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The Kingdom of God in the Gospel according to Matthew
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2009
Abstract
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References
1 The only exception is the textually uncertain John 3.5, where kingdom of heaven appears in a handful of witnesses, including .
2 For a discussion of the textual uncertainty regarding ὴ βασιλεία το θεο
in 19.24 cf. O'Callaghan, J., ‘Examen critico de Mt. 19.24’, Bib 69 (1988) 404–5.Google Scholar
3 Allen, W. C., The Gospel according to S. Matthew (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1912) lxviii.Google Scholar
4 Allen, Matthew, lxvii.
5 Allen, Matthew, 135. Cf. also Allen's discussion on lxvii-lxviii and 232.
6 Pamment, M., ‘The Kingdom of Heaven according to the First Gospel’, NTS 27 (1981) 211–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7 Pamment, ‘Kingdom of God’, 232.
8 Albright, W. F. and Mann, C. S., Matthew (Garden City: Doubleday, 1971) c–cv and 155.Google Scholar
9 Albright and Mann, Matthew, 233.
10 Mann, C. S., Mark (Garden City: Doubleday, 1986) 153 and 206.Google Scholar
11 Patte, Daniel, The Gospel according to Matthew: A Structural Commentary on Matthew's Faith (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987) 177.Google Scholar
12 Patte, Matthew, 177.
13 For this position cf. the following: Schlatter, A., Der Evangelist Matthäus: Seine Sprache, sein Ziel, seine Selbständigkeit (Stuttgart: Calwer, 1929) 57Google Scholar; Schniewind, J., Das Evangelium nach Matthäus (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1936) 23Google Scholar; Michaelis, W., Das Evangelium nach Matthäus (Zurich: Zwingli, 1948) 109–10Google Scholar; Filson, F. V., A Commentary on the Gospel according to St Matthew (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1960) 32Google Scholar; Walker, W. O., ‘The Kingdom of the Son of Man and the Kingdom of the Father in Matthew’, CBQ 30 (1968) 574Google Scholar; Goppelt, L., Theology of the New Testament 1 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981) 44Google Scholar; Schnackenburg, R., Matthäusevangelium 1,1–16,20 (Würzburg: Echter, 1985) 41Google Scholar; Beare, F. W., The Gospel according to Matthew (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1987) 33Google Scholar and many others.
14 For this suggestion cf. the following: Grant, F. C., The Gospel of Matthew 1 (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955) 23Google Scholar; Gaechter, P., Das Matthäus-Evangelium (Innsbruck: Tyrolia, 1962) 678 and 686Google Scholar; Bonnard, P., L'Évangile selon Saint Matthieu (Neuchâtel: Delachaux et Niestlé, 1963) 181 n. 2Google Scholar; Grundmann, W., Das Evangelium nach Matthäus (Berlin: Evangelische, 1968) 463Google Scholar; Hill, D., The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972) 301Google Scholar; Schweizer, E., The Good News according to Matthew (trans. by Green, D. E.; Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975) 287 and 410Google Scholar; Carson, D. A., ‘Matthew’, The Expositor's Bible Commentary 8 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984) 289Google Scholar; and Mounce, R., Matthew (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985) 117.Google Scholar
15 Dunn, J. D. G., Jesus and the Spirit (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975) 45Google Scholar. For similar suggestions cf. McNeile, A. H., The Gospel according to St Matthew (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980) 280 and 306.Google Scholar
16 Davies, W. D. and Allison, D. C., The Gospel according to Saint Matthew 1 (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1988) 390–2.Google Scholar
17 Cf. McNeile, Matthew, 176; Grundmann, Matthäus, 329 n. 5; Stagg, F., ‘Matthew’, Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman, 1969) 149;Google ScholarMaier, G., Matthäus-Evangelium 1 (Stuttgart: Hänssler, 1979) 48Google Scholar; Meier, J. P., Matthew (Wilmington: Michael Glazier, 1980) 135;Google Scholar Carson, ‘Matthew’, 289; Gnilka, J., Das Matthäusevangelium 1 (Freiburg: Herder, 1986) 458–9Google Scholar; and Smith, R., Matthew (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1989) 165.Google Scholar
18 Gundry, R. (Matthew: A Commentary on His Literary and Theological Art [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982] 389–90Google Scholar) states that Matthew uses the rarer term for the sake of variation, while Fenton, J. C. (Saint Matthew [Baltimore: Penguin, 1966] 316)Google Scholar remarks that the substitution is designed to place emphasis on God's power in v. 26.
