The KJV of Luke 17:21 reads:
Neither
shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is
within you.
If one surveys most other
translations, the kingdom of God is not said to be "within you" but
instead, εντος is translated as "among you" (e.g., NRSV) or "in
your midst" (e.g., NASB).
Commenting on the interpretive
problems with translating εντος as "within you," Christadelphian
John Allfree noted the following:
The
kingdom was certainly not “within” those sinful Pharisees to whom Jesus was
speaking. He declared of them, “Ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which
indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and
of all uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27). He appears to be referring to that
phenomenon which would be increasingly characteristic of them as one of the
signs of their times. Namely, that sign concerning which he warned his
disciples in the prophecy under consideration—“If they shall say unto you,
Behold (GK. IDOU), he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in
the secret chambers; believe it not.” The Pharisees would look into deserts and
secret places for a deliverer; but if only they had opened their eyes they
would have seen him then—amongst them! (John Allfree, The Lord’s Mount
Olivet Prophecy [Nottinghamshire, U.K.: Bible Study Publications, 1996], 92
n. 11)
