The Kingdom Of Christ And Of God: A Traditional Dispensationalist Argument For Inaugurated Eschatology (original) (raw)
Traditional dispensationalism typically has lacked consensus not only in its view of the nature of the kingdom of God but also in its attempt to correlate satisfactorily NT teaching on the kingdom of God with that of Christ’s present hegemony over the church. This shortcoming has provided an occasion within dispensationalism for recent developments such as progressive dispensationalism to flourish. The purpose of this thesis was to forge the gap between the weakness of traditional dispensationalism in failing to develop a comprehensive doctrine of the kingdom of God and the weakness of progressive dispensationalism in merging unwarrantably the discrete biblical kingdom programs. The first stage of the study surveyed the historical contours of the kingdom debate within dispensationalism to identify the manner in which inchoate or inconsistent views on the kingdom provided a venue for progressive dispensationalism to coalesce. Next, the concept of inaugurated eschatology was introduced and developed in order to draw upon its helpful perspectives for comprehending the kingdom of God concept in the NT. After this, analysis turned to detailed exegesis of kingdom passages within the synoptic gospels, with primary emphasis falling upon the Gospel of Matthew. Significant attention was given to the mystery parables of Matthew 13 and their bearing on a present form of the kingdom of God. Other Matthean passages were brought to bear in order to refine an understanding of the present-future nature of the kingdom of God. Following this, focus was placed on the Pauline corpus and the book of Hebrews to ascertain further NT teaching on the nature of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God in these writings was considered under the twin rubrics of Christological exaltation language, which included a survey of the use of Psalm 110:1 in these epistles, and of explicit kingdom language, which examined passages in which the kingdom of God appears overtly present in some fashion. Special attention was given to Hebrews’ development of the sacral kingship of Christ, drawing from its extensive Melchizedekian typology. It was concluded that the NT develops the kingdom of God as a two-stage eschatological kingdom program. The first stage of this kingdom program encompasses roughly the present church age and is identified specifically in Matthew and in Paul’s epistles as the kingdom of the Son. The current stage entails Christ’s Melchizedekian sacral kingship, although this kingship subsumes additionally the angelic sphere and the cosmos itself. The reign originates from the right hand of the Father and shares in the Father’s sovereignty. The second stage of this eschatological kingdom program encompasses the terrestrial millennial kingdom. This reign entails the dominion of Christ from the Davidic throne on earth for 1,000 years, as a fulfillment of OT promises to the nation of Israel and consummation of the Davidic covenant. Given the suggested schema for understanding the kingdom of God, it was concluded that progressive dispensationalism has erred in attributing current Davidic kingship to the exalted Christ. The current kingship of Christ consists instead of Melchizedekian kingship, in which Christ reigns over the church and the cosmos as a royal priest.
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