The Politics of the Message, Part 2 – Parousia
February 7th, 2007 by JohnO
Last time we saw the use of κυριοs applied to Jesus and not Caesar. By definition that is a political statement. Next I want to look at the word ‘parousia’, in Greek παρουσια. I hope you’re not surprised, this word was also used by the Caesars of the time. They used it in reference to their own coming in glory. Now it is used in reference to Jesus’ coming in glory.
Again we have Paul co-opting the royal words of the time and applying them directly to Jesus. He does this often, especially when talking to Roman citizens. He uses παρουσια four times in this epistle (2:19, 3:13, 4:15, 5:23), and three times in his second epistle (2:1, 8, 9) to these same people. The people in Corinth (also an important Roman city) get the same treatment from Paul, he uses παρουσια five times (1 Cor 15:23, 16:17, 2 Cor 7:6,7 10:10) in reference to Jesus.
When Paul references “peace and security” in 1 Thess 5:3 he is directly mocking the Caesar’s. Here are some examples of their decrees:
The Lord Marcus Flavius Bonus, the most illustrious Comes and Dux of the first legion, has ruled over is peace and given constant ‘peace and security’ to travelers and to the people.
The Pax Augusta which has spread to the regions of the east and of the west, and to the bounds of the north, and the south, preserves every corner of the world safe/secure from the fear of banditry.
Paul makes the claim that those who say “peace and safety” will be destroyed by the coming Day of the Lord. There is no safety outside of King Jesus and his Kingdom to the mind of Paul!
Now, if Paul were talking to us today. Don’t you think he would say the same thing? Jesus is the President. Jesus gives you peace and safety in the Kingdom. Bush is not the President, Jesus is. The “good times” you had under Clinton were nothing compared to Jesus’ Kingdom and what he will do! The political content of Jesus’ message should give us strong pause and cause us to think about what we are bound to. Are we trusting in this country to protect us? Or are we trusting in King Jesus? Because Jesus is the ruler, he will come with authority and take his seat over all nations. He will destroy this nation.
I think this political idea is important to understand. As strangers and pilgrims, we are supposed to be following the Kingdom constitution set forth by Jesus. At the same time we obey the laws of the lands we sojourn in when they do not cause us to disobey our Lord. But for those Kingdom Christians residing in America, it can be a tendency to mix the legislation, opinions and standards of this nation with that of God’s. This is not the case. America, even with its tremendous freedoms and abundance for which I am thankful, is one of the kingdoms of this world - and thus under the devil’s influence and authority.
The Kingdom of God in its fundamental nature is political. Remember our dear brothers in Acts who were facing persecution because they were preaching that there “was another King but Caesar…Jesus!” If Jesus is coming to take over the world that says something about the current state of even the most “moral” of the nations of the world.
Campaign for Jesus. Vote for Jesus. Live for Jesus. Serve in the Lord’s army.
-VG
“One thing must be kept in mind: We Christians are Christians first and everything else after that. Our first allegiance is to the kingdom of God. Our citizenship is in heaven. We are grateful for political freedom. We thank God for democracy as a way of life. But we never forget that we are sons of God and citizens of another city whose builder and maker is God. For this reason, we must not identify the gospel with any political system or make Christianity to be synonymous with any form of government, however noble. Christ stands alone, above and outside of every ideology devised by man. He does not join any of our parties or take sides with any of our great men except as they may come over on His side and try to follow Him in righteousness and true holiness. Then He is for them, but only as individuals, never as leaders of some political faction. The true Christian will be loyal to his country and obedient to those in authority, but he will never fall into the error of confusing his own national culture with Christianity. Christianity is bigger than any country, loftier than any civilization, broader than any human ideology.”
–A.W. Tozer
Dear all,
Karen pointed out a rather simple and plain truth: “Our citizenship is IN HEAVEN” … or do we have citizenship in “a political earthly kingdom” (that is supposedly not even in existence as of yet and will come at some unknown time in the yet future)?
