095-Prop. 92. This Kingdom is not what some call the Gospel Kingdom.
Prop. 92. This Kingdom is not what some call “the Gospel Kingdom.”
HAVING MET WITH THE PHRASE “GOSPEL KINGDOM” IN WRITINGS, AND HAVING HEARD IT FROM THE PULPIT, THIS FAVORITE EXPRESSION OF SOME MAY REQUIRE A FEW REMARKS. BY THE PHRASE IS EVIDENTLY MEANT EITHER THIS DISPENSATION OR THE CHURCH OR RELIGION, OR THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL. IT IS A PHRASE OF HUMAN COINAGE, NOWHERE FOUND IN THE BIBLE, AND IS INCORRECT WHEN APPLIED TO THE PRESENT TIME. THE GOSPEL IS GOOD NEWS, GLAD TIDINGS CONCERNING THE KINGDOM. HENCE THE PHRASE IS NEVER FOUND IN THE WRITINGS OF CAREFUL AUTHORS.
Obs. 1. It is strongly corroborative that the language of the Bible falls in so accurately with our line of argument. We read of “the Gospel of the Kingdom,” seeing that the Gospel itself has no power to produce the Kingdom, but is simply preliminary to it, designed to call the elect, who become “heirs” of the Kingdom. A writer (Proph. Times, 1873, p. 105) makes a distinction between “the Gospel of the grace of God” and “the Gospel of the Kingdom of God,” which appears, in some respects, to be well founded. The favorite terms of some theologians, such as “the Kingdom of grace,” “the Kingdom of the cross,” “the mediatorial Kingdom,” are not found in Scripture, and while freely acknowledging the astonishing and unmerited grace existing in the Church, and that the future Theocracy is one of grace, yet the titles, however well intentioned, are not applicable, being misleading in their nature. When Jesus directly predicts the results of the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom, it is never intimated that any one of them is to form out of the Church, or believers of the Gospel, a Kingdom. The passages which are wrongfully inferred to teach the contrary will hereafter be examined in detail. The means are by multitudes mistaken for the end, as e.g. by the Homilist (quoted by Nast, Com. on Matt., p. 323), which makes the Gospel to be “the Kingdom of God,” because it produces “the reign of God over all the powers of the soul.” To “preach the Gospel,” or to “preach the Kingdom” (e.g.Luke 9:2; Luke 9:6), is to present motives, etc., urging and inviting persons to become worthy of it when it, the Kingdom, comes in power and glory.
Obs. 2. Aside from other considerations, we have shown (Prop. 59, Obs. 5), that the Kingdom was tendered to the Jews but owing to their sinfulness was to be taken from them (i.e. could not inherit or receive it), and was to be given to another chosen, gathered people. The Kingdom was taken from the Jewish nation, but the nation, as all admit, retained the Gospel-the privileges of this dispensation, of the church, of religion, in brief, of all that pertains to the Gospel. It follows, therefore, as a national sequence that if the Kingdom was taken from them, that Kingdom did not consist in “the Gospel Kingdom,” whatever meaning may be attached to it, for to this, if it denotes the present dispensation of the Gospel, the nation was made first accessible, the preaching of the Gospel commencing at Jerusalem. Other objections will be noticed in what follows.
We append Dr. Brown’s (Com.) comment on Matthew 21:43 : “Therefore I say unto you, ‘The Kingdom of God’-God’s visible Kingdom or Church, upon earth, which up to this time stood in the seed of Abraham-‘shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof,’ i.e. the great evangelical community of the faithful, which, after the extension of the Jewish nation, would consist chiefly of Gentiles, until ‘all Israel should be saved.’” But (1) the Church was not taken from them; (2) this very “nation” thus called is of the seed of Abraham, natural and engrafted; (3) that the bestowal of this Kingdom is future, when the “nation” is gathered (comp. Props. 57-66). Some commentators, not knowing what to do with the passage, owing to their Church-Kingdom theory, conveniently pass it by. Those especially who take the ground (induced by Hebrews 11, Galatians 3:8; Hebrews 4:2; 1 Corinthians 10:2-4; Ephesians 2:19-20; 1 Peter 1:10-11; Jude 1:14-15 : Daniel 7, etc.) that the Christian Church is only a continuation of the more ancient Church, are pressed by the passage. Imagination is the basis of numerous interpretations and applications.