19 Gundry (Matthew, 423) assigns this change to ‘… the need for the personal emphasis in God's name’, while France, R. T. (Matthew [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985] 307Google Scholar) notes that perhaps it was ‘… to emphasize the personal nature of … [the religious leaders'] response to and relationship with God in which they had failed’. In contrast, Lagrange, M.-J. (Évangile selon Saint Matthieu [Paris: Gabalda, 1948] 412Google Scholar) notes that one finds ‘… το θεο
, et non, “des cieux” comme à l'ordinaire, parce que le royaume est déjà commencé’. Lagrange (418) makes similar comments on 21.43.
20 Gundry (Matthew, 430) observes, ‘As in v 31, the use of God's name is determined by the contextual need for the personal term….’
21 Goulder, M. D., Midrash and Lection in Matthew (London: SPCK, 1974) 332 n. 64.Google Scholar
22 McNeile, Matthew, 312.
23 Hill, Matthew, 301.
24 Trilling, W., Das wahre Israel: Studien zur Theologie das Matthäus-Evangeliums (Munchen: Kösel, 1964) 85.Google Scholar
25 Scott, J. J. Jr, ‘The Synoptic Gospels’, The Expositor's Bible Commentary 1 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979) 508.Google Scholar
26 Of course, if Matthew were the first gospel written, then it would be extremely difficult to demonstrate that Matthew's occasional use of kingdom of God is attributable to his sources.
27 As McNeile [Matthew] and Dunn [Jesus] state.
28 Cf. Walvoord, J. F., ‘The Kingdom of Heaven’, BibSac 124 (1967) 198–9.Google Scholar
29 Cf. Schweizer, E., ‘Observance of the Law and Charismatic Activity in Matthew’, NTS 16 (1969/1970) 213–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Schweizer, E., ‘Matthew's Church’, in The Interpretation of Matthew (ed. by Stanton, G.; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983) 129–55Google Scholar; Martin, J. P., ‘The Church in Matthew’, Int 29 (1975) 41–56;Google ScholarMontague, G. T., The Holy Spirit: Growth of a Biblical Tradition (New York: Paulist, 1976) 302–10Google Scholar; Dunn, J. D. G., Unity and Diversity in the New Testament (London: SCM, 1990) 249Google Scholar; Holman, C., ‘A Lesson from Matthew's Gospel for Charismatic Renewal’, in Faces of Renewal (ed. by Elbert, P.; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1988) 48–63Google Scholar; France, R. T., Matthew: Evangelist and Teacher (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989) 118–19Google Scholar; and Smith, R. H., ‘Matthew's Message for Insiders: Charisma and Commandment in a First-Century Community’, Int 46 (1992) 229–39.Google Scholar
30 Cf. Hengel, M., The Charismatic Leader and his Followers (trans. by Greig, James; New York: Crossroad, 1981).Google Scholar
31 Since the Gospel nowhere describes the disciples as fulfilling the charismatic dimensions of their commission given in chapter ten, one must assume that such a commission was fulfilled later.
32 Cf. Marx, W. G., ‘Money Matters in Matthew’, BibSac 136 (1979) 148–57.Google Scholar
33 Cf. Mealand, D. L., Poverty and Expectation in the Gospels (London: SPCK, 1980)Google Scholar and Schmidt, T. E., Hostility to Wealth in the Synoptic Gospels (Sheffield: JSOT, 1987) 121–34.Google Scholar
34 Cf. also the discussion of Smith, R. H., ‘Were the Early Christians Middle Class? A Sociological Analysis of the New Testament’, Currents in Theology and Mission 7 (1980) 260–76.Google Scholar
35 Mealand, Poverty, 16.
36 Mealand, Poverty, 92.
37 Therefore, rather than regarding Mealand's argument as overly subtle, as Schmidt [Hostility to Wealth, 122] charges, the hostile attitude toward wealth exhibited by Matthew might very well be a sign of the church's growing affluence.
38 It is noteworthy that in three of the six passages where tax collectors are mentioned, they are either in the company of Jesus (9.9–13; 11.18–19) or they are described as having believed in John the Baptist (21.32), while one of the other texts states that a tax collector was one of the Twelve (10.3).
39 Cf. Brown, R. E. and Meier, J. P., Antioch and Rome (New York: Paulist, 1983) 65–72.Google Scholar
40 Of the many works that discuss this issue cf. Meier's discussion in Antioch and Rome, 45–72, and Brown, S., ‘The Matthean Community and the Gentile Mission’, NovT 22 (1980) 193–221.Google Scholar
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