During my first year of seminary (1976) I was taking an Old Testament theology class with Ronald Allen. He recommended a recent New Testament theology that had been written by George Eldon Ladd of Fuller Seminary. I decided to read his book during my summer break, and so in the summer of 1977 I read his New Testament theology which had been published in 1974.[1] I had never read a New Testament theology before, and Ladd’s book opened my eyes to vistas I had never imagined. The beauty, power, and simplicity of his construal of New Testament theology captivated me, and from that point on I was entranced with biblical theology. When I determined to do a PhD, I applied at Fuller Seminary where Ladd taught. Unfortunately, he was no longer teaching, and thus I never met him. Still, his theology had deeply influenced my supervisor and mentor Donald Hagner, and Hagner edited a revision of Ladd’s theology in 1993 that repristinated Ladd for a new generation.[2]
1. George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974).
2. George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament, revised edition, edited by Donald A. Hagner (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1993).
Historical Context
In this article I want to consider briefly Ladd’s understanding of the kingdom of God. His NT theology was his magnum opus, but he had written previous books on the kingdom, and his New Testament theology represented his mature word on the subject.[3] I first encountered Ladd’s teaching on the kingdom in his New Testament theology. Before sketching in briefly Ladd’s portrait of the kingdom, it is important to emphasize the great impact Ladd’s writings had on evangelicalism, especially in his explication of the kingdom of God. When Ladd started writing about the kingdom, the dominant eschatology among evangelicals was dispensationalism. Recently, a book has been written titled The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism.[4] Doubtless there are many factors that explain why dispensationalism is no longer the dominant theology or eschatology among evangelicals. I am convinced that perhaps the most significant reason, one that some might fail to attend to, is George Ladd’s writing on the kingdom of God. Few scholars change the theological landscape of their day, and perhaps Ladd himself didn’t realize the extent of his influence. Looking back we can see that Ladd’s construal of the kingdom played a significant role in diminishing the influence of the classical dispensationalism of the Scofield Bible and the revised dispensationalism popularized by Charles Ryrie.
3. E.g., George Eldon Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom: Scriptural Studies on the Kingdom of God (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959), and The Presence of the Future: The Eschatology of Biblical Realism, revised edition(Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1974). Original edition 1964.
4. Daniel G. Hummel, The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Battle Over the End Times Shaped a Nation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2023).
Actually, Ladd was not the first to articulate the perspective on the kingdom that permeated his work. Geerhardus Vos had written eloquently on this matter before Ladd,[5] and Oscar Cullmann also wrote powerfully on New Testament eschatology.[6] Cullmann, however, was not an evangelical, and thus he did not have a wide influence in evangelical circles. Vos belonged to the evangelical movement, but his rather ponderous writing style made him difficult to read, even for scholars, and thus his influence was limited. And perhaps his influence among evangelicals was also limited because he was a Presbyterian Ladd, however, taught at Fuller Seminary which included students from many denominations. In addition, Ladd’s writing style was lucid and accessible so that students could grasp his thought without undue effort.
5. Geerhardus Vos, The Teaching of Jesus concerning the Kingdom and the Church (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1951), and his book The Pauline Eschatology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1952).
6. Oscar Cullmann, Christ and Time: The Primitive Conception of Time and History, translated by Floyd Filson(Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1950).
As I noted earlier dispensationalism was carrying the day among evangelicals in the twentieth century. Traditional dispensationalism looked forward to the coming of the kingdom in the millennium, but Ladd argued that the kingdom arrived in Jesus’s ministry. The kingdom wasn’t only future but was an already but not yet phenomenon. Ladd demonstrated that limiting the kingdom to a future era wasn’t faithful to the New Testament witness. At the same time, he didn’t deny a future dimension to the kingdom, showing that the kingdom that was inaugurated in Christ would also be consummated in the future. The impact was so significant, in my judgment, that it challenged the dispensational consensus. Indeed, it changed dispensational circles, spawning a new wrinkle in dispensationalism, which is called progressive dispensationalism. Progressive dispensationalism is marked by an acceptance of the already but not yet schema that Ladd taught and wrote about so extensively. It isn’t my purpose here to discuss progressive dispensationalism, but some scholars have even claimed that progressive dispensationalism isn’t really dispensational. Whatever one thinks of that judgment the acceptance of the already not yet paradigm emphasized by Ladd catapulted dispensational circles into controversy over the nature of dispensationalism. Of course, other authors have played a role in the changing landscape, but I still think that the primary influence in all of this was Ladd’s work on the kingdom.
Ladd’s Understanding of the Kingdom
Ladd emphasized the kingdom in his writings, concentrating not surprisingly on the synoptic gospels. As noted earlier, he stressed that the kingdom was inaugurated in the ministry of Jesus. He pointed, for instance, to Matthew 12:28 where Jesus declared that the kingdom had come in his casting out demons. Similarly, in Luke 17:20 Jesus announced to the Pharisees that the kingdom of God was in their midst. Jesus was not suggesting, as some have interpreted it, that the kingdom of God is “within you.” He would hardly say to the Pharisees who resisted his ministry that the kingdom was inside them! Instead Jesus confronted the Pharisees with the truth that the kingdom was now present in his very person. The kingdom had come since the king had come! The presence of the kingdom was also manifested in Jesus’s healings, miracles, exorcisms, and when he raised the dead. Healings, miracles, and exorcisms anticipate the age to come when God’s shalom reigns everywhere. When the Baptist doubted whether Jesus was the coming king in Matthew 11, Jesus pointed him to Isaiah 35 which prophesied that when the kingdom arrived the blind would see, the lame would walk, and those who are diseased would be healed. All these signs and wonders were taking place in Jesus’s ministry, signaling that the kingdom had arrived.
