Part VI-C: The Kingdom Confusion. Earthly and Heavenly, Present and Eternal
From Sovereign Grace and the Scope of Election: A Comparative Examination of Attainment Theology and Grace Theology, with Particular Attention to the Question of Whether God's Elect Are Found Among All Nations and Religions
Beneath nearly every attainment system proof-text stands a single unexamined assumption: that every occurrence of "kingdom," "Zion," "enter," "inherit," and "saved" in Scripture refers to one thing, the believer's eternal address, awarded by performance. Untangle the Bible's own kingdom distinctions and the majority of the attainment system's arsenal discharges harmlessly. Scripture speaks of the kingdom in at least four registers, and confusing them is the engine of the entire tiered system.
In this section
- 1. The universal kingdom: God's reign over all things, always
- 2. The spiritual kingdom: God's reign in the regenerate, present now
- 3. The visible gospel kingdom: the professing sphere in time, with its ranks, rewards, and losses
- 4. The eternal kingdom in glory: entered by all the redeemed, equally, by gift
- 5. The earthly-kingdom misreading: repeating Israel's mistake
- The rule that resolves it all
- A note on a related controversy