Of the Signification in Scripture of Kingdom of God, of Holy, Sacred, and Sacrament explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Sovereignty and Absolute Power

  Hobbes defines the Kingdom of God as a literal monarchy established by covenant, emphasizing God's sovereign power over His peculiar people, acquired by their consent.

• Religion and Civil Authority

  The chapter argues that the Kingdom of God on earth was a civil commonwealth with God as king and the high priest as His viceroy, directly linking religious and political authority.

• Liberty and Obligation

  The covenant between God and Israel is presented as a voluntary agreement that creates obligation, contrasting with God's natural dominion over all by might.

Characters to notice

• Adam

  God reigned over Adam by voice and gave him the commandment to abstain from the tree of knowledge; Adam's disobedience led to the loss of eternal life.

• Abraham

  God made a covenant with Abraham, promising the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and ordained circumcision as the sacrament of that covenant.

• Moses

  Moses renewed the covenant at Mount Sinai, delivering God's words to the people and establishing Israel as a sacerdotal kingdom and holy nation.

• St. Paul

  Paul is cited as confirming that Abraham is the father of the faithful and that the covenant makes believers a peculiar people.

• Samuel

  Samuel was displeased when the Israelites demanded a king, and God told him they had rejected God as their king.

Key passages

• “The 'Kingdom of God,' in the writings of divines, and specially in sermons and treatises of devotion, is taken most commonly for eternal felicity, after this life, in the highest heaven, which they also call the kingdom of glory; and sometimes for the earnest of that felicity, sanctification, which they term the kingdom of grace; but never for the monarchy, that is to say, the sovereign power of God over any subjects acquired by their own consent, which is the proper signification of kingdom.”

  Theologians usually interpret 'Kingdom of God' as heavenly bliss or inner sanctification, but Hobbes insists it properly means God's sovereign rule over willing subjects, established by their consent.

  Hobbes corrects the common spiritualized interpretation, grounding the kingdom in a literal political covenant.

• “For by 'holy,' is always understood either God himself, or that which is God's in propriety; as by public is always meant, either the person of the commonwealth itself, or something that is so the commonwealth's, as no private person can claim any propriety therein.”

  The term 'holy' refers to what belongs exclusively to God, just as 'public' refers to what belongs to the commonwealth, not to any private individual.

  Hobbes draws an analogy between divine and civil ownership to define holiness.

• “A 'sacrament,' is a separation of some visible thing from common use; and a consecration of it to God's service, for a sign either of our admission into the kingdom of God, to be of the number of His peculiar people, or for a commemoration of the same.”

  A sacrament is a visible object set apart from ordinary use and dedicated to God, serving as a sign of entry into God's kingdom or as a memorial of that entry.

  Hobbes defines sacraments in terms of covenantal admission and remembrance, citing circumcision, baptism, the Passover, and the Lord's Supper.