Jerusalem in Heaven
Galatians 4:21–31: A Christian
Perspective
In the New Testament there are only a
few texts that speak of a heavenly Jerusalem (Gal 4:25–26; Heb 12:22; Rev 3:12;
21:1–22:5). There are, besides, texts about a heavenly city (Heb 11:10, 16;
12:22; 13:14) or a heavenly citizenship (Phil 3:20). Notably, they either
disqualify the earthly Jerusalem or do not mention it at all. An example of the
first, of disqualifying Jerusalem, appears in Galatians which I would like to
present now.
In Gal 4:25–26 Paul opposes a
Jerusalem now (ἡ νῦν Ἰερουσαλήμ) to a Jerusalem above (ἡ ἄνω Ἰερουσαλήμ). This
is clearly an asymmetrical comparison. “Now” should be opposed to “then,” and
“above” to “beneath.” If, however, we add the unsaid to the comparison, the
Jerusalem now is the Jerusalem beneath, the earthly Jerusalem; and the
Jerusalem above is the Jerusalem of the future, the heavenly eschatological
Jerusalem. The two verses occur within the larger framework of Gal 4:21–31, the
so-called Hagar–Sarah allegory-typology.
Paul connects negative connotations
with the contemporary Jerusalem and positive connotations with the Jerusalem
above. The negative aspects are slavery (vv. 22, 24, 25, 30, 31), flesh (vv.
23, 29), and Mount Sinai (vv. 24, 25) = the Law (v. 21); the positive aspects
are freedom (vv. 22, 30, 31), promise (v. 23, 28), and spirit (v. 29).
For the time being it is important
that Jerusalem above is (1) present, (2) in the future, and (3) earthly. It is
in the future, firstly, because of the implicit opposition to “now” (νῦν)—we
already had this. Secondly, Paul connects the Jerusalem above with freedom and
freedom with promise; and promise implies future. After all, some heavenly
Jerusalem is already extant on earth. Paul signifies the Jerusalem above, which
is freedom, as “our mother” (v. 26); that is, the “mother” of the Christians.
This implies that the Jerusalem above already exists. Since the Christians are
the “children” of Jerusalem and of freedom, they represent the heavenly
Jerusalem, albeit provisionally and imperfectly. This “Jerusalem” is
provisional and imperfectly because the promise still persists.
What does this all mean for the
perspective of Paul and the Galatian Christians towards the earthly Jerusalem?
First of all Paul dissociates himself from the earthly Jerusalem which he
depicts negatively and which he considers being transitional (see v. 30). We do
not know the voice of the Galatian addressees. We only know Paul writing to
them. But we may surmise that all or most of them were non-Jewish Christians.
To those people Paul says—I say it in paraphrase—that the earthly Jerusalem is
worth hardly anything. For the Galatian Christians this meant that they could,
so to say, remain in Galatia10 and had, nevertheless, a connection with
Jerusalem—with the Jerusalem that is and will be above them. This, however,
also implied a breach with most of the Jewish Christians for who the earthly
Jerusalem remained important.
In the letter to the Galatians Paul is
rather polemical. His attack on the earthly Jerusalem is surely also an attack
on those who are commonly called “Judaizers” (see Gal 2:14). These Judaizers
tried to turn the so-called pagan Christians to the Jewish law and customs. We
do not hear anything about the status of Jerusalem but it is likely that the
Judaizers tried to stress the importance of the earthly Jerusalem. With Gal 4
Paul also attacks the claim of the Judaizers that the male pagan Christians should
be circumcised. As Paul says that they are the children of a free heavenly
Jerusalem, their “mother,” they already belong to the people of Israel without
being circumcised. How? According to the manner of Isaac (v. 28), according to
the spirit (v. 29), and: via no less than heaven itself.
We can see here that the city of
Jerusalem plays a pivotal part in the making of identity both now and in the
future. (J. Cornelis de Vos, “Jerusalem: Why on Earth Is It in Heaven? A
Comparison between Galatians 4:21–31 and 2 Baruch 4:1–7,” in Exploring the
Narrative: Jerusalem and Jordan in the Bronze and Iron Ages, ed. Eveline
van der Steen et al. [Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 583; London: Bloomsbury, 2014], 328–330)
