Mt. 11:12 Difficulty- taking the Kingdom by force

[TK]

I thought maybe we had discussed this verse before, But I couldn't find where. Here are various versions of this verse, which reflect some of the difficulty in trying to figure out exactly what it means:

NLT: And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it.

NKJ: And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

NIV: From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it.

AMP: And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize--a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion].

MSG: For a long time now people have tried to force themselves into God's kingdom. But if you read the books of the Prophets and God's Law closely, you will see them culminate in John, teaming up with him in preparing the way for the Messiah of the kingdom.

My current understanding of this passage is that people need to "aggressively desire" to enter the Kingdom-- passivity won't cut it.

But if this is correct, then how does this square with Jesus' words at Mt. 18:3: "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

On the one hand, it seems we are to be forceful and aggressively pursue the kingdom, but I am not sure how this can be reconciled to the idea of being like a little child, which to me does not denote aggression or forcefulness.

Of course, if Mt. 11:12 does not mean what I think it means, then the problem may dissipate.

TK

[mikew]

Try this idea then...

From the time that John the Baptist started preaching a repentance in light of the coming of the kingdom of God, people started getting interested in the topic of the kingdom.
Instead of coming to the requisite repentance, some people with zeal in their own plans were trying to make the kingdom of God happen by their own effort. Some of these people may have performed low level violence -- or possible obstruction of Jesus and the disciples. Alternately, the forceful efforts may have been without notice by the disciples -- but would be disruptive to the formation and goals of the kingdom of God.

Jesus then described John as being the Elijah-- and then Jesus described the problems of that generation -- manipulative as represented especially in their descriptions of John and Jesus (vv. 18-19). Such behavior reflected the subterfuge of the people they were preaching to.

Maybe along a different approach we see:
Joh 6:15 Jesus therefore perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force, to make him king, withdrew again into the mountain himself alone.

In John 6 there appears to be a desperation among the people to make Jesus their king even without Jesus' cooperation.

/

[TK]

Thanks Mike--

that does make a lot of sense and I have not thought of it that way before.

I think the tendency, at least in the circles I have been around lately, is to take Mt 11:12 as an encouragement to "aggression" (not necessarily physical- just an active desire to grab hold of the Kingdom), as opposed to a rebuke. I used to think when reading that verse that Jesus was speaking negatively about people taking hold of the Kingdom by force, but more recently I have heard it taught that Jesus is speaking positively about those persons.

TK

[TK]

Here is Matthew Henry's commentary on this passage:

An improbable multitude. Those strove for a place in this kingdom, that one would think had no right nor title to it, and so seemed to be intruders, and to make a tortuous entry, as our law calls it, a wrongful and forcible one. When the children of the kingdom are excluded out of it, and many come into it from the east and the west, then it suffers violence. Compare this with ch. 21:31, 32. The publicans and harlots believed John, whom the scribes and Pharisees rejected, and so went into the kingdom of God before them, took it over their heads, while they trifled. Note, It is no breach of good manners to go to heaven before our betters: and it is a great commendation of the gospel from the days of its infancy, that it has brought many to holiness that were very unlikely.

[2.] An importunate multitude. This violence denotes a strength, and vigour, and earnestness of desire and endeavour, in those who followed John’s ministry, else they would not have come so far to attend upon it. It shows us also, what fervency and zeal are required of all those who design to make heaven of their religion. Note, They who would enter into the kingdom of heaven must strive to enter; that kingdom suffers a holy violence; self must be denied, the bent and bias, the frame and temper, of the mind must be altered; there are hard sufferings to be undergone, a force to be put upon the corrupt nature; we must run, and wrestle, and fight, and be in an agony, and all little enough to win such a prize, and to get over such opposition from without and from within. The violent take it by force. They who will have an interest in the great salvation are carried out towards it with a strong desire, will have it upon any terms, and not think them hard, nor quit their hold without a blessing, Gen. 32:26. They who will make their calling and election sure must give diligence. The kingdom of heaven was never intended to indulge the ease of triflers, but to be the rest of them that labour. It is a blessed sight; Oh that we could see a greater number, not with an angry contention thrusting others out of the kingdom of heaven, but with a holy contention thrusting themselves into it!

TK

[mikew]

Indeed Mt. 11:12 is confusing verse to appear out of the blue without obvious elaboration.

While Matthew Henry's commentary may portray some good thoughts generally about scripture, the few times I've looked up a tough passage, I never seemed to have got the passage resolved to my satisfaction.

In saying...

what fervency and zeal are required of all those who design to make heaven of their religion . . . The kingdom of heaven was never intended to indulge the ease of triflers, but to be the rest of them that labour.

It seems, in scripture, that our efforts do not give us the eternal righteousness through Christ despite our fervency and zeal -- yet such fervency and zeal may come out of our encounter of new life. There's a bit of a works mentality beyond what is given in scripture.

The bigger issue is that the context isn't brought in focus by his commentary. The context isn't about people getting saved. Instead the context is focused on the indicators of the transition into the Messianic age. So one indicator was Elijah and another was the manipulative spins about John and Jesus. The focus of Jesus' words then was about the societal response to the gospel -- as an assessment of events, not as a moment of positive teaching about "how to be saved."

We can tend to interpret this verse with a post-resurrection concept of 'kingdom of God' wherein we imagine people getting eternal life through forceful gaining of kingdom benefits. But such thought is anachronistic. John the Baptist had only preached a repentance. Yet the message of Jesus had not been fully revealed ... and the reality of eternal life could not be understood until the Day of Pentecost after Christ's resurrection.

So Matt 11:12 is most likely to be a description of misbehavior of people. Plus, Jesus did not indicate that the disciples should take the kingdom by force. This would be antithetical to the idea of being as little children or of coming in to the kingdom with recognition of the lordship of Christ.

[TK]

mikew wrote:

It seems, in scripture, that our efforts do not give us the eternal righteousness through Christ despite our fervency and zeal -- yet such fervency and zeal may come out of our encounter of new life. There's a bit of a works mentality beyond what is given in scripture.

But it Acts 14 it says:

And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”

The NIV says: “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”

Thus it seems that entering (or staying) in the Kingdom is a process and that perseverance in the face of difficulty is part of that process.

TK