Kingdom of heaven (Gospel of Matthew)
Kingdom of heaven (Greek: Βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν) is a phrase used in the Gospel of Matthew. It is generally seen as equivalent to the phrase "kingdom of God" (Greek: βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ) in the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Luke. Thought to be the main content of Jesus's preaching in the Gospel of Matthew, the "kingdom of heaven" described "a process, a course of events, whereby God begins to govern or to act as king or Lord, an action, therefore, by which God manifests his being-God in the world of men."[1]
Compared with "kingdom of God"
Classical scholar
Robert Foster rejects this view. He finds the standard explanation hard to believe as Matthew uses the word "God" many other times and even uses the phrase "kingdom of God" four times. Foster argues that, to Matthew, the two concepts were different. For Foster, the word "heaven" had an important role in Matthew's theology and links the phrase especially to "Father in heaven", which Matthew frequently uses to refer to God. Foster argues that the "kingdom of God" represents the earthly domain that Jesus' opponents such as Pharisees thought they resided in, while the "kingdom of heaven" represents the truer spiritual domain of Jesus and his disciples.[3]
Some theological bodies, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, believe that only a selected minority of people, the 144.000 mentioned in Revelation, will be allowed to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, while all the other righteous men will live on the new earth, which will be governed by God as well. As such the Kingdom of Heaven would be part of the Kingdom of God, but not constitute the entirety of it.[4]
End times
When the phrase was first used, it was clearly intended to be
In the
See also
- Christ the King
- Son of Man
- New world order (Baháʼí)
References
- ISBN 0-00-626586-3.
- ^ Clarke, Howard W. The Gospel of Matthew and its Readers: A Historical Introduction to the First Gospel. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003.
- S2CID 162625208.
- ^ "Who Goes to Heaven? | Bible Questions".
- The Anchor Bible Series. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1971.
- ^ France, R. T. The Gospel According to Matthew: an Introduction and Commentary. Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1985.
- ISBN 0-8028-2245-2.
- ^ William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew: Chapters 11-28 p340 Matthew 23:22 "And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it."
- Philip Edgecumbe Hughes A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews p401 1988 "The theme of Christ's heavenly session, announced here by the statement he sat down at the right hand of God, .. Hebrews 8:1 "we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven")"