Yet the Kingdom of God in Jesus's teachings is not a celestial kingdom existing on a cosmic plane. Those who claim otherwise often point to a single unreliable passage in the gospel of John in which Jesus allegedly tells Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world" {John 18:36}. Not only is this the sole passage in the gospels where Jesus makes such a claim, it is an imprecise translation of the original Greek. The phrase ouk estin ek tou kosmou is perhaps better translated as "not part of this order/system {of government}." Even if one accepts the historicity of the passage {and very few scholars do}, Jesus was not claiming that the Kingdom of God is unearthly; he was saying it is unlike any kingdom or government on earth.
( Reza Aslan )
[ Zealot: The Life and Times of ]
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