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    http://ttj.sagepub.com/Theology Today

    http://ttj.sagepub.com/content/27/1/32The online version of this article can be found at:

    DOI: 10.1177/004057367002700105

    1970 27: 32Theology TodayBertil E. Grtner

    The Person of Jesus and the Kingdom of God

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    THE PERSON OF JESUS AND THEKINGDOM OF GODB y BERTIL E. GARTNER

    "In this essay we can only consider how the con-cept of the Kingdom of God was used before andafter the resurrection. This comparison will shedlight on the authority of Jesus) a crucial elementin the origin of christology; and this comparisonwill help explain the shift from Jesus> proclama-tion of the Kingdom to the primitive church>skerygma and its development of christology. Wew il l find that there is a definite difference betweenJesus> preaching and the teaching of the earlychurch) but we will also detect a continuity be-tween them in terms of the person of Jesus."

    SNCE Martin Kahler posited a distinction between the Jesus ofhistory and the Christ of faith> the relation between the historical Jesus and his teaching and the early church's proclamation of the Christ of faith has been a topic of theological discussion.Bultmann intensified the issue when he presented the problem interms of a break between history and faith (d. W. Schmithals> AnIntroduction to the Theology of Rudolf Bultmann) pp. 207ff.).Jesus felt himself to be the last messenger, the decisive caller torepentance. The Kingdom is the power which meets man, as acall from God, through the preached word. This call was renewedthrough the kerygma in the early church. The "bridge" betweenJesus and the early church, then, is the call to decision. It is notthe person of Jesus who is the link of continuity but the call to de-BertH E. Gartner , who was Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary from 1965-1970, has just become Dean of Gothenburg Cathedral, an industrial parishin Sweden. He holds a doctora te f rom Uppsala University and was for several years amember of th e theological faculty of that university. Among his many publications areThe Theology of the Gospel of Thomas (1961), The Temple and Community in Qumranand in the New Testament (1965), as well as several books in Swedish.

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    PERSON OF JESUS AND KINGDOM OF GOD 33CIS lOn, the message (R. Bultmann, The Historical Jesus and theKerygmatic Christ).

    The "New Quest" men of the fifties tried to show that there ismore continuity than Bultmann admits. Kasemann, for example,stated with emphasis that Jesus taught with a new authority, neverheard of before ("The Problem of the Historical Jesus," Essays onNew Testament Themes, pp. 42f.). This claim to authori ty in histeaching of the inaugurated Kingdom is an important link betweenthe historical Jesus and the Christ of the church that never can benullified without ending up in docetism. This link of continuity,however, is the preaching and the message; the important thing isnot the person of Jesus (ibid., p. 46). Bornkamm made a similarstatement, typical of a large group of scholars, when he describedthe difference between the historical Jesus and the preaching of thechurch as "Jesus Christ, who proclaimed the Kingdom of God, .. .became the one proclaimed; the one who called to faith, becamethe content of the faith" (Jesus of Nazareth, p. 188). Thus "Jesus"is said to be the necessary link of continuity. But it is not a question of the person of Jesus. It is rather the exousia that Jesus possessed which became a starting point for the new understanding ofChrist in the church. The characteristic idea, then, of many ofthese scholars is the attempt to establish a continuity between Jesusand Christ through emphasizing the proclamation or the teachingof Jesus. It is the message that connects Jesus with the Christ offaith, and not the person.

    On the other hand, there are the scholars who see Jesus' use ofchristological or messianic titles (showing his interpretation of hisministry) as the link between him and the church's faith in Christ.The christology of the early church has its roots in Jesus' own messianic self-consciousness which was reflected in his identif ication ofhimself with the Son of Man and/or the Servant of the Lord (see,for example, W. Manson, Jesus the Messiah, and O. Cullmann, TheChristology of the New Testament). This idea is, of course, rejectedby those who deny that Jesus ever used any messianic titles. Theyassert that he never identified himself with the Messiah, the Son ofMan, or the suffering servant (R. Bultmann, E. Kiisemann, G. Bornkamm). He never expressed an interest in his own person. Christology, therefore, belongs to the post-resurrection church and couldnot have existed before the crucial events of the kerygma took place.

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    34 THEOLOGy TODAYThis debate is, of course, not yet finished, and the complicated material has not yet yielded any definite answer.

