kingdom of heaven,” in conformity with Jewish usage) has the predominant sense of sovereignty, but also the concrete sense of a Kingdom as a society. The Kingdom is interior and at the same time social, both present and future.
The K. of G. is realized in various stages. “The K. of G. is here”: Mk. 1:15 (rather than “is near”; cf. J. Bonsirven, Les enseignements de Jésus Christ, Paris 1946, p. 43). By this (cf. also Lk. 10:9; 11:20) Jesus announces, and has his disciples announce, that the Kingdom has already come: it is already in the midst of the people (Lk. 17:21). Yet it is also a reality in the process of becoming, which continually
must be realized (ibid. 11:2: “may your Kingdom come”);
Mt. 13: the parables of the Kingdom presuppose a future
and gradual expansion of the K. of G.: the growth of the good
seed, the penetration of the leaven, the mustard seed that
becomes a tree; cf. Mk. 4:26-29: seed that germinates
and grows without man’s knowledge).
The Kingdom will have a definitive, final phase of
reward (Mt. 25:34: prepared for the elect; ibid. 13:43
and 26:29: the Kingdom of the Father). The definitive phase
of the Kingdom will be inaugurated with the coming of the
Son of Man (v. PA-
RUSIA; cf. Mt. 16:28; Lk. 9:27; Jerusalem).
The K. of G., in the three phases described, is spiritual and
interior, and at the same time external or social. It is spiritual
because of the conditions necessary for entering it (Mt. 4:17; Mk. 10,
15: receiving the Kingdom like a child, in order to enter it),
because of the doctrinal aspect that it assumes (word of the
Kingdom, Mt. 13:19: “mystery of the Kingdom,” Mk. 4:11),
because of its inseparability from the goods of salvation that it
procures, or rather in which it consists (M. Meinertz, Theologie
des Neuen Testamentes, I, Bonn 1950, pp. 39-56): forgiveness
of sins, liberation or salvation, redemption, divine sonship, new
life, perfection of life in the future vision of God. These are goods
of a spiritual order, not of a temporal or national order (M. Meinertz,
ibid., p. 52 ff.), although intended first of all for the chosen people.
The universality of the K. of G. is intimately connected with
its spirituality; it appears, however, more clearly in the external
or social aspect of the Kingdom.
The Kingdom is also a society: Jesus, Church (v.), gives the keys of the K. of G. to Peter (Mt. 16:19),
and describes the Kingdom as a collective body of good and
wicked men (the parable of the weeds: ibid. 13:24-30 and 36-43),
as a banquet to which all are invited (ibid. 22:1-10).
The K. of G. and the Church cannot simply be identified (M.
Meinertz, ibid., p. 70): but since the Kingdom is at once
present and future, and already operates in the present age,
only the Church can be the bearer of the Kingdom. The relations
between the Kingdom and the Church may be expressed (with
Y. de La Brière [V. BIBLICA.], col. 1248) as follows:
the Church constitutes the K. of G. under its external
and social aspect, brings about the Kingdom in its interior
aspect, and prepares it in its eschatological, heavenly aspect.
The genuine doctrine of Jesus concerning the Kingdom, as it
emerges from the texts, has been distorted both by the “liberal
school,” according to which Jesus preached a present but merely
interior kingdom, and by the eschatologists, according to whom
Jesus had in view only the Kingdom at the end of time, preaching
an apocalyptic messianism and deceiving himself regarding the
imminent coming of the Kingdom (F. M. Braun, Jésus, histoire
et critique, Paris-Tournai 1947, p. 85). Recently, however,
Protestant critics too have tended to acknowledge both the future
character of the Kingdom (and of the Church), denied by the
liberal school, and its present aspect, denied by the eschatological
school; they perceive between the Church and the Kingdom a
relationship of mutual belonging.
The K. of G., the object of primitive catechesis (cf.
Acts 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31; texts concerning the preaching
of St. Paul), has little prominence in the Pauline letters:
for the most part it appears as a good belonging to the times
of consummation (as an inheritance, I Cor. 6:9-10; 15:50;
Gal. 5:21); yet it has already begun, because Paul and others
are laboring for it (Col. 4:11). The K. of G. is identified with
the Kingdom of Christ (M. Meinertz, op. cit., II, pp. 109 ff.,
159), began with Jesus, and has its visible manifestation in
the Church (ibid., p. 234). In St. John, the K. of G., which
had occupied a fundamental place in the Synoptic tradition,
is mentioned only twice (Jn. 3:3, 5, where the eschatological
emphasis is not absent); it has its equivalent in the concept
of “Life” (M. Meinertz, ibid., pp. 282, 316).
BIBL. I M.-J. Lagrange, Le Royaume de Dieu dans l’Ancien
Test. in Rev. bibl., 17 (1908), pp. 36-61; Y. de la Brière, Eglise,
in DFC, 1 (1911), coll. 1210-1301; J. B. Frey, Royaume de
Dieu, in DB, V (1912), coll. 1237-57; K. L. Schmidt, Βασιλιάς,
in Theol. Wörterb. zum Neuen Test., I, Stuttgart 1932, pp. 582-92;
A. Médebielle, Eglise, in DBs, II (1934), coll. 403-99,
514-36; F. M. Braun, Nuovi aspetti del problema della Chiesa,
Brescia 1943, passim, especially p. 155; L. Cerfaux, La théol. de
l'Eglise suivant et Paul, Paris 1948; M. Meinertz, Das Gottes-
reich, in Theol. des Neuen Test., I, Bonn 1950, pp. 27-146 (espe-
cially pp. 27-38, 56-69, 69-79); H. J. Kraus, Die König-
herrschaft Gottes im Alt. Test., Tübingen 1951; J. Bonsirven,
Règne de Dieu, Messianisme, in Theol. du Noar. Test., Paris
1951, pp. 55-71.