Entering the Kingdom of Heaven: A Study on the Structure of Matthew's View of Salvation

Abstract

Entering the Kingdom of Heaven: A Study on the Structure of Matthew's View of Salvation, by Petri Luomanen. WUNT 2/101. Tuibingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1998. Pp. xiv + 343. DM 118.00. After the publication of several outstanding multivolume commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew, one might expect that Matthean studies would experience hiatus of scholarly attention. But such has not been the case. This particular work, originally doctoral dissertation under Heikki Raisanen at the University of Helsinki, confronts us with important unfinished business. Using language drawn from Protestant theology, it courageously endeavors to order the relative priority between the imperative and the indicative, between Law and Grace, Matthew's Gospel. Following helpful review of modem opinion stretching from H. Windisch to the Finnish contribution of K. Syreeni, Luomanen sets forth his methodology. It would not be unfair to characterize Luomanen as lightly chastened redaction critic who candidly acknowledges the importance of the narrative plot without trusting the methodology of narrative criticism to achieve his own goal of uncovering the theology of the real author. Hence, rather than presenting us with wide-ranging view of Matthew's story, he elects to focus his attention upon limited number of key texts which are then analyzed for insights the author's interaction with his received tradition. Luomanen divides his choices three occasionally overlapping categories: texts which the language of entering into the space of salvation occurs (5:17-20; 7:15-23;13:24-30, 36-43;19:1620:16; 21:28-22:14 and 25:31-46), texts which the transparency of the discipleship community as the sphere of salvation are acutely evident (in addition to some already named, 8:18-27; 11:25-30; and chap. 13), and finally, texts which the conditions of entry and retention within the real-life community of the author are spelled out (28:16-20; 26:26-30; chap. 18). Appropriating E. P. Sanders's model of nomism as fitting description for the pattern of Jewish religion, Luomanen endeavors to define Matthew's place between Palestinian Judaism on the one hand and Pauline Christianity on the other. Matthew was not, Luomanen suggests, a proper Jew anymore, nor, it seems, was his theology yet clearly Christian-at least, by Luomanen's def inition. The investigation proceeds two steps. First, the initial textual categories, those containing entrance language and those reflecting the transparency of the discipleship community, are analyzed together sequential order. After carefully distinguishing, where possible, tradition from redaction, Luomanen draws clearly articulated conclusions regarding Matthew's view of salvation. Matthew, we are informed, perceived salvation to have been initiated by God fashion typical of nomism. Entrance the covenantal community did not arise from obedience, as one would expect from legalistic system, but from repentance, which is essentially equivalent to the acceptance of Jesus' message. Where Matthew seems to suggest otherwise, as is the case 5:17-20, he is said to have been less interested the literal implications of his tradition than highlighting the faithfulness of the new community to the conceptual framework of the parent body. Moreover, the Christian community was not depicted by Matthew as corpus mixtum which the question of salvation remains open until the final hour. Rather, Luomanen insists, salvation was, for Matthew, the present experience of the community. But contrast to getting in, the process of staying in was determined by the individual's obedience to the core of Jesus' ethical teaching: love for one's neighbor. The second step of the investigation concentrates on the third category of selected texts: those which the conditions of entry the author's real-life community are spelled out. …