    But the problem of the continuity between the historical Jesusand the faith of the church can profitably be approached in otherways. We propose to do it by studying the concept of the Kingdomof God. I t is easy to show that one can discuss christology, that is,the principal elements which form the basic content of the laterchristological titles, without referring to specific titles. For example, John the Baptist asked Jesus, "Are you he who is to come orshall we look for another?" (Matt. 11: 3). Jesus' answer does notcontain a single messianic t it le but is, nevertheless, a rather important messianic interpretation of Jesus' ministry: "Go and tell Johnwhat you hear and see. . . . " Jesus' ministry is thought of in termsof Isaiah's promise of the characteristic signs of the messianic age,namely, what a man could both see and hear, what is already beingmanifested through him. The same could be said about Jesus'casting out the demons with the help of "God's finger" (Lk. 11: 20)."But if it is by the finger of God that I cast demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you." The power of the inauguratedKingdom is at work in and through Jesus, an idea that has farreaching consequences for a christological interpretation. In thisway, it may be possible to avoid the deadlocked discussion of themessianic titles and to present interpretations of important elementsof christology without reference to specific titles.

    In this essay we can only consider how the concept of the Kingdom of God was used before and after the resurrection. This comparison will shed light on the authority of Jesus, a crucial elementin the origin of christology; and this comparison will help explainthe shift from Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom to the primitivechurch's kerygma and its development of christology. We willfind that there is a definite difference between Jesus' preaching andthe teaching of the early church, but we will also detect a continuitybetween them in terms of the person of Jesus.

    IJesus' claim to authority is a useful point of departure because itis a common basis in today's discussion of the continuity-discontinuity problem. I f we look at expressions of this authority ofJesus in the synoptic material, which is not too heavily influenced

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    PERSON OF JESUS AND KINGDOM OF GOD 35by the christological thinking of the post-resurrection church, wefind, among many aspects worthy of mention, the following five.

    First, there is Jesus' forgiveness of sins. Even though the instances in the gospels of Jesus forgiving sins are rare, several traditions present Jesus as the one who opened the Kingdom for sinners,and that includes forgiveness. The authent icity of a saying ofJesus such as Mark 2: 10, "The Son of Man has authority on earthto forgive sins," can be evaluated in different ways. We will notdiscuss whether the title Son of Man was used by Jesus or not, butin my opinion nothing rules out the possibility that this sayingexpresses explicitly what was an important element in Jesus' claimto authority, an authori ty not always presented explicitly in termsof messianic titles. The same authority came to expression whenJesus invited to a meal those who were condemned as great sinners,sharing with them the blessings of the Kingdom. Jesus' eating withsinners was another side of his authority to forgive sins (Mk. 2: 15f.;Lk. 7: 39, 14: 13,21).

    According to Jewish theology, God was the only one who had theauthority to forgive sins. How then could Jesus act in the place ofGod? Did he do so because of the essence of his person, the oneappointed by God to be Son of Man or Son of God, or did he doso because of his vocation to announce the coming Kingdom? Isit a question of his essence or his function? The answer to thisquestion is found in Jesus' relation to the Kingdom. Repentanceand forgiveness were signs of the Kingdom at work. When theKingdom comes, many Jews said, forgiveness comes, because withoutcleansing and forgiveness man cannot enter the Kingdom. TheKingdom is God's final offering of forgiveness. Therefore, whenJesus approached those who were excluded from forgiveness because of the scribes' interpretation of the Torah, he offered thema new communion with God in the Kingdom, symbolized for example, by the breaking of bread together. Here Jesus acted inthe place of God.

    Could Jesus offer forgiveness because he represented the Kingdom or could he do so because he was the Son of Man or the Sonof God? These messianic titles were not combined in their original Jewish contexts with the idea of forgiveness. But the Kingdom certainly was. God had been active in many prophets andalso in John the Baptist. What then was peculiar about Jesus?

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    36 THEOLOGY TODAYHe represented the Kingdom, because in him the Kingdom beganto manifest itself in a unique way as the beginning of God's finalaction. He had a unique authority. The Kingdom can be explained as God's abode, presence, God's blessings,t and it was thiskind of Kingdom Jesus represented. The reason for Jesus' wordsand deeds was the Kingdom; he had his authority from the Kingdom.

