Tête Raphaëlesque éclatée / Exploding Raphaelesque Head by Salvador Dali © Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation, DACS, London 2004
.[Scholars often debate the historical nature of Jesus and his message. Particularly, the idea of the “kingdom of god” is problematic: is it here now, or in the future? Is it post-apocalyptic or existential?]
Luke 17:20-21. And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of god should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of god cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, Lo there! for, Behold, the kingdom of god is within you (KJV from BLB).
Let us begin with the phrase “when is the kingdom of god arriving?” There are two parts to this question: when does something arrive and what exactly is it that’s arriving? For “kingdom of god” Thayer’s lexicon breaks it down into two traditional scenarios:
“This kingdom is spoken of as now begun and actually present inasmuch as its foundations have already been laid by Christ and its benefits realized among men that believe in him […]. But far more frequently the kingdom of heaven is spoken of as a future blessing, since its consummate establishment is to be looked for on Christ’s solemn return from the skies, the dead being called to life again, the ills and wrongs which burden the present state of things being done away, the powers hostile to God being vanquished,” (BLB Thayer’s Lexicon Luke 17:20 or 21).
But in Luke 17:20-21, Jesus says quite specifically that the kingdom of God will not appear in some visible manner. Instead, he says, “… gar hei basileia tou theou entos hymon estin.” There are two generally used translations of this line: 1) Behold, the kingdom of god is within you and 2) Behold, the kingdom of god is in your midst. The lexical translation of entos should be either “within you (in the midst of you)” or “within (your soul).”
In order to translate this passage, we must note that the Pharisees do not simply ask; they demand to know when the kingdom is coming. In essence they are challenging Jesus; “If you are the messiah (or a prophet), then tell us WHEN the kingdom of god is coming?” And Jesus doesn’t answer that question; it gets deflected. It sounds as if he is answering the question, “What will the Kingdom look like? Where will it be?”
This passage touches on the fundamental form the Church will take once it becomes apparent that whenever the Christ will return, it will not be immediate. If this passage should read: “Now! The kingdom of god is within your soul” it is difficult to then build a church that emphasizes a kingdom that is “a future blessing.” Here is my alternate translation which answers the question of when something is arriving:
The Pharisees demanded that Jesus tell them when the kingdom of god was coming. He answered them by saying, “The kingdom of god will not manifest visibly. It is not here or there! It is NOW! The kingdom of god is within your soul.”
This translation depends greatly on if “gar idou” (“for, behold!”) can be also understood as “It is now!” in response to a question about time. Nonetheless, “idou” (behold) is referencing something in the moment, not something in the future – and that answers the question of “when”.
Of more importance is the question of what the “basileia theou” is. This is generally rendered as “kingdom of god” but modern historical-critical scholars from The Jesus Seminar use a different translation: “God’s imperial rule.” This is because in the Greek basileia is given as an abstract feminine noun that is defined as “royal power, kingship, dominion, or rule [that is] a) not to be confused with an actual kingdom but rather the right or authority to rule over a kingdom” (BLB Strong’s G932). It is only by questionable association that it becomes the very concrete noun of “kingdom.” So the Seminar scholars do not use the associative meaning, but rather the intent of the main meaning. But here also, I question one thing: this is basileia (queen) – the feminine form of basileus (king). Why, when basileus theou would agree with “abba” (father) as the male gender of god, would the Greek consistently use the feminine version of the noun? I would instead suggest that this use of the feminine noun implies the subjective form of theos (deity), not the objective form. This renders a translation of basileia theou as the presence or essence of god:
The Pharisees demanded that Jesus tell them when the presence of god would manifest [on the earth]. He answered them by saying, “The presence of god will not be something you can see. It is not here or there! It is NOW! The presence of god is within your soul.”
The Jesus Seminar explains their take on the basileia theou:
“Jesus conceived of God’s rule as all around him but difficult to discern. God was so real for him that he could not distinguish God’s present activity from any future activity. He had a poetic sense of time in which the future and the present merged, simply melted together, in the intensity of his vision” (Funk 137).
And this is an excellent explanation, but notice it does not address the radical nature of a “now” that is future and present merged. Only when you view Jesus’s teaching through the lens of a sociology of faith do you understand that he was constantly attempting to draw away from the objectivity of the religious view and bring forward the subjective seeker view. When one looks inward, and remembers that god is present within him/herself, “now” is the presence of the Divine. There is no future, there is no past, only the “now” in the mind of god.
What Jesus taught was meant to break open the institutionally based, socio-theological form that was Jewish religion in his time, and allow seeker spirituality to emerge from it. Even in the “now” of our time, what he taught contains the potential to effect that same radical shift from the religious to the seeker state of being.
As for the united:
It is only an illusion that there is separation from God. We are the Creation, we are the Presence of God; we are here to learn to love as God Loves.
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On The Path of the Adept 