Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Matthew 3:2 - 3:2

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Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Matthew 3:2 - 3:2


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2. μετανοεῖτε. More than ‘feel sorrow or regret for sin,’ it is rather ‘change the life, the heart, the motive for action.’ It was a call to self-examination and reality of life.

ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν. St Matthew alone uses this expression, but he also employs the equivalent phrase, ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ, in common with the other N.T. writers. In itself the expression was not new. It connected itself in Jewish thought with the theocracy—the direct rule of God—of which the earthly Kingdom was a shadow. It implied the reign of the Messiah (cp. Dan 7:14). It became the watchword of the zealots ‘no king but God.’ Jesus took up the word and gave it a new deep and varied spiritual significance, which is rather illustrated than defined.

The principal meanings of the Kingdom of Heaven in N.T. are (1) The presence of Christ on earth. (2) His Second Advent. (3) His influence in the heart. (4) Christianity, (a) as a Church, (b) as a faith. (5) The life eternal.