Kingdom of God

Definition and Meaning

The kingdom of God refers to God's reign as king and to the realm over which that reign extends. The term translates the New Testament Greek basileia tou theou. The word basileia is closer in meaning to "royal rule" than to territory.

The Gospel of Matthew generally expresses the same concept as "the kingdom of heaven." This usage is commonly explained as following the Jewish custom of avoiding direct utterance of the name of God. Among Korean Bible translations, the Revised Korean Version (New Revised Edition) renders the term cheonguk ("heaven"), while the New Korean Standard Version renders it haneul-nara ("kingdom of heaven").

Biblical and Historical Background

The Old Testament confesses God as king of Israel and of the whole world (Psalm 145:13).

In the Gospels, Jesus Christ began his ministry by proclaiming, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15). Jesus revealed that kingdom through parables and healings. The petition "Thy kingdom come" (Matthew 6:10) in the Lord's Prayer is likewise a prayer for this kingdom.

Theologians often describe the kingdom of God in terms of a tension between the "already" and the "not yet": the kingdom has already begun with the coming of Jesus but will be consummated at the Second Coming.

Various interpretations have also arisen over the course of church history.

• In the early fifth century, Augustine, in The City of God (De civitate Dei), discussed a community of God distinct from the earthly state.
• In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, liberal theology and the Social Gospel movement emphasized understanding the kingdom of God as an ethical and social order to be realized on earth.

Practice in Korean Churches

In the everyday language of Korean Protestant churches, cheonguk ("heaven") commonly refers to the place where believers go after death. Examples include the expression "going to heaven" and the phrase cheonguk hwansong ("sending off to heaven") used at funeral services. For this reason, some within these churches have observed a tendency to understand the kingdom of God solely in terms of the afterlife.

Emphases vary by denomination and theological tradition.

• Evangelical churches place personal conversion and salvation at the center. In recent years there has also been discussion about understanding the kingdom of God more broadly as God's reign over all of life and society.
• Denominations affiliated with the National Council of Churches in Korea, such as the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, have linked movements for social justice, human rights, democratization, and peaceful reunification with the present realization of the kingdom of God.
• Churches in the Pentecostal tradition emphasize present experiences, such as the power of the Holy Spirit and healing, as signs that the kingdom of God has come.
• Churches influenced by dispensationalism sometimes explain the kingdom of God in connection with the earthly millennial kingdom to be established after the Second Coming.