Earlier this morning, I shared, via Twitter and Facebook, one of my favorite verses about the kingdom of God. It’s Romans 14:17b: The kingdom of God is justice (righteousness) and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Our friend and New Testament scholar, Michael Pahl, asserts that the following might be a better translation:
Love the “justice” for dikaiosune – given the collective (and not individualized, privatized) nature of Paul’s statement there, I wonder if a good translation might be something like, “The kingdom of God is justice and reconciliation and celebration in the Holy Spirit.” Now that sounds like a kingdom, and a kingdom worth seeking first.
I really like Michael’s translation and commentary. May God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. And may Pentecost remind us of what an inestimable and never fully comprehensible gift the Triune God has given us: life–the eternal kind of life.