    Second, Jesus considered himself to be greater than Moses. Moseswas not considered to have authority over the Torah; his authoritywas based on the Torah. Jesus claimed to have an authori ty thatsurpassed that of the elders. He also considered himself to begreater than Moses because in his teaching he substituted his owninterpretations for those of Moses. When he broke the laws ofpurification and of the Sabbath, or when he rejected the traditionalinterpretations of marriage, fasting and prayer, oath and retaliation,or sin and righteousness, he claimed an authority unsurpassed byanyone but God.

    From where did Jesus get such authority? I think that part ofthe answer lies in the fact that he represented the Kingdom andhence put the Kingdom above the Torah. When the Jew recitedthe Shema> he meant to take the yoke of the Kingdom on his shoulders by keeping the law. God's reign occurred when he submittedhimself to the Torah, and by doing this he did not establish theKingdom on earth but was part of the process inaugurating theKingdom. The Kingdom of God was therefore thought of as aTorah-structured Kingdom. The Kingdom proclaimed by Jesus,on the other hand, has a non-Torah structure. It meant, amongmany other things, that the Kingdom represented another righteousness than that coming from the Torah. Jesus taught the "way ofGod" or the "way of righteousness," a new understanding of God'sKingdom and of the conditions of entering the Kingdom. TheKingdom could not be earned, but it was a gift. What Jesus called"righteousness," "mercy," "love for one's neighbor" was an expression of a new interpretation of what the Kingdom meant. In numerous gospel traditions we find Jesus in conflict with the rabbisbecause of this new interpretation of the Kingdom. Because Jesusrepresented the Kingdom, he could break the regulations of theelders when he found that they did not correspond to the graceof the Kingdom. The rich man, children, tax-collectors, lepers, and

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    PERSON OF JESUS AND KINGDOM OF GOD 37many others were the object of Jesus' concern because he believedthe Kingdom to be grace and mercy, not excluding anybody whorepented.

    Jesus' authority did not grow out of a vocation to be an outstanding rabbi or a prophet or even the Son of Man or the Messiah, butit came from his self-consciousness of representing the Kingdom.He did not simply take over some traditions about the Kingdomor create some new aspects of the Kingdom. He could teach andact against the interpretations of the Torah because he representedthe Kingdom that was more than the Torah, a gift from God, anew communion with God.

    Third, Jesus had authority over demons. This showed thatJesus proclaimed the Kingdom, not only by words but also bydeeds (cE. E. Kasemann, ibid., pp. 34, 41). Casting out of demonswas an act of the greatest importance in Jesus' ministry because itshowed that Jesus' authority extended over the evil powers of thisworld. It was a common Jewish idea at this time that the end ofthe present age and the dawn of the coming age should lead to afinal battle between God and the evil powers in the cosmos. Thevictory of God formed an integral part of the teaching of the coming Kingdom, and the gospel material reflects this. Jesus beganthis battle and was victorious (Lk. 10: 18; Mk. 3: 27).

    Where did Jesus get such authority? Not from the rabbis or otherJewish authorities, not from Beelzebub, as some believed, but fromthe Kingdom, the power of which was the "finger of God." " I f itis by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom ofGod has come to you" (Lk. II: 20). The Kingdom was not at workthrough a message only, but in and through Jesus.

    Fourth, Jesus had authority as a judge. A common belief at thistime in several Jewish groups was that the arrival of the Kingdomwould lead to a judgment, the last judgment. Many of the Kingdom parables contain this motif. Wherever Jesus met a rejectionof his proclamation of the Kingdom, he also spoke of the comingjudgment. But this judgment was already at work. His woes overthe Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Scribes ("this evil and adulterous generation") grew out of this rejection. His judgment wouldthen be confirmed at the final judgment (Matt. 12: 41-42). Jesusin his earthly ministry had the authority to represent the Kingdomin this judging activity.

