Abstract:
The phrase “kingdom of God” has meant many different things to many different people. An honest evaluation of the kingdom of God requires a return to the way Jesus meant it in the first century, apart from the myriad layers that have piled upon it over the centuries, and a look at the key differences between the kingdom Jesus announced versus the power structures of his day. The key differences in Jesus’ kingdom against the backdrop of first century Judaism were decentralization and inclusion. These are fleshed out thoroughly in the two-volume work of Luke-Acts. These central values of the kingdom provide a challenge to the contemporary church as it seeks to be kingdom centered in the way Jesus was.
The full paper is attached to this post.
