Danny ChaiThe BibleProject podcast had an episode a few months back about treasures in heaven that I have not been able to stop thinking about, because it made me see that I’ve been thinking about what “treasures in heaven” all wrong for all my life and hadn’t realized it.
The passage they discuss is Matthew 6:19-21 – “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
What the podcast says is that this passage does not mean that there are variable treasures in heaven, where some will get more based on what they did or sacrificed, and some less. It’s not like it’s a strict replacement where we give up some treasures on earth for some sort of greater equivalent in heaven, like a bank deposit with interest. It points out that in the same gospel, Jesus tells a parable that talks about what rewards of the kingdom look like, and in that parable (of the workers in the field, Matthew 20), God’s economy is all mixed up – the workers expect to be differentially rewarded based on how much they worked, but God’s generosity doesn’t work like that, He gives them all the same, all of which is generous.
Tim Mackie quotes R.T. France writing about this: “While the theme of reward is important in the gospel of Matthew, we must remind ourselves that in the parable that most directly addresses this issue notice that there is a deliberate discrepancy between the effort you expend and the recompense you receive. God doesn’t leave anyone unfairly treated (the people who worked all day) but His grace is not limited to human deservedness. In a kingdom where the first are last and last are first there’s no room for computing one’s treasures in heaven on the basis of earthly effort. Those treasures are not stored up by performing meritorious acts but by belonging to and living by the priorities of the kingdom of heaven.”
That totally makes sense. It made me go and look up other references to treasure, reward, or prize in the New Testament, and in every single instance that talks about the future, the Greek words are singular. What the New Testament says throughout is that It’s not variable treasures in heaven, it’s treasure in heaven.
I realized I thought differently and don’t know why. In the podcast Tim mentions people who joke about losing a jewel in their heavenly crown – I kind of thought like that. That some people will have more crowns. Some will have nicer mansions. I actually think I was somewhat influenced by a college friend who used to say all the time about how they didn’t want to make it to heaven by the skin of their teeth, but they wanted lots of treasures in heaven. But when I reflect on it, that just can’t be right. If we interpret treasures in heaven that way, we’re holding to a kind of works-based gospel, and that’s contrary to Scripture.
Surely there is a prize, but it’s singular, not something that varies. This might be obvious, but I realize I hadn’t thought that way and I’m sort of mystified as to why.