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? 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?
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? Jews. And Matthew chose to show respect to his Jewish readers, who
never wrote the word “God.”*
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? We should be careful about accepting any interpretation of a passage
based solely on what we have heard or read from other sources. Enter into your
Bible-reading prayerfully, open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and allowing
him to speak through God’s word. The more familiar you are with the word, the
better acquainted you will become with God and his purpose.
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