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he also saw it embodied in the episcopally organized Church. The Roman Catholic Church
frankly identified the Kingdom of God with their hierarchical institution, but the Reformers
returned to the view that it is in this dispensation identical with the invisible Church. Under the
influence of Kant and especially of Ritschl it was robbed of its religious character and came to
be regarded as an ethical kingdom of ends. It is often defined at present as a new principle
introduced into society and destined to transform it in all its relations, or as the moral
organization of mankind through action from the motive of love, the final end of creation.
3. THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND THE INVISIBLE CHURCH.
While the Kingdom of God and the
invisible Church are in a measure identical, they should nevertheless be carefully distinguished.
Citizenship in the one and membership in the other are equally determined by regeneration. It
is impossible to be in the Kingdom of God without being in the Church as the mystical body of
Jesus Christ. At the same time it is possible to make a distinction between the point of view
from which believers are called the Kingdom and that from which they are called the Church.
They constitute a Kingdom in their relation to God in Christ as their Ruler, and a Church in their
separateness from the world in devotion to God, and in their organic union with one another.
As a Church they are called to be God’s instrument in preparing the way for, and in introducing,
the ideal order of things; and as a Kingdom they represent the initial realization of the ideal
order among themselves.
4. THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND THE VISIBLE CHURCH.
Since the Roman Catholics insist
indiscriminately on the identification of the Kingdom of God and the Church, their Church
claims power and jurisdiction over every domain of life, such as science and art, commerce and
industry, as well as social and political organizations. This is an altogether mistaken conception.
It is also a mistake to maintain, as some Reformed Christians do, in virtue of an erroneous
conception of the Church as an organism, that Christian school societies, voluntary
organizations of younger or older people for the study of Christian principles and their
application in life, Christian labor unions, and Christian political organizations, are
manifestations of the Church as an organism, for this again brings them under the domain of
the visible Church and under the direct control of its officers. Naturally, this does not mean that
the Church has no responsibility with respect to such organizations. It does mean, however,
that they are manifestations of the Kingdom of God, in which groups of Christians seek to apply
the principles of the Kingdom to every domain of life. The visible Church and the Kingdom, too,
may be identified to a certain extent. The visible Church may certainly be said to belong to the
Kingdom, to be a part of the Kingdom, and even to be the most important visible embodiment
of the forces of the Kingdom. It partakes of the character of the invisible Church (the two being
one) as a means for the realization of the Kingdom of God. Like the visible Church, the Kingdom
also shares in the imperfections to which a sinful world exposes it. This is quite evident from