McKnight on the Story of Israel — what Session 2 gives Col 1:15-20

Scot McKnight, Jesus and the Gospels (Seminary Now course). Session 2: "The Story of Israel."

Source files (outside the repo):

• Workbook: ~/Downloads/Jesus%20and%20the%20Gospels%20Workbook.pdf
• Leader's Guide: ~/Downloads/Jesus%20and%20the%20Gospels%20Leaders%20Guide.pdf

McKnight's three-part division of how God rules across redemptive history. The framework gives the preacher a clean answer to the "God has always been king" / "God became king at the cross" tension: God's being king never changes; the form through which God rules progresses.

This file captures Session 2 only — Session 3 (holiness / love / Father) doesn't have a tight link to Col 1:15-20.

The Framework — three forms of God's rule

The workbook's matching exercise:

"McKnight divides the biblical story into three parts. Write the number of the description that corresponds to the part in the blank.

___ Theocracy ___ Monarchy ___ Christocracy

1. God rules the world through his son, Jesus. 2. God rules the world through the people of Israel. 3. God rules the world through a king." — Jesus and the Gospels Workbook, Session Two

Standard McKnight resolution (from his wider writing — The King Jesus Gospel, Kingdom Conspiracy; not stated in the workbook itself):

• Theocracy = #2 (God rules through the people of Israel — the covenant community, pre-monarchy)
• Monarchy = #3 (God rules through a human king — David, Solomon, etc.)
• Christocracy = #1 (God rules through his son, Jesus, extended via the church)

Theocracy

Workbook prompt:

"Theocracy encapsulates the biblical story from Genesis 1 to ________________." — Workbook, Session 2

(Blank left for the student. McKnight's published framing typically lands this at 1 Samuel 8 — Israel's request for a king, "they have rejected me from being king over them.")

Associated key words and figures (workbook checklist):

Covenant • Law • Temple • Abraham • Land • Moses • Rule • Prophets • Israel

(Listed alongside "David" as a distractor — David belongs to Monarchy, not Theocracy.)

Monarchy

Associated key words and figures (workbook checklist):

Kings • David • Northern kingdom • Assyria • Southern kingdom • Land • Babylon • Exile • Persia • Discipline

(Listed alongside "Patriarchs" and "Temple" as distractors — Patriarchs belong to Theocracy.)

Note: "Temple" appears in BOTH Theocracy and Monarchy checklists in the workbook, but only as a distractor in the Monarchy list — McKnight locates Temple firmly with Solomon onward.

Christocracy — the key sentence for Col 1:15-20

"Christocracy is about God extending his rule through king Jesus to the entire world. That means the church _______________ Israel." — Workbook, Session 2

(Blank again for the student. McKnight's published position: the church extends / embodies / continues Israel via King Jesus — NOT replaces. Replacement theology is one of the explicit moves McKnight rejects across his work.)

Associated key words and figures (workbook checklist):

Jesus • Redemption • Church • Lamb • Sermon on the Mount • Law • Forgiveness • Gentiles

(Listed alongside "Patriarchs," "Pharisees," "Sadducees," "Prophets," "Temple," "Land" as distractors.)

Repeated words across all three eras (the workbook's reflection question — what stays constant across the three forms of rule):

"Look back at the key words and figures that corresponded with the three parts of the biblical story: theocracy, monarchy, and Christocracy. What key words and figures were repeated?"

Likely answer: Law, Land, Temple — though by Christocracy each gets reinterpreted (Law → Sermon on the Mount; Land → all the world / the entire world; Temple → Jesus + the church as the new temple).

Why this matters for Col 1:15-20

The framework dissolves the "God has always been king AND became king at the cross" tension by distinguishing what God IS (always King) from how God RULES (theocracy → monarchy → Christocracy).

• vv.15-17 — "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation… he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." This is the cosmic backdrop. The Christ who is now extending God's rule via Christocracy is the same one through whom and for whom all things were created. The form of rule changes; the One who rules doesn't. "Jesus First" (Frank's slogan) lands here — Jesus is first across all three eras.

• v.18 — "He is the head of the body, the church." McKnight's Christocracy claim — "God extending his rule through king Jesus to the entire world" — is exactly the v.18 move. The church is the means of the Christocracy. Frank's "reigns as King" lands here.

• v.20 — "to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross." The scope of Christocracy is universal ("the entire world" — McKnight; "all things, whether on earth or in heaven" — Paul). Frank's "crucified in love" lands here as the means.

The hymn does in five verses what McKnight's framework does across redemptive history: it holds cosmic-creation Christology together with the cross-and-church extension of God's rule. The form is new; the King is eternal.

Honest framing

• The matching-exercise answers are NOT explicit in the workbook itself — students fill them in. The resolutions above come from McKnight's wider published work and are confident-but-inferred. If you cite "McKnight says X" from this material, hedge to either "in the workbook" (for the verbatim prompts) or "in McKnight's framework" (for the inferred answers).
• The "church _____ Israel" blank is theologically loaded. McKnight publicly rejects replacement theology; he uses "extends / embodies / continues / fulfills." A preacher who fills in "replaces" would be saying something McKnight does NOT say.
• Session 3 of this course (holiness / love / Father) doesn't have a sharp link to Col 1:15-20. It does brush the user's 05-08 voice memo on reverence as reality, but that's character-prep, not text exegesis.