Words · Greek Words · Lesson 3, word 4 of 5
βασιλείαbasileia
A king's reign first, then his realm: the kingdom of God.
Why this word is here. The centre of Jesus' preaching ('the kingdom of God has come near') and the Lord's Prayer's second petition.
What it means
Abbott-Smith: properly, abstract, sovereignty, royal power, dominion. Then, by extension, concrete: a kingdom, the territory or people ruled; and the royal majesty, almost the king himself. In Jewish and New Testament use, 'the kingdom of God' (or, in Matthew's reverent synonym, 'of heaven') is God's Messianic rule: his reign breaking into the present in Jesus and to be completed at the end.
So basileia is primarily something God does (rules) before it is a place he keeps: people enter it, receive it like children, and pray for it to come.
Where you meet it
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Matthew 4:17 (BSB)
'Repent, for the kingdom (basileia) of heaven has come near.' Jesus opens his preaching with a reign arriving.
Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:10 (BSB)
Anchor verse 'Your kingdom (basileia) come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.' A kingdom prayed for, explained by God's will being done.
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world; if it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But now My kingdom is not of this realm.”
John 18:36 (BSB)
'My kingdom (basileia) is not of this world.' Before Pilate: a real reign, of a different order, whose servants do not fight.
Why it matters
Basileia is the announcement the whole New Testament serves: the King has come, his reign has begun in Jesus' words, healings, death and resurrection, and it will be completed openly. Knowing the word is 'reign' first stops the kingdom being reduced to a destination for individuals, and knowing it is also a realm stops it dissolving into a metaphor.
Watch out
The over-claim to refuse is that 'kingdom' is only a place (heaven, entered at death) or only an inner experience (the reign in hearts). Abbott-Smith's order is deliberate: sovereignty first, then the people and territory the sovereign gathers. The already-and-not-yet shape (near in Mark 1:15, still prayed for in Matthew 6:10, handed over at the end in 1 Corinthians 15:24) is in the texts, and tidy systems that erase either pole misread them.
In this lesson
- dikaiosyne (δικαιοσύνη): Righteousness: conformity to God's will, gift and demand.
- hamartia (ἁμαρτία): Sin: wrongdoing and the power that produces it.
- soteria (σωτηρία): Salvation: deliverance, preservation, safety, rescue.
- koinonia (κοινωνία): Fellowship: sharing in common, partnership, a real contribution.
Sources
- Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon (1889)
- STEP Bible lexicon data (Abbott-Smith)
- SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
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