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"[edit]
Classical scholar Howard W. Clarke notes that Matthew 3:2 is the first reference to the "kingdom of heaven" in the Gospel of Matthew.[2] The gospels of Mark, Luke, and John never use this expression, preferring instead in parallel texts the term "kingdom of God". Matthew's use of the word "heaven" is sometimes seen as a reflection of the sensibilities of the Jewish audience this gospel was directed to, and thus tried to avoid the word "God." Most scholars feel the two phrases are theologically identical. Of Matthew's thirty-two uses of this expression, twelve occur in material that is parallel to Mark and/or Luke, that addresses exactly the same topics but consistently refer to the "kingdom of God", e.g., the first beatitude (Matt 5:3; cf. Luke 6:20) and several remarks about, or included in, parables (Matt 13:11, 31, 33; cf. Mark 4:11, 30; Luke 8:10; 13:18, 20).
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]