E27: The Kingdom of God and the Pauline Epistles

In this episode, we discuss what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote about the kingdom of God in his letters. In the vast majority of his references to the kingdom, Paul speaks in line with first-century Jewish apocalyptic expectations. Three passages (Rom. 14:17; 1 Cor. 4:20; Col. 1:13) are commonly cited as evidence for realized eschatology. On closer examination, however, these passages actually make more sense when approached apocalyptically (but not as understood by the “apocalyptic Paul” movement, which is…… let’s just say we don’t like it).