Heaven and Earth in the Gospel of Matthew

by Jonathan T. Pennington, Matthew the Apostle

The theme of heaven and earth is a much-overlooked aspect of the Gospel of Matthew. In this work, rising scholar Jonathan Pennington articulates a fresh perspective on this key interpretive issue, challenging both the scholarly and popular understandings of the meaning of Matthew's phrase, "kingdom of heaven."

Pennington argues that rather than being a reverent way of referring to God as is typically assumed, "heaven" in Matthew is part of a highly developed discourse of heaven and earth language. Matthew's way of using heaven language serves one overriding theological to highlight the tension that currently exists between heaven and earth or God and humanity, while looking forward to its eschatological resolution. This affordable North American paperback edition was previously published in hardcover by Brill.

416 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2007

About the author

Jonathan T. Pennington (PhD, University of St. Andrews) is associate professor of New Testament interpretation at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author of Heaven and Earth in the Gospel of Matthew and has published a number of tools for learning biblical languages, including New Testament Greek Vocabulary and Old Testament Hebrew Vocabulary.

Reviews

[Brian Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pennington challenges the commonly accepted idea that in Matthew's phrase "kingdom of heaven," "heaven" stands as a reverential circumlocution for God. He notes that though this view is commonly stated in virtually all commentaries on Matthew, it rests on a single article by Gustaf Dalman, which is methodologically problematic. It is difficult to establish from contemporary writings that the Jews consistently or widely adopted reverential circumlocutions for God.
Pennington argues that instead Matthew uses the phrase "kingdom of heaven" as part of a larger heaven and earth theme in the Gospel. He notes four distinctive ways in which Matthew develops this theme. First, Matthew purposely uses the singular of the Greek word for heaven to refer to the terrestrial heaven and the plural of heaven to refer to the divine dwelling place. Second, he will pair heaven and earth as words and thematically. Third, he refers to God as Father in heaven both because Father conveyed kingly overtones and in contrast to earthly fathers. Finally, the phrase "kingdom of heaven" refers to a kingdom from heaven and/or a kingdom characterized by heaven. The terminology is developed from Daniel 2-7, and the point is to contrast the earthly kingdoms in rebellion against God (see also Psalm 2) and God's heavenly kingdom.
Pennington himself summarizes the theme and its significance: "behind it all is an intentional focus on the theme of heaven and earth, specifically highlighting the current contrast or tensive relationship between the two realms, between God and humanity. Yet Matthew does not only emphasize the contras, but also the fact that this contrast or tension will be resolved at eschaton when heaven and earth are reunited through Jesus (6:9-10); 28:18). In fact, only by recognizing the intensity of the tension that currently exists between heaven and earth can we fully appreciate the significance of the eschaton in which the kingdom of heaven will come to earth" (342-43).
This is a tightly argued, well-written, stimulating book. I found it's thesis compelling. The one major development that I would like to see is a sharpening of the referent of the kingdom of heaven/God in the Gospels. Pennington, and seemingly the literature he interacted with, took the kingdom of God to be the kingdom God rules. I would argue, however, that what is announced in the Gospels is not only a fuller manifestation of God's reign on earth (though it is that). I would argue that the kingdom theme finds its roots in Genesis 1:26-29. Mankind is given rule over the earth, and it is the Son of Man who brings the heavenly kingdom to earth so that the rule of man is no longer bestial and in rebellion against the heavenly King but is a ruler under God's greater rule. This understanding of the kingdom better recognizes the importance of the incarnation, the Davidic covenant, the key passages in Daniel 4 and 7, and the seminal nature of Genesis 1:28. What is more, I think the development harmonizes well with Pennington's thesis and even strengthens his argument.

[Sanjuro · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a researcher in the Bible, every so often I come across a book and think, "I wish I had written that." This has happened to me twice now when reading the work of Jonathan Pennington. This book is erudite, and impeccably researched. Pennington discusses the Gospel of Matthew's use of "heaven and earth" language, detailing the antecedent literature from the Old Testament through to the Second Temple period, while dispelling multiple scholarly consensus theories along the way. At every turn, I found myself thinking, "I'm sure he's right about that," or, "This should have been more obvious to more scholars before now." Although I try to span my research as far afield as possible, Matthew is my main specialty, and I can say I genuinely learned a significant amount about Matthew's narrative purpose by reading this book. Excellent.

[Fred Kohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book because I was looking for evidence of the claim by IOers (Israel Only advocates) that the phrase "heaven and earth" often refers to Yahweh's covenant relationship with Israel. Instead, I found that the author holds the standard view that the phrase "heaven and earth" most often refers to the physical universe. I found the thesis interesting that the pair heaven and earth can be either merismatic (taken as a whole) or antithetic (contrasting).

Despite the title, the work concentrated more on the word "heaven" than on the phrase "Heaven and earth." A lot of attention was paid to how the word was used in its singular v its plural form in the gospel of Matthew. That doesn’t mean no attention was paid to the phrase "Heaven and earth". That phrase got a lot of attention. To fully explore what Matthew meant by that phrase, it was necessary to explore its meaning in the Old Testament, and I really gleaned a lot of insight from that exploration.

[Toby Irvine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really helpful book on the use of heaven and earth on Matthew that sheds so much light on what Matthew is teaching in his gospel.

You can tell that it is an expansion of his PHD as it is not the easiest read and has many a page where the footnotes take up more space than the text. But I am very grateful for his detailed literature review of the use of heaven/heaven and earth/father/kingdom in relevant literature, which proved very clarifying for seeing the radical intentions Matthew has in his heaven and earth language. It has been a great help in remembering that following Jesus is to side with heaven rather than this earth, setting my longings on the kingdom of heaven to come and setting my focus now on pleasing the Father in heaven now (albeit very imperfectly). Thanks Pennington!