The Teaching of Jesus concerning The Kingdom of God and the Church

by Danny E Olinger, Geerhardus Vos

Fewer works on the kingdom of God have been so helpful and yet so overlooked. Originally published in 1903, this work by Geerhardus Vos (1862-1949), Professor of Biblical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, surveys the teaching of Jesus concerning the kingdom of God. It covers the kingdom in the Old Testament, the meaning of the biblical words for kingdom and kingship, the present and future aspects of the kingdom, the essence of the kingdom, the relationship between the kingdom and the church, and finally the saving benefits of entering the kingdom. Throughout, Vos confronts certain conceptions of the kingdom that had arisen at the end of the nineteenth century, about which he was concerned. This work has been cited little in academic literature on the kingdom of God, which is unfortunate. Vos exposited an inaugurated kingdom with a future consummation long before G. E. Ladd popularized it. This new introduction by Danny E. Olinger, editor of A Geerhardus Vos Biblical and Theological Insights Alphabetically Arranged (P&R, 2015), provides critical historical background for understanding Vos as a person and as a scholar. Olinger explains the academic debate about the nature of the kingdom that lies behind Vos's polemical work and also surveys the academic reactions to Vos's ideas. For a proper understanding of Vos's theology of the kingdom of God, this reprinted work with a new introduction by Danny Olinger is indispensable.

140 pages, Paperback

Published November 24, 2017

Reviews

[Kyle Brewer]

“Our Lord is emphatic in insisting upon this absolute, undivided surrender of the soul to God as the goal of all true repentance… Jesus requires of his disciples the renunciation of all earthly bonds and possessions which would dispute God his supreme sway over their life. The statements to this effect are not meant in the sense that external abandonment of these things is sufficient or even required. The idea is that the inward attachment of the soul to them as the highest good must be in principle destroyed, that God may take the place hitherto claimed by them. Within the kingdom they are entitled to affection on the disciple’s part in so far only as they can be made subordinate and subservient to the love of God” (90).

[Rob Mongeau · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really don’t know how many stars to give the book, since i was unable to understand. Whenever i thought i was starting to understand, to get the flow of thought of the author the next paragraph would blew all off. Often, i couldn’t even tell if he was promoting or criticizing what he was writing. A very difficult, academic read. I would nevertheless thank Fontes Press for the free copy. And hopefully when i read it again in the future, I’ll be better equipped to understand it.

[Steve Herreid · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as a result of being interested in the issue of whether the kingdom of God at present is only in the hearts of Christ’s people, or whether it is or should have an external, this worldly manifestation. This book was a competent defense of the former position, although qualified in certain ways which made it not too far away from the latter position in my opinion. I liked this book.

[Peter Stonecipher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of great BT content here and a necessary corrective to liberalizing interpretations of the kingdom concept, but not the most accessible.