Ethics and the Kingdom

September 12th, 2007 by Sean

I was poking around the web last night looking for information on Johannes Weiss (a 19th century author who wrote about the kingdom of God) and came across a website that was reviewing a book. I forget now what the name of the book was but the reviewer was berating the author for marginalizing the apocalyptic elements of Jesus’ message. The comment made was that since the early 20th century, scholars have been focusing on either the hyper-eschatological view of Jesus or they have completely focused on his ethics.

The eschatological apocalyptic prophet. (eschatological or eschatology refers to the end times and apocalyptic or apocalypse refers to a cataclysmic set of events in which the world ends). Scholarship has seen Jesus in this light since Johannes Weiss and then Albert Schweitzer did their research on Jesus over a century ago. They concluded that Jesus was a prophet who declared that the end of the world was near.

The ethics of the enlightened one. (ethics refers to a set of morals that dictate how to live). A separate strand of scholarship involves looking a the ethical teachings of Jesus (like the Sermon on the Mount). In this camp people see Jesus as a great moral teacher who was able to give us a true path on how to live. Often people who focus on this aspect of the Gospels do not believe Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet.

Ethics and the Kingdom. Why not bring these two together? Why not integrate our understanding of Jesus so that we can operate from both a theological and ethical framework? Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom was summarized by the catch phrase, “Repent, the kingdom of God is near” (Mat 4.17, Mk 1.15). Repent means to get right with God, to make any necessary changes so that one may be accepted on the day of judgment. Thus, from the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry, the preaching of the gospel has been tied to how to live. Step one is to believe Jesus proclamation about the kingdom; step two is to change one’s life. For example, in the Sermon on the Mount (Jesus’ most extensive teaching on ethics), he mentions the kingdom nine times! Thus the kingdom is the major motivator for why and how we live now. Paul saw this connection as clear as day when he wrote:

1 Corinthians 6:9-10
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19-21
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 5:5-6
5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

There is no question here, that if one does not live as a disciple of Jesus he will not enter the kingdom. My encouragement to you today is that in light of all of this, in light of the coming kingdom, “that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (1 Thes 2.12)

Matthew 6:33
33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

6 Responses to “Ethics and the Kingdom”

  1. on 12 Sep 2007 at 7:23 am1 Victor

    Sean, excellent points. Thanks for bringing this to light. The way Jesus wants us to live in this age now is in light of the age to come. I would even propose that Jesus speaks about the age to come more than 9 times in the sermon on the mount when you think of him speaking of “inheriting the earth,” “the narrow gate that leads to life” and even speaking on “being thrown into hell, etc”

    The coming Kingdom should have dramatic effects on the way we live as Christians now - after all the NT speaks of the Christians as “strangers” and “aliens” numerous times. What Jesus teaches will cause those who follow to be different from those around them who don’t. The context for his teaching is the coming judgement and restoration of the Kingdom and he wants to prepare those who will follow him as the apocalyptic prophet and Messiah to be ready for it!

  2. on 12 Sep 2007 at 11:11 pm2 Steve

    Sean,

    You make some great points. I don’t think we should overlook the fact that Matthew 4:23-25 says “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom …Large crowds followed him” and then IMMEDIATELY after this we have “and he began to teach them saying …” (5:1). These words form the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount.

    In other words, the sermon on the mount is HOW Jesus taught the Gospel of the Kingdom. We cannot separate ethics from the Kingdom-message. I like the title of a book by Glen Stassen and David Gushee: “Kingdom Ethics” (InterVarsity Press 2003) because Jesus’ ethics are Kingdom ethics, the way Kingdom-people live in preparation for the greater work to be done in the age to come.

  3. on 13 Sep 2007 at 6:20 am3 Sean

    Not to split hairs hear, but I think that based on Matthew 4.23 we can say that Jesus teaching is not the gospel of the kingdom. Please allow me to quote to you from Hasting’s Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels:

    “There are many proofs that Jesus used this word ‘gospel’ to describe his message; cf. Matthew 24.14; 26.13; Mark 1.15; 8.35; 10.29; 13.10; Luke 7.22. It is not surprising, therefore, that the word came into general Christian use to describe the contents of the preaching of Jesus…’The gospel’ became the normal Christian title for the message which Jesus came to proclaim, and which he sent forth the Apostles to preach to every creature. But closer examination shows that the term was not used by the Evangelists [Evangelists = Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John] to describe all that Jesus said; nor was the verb ‘preach good tidings’ descriptive of all his work…It would seem, therefore [on the basis of Matthew 4.23; 9.35; Luke 9.2; 20.1] that the work of Jesus was threefold: he preached the gospel, he taught, and he healed. If this distinction is valid, the term ‘gospel’ did not apply to all that Jesus said and did. It was reserved for the ‘good tidings’ that he preached. In addition to these ‘good tidings,’ there was ‘teaching’ that belonged to another category.”

    Thus, Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom in Matthew 4 and to those who “stuck around” he taught the ethics (i.e. how to live now that one has believed the good news).

  4. on 13 Sep 2007 at 6:41 am4 Victor

    Steve, I think that those who wanted to or stay around to hear more after Jesus’ initial proclaimation of the gospel of the Kingdom he would teach similar to the sermon on the mount to teach what those who followed him should obey. He would include the call for repentance in light of the coming Kingdom in his gospel presentation and the things to obey/fruit of this repentance would be to be “the poor in spirit….” etc.

    The cry of the soon coming Kingdom would have shaken the hearts of the hearers - they would look to Jesus’ teaching to prepare them for this coming Kingdom. Yet, the Sermon on the mount is not in fact the basic gospel message but rather what those who respond to the gospel message should now do.

  5. on 13 Sep 2007 at 7:58 am5 Steve

    Sean and Victor,

    I agree with much of what you said, but I don’t feel that there’s a contradiction with what I was saying. When Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom He wasn’t simply saying “the kingdom is coming”, but rather “repent, because the kingdom of God is coming”. I think Sean made this point well. In other words, His message wasn’t merely to announce the coming kingdom, but to prepare people for it.

    The sermon on the mount contains the core of His teaching - it describes the kind of person who will inherit the kingdom. Without kingdom-people who live according to this ethic there will be no kingdom.

  6. on 13 Sep 2007 at 8:38 am6 Victor

    Amen.

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