The Kingdom of God and Social Justice

My views of social justice are based on what I believe Jesus did in ushering in the kingdom of God as an inaugurated eschatology, which means that His kingdom is "here" yet somehow "not yet". It's partially here and is leading to the glorious return of Jesus who will finally fully implement the redemption of all things. The Jews of the first century were expecting the judgment of the nations, the liberation of Israel from its oppressors, the cleansing of the religion, the rule of the Messiah, the gathering of the Gentiles, the institution of the New Covenant, etc. But Jesus came to partially fulfill some of those, completely fulfill others, and to deny some outrightly.

The kingdom that Jesus instilled was the reversal of the effects of sin on the cosmos. The depravity of humanity, the groaning of creation, the effects of demonic powers; these are all a part of the problem. Chief among these, of course, is the salvation of individuals from their family of the "world" into the new family of the saints. Our Western world easily limits salvation to the individual, but the New Testament view is very definitely tied to the corporate. Individuals in families, not merely individuals.

But everything else, from social justice, to environmentalism, peacemaking, and exorcisms, are only partial loosenings of what sin has wrought. "But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." (Mat. 12:28) That whole narrative of Mat. 12 is so deep that I would love to write a paper on it someday. The power of the final kingdom is the casting out of demons, but how is it that Jesus is doing this during his ministry? One really has to pause and try to feel what the Jews were thinking: the divine authority of Jesus to cast out demonic powers and to wield a power known to only show up at the end of times.

And look at verse 29 about how "Satan has [been] rendered powerless to interfere with Jesus' incursion into his territory" (Nolland, John. The Gospel of Matthew, p. 502)

What Christians are to do, in fact what our whole lives revolve around, is the carrying out of God's purposes for His glory as citizens of His kingdom. We are to emulate that reversal of sin in real power in healing, in the casting out of demons, in sanctification, in reconciliation, in protecting the environment and animals, in addressing injustice, in proclaiming the the good news of salvation, in caring for the poor, the outsiders, the "rejects", the utmost depraved. This is the whole of the gospel.

This can be coupled with Jesus' higher commands of self-sacrifice and love until one sees that this is very nearly the central theme of the New Testament. Almost undoubtedly the kingdom of God is the unifying theme of the New Testament.

Be sure to check out N. T. Wright's views on the activity of the kingdom today. He comes at it from a different perspective though: for him it's more like an emulation of the New Jerusalem that will come down from heaven at the renewal of all things whereas I tend to focus on Jesus' ministry. It makes little difference but to bolster my faith in this very important doctrine; they are two lines that converge on the same all-important point of the "gospel".