Those who are not worthy to remain in the church life shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Inheriting the kingdom of God is different from entering into the kingdom of God through regeneration (John 3:3, 5). Having entered into the kingdom by being regenerated, we now need to grow and develop in the divine life. Then, as a result of this growth and development, we shall inherit the kingdom of God.
First Corinthians 6, Galatians 5, and Ephesians 5 all speak of inheriting the kingdom of God. First Corinthians 6:9a says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” To inherit the kingdom of God in the coming age is a reward to the saints who seek righteousness (Matt. 5:10, 20; 6:33). Believers who are not righteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Because God’s kingdom is established upon righteousness, we must be righteous in order to inherit it.
In 1 Corinthians 6:9b and 10 Paul speaks of different kinds of persons who will not inherit the kingdom of God. Here Paul does not speak of entering the kingdom of God but of inheriting the kingdom of God. To enter the kingdom of God we simply need a new birth, but to inherit the kingdom of God we need to live in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens today. No sinful person or unrighteous person can have any part in the coming kingdom of God.
The word “inherit” in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 10 implies enjoyment. To inherit a certain thing is to enjoy that thing. Today the kingdom is not an enjoyment but an exercise. However, when the Lord Jesus comes back, the kingdom will be our enjoyment. At that time we shall enjoy the kingdom, for we shall be kings ruling with the Lord Jesus.
In Galatians 5:21 Paul, referring to the works of the flesh, says, “Those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Here inheriting the kingdom of God refers to the enjoyment of the coming kingdom as a reward to the overcoming believers. Those believers who practice the works of the flesh listed in Galatians 5:19-21 will not inherit the coming kingdom as a reward.
In Ephesians 5:5 Paul once again speaks of those who have “no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” The kingdom of Christ is the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6; Matt. 16:28) and also the kingdom of God (Matt. 13:41, 43). The believers have been regenerated into the kingdom of God and, in the church life, they are living in the kingdom of God today. However, not all believers will participate in the millennium. The unclean, defeated ones will have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God in the coming age.
In 2 Peter 1:3-11 we see that those believers who develop and grow in the life of God in the church life shall be richly and bountifully supplied with the entrance into the kingdom of God. After we have entered into the kingdom of God through regeneration, we need to go on to have a rich entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. On the one hand, we have entered the kingdom; on the other hand, we still need a rich entrance. The initial entry into the kingdom is regeneration, but the rich entrance is through the full growth and development of the divine life revealed in 2 Peter 1:5-11.
Verse 11 says, “For so shall be richly and bountifully supplied to you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” The bountiful supply we enjoy in the development of the divine life and nature (vv. 3-7) will bountifully supply us a rich entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord, which will be a reward to His faithful believers, who pursue the growth in His life unto maturity and the development of the virtues of His nature, so that they participate, in the millennium, in His kingship in God’s glory (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 20:4, 6).
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