Java 8 lambda expression and first-class values

Question

Are Java 8 closures really first-class values or are they only a syntactic sugar?

Answer 1

For me Lambdas in Java 8 is just syntax sugar because you cannot use it as First class Citizen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-class_function) each function should be wrapped into object it imposes many limitation when comparing to language with pure first class function like SCALA. Java 8 closures can only capture immutable ("effectively final") non-local variables.

Here is better explanation why it is syntax-sugar Java Lambdas and Closures