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    38 THEOLOGY TODAYFifth, Jesus himself is a manifestation of the presence of the King.

    dom. In my opinion, it is obvious that in most of the gospel material there is a strong future aspect to the Kingdom. On this point,Jesus' presentation coincided with that of contemporary Judaism.On the other hand, the gospels also contain traditions which empha-size that the Kingdom was already manifesting itself through Jesus.What I have already mentioned speaks in favor of this. Jesus' wordsand deeds showed that the Kingdom was already at work to a certainextent in the present age. Jesus represented the presence of theKingdom, and this was the source of his authority when he preachedand acted. I f the Kingdom had merely been a future reality, Jesuswould have been just another prophet preparing the way for theKingdom. But now its presence could be seen and heard in Jesus'person.In summary, then, Jesus received his authority from the Kingdom

    of God, and he represented it on earth. He proclaimed the Kingdom in many ways: through his words, his miraculous acts and symbolic actions, his way of taking care of people. This means thathis words and deeds were different aspects of one event: the Kingdom of God beginning to manifest itself. To speak, however, ofthe words and deeds of a man without emphasizing the man himself is an invalid separation of the proclaimer and the message. Jesusrepresented the Kingdom in his person and, therefore, one may saythat the person of Jesus, his words and deeds, are all aspects of onething, the Kingdom.

    I IThis close connection between Jesus' person and the Kingdom as

    manifesting itself is the root of christology. It is here that we willfind a link of continuity between the historical Jesus and the Chris tof the post-resurrection church. But the early church did not thinkthat the Kingdom of God gave Jesus his authority, but the resurrection. His resurrection made him Lord and Son of God. Ourquestion thus becomes: Is there any continuity between the Kingdom of God, proclaimed by the earthly Jesus, and the Christ of theresurrection? To answer this question adequately would requireinvestigation of a vast body of material, which is impossible in thiscontext. Therefore, I will limit myself to one small line of investigation, an examination of the few passages in Paul's writing which

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    PERSON OF JESUS AND KINGDOM OF GOD 39contain direct references to the Kingdom of God. There are onlynine passages in the undisputed epistles of Paul that contain a di-rect reference to the Kingdom of God and three in Colossians andEphesians. The following are some of the more important aspectsof what the Kingdom meant in the Pauline tradition, aspects thatare the same as those found in the gospel material which we havejust examined, and they are here arranged in the same order as thefive aspects of Jesus' authority already presented.First, "forgiveness of sins" or redemption through Christ is theway into the Kingdom of God. Paul makes it perfectly clear inI Corinthians 6: 9-11 that evildoers, immoral persons, thieves,drunkards, and other sinners cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.Some of the members of the church in Corinth had earlier been likethese sinners. But through Christ they could expect to inherit theKingdom because "you were washed, you were sanctified, you werejustified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit ofour God." Forgiveness is not a typical term of Paul's, and it is notmentioned here. But it is quite obvious that being freed from sinsand being renewed by baptism and the Spirit were made possiblethrough Christ, and that meant that they had received salvation andcould enter the Kingdom.

    At the end of Galatians 5 Paul uses two lists, one for the works ofthe flesh and one for the fruits of the Spirit. After the list of sinshe says that sinners cannot "inherit the Kingdom," and after the listof spiritual fruits he writes that Christians have crucified their fleshso that they could in the Spirit produce good fruits. Through Jesus'death and the gift of the Spirit the sins of the Christians were re-moved, and they were renewed and were able to live the new life ofsalvation. The way into the Kingdom went through Christ andthe Spirit.

    In Colossians 1: 13-14 we find another reference of the same char-acter to the Kingdom. The believers are transferred, it says, fromthe dominion of darkness to the Kingdom of his beloved Son, andthis is possible because in him there is redemption and forgiveness.The Kingdom is entered through Christ and the fruits of his re-demptive death (d. Ephes. 5: 4ff.).

    This corresponds to what was said about Jesus and forgiveness inthe gospel material. But the change is obvious. Christ's deathand the Spirit are now the means of and the way to forgiveness and

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    40 THEOLOGY TODAYsalvation. What the Kingdom could offer in Jesus is now offeredin Christ and the Spirit. Even though the terminology is different, the concept is the same. In both cases the person of Jesus islinked to the Kingdom, and his person is the means used by Godto give man freedom from condemnation because of his sins.

