What this all means is that how one understands the kingdom is very closely related to one’s eschatology. This is the often unspoken assumption behind the too-often heated debate over the kingdom in confessional Reformed circles. Most everyone in the contemporary intra-Reformed agrees that Christ is reigning now, that he is sovereign now, but the disagreement comes over the implications of that reign. We all agree that the kingdom has been inaugurated and that it has earthly manifestations but where we disagree is where to look for those manifestations. Since the late 19th century, those who have been influenced by what has come to be called “neo-Calvinism” (neo is Greek for new) have sometimes argued that Christ’s reign is such that the kingdom is manifested in everything than any Christian does for the sake of Christ. This is a more expansive way of speaking of the implications of the kingdom of God than was traditionally used. Those who take the narrower view, tend to associate the manifestation of the kingdom of God on the earth with the visible institutional church. Continue reading →
second petition
Heidelcast 216: Our Father (6): “Your Kingdom Come”
In this episode we answer a Heideltext and an email. The first is a question about how it is that the Baptists (from a Reformed perspective) confuse the divine decree with the external administration of the covenant of grace. The second is . . . Continue reading →