K

Kingdom of Christ: The New Testament depicts the kingdom of Christ as the Father’s gift to the Son, to be enjoyed as the great eschatological banquet, marked especially by the forgiveness of sins. The righteous, conformed to Christ, will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom, with all things reconciled to Him (1 Cor 15:28). Thus the kingdom of Christ is the same as the kingdom of God, though totally transcendent and eschatological, made up of all whom Christ has gained, that they might enjoy the eternal reward appropriate to the righteous.

NOTE: Eschatology is the term given to the end of time as we know it.  

Kingdom of God: God’s sovereign lordship or rule over salvation history, leading to the eschatological goal of eternal life with God. From the Lord’s Prayer, it might be said that the kingdom of God exists where God’s will is now being done. The dual nature of the kingdom as both eschatological and “at hand” is aptly described by Karl Rahner as the “already-not-yet.” The miracles of Jesus, like His Sermon on the Mount, confirm that the kingdom has already arrived on earth; yet this kingdom does not originate in this world, as it is otherworldly, not controlled by human will, everlasting, eternal, heavenly, and a manifestation of Jesus; the kingdom is the site for the Messianic banquet.