    Second, righteousness through Christ comes as a gift. One ofthe leading motifs of Jesus' proclamation was that the Kingdomcannot be earned. The Kingdom is not a reward which rests onthe performance of the deeds of the Kingdom. The same principlecomes out very strongly in Paul's interpretation of redemption andsalvation-righteousness as gifts from God through Christ. In contrast to the legalism and the stringent regulations among his opponents, Paul presents the Kingdom as something that "does not meanfood and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the HolySpirit" (Rom. 14: 17). The same principle that the blessings ofthe Kingdom are gifts or signs of renewal is also behind other Kingdom passages such as I Corinthians 6: 9-11 and Colossians 1: 11-14.Third, there is victory over evil powers. I have already men

    tioned I Corinthians 6, Galatians 5, and Colossians 1 where Paulpresents Christ as the victor over evil in terms of sins. A moreimportant aspect of this victory in the context of this study is foundin I Corinthians 15: 24. Here Paul presents Christ as the ruler ofthe Kingdom. He is the Lord of the Kingdom through his resurrection. The victory, however, is not yet completed. Christ mustreign, but it involves a continuous battle against the enemies of God.When the final cosmic victory is won, Christ will give himself up toGod together with the Kingdom.The link between this Pauline notion and the picture of Jesuscasting out demons, defeating the evil powers, is evident. Jesuswins a victory over the demons because of his Kingdom authority.In the post-resurrection church he defeats the cosmic evil powersbecause of his resurrection authority. Thus a christologizing ofJesus' victory over the demons has taken place in the light of thekerygma) but the Kingdom forms a link of continuity. And inboth cases the victory is closely linked to Jesus' person.Fourth, the Kingdom involves judgment. The gospel preachedby the apostle sheds light on man's real si tuation in this world, onman's sins and his turning away from God. Therefore the gospelhas an indirect function of judgment. According to Paul, this can

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    PERSON OF JESUS AND KINGDOM OF GOD 41also be expressed in terms of the Kingdom idea. No sinner or evildoer can enter the Kingdom or inherit the Kingdom until he,through Christ, is judged and forgiven and renewed (I Cor. 6, Gal.5). The purpose of mentioning the Kingdom in this context wasto exhort the Christians to be serious about their way of living, toallow the judgment to come now before the final establishment ofthe Kingdom. And the Kingdom meant judgment. Paul couldrefer directly to the Kingdom and the final judgment, as is clearfrom II Thessalonians I: 5, where the apostle speaks about the sufferings which now fall on the Christians already in this age as signsof the final, coming judgment which will precede Jesus' return asthe judge with his angels. Even now the judgment has started, butthe final judgment and entrance into the Kingdom are yet to come.

    Fifth, the Kingdom is present through Christ. The future perspective is clear in some of the Kingdom texts in Paul's writing, butPaul expresses several times the idea that the Kingdom is now present and manifest as well. In his critique of the inflated apostlesopponents in Corinth, Paul says that he is not only talking, usingwords as they do, but he also presents a gospel which is dynamis.And this gospel is a manifestation of the Kingdom; "The Kingdomof God does not consist in talk but power (dynamis)." It manifestsitself as dynamis. It is interesting to notice that Paul chose thisword as a sign of the Kingdom, because in other passages in ICorinthians it is used only for the dynamis of the Spirit (12: 10), ofChrist (5: 4), of the word about the cross (1: 18; 2: 4), Christ as thedynamis of God (1: 24). But it is consistent with the Kingdomhaving a new focus, Christ and the Spirit. The Kingdom is notpresent only as a message, but also as a Spirit-Christ, dynamis.

    In another passage Paul criticizes those who put too much emphasis on food regulations, and he concludes, "For the Kingdom of Goddoes not mean food and drink but righteousness and peace and joyin the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14: 17). The three terms "righteousness," "peace," and "joy" are often used by Paul to describe the newlife which the believers live "in Christ" through the Spiri t (d. Rom.15: 13). The Kingdom is already present and manifests itselfthrough the gifts of the Spirit as righteousness, peace, and joy (d.Gal. 5: 22).A similar idea is found in Colossians 1: 9-14 where it is said thatthe inheritance of the Kingdom ("the inheritance of the saints in

