Aug 21 2020 - Introduction to the Gospel According to Matthew

Who wrote this Gospel? 

The earliest descriptions (about 125 AD) of this, the first of the Gospel accounts in our New Testament ascribe it to Matthew (also called Levi, a converted tax collector and one of the twelve, cf. Matt 10:3; 9:9-13; Mk 2:14-17). Ancient testimony from Papias (circa 110 AD) suggests that Matthew first wrote in the Hebrew tongue (in Aramaic?) and that many others then used this material as a source. No record has been found of an early Aramaic or Hebrew version of Matthew's Gospel, leading Gundry to suggest that Papias meant simply that Matthew wrote his gospel for a Jewish readership and in a Jewish idiom.

Matthew probably composed his Gospel some time in the latter 60s, before the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.

What is special about Matthew's Gospel?  

Matthew is keen to show how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament; he includes over sixty explicit quotations from the OT, more than twice as many as any other gospel. In particular, Matthew asserts that Jesus came to fulfil the law rather than to destroy it. Blomberg writes, "Christ's fulfilment of the Law, analogous to his fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies, suggests that he is the one to whom all of the Scriptures pointed and for whom they prepared. God's will can now be understood only by following Jesus and adhering to his teaching." Central to this fulfilment theme is the theme of the kingdom – the kingdom of heaven (the kingdom of God) has come.

On the one hand Matthew includes sayings which suggest that Jesus' ministry was to the Jews alone (10:5-6, 23; 15:24), yet it is Matthew who records Gentile Magi coming to worship the Christ Child (2:1-12), recounts parables which predict the demise of the current Jewish leadership (21:18-22:14, including prediction of the removal of the kingdom from the Jews 21:43), and the Great Commission to take the Gospel to the nations (28:18-20). For Matthew, the Gospel is Jewish in origin but is good news for the whole world. The cross marks the turning point in that it is the climax of Jewish rejection of the Christ just as the resurrection marks the commencement of God's mission to the nations.

Matthew alone records specific teaching of Jesus concerning the church, emphasising the fact that the church, the community of those, both Jew and Gentile, who believe in Jesus the Christ, is now the community of the people of God, rather than ethnic Israel. He also emphasises the controversies between the Jewish leaders (particularly Pharisees) and Jesus, perhaps reflecting the particular concerns of the Jewish Christians for whom he wrote. Graham Stanton suggests that Matthew is writing for a church that has broken away from Judaism but is still in rigorous debate with "the synagogue across the street."

Matthew's Gospel is carefully constructed. The narratives in Matthew are generally more concise than those in Mark's Gospel but Matthew includes other material. In particular, as well as the opening chapters about Jesus' ancestry, conception and infancy (chs 1-2) and closing chapters concerning Jesus' resurrection appearances and commissioning of the disciple (ch. 28), his Gospel includes five major sections recording Jesus' teaching (5:1-7:29; 9:35-10:42; 13:1-52; 18:1-35; 23:1-25:46), each concluding with a similar refrain. Donald Guthrie comments, "It has been suggested that Matthew's fivefold scheme was patterned after the fivefold character of the books of the Law."

Peter Misselbrook