"The Kingdom of Heaven - A Catchphrase?

The phrase "the kingdom of heaven" is one of Jesus’s most common. It is used in over a hundred verses by Jesus. In Greek, it is τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, literally, “the realm of the skies.” The related phrase "the kingdom of God," ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ, literally, “the realm of the Divine,” is used in about fifty verses, with a scattering of "father's kingdom" and "his kingdom" added to it. Verses explaining the kingdom of heaven that begin with "the kingdom of heaven is..." are used forty-nine times by Jesus in the Gospels, mostly to begin parables or analogies.

However, was it a humorous catchphrase? One that gets funnier because of its repeated use? I suspect he may have used it to entertain, especially earlier in his teaching because he initially uses it without explaining it. Since the idea was not part of Judean traditions, it would have been confusing if it was used in an entertaining way.

As we explained earlier in this article, the Greek word translated as “heaven” means “the skies.” Why plural? There a many possible reasons, but partly to prevent confusion with the Greek sky god, Uranus, whose name is the singular “sky.” The word most often appears as the plural "skies." Our concept of “heaven” didn’t exist in the time of Jesus. However, our English word, "sky," doesn't capture the sense of the Greek word either. To those in the era, "the skies" was everything above the surface of the earth, that is, the rest of the universe. It especially included aspects of the universe that were ethereal, that is, not earthly matter.

In his times, “the skies” were the furthest things that people could see. This made it an analogy for the highest things we could could only see in our minds, an analogy for the highest state of being. Why is it plural? Because Jesus means more by the sky than just the earthly “sky” we can see. The "realm of the skies" is best understood as a description of higher reality, one that is beyond the one we see. Jesus equates this with “the Divine.”

Of the Skies and Of the Divine

The "realm of the skies" is best understood as a higher reality, one that is beyond the one we see. Jesus equates this with “the Divine.” We can think of the world below the skies as temporary, literally superficial, the surface of things. We live on the surface of existence. Those of Jesus’s era saw the skies as a bigger, deeper reality, one beyond the reach of mere mortals. The realm of the skies and of the Divine is the higher reality that we cannot touch directly.

Matthew uses this term, “the realm of the skies,” the most frequently. In Luke and Mark, many of Jesus’s references to the "realm of the skies" turn into "the realm of the Divine," translated as, "the kingdom of God." In both Mark and Luken, we can see clear parallels where one phrase is substituted for another, either by Jesus or the Gospel writer. For example, in the first part of Matthew 13:11:

NIV: Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven….
Listeners Heard: Because it has been given to you to learn the secrets of the realm of the skies…

This is very like the first part of Luke 8:10:

NIV: Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven…
Listeners Heard: Because it has been given to you to learn the secrets of the realm of the skies…

Since the balance of these two quotes are different, we can assume that Jesus used both terms interchangeably, saying the same things about them in slightly different contexts.

The Meaning of "Kingdom"

The realm of the skies” and “the realm of the Divine” account for over eighty percent of Jesus’s use of the Greek word translated as “kingdom,” basileia (βασιλεία). The same word can be translated as "realm," "reign” or “kingship." The word means that which is controlled by a central authority. Our English word "basilica," meaning the seat of power for a bishop, comes from this word.

The word always means that which is controlled by a specific person, a basileus, which means "leader," "prince," "commander," or "king." Basileia is not a synonym for a state, a country, or any geographic area, though we often think of a "kingdom" in those terms. It describes the extent of a person’s authority. It can mean the place that is ruled, the people who are ruled, or the person who is ruling if she is female because the word's form in the Gospels is feminine. Generally, it refers to hereditary power, the passing of authority from one generation to the next. The focus in on the ruler. For the "realm of the skies," the ruler is clearly the Divine, God.

The Meaning of "Heaven"

The biggest problem with the word "heaven" is that when we hear it today, we have a set of images that have nothing to do with the way Jesus meant the word. We see clouds, angels with wings, streets of gold, and pearly gates, and the New Jerusalem. Much of this is from childhood stories and some of it, is borrowed from stories taken from other religions. None of these images were meant by Jesus or envisioned by his listeners.

Though I covered this in an earlier article, the primary meaning of ouranos is "the sky," which is the vault above us when we look up. The blue sky, the clouds, the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars are all part of the skies. More generally, the word metaphorically means everything outside of our world, that is, the part of the universe that is “unearthly.” Most people of the time saw this as the realm of the gods. The verb form of this word "to remove to the sky" or "to diefy." When heroes or rulers were “deified” they were given a place in the sky. The same might be said of the “stars” of our modern culture. The phrase, "realm of the stars," might capture more of the feeling of the Greek since "stars" has a double meaning of the celestial objects and famous people.

The word also has a sense of "great height.” In the ancient world, just as today, power is described in terms of being above others. The skies is the realm of the highest powers. For the philosophically minded, the skies were the realm of the conceptual. That which is beyond earth is both physically out of reach and mentally outside of understanding. This universality, beyondness, and highness of heaven extend to the Divine. Jesus refers to the "heavenly Father," "the Father in heaven," and "Father in the heavens." In other words, referring to the Father, he frequently uses the plural. Jesus uses the plural "Father in the skies" the same way as he does the singular (Matthew 6:1).

Conceptually, the "realm of the skies" is the opposite of the "world order,” in Greek, kosmos. The Father Sky is contrasted with the Mother Earth. See this article for more on these words. However, using a literal translation, "the realm of the skies" captures the mystery of the phrase more clearly.

More Questions

There are hundreds of questions about what Jesus meant by this term. Did Jesus refer to the afterlife as “the kingdom of the skies?” Many verses can be interpreted that way. However, answering these questions requires a discussion of philosophy. My job is simply more accurately translating the words.