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    42 THEOLOGY TODAYthe light") is both something expected to come and already a fact.They now are living within the realm of the Kingdom ("He hastransferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved Son," v. 13), and thismeans a new life in the Spirit (vv.9f).In the gospel material the Kingdom was said to be manifestedthrough Jesus and his words and deeds. In Paul's writing thekerygma has changed the perspective of the Kingdom, but it is saidto be present as the fruit of the Christ events. We have here an-other noticeable christologizing of the Kingdom idea. But thelink of continuity is also here, connected with the Kingdom andthe person of Jesus Christ. 2Our investigation of what the Kingdom meant in Pauline tradi-

    tion indicates the following. The authority of Christ emanatesfrom his resurrection, not from the Kingdom. The kerygma, notthe Kingdom, is now in the center of the preaching of the earlychurch. But the concept of the Kingdom of God is not left outcompletely; sometimes the term Kingdom is still used. The King-dom, however, stands for something new; it is understood in thelight of the kerygma. The Kingdom is now combined with Jesusas Christ and Lord and Savior.

    IIINow that we have considered under five concepts how the King-

    dom was understood before and after the resurrection, we may drawout the results of our investigation. The crucial thing is that whatthe Kingdom stood for in the preaching of Jesus remains essentialin the new teaching of the church. Forgiveness, righteousness, judg-ment and mercy, victory over the evil powers, and the present dy-namis of the Kingdom were essential for Jesus' preaching and act-ing. They were manifested through the person of Jesus and his

    2 One minor observation could be added. The Kingdom is in Paul's writing both God'sand Christ's Kingdom, which also reflects the change due to the kerygma. In the gospelsthe Kingdom is not characterized as ruled by Jesus. The expression in Matthew 13: 41 and16: 28, "The Kingdom of the Son of Man," and similar formulations in Luke ("his King-dom," 1: 33; 22: 30; 23: 42) are la te r reflections. They are s imilar to what we find in pas-sages like Colossians 1: 13, where the Kingdom is cal led "his (God's) beloved Son's Kingdom,"an idea that reflects a developed chris tology such as that of the Chr is t hymn that followsthis verse; d. Ephesians 5: 5. Otherwise the Kingdom can be spoken of a lmost as a parallel to the realm of "being in Christ." In Galatians 5: 21 Paul writes that the r ighteouswill inherit the Kingdom. Later in the same section, v. 24, he talks about "those who be-long to Christ." The two expressions sound much like parallels, even though one stressesthe future and the other the present. Here we have a sign of how the Kingdom ideacould fade away and be replaced by a completely Christ-centered expression such as "inChrist."

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    PERSON OF JESUS AND KINGDOM OF GOD 43authority, as he represented the Kingdom. They were likewise present in the church through the same person who now is Christ andLord. This means that the kerygma shed new light on and addednew dimensions to the five concepts we have discussed. But weshould observe that the Kingdom of God forms a link of continuity,not jus t as a message but as a present dynamis through the person ofJesus now known as the resurrected one. The Kingdom is linkedto the person of Jesus and cannot be separated from it.

    In my opinion, this indicates that a number of the first theologiansof the early church were aware of the problem of continuity andtried to solve it in terms of a christologized Kingdom. Most of thematerial in Paul to which I have referred seems to be old formulasor at least to reflect old traditions. This indicates that the conceptof the Kingdom was still connected to the kerygma in the post-resurrection church. Later on, however, it disappeared and was replacedby other ideas like "in Christ" and "in the Spirit." Because of itspolitical overtones the term basileia was not suitable for the churchas it expanded in the Roman Empire. And when the term ekklesiacame to dominate the vocabulary, the term basileia was limited tothe Kingdom or reign of Christ in the new age.

    The conclusions drawn from the material we have presented indicate that when we discuss the origin of christology, we cannot limitourselves to the post-resurrection church and discuss only the messianic or christological titles in the early church, or concentrate onwhat has been called with an ambiguous term "Jesus' messianic selfconsciousness." We must include the person of Jesus as reflectedin his authority and representation of the dynamis of the Kingdom.Before we discuss the titles, we should try to find out more aboutthe fundamental elements of christology. There were other important traditions which helped the church interpret the kerygmaticChrist, such as the Wisdom-Logos motif. But when we discuss theorigin of christology and the problem of continuity-discontinuity,we should also be aware of the important role that the concept ofthe Kingdom of God played in the formation of the christology ofthe New Testament.

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