From: aj@hoqas2.att.com (Ahmad M Jrad)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Paul, Could he be wrong?
Date: 14 Aug 92 08:45:34 GMT
Organization: AT&T

> In article <Aug.10.00.55.07.1992.6133@dartagnan.rutgers.edu>, aaron@binah.cc.brandeis.edu (Scott Aaron) writes:
> > 
> clh writes:
>
> [I'm not sure I agree with all of Scott's comments.  I do think
> Matthew was concerned about the Law.  The question however is what
> Jesus meant by the Law.  Note that in the rest of this Sermon, Jesus
> does a good deal of reinterpretation of the Law.  I think the best
> summary is that he turns people's attention away from the letter of
> the Law to its spirit.  In effect he emphasizes doing the right thing,
> but legalistically.  I think this is quite compatible with Paul's
> intent.
> 
> The Kingdom of Heaven is used consistently in Matthew for the
> community that obeys God.  Look at all the parables that talk about
> the Kingdom of Heaven.  I don't want to identify it with heaven,
> because it is also present on earth.  But it certainly doesn't include
> hell.  "Least in the Kingdom of Heaven" is certainly an indication of
> disapproval, but I don't see any way you can turn it into deepest hell.

I can why there would be more than one interpretation for this. I think
that Matthew uses the kingdom of heaven to refer to many things. It is
used in instances to refer to heaven, in others it is used to refer to
all of God's dominion, and includes both good and bad in it. Thus
I understand it to be all encompassing. I also understand God to have
full dominion over hell, and thus it naturally falls under his kingdom.

Consider the following quotes from Matthew:

13:24  Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of
heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
13:25  But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the
wheat, and went his way.
[...]
13:30  Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of
harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares,
and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

13:47  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast
into the sea, and gathered of every kind:
13:48  Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and
gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

Here both the good and the bad are considered part of the kingdom of
heaven. In another place it speaks of harlots entering the kingdom. And
even though I do not want to judge harlots, I think the use would also
suggest that the people will not enter heaven but rather hell:

21:31  Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto
him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the
publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.

Those uses would suggest that kingdom of heaven refers to both the good
and the bad places in the afterlife (and possibly on earth as you
pointed out).

[...] 
> --clh]

God Bless,
Ahmad

[This issue becomes complicated by questions of the extent to which
"Kingdom" is eschatological, and if so, what that means.  Many
scholars will point out that the Kingdom isn't so much a place or a
collection of people, as an action -- God's action of taking charge.
Thus "the Kingdom is at hand" (Mat 3:2) means that God's rule is going
to become visible.  This could be consistent with your understanding
in some cases.  But I see some limitations to this -- when Mat. talks
about people seeking the Kingdom, selling all to find it like a pearl,
I think what they're looking for is not the neutral fact that the God
has exerted control over both good and evil, but they are looking to
be part of God's redeemed people.  Thus I find it hard to think of
Kingdom as being simply God's rule viewed as a neutral thing.  Rather
I see it as the redemption he is going to bring about.

In the parables you cite, the first few seems to be talking about how
God will bring his rule about, so you could take "Kingdom" to refer to
his rule in general.  However I should warn you that most commentaries
say that the KJ translation of these parables is slightly misleading.
It implies that the kingdom of heaven is to be identified
allegorically with the man or the net.  In fact Jesus' parables are
normally not considered allegories.  Thus the preface should be
translated not as identifying the Kingdom of God specifically with the
man or net (which doesn't make sense anyway, particularly in the case
of the man), but more broadly: "To understand the Kingdom of God,
consider the following:"

So what we have to ask about each of the parables is what is it saying
about the Kingdom.  I suppose you could claim that it refers to the
way God separates good and evil, and thus take it in an inclusive
sense.  However when you look at the whole set of parables, I think
it's more natural to see these parables in the context of others in
the group where the Kingdom is clearly redemption, not a neutral term
that includes both heaven and hell.  The Kingdom as a seed growing
secretly, as something which any sensible person will seek, seems
clearly to have a positive meaning.  The interpretation in 13:38
contrasts children of the Kingdom and children of the Evil One.  Thus
my reading of the parables that you cite is that they are making the
same point as the parable of the seed growing secretly: God's Kingdom
is mixed with the world, and grows secretly.  The final separation
won't occur until the harvest.

About 21:31 -- In my opinion, yes indeed Jesus *is* suggesting that
the harlots and tax collectors will be redeemed and those that the
world calls righteous will be rejected (or more likely, will come in
with more difficulty).  In my view you miss the whole radical nature
of Jesus' ministry if you don't see that he called harlots and tax
collectors and they heard him, while he had more problems with the
"righteous".  21:32 makes this clear.  They tax collectors and harlots
believed him, and I think by implication, repented.

(I should note that the Anchor Bible commentary distinguishes between
Kingdom of Heaven and Kingdom of God.  21:31 uses Kingdom of God,
while the other parables you quote use Kingdom of Heaven.  I think
this is a very idiosyncratic interpretation, which frankly I have a
hard time making any sense of.  I can only refer you to the Anchor
Bible itself if you want to pursue it, because there's no way I'm
going to be able to present their view.)

--clh]