Does the principle of earthly temporal physical types (of OT times) being fulfilled in heavenly eternal spiritual reality (of NT times) no longer apply or not apply in this one very important matter? Btw, God’s kingdom as a physical earthly political kingdom existed already in OT times as the nation and kingdom of Israel, which served as type of the spiritual reality to come. It was that spiritual reality which “was at hand” when Jesus the Messiah lived approx. 2000 years ago and accomplished his work of redemption.
One cannot leave the overall scope of the Scriptures out of sight and develop a whole “kingdom” theology of some verses which are understood a certain way but where that understanding does not harmonize with the overall picture.
God bless you
Wolfgang
Heaven is not a place ‘up there’, with people floating around playing harps. Heaven is the sphere of God’s activity. In the person of the Messiah, heaven came to earth in Jesus Christ. Wherever God’s spirit is at work now, heaven intersects with earth. Hence our citizenship, in Christ, is in heaven; we belong to his realm, not the world’s. One day the heavenly Jerusalem will come, and we will literally have heaven on earth, in the fullness of the Kingdom. At least, that’s how I understand it.
But we seem to be getting a bit off track: the original (and very good) post was about politics. Methinks John has been reading NT Wright, who asks us not to divorce our theology from our politics, but to remember instead to whom, as Christians, we owe our allegiance. The past few years have seen an often distasteful alliance between some Christians and the Republican party, and it’s very important that we think about these matters as the 2008 elections gear up.
Hi Karen,
indeed, “heaven” is not a place “where people float around in clouds and play harps” … Why would believers here even think that way? Why are they so “unsatisfied” with being “in heaven” — that is being in God’s presence (!) - for all eternity? Is it because they have a totally false impression of “heaven” and therefore think they need “earth”, “physical”, “political” or otherwise eternal life in the presence of God doesn’t mean anything to them?
God is said to “dwell in heaven” … I suppose that would not be such a bad place after all? Christ ascended to his Father in heaven to prepare a place in the Father’s house that has many mansions ..
I fail to see how that has anything to do with Christ being a political leader here on earth after establishing a political kingdom …
Speaking about allegiance … even though certain terms, such as “kurios” was used the Roman emperors, we cannot take this and deduct that because the Roman emperor was a political leader, the term “kurios” must mean that Jesus also as the one who reigns will be a political leader. We must note, that Christ was not even present on earth in the 1st century times of the writing of the epistles, etc … the “competition” between “Christ” and “Caesar” was not on a political level at all, the conflict which Christians faced was one of allegiance in a spiritual, religious matter .. => worship Caesar as God or “Christ”, or worship the one true God and his Messiah Jesus.
God bless you
Wolfgang
Wolfgang,
I can’t believe you allegorize the entire corpus of the restoration/inherit the land/sit on the throne of David passages from the OT!!! And without even one verse reference. The NT confirms the promises made to the fathers, it does not spiritualize them. For example compare 2 Sam 7.14-16 to Luke 1.31-33. This Davidic covenant will be fulfilled by the Messiah when he rules from Jerusalem. You sound like a neo-Gnostic because you don’t want the earth to be the scene for the biblical drama to unfold, rather you prefer lofty, spiritual, heavenly ideas. This is exactly what the Gnostics of the early centuries did. Why not listen to your lord who said, “blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5.5) and “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Mat 6.10)
Hi Wolfgang,
“Why would believers here even think that way?”
Not everyone who reads this blog necessarily thinks the same way. It’s good to write for the lurkers as well as the posters.
“Why are they so “unsatisfied” with being “in heaven” — that is being in God’s presence (!) - for all eternity?”
I don’t think they are. According to Revelation 21, God is going to dwell with men - in the new heavens *and* new earth. In other words, the two spheres will become one. There will be no disconnect between them as there is now. And the preponderance of scripture points to the fact that this new creation is going to be an earthly, physical one. Not identical to now, of course, but we will be living in our resurrected ’spiritual bodies’ on a new, physical and spiritual earth - ’spiritual’ because God will at last be be all in all.
