A charge against the Christian faith that I have heard leveled numerous times through the years is that it corrupted the message of Jesus. That is, Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God, but these critics say that the Apostle Paul then changed this message into the Christian faith as we know it today. Another claim commonly made is that the Book of Acts does not record the history of the early church as it actually happened but rather offers an idealized version of the events told to support a particular vision of the Christian faith that came to be at a later date. According to those holding to this position, the speeches that are made by various figures in Acts – such as the Apostle Paul – do not authentically reflect Jesus’s message but rather are creations of the author for his particular purposes and aims.
While I have always found both of these assertions to be wrong, my recent study of the Kingdom of God has further demonstrated why and how these positions do not follow the evidence that we find in the New Testament. As noted in a previous post, the gospels clearly portray Jesus as preaching the kingdom of God (as well as John the Baptist before him), but the message about the kingdom of God is not just found in the Gospels. This is the very message that the Apostle Paul also preaches in the Book of Acts and in his letters to churches. Let’s explore the preaching of the kingdom of God in Acts and Paul’s letters (all translations are from the Christian Standard Bible).
Paul’s Words about the Kingdom of God in Acts
There are numerous figures in the Book of Acts who teach and preach about the kingdom of God. The first one is Jesus himself, as Acts 1:3 recounts how the resurrected Jesus spent a period of forty days “speaking about the kingdom of God” to his apostles. Philip, one of the seven who was appointed to help care for the Hellenistic widows in Acts 6:1-7, also preaches the kingdom of God as he goes to Samaria and there he “proclaimed the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8:12).
The figure who does the most preaching about the kingdom of God, though, is Paul. In Acts 14:21-22, he returns to various cities that he had visited in his first missionary journey and seeks to strengthen and encourage them “by telling them, ‘It is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.’” Later on in the city of Corinth, “he spoke boldly over a period of three months, arguing and persuading them about the kingdom of God” (Acts 19:8). The importance of the kingdom in Paul’s message is apparent in Paul’s farewell address to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, as he describes his ministry among them as going “about preaching the kingdom” (Acts 20:25). The book of Acts ends with Paul in a Roman prison, awaiting trial – and proclaiming the kingdom of God: “From dawn to dusk he expounded and testified about the kingdom of God” (Acts 28:23); “he welcomed all who visited him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:30-31).
Therefore, the book of Acts shows the message that Paul preached was the very same message that Jesus preached. Of course, one could argue that the author of the book of Acts was trying to link Paul and Jesus and thus described their message in the same way. If this was the case, though, then one would not expect to find any or many references to the kingdom of God in the letters that we have that Paul wrote. However, when one looks to Paul’s writings, one finds a number of references to the kingdom of God.
Paul’s Words of the Kingdom of God in His Letters
References to the kingdom of God are not confined to only one or two of the thirteen letters from Paul that we have in the New Testament. Rather, the majority of the letters have a reference to the kingdom of God.
In a number of places, Paul talks about those who are excluded from the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:21 notes that those who practice the various “works of the flesh” described in the preceding verses “will not inherit the kingdom.” Paul’s words here are not the first time that he has said this, as he notes that he warned them about it before. This would not be the last time Paul discusses the various practices that lead to exclusion from the kingdom of God, as he says in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 “that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom” and describes these unrighteous individuals who will not inherit God’s kingdom as “ sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males” and “thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Ephesians 5:5 says something similar, noting that “every sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”
I would be remiss, though, if I failed to note that Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians also note the transformation that is possible in Christ, as after naming those who are excluded from the kingdom of God, Paul says, “And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). A key point of Paul’s writings is that Christ takes those who belong to a different kingdom and now brings them to his kingdom, as encapsulated so well in those wonderful words from Colossians 1:13, “He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.”
Just as Jesus said that the kingdom is not from this world, so Paul notes how this is different. In 1 Corinthians 4:20, he writes that the “the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” That is, the kingdom of God does not consist in idle and empty talk – as is often the case with the kingdom of this world – but in the powerful actions and activities that flow from it. Another way that the kingdom of God is different than what people might think it is like is found in Romans 14:17, as Paul says, “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” This saying is somewhat similar to Matthew 6 in which Jesus says that life is more than just food and clothing and that we should seek the kingdom of God rather than have anxiety about those things. However, the context is also a little bit different in that the dispute that the Roman Christians seemed to be having focused on whether one had to refrain from eating certain things or focus on various regulations in this regard. Those elements are not what changes a person or reflect what kingdom they are in; that reflection emerges from their life and whether they are reflecting the fruit of the Spirit or whether we see the works of the flesh in them.
Paul also speaks about the kingdom as something that will come at the end of time, pointing back to the fact that Jesus says the kingdom has come but that the kingdom will come in full when he returns. Paul points to that reality when he notes that Christ will come and hand over the kingdom to God (1 Corinthians 15:24). Later on in that chapter, Paul states that “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption” (1 Corinthians 15:50) and then notes that we will be changed and resurrected before that day (see 1 Corinthians 15:51).
Like his words in Acts 14, Paul notes that those who are in this kingdom will also experience suffering in the present. In 2 Thessalonians 1:5, Paul talks about the fact that the suffering that they are facing and enduring is “clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment that you will be counted worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you also are suffering.” While we suffer now, there is a promise of deliverance in this hope of the kingdom, as “The Lord will rescue me from every evil work and will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen” (2 Timothy 4:18).
The reality of this kingdom is something that directs us to both godly living and proclamation. Paul grounds the call for Timothy to preach the gospel “because of his appearing and his kingdom” (2 Timothy 4:1); we are called to proclaim the kingdom because of the reality of the kingdom. There is also a call to walk worthy because of this kingdom, as Paul states in 1 Thessalonians 2:12 that “we encouraged, comforted, and implored each one of you to walk worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.”
All these passages point to the fact that Paul talked about the kingdom in his writings and thus reflects the message of Jesus as well as the portrayal of him in Acts. A potential counter to the idea that the kingdom was central to the preaching of Jesus and Paul is that these verses are only a small selection of Paul’s writings and thus it does not stand at the heart or center of his preaching. Something that is wise to remember when looking at Paul’s letter is that they were not documents written in a vacuum but rather seeking to communicate certain truths and concepts to a particular group of people in light of the circumstances that they faced. Therefore, although many of these references to the kingdom of God may seem to be in passing, their presence in a variety of documents while dealing with a variety of issues points to the importance of this truth in the message that he was preaching and how he repeatedly drew connects back to the kingdom in the course of his conversations.
Do We Proclaim the Same Message?
This discussion of Paul’s words about the kingdom of God in his letters and in the narrative about him in the book of Acts should counter the claims that Paul changed the message of Jesus or that Acts does not reflect what Paul really taught. I do think it is fair, though, for us to consider those questions on a more personal level. Does my life and teachings (in word and deed) reflect the same truth and reality as that taught by Jesus and Paul – or could I be accused of changing it? Does the narrative of my life’s activities match what really comes out of my mouth or is there a difference between my “acts” and my “words?” Jesus and Paul both preached the kingdom; may our lives reflect the truths that they taught and may we spread it without hypocrisy.
Questions about the Bible or theology? Email them to Pastor Brian at Theology@WeAreFaith.org. You can also email to be added to the list that receives weekly emails with our blog posts.
