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Matthew 4: 17 From that time on Jesus began to
preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (NIV)
Mark 1: 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The
kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.” (NIV)
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Scripture is a perfect book; but it has been given to imperfect people in an imperfect world.* |
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The gospel writers were neither novelists nor journalists.
Their job was to share the good news of Jesus, not to tell gripping stories or
get a nice, juicy sound bite. It wasn’t their place to editorialize or
sensationalize. They were inspired by the Holy Spirit to deliver a message and
each one fulfilled his obligation according to his abilities and with regard to
his intended audience.
So, which is it – the kingdom
of heaven or the kingdom of God?
Are they two different places or the same place? Are these two gospel writers
contradicting each other? If I said I was born in the USA and you told someone I was
born in America, would you be misquoting me? What if the person you were
talking to was from . . . say . . . Argentina or Canada. Would you tell them I was born in America or North
America?
Before jumping to conclusions about apparent discrepancies
in scripture, we would do well to do our homework. Who wrote it? What was his
background? Who was his target audience? How does the culture affect the
narrative? And so we find that “kingdom of heaven” is used 32 times in the
gospels – and all in Matthew’s account. Can you guess who made up Matthew’s
target demographic? Matthew chose to show respect to his Jewish readers, who
never wrote the word “God.”*
Enter into your Bible-reading prayerfully, opening yourself
to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and allowing him to speak through God’s
word. Be careful about accepting any interpretation of a passage based solely
on what you have heard or read from other sources (including me!). The more
familiar you are with the word, the better acquainted you will become with God
and his purpose.
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The only way to be certain what the Bible means here and now is to first understand what it meant then and there.* |
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