As for the political aspect of the future kingdom…frankly, I’m less concerned with parsing all of that than I am with the politics of the present. We’ll find out eventually what’s in store, and in the meantime it’s our job to give our allegiance to God and live our lives - personal and political - in light of that.
Hi Sean,
as I already have pointed out before, I am not at all allegorizing any scripture passages in these contexts and concerning this topic. I’d suggest a more detailed study of the use of figues of speech in the Bible to arrive at a better understanding
My scriptures are the same as those you use to proclaim an earthly political kingdom … I view them in light of the overall scope of OT earthly physical temporal finding its fulfillment in the heavenly spiritual eternal realm.. It seems from your writing and what some others have mentioned, that folks are ploainly not satisfied with eternal life in the spiritual realm in the presence of God ? They deem that inferior to living on earth in a physical body (or did I get a wrong impression there?) … why is that?
Concering on point you mentioned: Why do you think that the throne of David is located at Jerusalem? why do you think it is a physical throne of an earthly political ruler? Is that throne even still around? where is it now?
Cheers,
Wolfgang
Wolfgang,
2 Sam 7:12-16, Isa. 9:7, Luke 1:32-33, Matt 25:31-34, and Dan. 7:13-14 all talk about a literal throne and a literal kingdom.
Jesus said in matt 25:31 that when he comes back, he will THEN sit on his throne. The throne of David is real, the throne was coventanted to David. David sat on a REAL, LITERAL throne.
Verse 34 says that at that time the righteous will inherit the kingdom. Not before.
I see absolutely nothing spiritual about this. Neither do commentators. Neither did the church fathers. Neither do even liberal scholars! You are going to have a hard time telling us that people who study the bible all their lives with a majority opinion are all wrong.
If we cant take the words to mean what they mean, what use do we have of the bible?
Jesus promised us that we will inherit the earth, and that absolutely does not mean going to heaven.
Dustin
Dustin,
I can see that you see absolutely nothing spiritual about the kingdom of God but an earthly political kingdom …. now, what do you make of Jesus’ words in Luke 17:20-21?
Lk 17:20-21
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
An earthly political kingdom most definitely COMES WITH observation …. BUT Jesus clearly stated that the kingdom of God COMES NOT WITH observation…
How is an earthly political kingdom “within you” ?
As for your comment about a “literal kingdom” and “literal throne” … sure, the kingdom and throne are literal and are real. But please note that “literal” and “real” does not equate to “earthly” !
Cheers,
Wolfgang
Wolfgang,
“Heavenly” does not refer to a location, but rather is a descriptive adjective used to denote the quality “Made in heaven”. A good example of this is the manna from OT times. It was said to be “from heaven”. Yet it never fell from the sky, it materialized from the ground. Heavenly is in reference to qualities or attributes not location.
In reference to Luke 17 - http://kingdomready.org/blog/2006/12/04/a-difficult-text/
Good verse to support that John,
James1:17 - Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
(good source for 1st century thinking)
Wolfgang,
There is a very rare greek phrase there in Luke 17:21 that is HIGHLY debated, again see commentaries. I have studied Greek for 3 years now and I have the liberty to make such a statement. I can quote 4 sources that say that that phrase most likely means “within your grasp”. Certainly not “within you”.
As for your a “spiritual, non-politcal” kingdom, read all of the verses that I typed out and tell me how they refer to a non-political kingdom. How is a kingdom nonpolitical when it has:
1-throne(s)
2-a king
3-princes
4-realm
5-subjects
6-boundaries
and all of these things are “under the whole heavens”(Daniel 7:27)?
Before this goes any further, answer my question please.
Dustin
Jesus promised the twelve that they would rule over the 12 tribes of Israel:
Jesus promised his followers real things (not metaphors). The coming kingdom is spiritual because it is of God not because it is invisible. If one endures, loses all to follow Messiah, then he or she will gain houses, siblings, farms, etc. in the age to come.