clearing the sky
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As a reader of the Bible in its original languages, I am often irritated by terms that are part of our religious tradition, but their meaning is not necessarily implied in the text of Scripture. There are actually quite a few of these terms.
One such term – which we find as early as Genesis 1:1, is “heaven.” The corresponding Hebrew word is shamayim (שָׁמַיִם). Heaven, where God is, is a real place (or sphere), and we often theologize about it. We teach people about heaven. But my concern is that we may have drawn our conclusions about heaven from biblical texts which the original authors (and the Holy Spirit who inspired them) never intended us to use to teach about heaven.
You see, the word shamayim simply means sky. Because we conceptualize the sky as the place up there where God lives, it was a natural term to use to refer to heaven. But its normal meaning is the air all around us and up above us.
Consequently, I have endeavored to render all instances of shamayim as sky unless the context makes it clear that God’s residence is implied.
Some examples in Genesis:
Genesis 1:1 At first, God created the sky and the land,
Genesis 1:14-15 And God said, "Let luminaries show in the separator of the sky to separate the day from the night. And let them serve as signs and distinguish seasons, and days and years, and let them serve as lights in the divider of the sky to give light upon the land." And it became that way.
Genesis 1:20 And God said, "Let the water swarm with swarms of living throats, and let birds fly above the land across the divider of the sky."
Genesis 1:30 And to every beast of the land and to every bird of the sky and to everything that creeps on the land, everything that has a living throat on it, I have given all flora for food." And it became that way.
I hope you see my point. The shamayim is the place where the stars shine, and the atmosphere where the birds fly. Referring to that place as heaven (or “the heavens”) is not necessary and can often be misleading.
The New Testament was written in Greek, and the Greek term corresponding to shamayim is ouranos (οὐρανός). Let’s look at some examples of that term in Matthew’s Gospel:
Matthew 3:2 "Repent, because the kingdom from the sky has approached."
Instead of a location (that so many think immortal souls go when they die), John is talking about the direction from which the kingdom would come.
Matthew 3:16-17 And when Jesus was baptized, while he went up from the water, notice, the sky was opened, and the Breath of God was descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and notice, a voice from the sky says, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
Here again, the focus is the direction from which the voice came.
Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the sky: they neither plant nor harvest nor store their food in barns, and yet your sky Father feeds them. Are you not worth more to him than them?
Here many translations are forced to be inconsistent. One part of this verse refers to birds in the ouranos, and another to God the Father in the ouranos.
Note for example, the renderings of these versions:
“birds of the air” – “heavenly Father” (ESV, NASB)
“birds in the sky” – “heavenly Father” (NET)
“birds of the sky” – “heavenly Father” (CSB)
Youngs’ Literal Translation sought consistency and thus produced something wooden that put the birds where they did not belong:
“fowls of the heaven” – “heavenly Father”
The recent Literal Standard Version (LSV) abandoned that approach, so gave us an inconsistent translation of the same word in the same sentence:
“birds of the sky” – “heavenly Father”
So, even those who claim to be giving us literal translations are forced to be either wooden or inconsistent.
My approach is to be as consistent as possible and to avoid inferring something not implied by the original words. If Jesus and Matthew were comfortable using the same word to describe the birds and the Father – in the same sentence, then why should I translate them as if they meant to use different words?
Words in any language have (in linguistic terms) a semantic range. Both heaven and sky are possible meanings of shamayim/ ouranos. But I am convinced that most English versions overuse the gloss “heaven” and rarely use the more basic gloss “sky.” The result is that some of the original intended meaning of certain texts is obscured.
The Matthew 3:2 example above indicates the trend. When people read “kingdom of heaven” their natural thought goes to that place where God lives, and it becomes their goal to get there. The bad theology is built into the incorrect translation.
When we Advent Christians come along and tell people that our goal is not getting to heaven, mostly people from other church traditions don’t understand why we insist on being so unbiblical.
Here’s a passage which shows the importance of “sky” as the preferred gloss:
Philippians 3:18-21
“You see, I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many are living as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their termination is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame. They are focused on things of the land, but our citizenship is in the sky, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humble state into one like his glorious body, by the achieving energy that enables him to subject everything to himself.”
Our citizenship in the sky is compared to the enemies of the cross who are focused on things of the land. Citizenship in that context has to do with present commitment and loyalty, not future destination. The future result of the wrong loyalty is that it will terminate in destruction. Those with the right loyalty will be transformed by Christ when he returns. The right focus is not “waiting to die and go to heaven” but serving a Savior who is coming from the sky.