great summary of duty in the law of love to God and love to man (Matt 22. 34-40).

84. THE RELATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO THE KINGDOM

The relation of the individual to a social reformation is always an interesting problem. In our modern dreams of a better social order we rather assume that everybody will be included in the new order just because there is nowhere else to be. In a thoroughly established republic a monarchist is a mere malcontent who is out of joint with the system of things. So if there should be a socialistic state, everybody would of necessity be a socialist. So in Jesus's day the kingdom of God was thought of as an inheritance, sometimes conceived as belonging to every Jew (Matt 3. 9), sometimes more ethically as conditioned on a certain quantum of righteousness (19. 16).

Manifestly, if the most significant fact about the kingdom of God is a certain quality of life which is some day to be universal but which may be entered upon now, it cannot be a gift whether to Jews or to all men. Character cannot be bestowed apart from human will and striving. Jesus, therefore, always presented the idea of the necessity of personal choice. Men must be willing to become sons of their Father by living the gracious life of the Father (Matt 5. 43-45). The Kingdom must be set up, and that involved a willingness to act righteously (6. 33). Men were to repent of their sins and believe in the ethical nature of the Kingdom (Mark I. 14f.). The choice involves a cost which must be measured in advance (Luke 14. 33-35), for the way of right living is not careless and easy, but is ever exacting (Matt 7. 13). So Jesus made the most severe demand upon the young nobleman and then told the disciples that the path of righteousness involved inevitable sacrifice (19. 16-30).

Therefore it might easily be that many would miss the kingdom of God. In the parable of the sower Jesus indicated that if people did not care about the great ideal of

social righteousness, they would never know that the Kingdom was open to them; if they wanted it but were afraid to pay the price, they would lose it; if they wanted it but were preoccupied with other interests, they would miss it; only if they were ready for it would they obtain it (13. 1-8, 18-23). He reminded the Jews that their entrance into this great new life was dependent upon their choice, and that others of far less opportunity might become partakers of what they neglected (8. 11; 22. 1-10). Jesus always insisted that any one, even the most unlikely, might enlist in the great enterprise and enter upon the Godlike life, and that the heavenly Father was infinitely desirous of receiving even the outcasts into the new social order (Mark 2. 13-17; Luke 15).

In the discourses of Jesus recorded by John the kingdom of God, or eternal life, is presented in many striking figures, each illustrating the idea that a person who is willing to follow the summons of Jesus shall have a new dynamic for true living. It is a new life inaugurated by a new birth (John 3. 1-8). It is sustained by the inspiration of the leadership of Jesus as one's body is nourished by food and drink (6. 26-58; 7. 37-39). The great problems of life are illumined (8. 12). Men realize truth and thereby enter into moral freedom (8. 31-36).

85. THE PROGRESS OF THE Kingdom

The Jews thought that the ideal society would be inaugurated in a moment by the power of God. Jesus told them that individuals must make the great choice and become partners with God in reconstructing society. He did not, of course, tell them that it was a social order to be worked out by men. It was to be produced by the power of God, but only as men were workers with him.

In the parables by the sea (Matt 13) the progress of the Kingdom was wonderfully sketched. As seeds are sown on many soils the social ideals are offered to many minds. They fail to make progress because men are careless or

timid or preoccupied; they do make progress as men are receptive. Again, as wheat and tares grow together in the field, so good and evil grow together in the world, intermingled and not easily separated. We do not have good nations and bad nations, good cities and bad cities, good industries and bad industries. We have the good and bad together, and we shall have to wait for the separation. But the great social ideals will spread as the fast-growing herb, will permeate the institutions of men as the leaven permeates the flour, for when men see their worth they will give up everything to secure them, as anyone would sell his goods to secure a greater treasure, as a jeweler would sacrifice all lesser gems for the priceless pearl. Moreover, the progress of the great social ideal shall be effected by the destruction of the institutions of unrighteousness, as fishermen throw away the worthless fish that have come into their nets.

DIRECTIONS FOR STUDY

I. Review the prophetic teaching on the ideal social state, and consider why the Jews came to use the phrase "kingdom of God."

2.

How far was Jesus's conception of the kingdom of God the same as that of current Judaism? Why did he not avoid the use of the expression in order to avoid misconception?

3. What did the experience of Jesus lead him to feel were the supreme needs of men?

4. What kind of life in the modern world could be characterized as eternal life on the basis of the teachings of Jesus? In what respects would that designation seem to be socially significant?

5. Study the passages referred to as implying Jesus's emphasis upon motive. Consider the significance of these teachings as regards modern social motives.

6. Consider some person whom you regard as sincerely endeavoring to follow Jesus in the betterment of human life. Does his conduct seem to bear out our interpretation of the teaching of Jesus regarding the relation of the individual to the kingdom of God?

7. Can the conduct of men who seem to be standing in the way

of social progress to-day be explained on the basis of Jesus's teaching? What does this suggest as to the possibility of relating such people to the kingdom of God? What does it suggest as to the opportunities of religious education? 8. What does Jesus teach as to the possibility of the social derelict becoming a social force?

9. Read Matt 13. Consider such a social ideal as the abolition of slavery. Note that slavery only gradually disappeared because so many people did not care about the matter (the seed on the pathway); because those who did care were afraid of getting into trouble (the seed in the shallow earth); because others were too busy with their own concerns (the seed was choked); but many were really anxious and willing to pay the price (the good seed). Consider how the other parables would apply to this particular social reform.

10. Apply the parables by the sea to the progress of the temperance reform. Work out the analogies in detail. Apply them also to other social reforms with which you may be familiar.

CHAPTER XXXII

THE WORTH OF THE INDIVIDUAL

SI. THE HIGHER INDIVIDUALISM

THE Old Hebrew religion regarded Jehovah as the God of the nation. It was the nation that was blessed for its loyalty and the nation that was punished for its sin. Individual wicked men might prosper because they were part of a righteous people, and individual good men might suffer because they were compatriots of a disobedient people. The earlier prophets presented very much this view. Amos, Hosea, Micah for the most part spoke their warnings and their promises to the people as a whole. To be sure, acts of tyranny against individuals were rebuked, and the righteous acts of individuals were rewarded, but the idea of national or racial solidarity was very strong. We have seen that Jeremiah, and particularly Ezekiel, saw the further truth that the individual human being had a relationship to Jehovah, and was blessed or punished according to his own deed. We have noted that wonderful social conception of the Servant of Jehovah, wherein the great doctrine of the higher individualism is presented. It is not the doctrine of the sacrifice of the individual for the good of the whole, but of the self-sacrifice of the individual for the good of the whole. And this was the teaching of Jesus.

The speculations of the sages into the meaning of life led them to put emphasis on the significance of the individual. In the Proverbs it is the wise man, the prudent, the thrifty, the honest, the God-fearing who is blessed, and the foolish man, the sluggard, the liar, the cheat, the godless who is troubled. The law combined the two ideas of individ