한국교회의 천국(하나님 나라)에 대한 오해와 이해

Abstract

In the Korean Church, the kingdom of heaven(God) has long been understood as referring to the postmortem Utopia. This idea is attributed especially to the early American missionaries, many of whom were influenced by John Nelson Darby, the founder of the dispensationalism in the late 19th century. Such an understanding of the kingdom has lingered well into the present day. For example, many Christian testimonies of NDE(near death experience) generally describe the kingdom of heaven(God) as the world after death, and always top the best-sellers lists of our time. It should not, however, be missed that Jesus declared the kingdom of God as the present reality immanent in his followers(Lk 17:20-21; Mt 5:3, 10; 12:28; 13:44-46; cf. Mt 4:17), not only as the future world to enter after death. As seen in the first triad of the Lords prayer(Mt 6:9-10), the coming of Gods kingdom means the realization of Gods will on earth. Accordingly, the gist of the kingdom idea in the Bible is not spatiality but Gods sovereignty. Since Gustaf Dalman explained the kingdom of heaven(God) as Gods dominion, major theological works on this topic have been translated and introduced to Korea in the late 20th century. Recently, many momentous volumes are published by Korean theologians, pastors and lay Christians, which demand a modification in the traditional concept of the kingdom of heaven(God). This change requires us not just to believe the kingdom of God, but to build it on earth through the power of the Holy Spirit.