Jesus and the Kingdom of God
Overview
The teaching of Jesus on the kingdom of God pervades his entire proclamation recorded in the Gospels, and appears to have largely determined the course of his ministry. While the authenticity of the testimony of the Gospels in this area is agreed on by most New Testament scholars, its significance for interpreting Jesus has been strangely ignored.
In this book, G. R. Beasley-Murray makes an important contribution toward clarifying this element in the teaching of Jesus and its implications for the question of who Jesus is.
Beasley-Murray begins with the concept of theophany, or the coming of God, which he traces in the writings of the Old Testament and in the literature of early Judaism, and its significance for understanding the biblical hope of the kingdom of God.
The core of the book is a detailed examination of the sayings of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels concerning the kingdom of god. Beasley-Murray includes an exegesis of the sayings and parables which portray the coming of the kingdom in the ministry of Jesus and those which anticipate the future of the kingdom of God. The latter comprise the sayings which relate to the impending suffering and death of Jesus as well as those which have in prospect the climactic coming of the kingdom of God. This entails an extended treatment of the synoptic sayings that speak of the activity of the Son of Man in his earthly labors, in his death and resurrection, and in his parousia, and the discourses known as the Q-Apocalypse and the eschatological discourse of Mark 13. The book concludes with an assessment of the significance of this teaching for Christology—for answering the question, “Who is Jesus?”
Throughout the book Beasley-Murray assesses a broad spectrum of relevant scholarship, which, owing to the importance of the subject, is voluminous. The detailed notes and extensive bibliography enhance the usefulness of this significant study.
Key Features
- Examines the theology of the kingdom of God in the Synoptic Gospels
- Analyzes the sayings and parables which portray the coming of the kingdom in the ministry of Jesus
- Relates the theology of the kingdom to our understanding of Jesus
Contents
- Theophany in the Old Testament
- The Day of the Lord in the Old Testament
- The Kingdom of God in the Old Testament
- The Coming of God in Daniel 7
- Theophany in Apocalyptic Literature
- The Day of the Lord in Apocalyptic Literature
- The Kingdom of God in Apocalyptic Literature
- The Messiah in Apocalyptic Literature
- Sayings of Jesus on the Coming of the Kingdom of God in the Present
- Parables of Jesus on the Coming of the Kingdom of God in the Present
- Sayings of Jesus on the Coming of the Kingdom of God in the Future
- Parables of Jesus on the Coming of the Kingdom of God in the Future
- The Son of Man and the Kingdom of God
- Discourses of Jesus on the Parousia
- Conclusion
Top Highlights
“the Day is sometimes spoken of in the plural—that is, as ‘those days’ (Jer. 5:18)” (Page 11)
“The phrase provides a good illustration of the Hebrew concept of time as content rather than duration. For the Day of the Lord is not a calendar day but an event in which the Lord acts.” (Page 11)
“Guardini’s words about ‘the unspeakable tragedy of almighty truth and creative love doomed … to sterility’ are true to life, but how did he bring himself to include the phrase ‘for the most part’ without any qualification? This is not true to the whole parable, any more than it is to the total message of Jesus about the kingdom of God. The figure of the harvest calls to mind the end to which the sovereignty of God is working, an end elsewhere represented as the harvest of the Seed growing secretly, the full growth of the mustard plant, the leavening of the whole mass of dough, the joyous feast of God for the whole world.” (Page 130)
“The natural inclination of anyone coming into contact with the story for the first time is to be perplexed at the conduct of the employer. It is an extraordinary practice to pay men working all day long in the burning heat of a Palestinian summer the same wage as those who worked for an hour in the cool of the early evening. Our sense of justice evokes sympathy with the men who were indignant against their employer. But that attitude changes if we bear in mind two elements of the parable’s background—the social and the religious.” (Page 117)
“The general thrust of his teaching on the kingdom of God, as we shall see, implies that in his word and work there is an initiation of the sovereign action of God that brings salvation and is to end in a transformed universe. It is precisely this thrust of the proclamation—the decisive beginning of the promised coming of God to bring the saving sovereignty—that makes engiken so suitable a term to employ in this summary of his message of the kingdom.” (Page 74)
Praise for the Print Edition
Dr. Beasley-Murray has established a reputation for himself as a meticulous, well-informed, and creative New Testament scholar. This book will enhance this reputation. . . . Its special strengths lie in its detailed exegetical study of all the relevant passages and in its fresh treatment of the Old Testament and Jewish background, particularly with regard to the coming of God and the Day of the Lord. . . . It will be warmly welcomed both as a textbook for students and as an important contribution to scholarship.
—I. Howard Marshall, University of Aberdeen
Professor Beasley-Murray has given us a very detailed study of the Kingdom and along with it a thorough rethinking of New Testament eschatology and the issue of the Son of Man. This challenging work will have to be weighed and discussed by all who are seriously interested in these crucial theological issues.
—Raymond E. Brown, Union Theological Seminary
Product Details
- Title: Jesus and the Kingdom of God
- Author: George R. Beasley-Murray
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Publication Date: 1988
- Pages: 456
- Resource Type: Monographs
- Topic: New Testament Theology
Sample Pages from the Print Edition
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