Kingdom Authority

As recorded in Mark 1:15, Jesus called for people to “repent and believe.” This, I contend, was a call for people to stop thinking about the kingdom of God as they had been and to trust him regarding what kingdom means, how to think about it, and how to act upon it. The rest of the Markan gospel account describes important ways to think about the kingdom of God which Jesus was then ushering in.

The first issue Mark wrote about (1:21-3:19) was “kingdom authority”; he raised the issue through a rather large chiastic structure. This is the first of many in his gospel account, though most are quite small. Take a look at this graphic below to see the flow:

What kind of authority?

Jesus was concerned that the issue of authority and the way people might view it as important to the way we think about the kingdom of God. In contrast to kingdom of God authority, kingdom of man authority was to rule by political and military might to attain resources, privilege, and power. Kingdom of God authority was to be used to restore. In the above chiasm, we see authority to (1) displace evil, to (2) restore physical health, to (3) restore relationships, and (4) over religious practice.

I have to go to work now. . . I’ll write more on this later.