Brother _______________. You spoke about Scripture Luke 17:21. You frequently use this scripture to teach that the Kingdom of God has to be WITHIN US - Meaning to be within our hearts and minds.
Please I request you to
read the FOOTNOTE OR STUDY NOTE (of the Bible that we both are using) that is
referenced in Restoration Study Bible 3rd Edition.
The Study Note / Footnote for Luke 17:21. (Sharing a snapshot of the Bible Study Note.)
When i used to go to Roman Catholic Church Services as a small boy around 38 years back, this was their most active and prominent teaching. The teaching that God's Kingdom has already come through the efforts of the pagan Roman Catholic Church and now it's Reigning (ruling) in all catholic Believers hearts and minds. This will ultimately bring peace and goodwill on earth. Through the Kingdom of God WITHIN YOU.
The Catholic Church priests used to openly say that
God's Kingdom is NOT coming in the near future and this scripture they used to
quote of Luke 17:21 to convince the
lay people that the Catholic Church work is helping in the Kingdom of God to be
welcomed in more new hearts and minds.
WITHIN YOU were used the
same way that you are preaching.
Accurate translation is MIDST and not WITHIN. As the King of
the future Kingdom that is Yahshua was present or in the MIDST of the people of
Israel.
New Living Translation----- of Luke
17:22
“You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’
or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you.”
KJV is still a very faulty translation.
Yahshua says, that the kingdom had already begun,
right under the Pharisees’ noses.
Elohim YAHWEH was ruling in the hearts of some people, and the King Yahshua
Himself was standing among them, although the Pharisees were oblivious to that
fact.
Various translations render the Greek of Luke 17:21 various ways. The phrase translated “within you” in the KJV and NKJV is translated as “in your midst” in the NIV, NASB, and NET; “among you” in the NLT and HCSB; and “in the midst of you” in the ESV. Earlier versions of the NIV had “within you” with a marginal note suggesting “among you.” There is obviously a difference between saying “the kingdom of God is within you” and “the kingdom of God is among you.”
“Within you” comes off as an unfavorable translation, seeing that Yahshua was speaking to the Pharisees at
the time.
Yahshua was surely not saying that the kingdom of God
resided within the Pharisees’ hearts.
The Pharisees opposed Yahshua and had no relationship with Elohim. Yahshua in
other places denounced them as “whitewashed tombs” and “hypocrites” (Matthew
23:27).
The better translation
would be “in your midst” or “among you.”
ü Yahshua was telling the Pharisees that He brought the
kingdom of God to earth.
ü Yahshua's presence in their midst gave them a taste of
the kingdom life, as attested by the miracles that Yahshua performed.
ü Elsewhere, Yahshua mentions His miracles as definitive
proof of the kingdom: “If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the
kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20).