A friend asked me to explain briefly (on Facebook) how holiness and the Kingdom of God are related:

1. Jesus and his followers teach us that the Spiritual Life is a matter of growth, renewal, maturity etc. The aim: to become more like Jesus.

2. Jesus’ Church – of all types – have honoured saints, martyrs etc. whose faith, hope and love were stronger than the average. It began with comments about James (‘camel knees’ – google that!) the earliest/godliest follower of Jesus to be honoured for his sanctity.

3. The best modern exponent of the idea of Christian Sanctity is, I believe, the Methodist scholar/pastor W E Sangster. Anything of his is worth the price – in money and time…

4. The Kingdom of God – where God rules – is the key metaphor Jesus uses in terms of our allegiance to the will of God. Read Marcus Borg’s section on this in his brilliant book The Heart of Christianity. Some obey God the King more joyously/completely than others. Hence Jesus’ comment about those ‘forgiven much’ etc.

HTH Rowland

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