Critical Reflection on the Parables of the Leaven and the Mustard Seed as Foundational for Postmillennialist Eschatology

This article analyzes one part of postmillennialist eschatology which claims that the kingdom of God before Christ’s second coming will be victorious in transforming every aspect of all societies of this world. Evil will not be completely destroyed, but Christian values and principles will be predominant. Some critics of postmillennialism think that support for such a view can only be found in the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven. Therefore, this article explores the meaning of parables and the history of their interpretation, and briefly analyzes the nature of the kingdom in an attempt to show the difference in interpretation of parables as allegories, metaphors and similes. The author’s position is that the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven are similes, and though they explicitly compare two elements (kingdom with the seed and kingdom with the leaven), the key to their correct interpretation is to realize that each parable as a whole reveals something about the nature of the kingdom and not just one point of identification or some detail.