As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“The Kingdom of God is not of this world. Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight.’ His Kingdom is not of this world. The kingdom of this world is a separate world. They’re not linked together.” - CPost
“of the nineteen uses of βασιλεία in the NT epistles, fully half of them occur in contexts of church membership, most often that of church discipline.” - DBTS Blog
“Over-realized eschatology is an underlying hermeneutical assumption of prosperity-doctrine (health-and-wealth) teachers… permeates the eschatological expectations of NAR ‘apostles’ at one end of the theological spectrum, and pervades some sectors of politically-obsessed fundamentalists on the other end.” - Kenneth Berding
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The two parables that begin chapter 25 both have lead-ins which state, “The kingdom of heaven is like” (Matt. 25:1, 14). The second of these, the Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25:14-30)1, is about stewardship in honoring the King. Glasscock hits the nail on the head:
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It is usual for Dispensationalists to divide the seventieth week of Daniel 9; a week that lasts for seven years, into two halves of three and a half years each. There are good reasons for this which we shall discuss, but this clean division is not as apparent when one concentrates solely on the Olivet Discourse. The passage continues like this:
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Coming at last to the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24-25, although the main descriptive section comes in Matthew 24 with an addendum at the end of Matthew 25, before which are two parables.
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The other five (or six) parables are shorter. The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matt. 13:31-32) speaks of the “kingdom of heaven” beginning almost imperceptibly like a tiny seed but growing until it becomes a tree that can hold bird’s nests. Does this depict positive or negative growth? The wheat or the tares? It is hard to say, but I side with the majority who see it as positive growth.
This is from the first draft of my book The Words of the Covenant: New Testament Continuity. Read the series.
Discussion