Ladd also demonstrated, however, that the kingdom, even though it had already dawned in the person and work of Jesus Christ, was not yet consummated. Jesus often talked about the future coming of the kingdom as well. He taught the disciples to pray the Lord’s prayer “your kingdom come” (Matt. 6:10), indicating that there was a future fulfillment of the kingdom. Similarly, during his last meal with his disciples Jesus said he would not drink wine with them again until the kingdom of God had arrived in its fullness (Matt. 26:29). The kingdom will be consummated at the great messianic feast that is still to come. In the account of the sheep and the sheep and the goats (Matt. 25:31–46), faithful disciples will inherit the kingdom that has been prepared for them from the foundation of the world. The future kingdom has not yet dawned. Indeed, Jesus speaks of his future coming when the kingdom will be consummated. Or as we already saw in the passage about the sheep and the goats the future consummation of the kingdom will be the day in which all are judged by Christ, with the wicked receiving their recompense and the righteous their great reward.
One of the most fascinating dimensions of Ladd’s exposition on the kingdom is his explanation of the mysteries of the kingdom. Here Ladd focuses naturally on the parables of the kingdom. Mystery designates that which was previously hidden but is now revealed and disclosed to all. What we discover in Matthew 13 is that the kingdom has come in a mysterious and surprising way. The Jews expected the kingdom to arrive with apocalyptic power destroying their enemies and bringing them to paradise. One of the reasons the religious leaders (and the common people as well) doubted that Jesus was the true Messiah and king was that his ministry didn’t have the desired political impact. The Romans were not displaced from their rule over Israel, and life seemed to be going on pretty much as usual with the Jews as they lived under the thumb of the Romans. But here is where the mystery of the kingdom, according to Ladd, comes in. For instance, the kingdom has come like a mustard seed and like leaven hidden in dough (Matt. 13:31–33). The Jews in Jesus’s day understood the Old Testament to teach that the kingdom would come with apocalyptic power. Jesus, on the other hand, taught that the kingdom is as small as a mustard seed. It is almost invisible since the mustard seed was the smallest of all known seeds in Jesus’s day. Jesus’s contemporaries could easily fail to see the coming of the kingdom since it came in such a seemingly insignificant way. So too, the kingdom’s coming was hidden from the eyes of the world, which is another way of saying that it wasn’t perceptible. Jesus did say that the mustard seed would grow into a tree and that the leaven would work its way through the dough. Ladd interpreted the growth in these parables eschatologically so that the kingdom would not be evident to all people everywhere until the end of history. In the present age the kingdom, since it is small and hidden, doesn’t look as if it will triumph. Thus, Jesus’s contemporaries failed to see the kingdom since they were expecting something greater and more significant.
We find a similar conception in Jesus’s teaching about the four soils (Matt. 13:3–9, 18–23). What is the mystery of the kingdom here according to Ladd? The surprise is that when the kingdom comes most reject its message—only one out of the four soils bears fruit. The coming of the kingdom isn’t greeted with joy but rejected by most. The Jews expected when the kingdom came that there would be a widespread acceptance of the kingdom message—at least among the Jews. The astonishing surprise or mystery is that the majority did not embrace the kingdom message. Or consider the parable of the tares and the wheat in Matt. 13:24–30, 36–43). The Jews expected the kingdom to come in great power, sweeping away all enemies. Instead, both good and evil are mixed together in the world when the kingdom comes. The parable doesn’t teach that the church is a mixed entity. The field is not identified as the church but the world, and thus Jesus speaks about what happens in the world with the arrival of the kingdom. God’s enemies were not annihilated and destroyed. Instead the world is filled with ambiguity and complexity after the kingdom comes. The righteous and unrighteous dwell together, and the latter may even flourish. Christians are not called upon to cleanse the world, removing unbelievers as Joshua annihilated the Canaanites. The judgment of the world, the consummation of the kingdom, will take place on the final day. The parable of the dragnet moves in the same direction (Matt. 13:47–50). The separation of those who are good and evil will not occur when the kingdom is inaugurated. The day of consummation, the day of judgment, the day when good and evil are separated is coming. But presently, even though the kingdom has arrived, those who do evil are not judged. They live among the righteous, and the day of separation awaits the consummation of the kingdom.
A Concluding Word
Ladd’s understanding of the kingdom has much to say to us today. When we look at the world we may be tempted to think that the gospel isn’t true. The world in so many ways is unchanged since Jesus came. Ladd, though dead still speaks, calling on us to remember the mystery of the kingdom. It is as small as a mustard seed. It is hidden like leaven in dough, and thus it isn’t perceptible to people in the world, and its presence is sometimes missed even by Christians. The consummation of the kingdom is coming, the day of final judgment and vindication. In the meantime we do what God has called us to do in faithful ministry and service, praying for the kingdom to come in its fullness. We proclaim the good news that the kingdom has come through Jesus’s ministry, death, and resurrection. The new creation, the new world has come, but it is not yet here in its fullness. Understanding this truth is key to grasping the message of the New Testament and to living as Christ’s disciples today. The coming of the kingdom means that we have now died and risen with Christ and that the new creation has arrived, but our final and physical resurrection, the fullness of the reign of God in Christ still awaits us.
