Larry Oats
Already or Not Yet?
Alva McClain and George Ladd “Kingdom Living” is a popular phrase today. It is usually based on the
idea that the church is connected to the kingdom, either because the church has replaced Israel as the people of God or because the kingdom is already here, at least in a spiritual sense. Divergent Views In 1959 two books came on the market with divergent views of the kingdom of God. Alva McClain (1888–1968) was the founder of Grace Theological Seminary and served as its president from 1937 to 1962. His volume, The Greatness of the Kingdom, was a minor modification of the dispensationalism of his day. The other book was George Eldon Ladd’s The Gospel of the Kingdom. Ladd (1911–82) developed the concept of an “already/not yet” kingdom, or what is also called “Inaugurated Eschatology.” He taught at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary from 1942 to 1950, when he moved to Fuller Seminary. Ladd was a covenant premillennialist and was critical of dispensational thinking. Both of these men had written concerning their respective positions earlier and were aware of the other’s position. McClain noted that there are two “almost contradictory” discussions about the kingdom in the Bible. Some passages present the kingdom as something which has always existed, but others indicate that it has a historical beginning (compare Ps. 10:16 with Dan. 2:44). Some passages present the kingdom as universal in scope, yet others as a local rule established on earth (compare Ps. 103:19 with Isa. 24:23). Scripture presents the kingdom as the rule of God directly, without an intermediary but also as the rule of God through a Mediator who is a channel between God and man (compare Ps. 59:13 with Ps. 2:4–6). Some passages describe the kingdom as something wholly future, while other passages see the kingdom as a present reality (compare Zech. 14:9 with Ps. 29:10). Finally, the kingdom of God is viewed as an unconditional rule arising from the sovereign nature of God, yet is also seen as a kingdom based on a covenant made by God with man (compare Dan. 4:34, 35 with Ps. 89:27–29). 12
To solve this interpretive problem, most early dispensationalists argued for two separate kingdoms. Men such as C. I. Scofield, Lewis Sperry Chafer, Charles C. Ryrie, and J. Dwight Pentecost distinguished the kingdom of Heaven from the kingdom of God, the former being the Messianic, mediatorial, Davidic millennial reign of Christ and the latter being the universal reign of God over all creation or, more frequently, the spiritual reign of God in all believers. Others rejected the difference between “kingdom of Heaven” and “kingdom of God” but held to two kingdoms with the same basic concepts—an earthly temporal millennium and a heavenly eternal reign. Both Ladd and McClain modified these approaches to the kingdom. McClain argued that there is only one kingdom of God, but it is seen in two aspects or phases. He suggested that the terms “universal” and “mediatorial” are the most appropriate to distinguish between these two phases (pp. 19–21).1 McClain viewed the “universal” aspect of the kingdom to be God’s sovereignty over all aspects of divine creation, including all of mankind. Part of the universal kingdom is the mediatorial aspect. This is first found historically in Abraham, for all mankind had to recognize Abraham as the one chosen of God, and later in the kingdom of Israel and especially in the Davidic covenant. The Gospel of the Kingdom and The Greatness of the Kingdom In The Gospel of the Kingdom Ladd argued for a single kingdom of God with four important elements. First, the kingdom is “a present spiritual reality.” Second, it is also an inheritance “which God will bestow upon his people when Christ comes in glory.” Third, the kingdom is a realm into which the followers of Jesus Christ have already entered. Fourth, the kingdom is a future realm that believers enter when Christ returns (pp. 16–17). First and foremost to Ladd, a kingdom is “the authority to rule, the sovereignty of the king” (p. 19). Therefore, the kingdom of God is first a reference to God’s rule and sovereignty and not to the realm in which He rules or the people over whom He rules (pp. 20–21). This was the base for Ladd’s “already/ not yet.” The kingdom is already here in a spiritual sense, FrontLine • July/August 2013