Last week we discussed the fact that Paul rarely mentions the kingdom of God in his letters (read part 1 here), which is a problem precisely because this happens to be the central theme of Jesus’ whole earthly message. The natural question that arises from this problem is, why does Paul use the phrase “kingdom of God” so rarely?
In order to understand the problem one must first understand a little bit about the cultural climate in which Paul lived. The Roman Empire, in Jesus and Paul’s day, controlled everything from Spain in the west to the Arabian Peninsula in the east. Each territory of the Roman Empire was ultimately under the rule of the Caesar who appointed Governors to ensure order was maintained throughout the Empire. These governors were famous for using their vast military might to crush uprisings with brute force. Any hint of an uprising or any question of who the real ruler of the Empire was and the Governor was likely to squash you and your group with swift and decisive action. These were the likely events that surrounded Jesus’ own crucifixion, of which Jesus’ followers were all too familiar. Even Paul, who was not one of Jesus’ followers at the time of his death but who claims to have seen the resurrected Jesus (Gal 1:11-17; 1 Cor 9:1; 1 Cor 15:8-11), knew what happened when someone was proclaiming the coming of a new kingdom with a new king. It would follow then that Paul, cognizant of his surroundings, would have taken care not to write anything that might be intercepted and traced back to him as some kind of clarion call to begin a battle against Rome and inaugurate a new kingdom. Furthermore, Paul was often writing to a mixed Jewish and Gentile audience. It is likely that the Gentile audience would not have understood a discussion of the kingdom of God in the way that Paul would have intended it, and so in most instances, Paul refrains from talking about the kingdom of God. The question remains though, did Paul know anything about Jesus’ kingdom message?
Click below to continue reading.
