Prepositional Theology

For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst Luke 17:21

In Your Midst – Older English Bibles often translated this verse as “the kingdom of God is within you”. That translation follows a theological shift that began when Luther translated Hebrews 11:1 with a word for assurance rather than evidence. Over time, faith became an “inside” work. Of course, no one foresaw the devastating consequences of this tiny little change. But today we are living in a world where faith is only what you feel. Faith no longer rests on the external, objective evidence. It is now a matter of psychological orientation. That means, among other things, that how I feel is entirely up to me and you have no “right” to try to convince me to feel some other way. When faith goes completely inside, everyone can believe whatever he or she wants to. Removed from the objective evidence, faith deteriorates into mood.

All of this changes when we see the meanings of the Greek. Luther was wrong about Hebrews 11:1 and the King James is wrong about this verse. The Greek (entos humon) is correctly translated “in your midst”. That changes everything. Jesus is saying, “Here I am, the fullness of God’s kingdom, right in front of your eyes. My very presence here is the announcement of the Kingdom.” It’s not about how I feel about God. It’s about who Jesus is! It’s about the physical evidence that supports the claim. That is outside truth. And if you can’t deal with it, that doesn’t make it any less true. Faith is not a feeling. It is a fact. It confronts me with evidence that I must either acknowledge or reject.

Our world doesn’t like this kind of claim. It is far more comfortable with the religious feeling approach. Why? Because our world does not like to confront a truth that demands submission. Our world would much rather slide into mental moods than deal with a God who gives behavioral commandments. In the politically correct world of diversity, evidence never demands a verdict. Evidence is nothing more than my own personal point of view. The entire Bible absolutely rejects this psychobabble. God is as real as it gets and if we are not dealing with the fact of God’s confrontation with our messed up lives, we are the ones who are in fantasy land.

Today you will have a chance to confront the “diversity” game. It’s a cover-up for denial of the truth. Don’t be fooled. Follow the evidence.