Introducing
Matthew
What
does it mean to be a disciple of
Jesus Christ? How can we
effectively disciple others?
Christian book stores are full
of "how to" manuals
which seek to answer these
questions. The early church had
a discipling manual too—the
book of Matthew. It was written
to teach us how to be a disciple
of Jesus Christ and how to
disciple others. Before looking
at current discipling manuals,
why not go back to one of the
originals?
Discipleship
is the application of Christian
truth to the present. "What
does God want me to do about
this relationship?"
"How can I deal with
anxiety?" We need to know
what God expects of us on a
daily basis. Discipleship is a
very practical matter.
Practical
questions were a concern of
Matthew as he wrote his book.
Matthew was a tax collector, so
he knew how important it was to
be practical. A tax collector
has to know things like how much
tax you owe, where you pay and
who is authorized to collect it.
And when a tax is paid, it must
be recorded exactly. Otherwise
government authorities tend to
become hostile. Very practical
stuff.
Matthew
draws on all his background as
he writes. Your most important
need as a disciple is to know
what the Lord is like. Matthew
will help you. Through his work
you will get to know Jesus
better as he responds to needy
people, handles conflict and
faces opposition. You will also
see what Jesus is like as a
King. How does he handle
authority? What type of laws
does he give? How does he
provide for his subjects?
For
your daily living you will
discover how to handle anger and
envy. You will learn how your
faith can be strengthened, how
to pray, how to grow in
humility. You will gain insights
into a biblical approach to
evangelism. You will find out
what attitudes the Lord thinks
are important. And you will
learn how to handle suffering
and grief.
In
short, a study of Matthew will
help you become a better
disciple and disciple-maker.
The
content of Matthew will be
covered by dividing it into two
equal sections, 1:1–16:20 and
16:21–28:20. The first half is
entitled "Discovering the
King." It focuses on the
identity and authority of Jesus.
The second half is entitled
"The Conflict and Victory
of the King." It focuses on
Jesus as he encounters
opposition and persecution
culminating in the cross and
resurrection.
From
beginning to end Matthew is an
exciting and challenging Gospel.
Get ready for an adventure!
THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW
The position of the Gospel
according to Matthew as the first
of the four gospels in the New
Testament reflects both the view
that it was the first to be
written, a view that goes back to
the late second century A.D., and
the esteem in which it was held by
the church; no other was so
frequently quoted in the
noncanonical literature of
earliest Christianity. Although
the majority of scholars now
reject the opinion about the time
of its composition, the high
estimation of this work remains.
The reason for that becomes clear
upon study of the way in which
Matthew presents his story of
Jesus, the demands of Christian
discipleship, and the breaking-in
of the new and final age through
the ministry but particularly
through the death and resurrection
of Jesus.
The gospel begins with a narrative
prologue (Mat 1:1-2:23), the first
part of which is a genealogy of
Jesus starting with Abraham, the
father of Israel (Mat 1:1-17). Yet
at the beginning of that genealogy
Jesus is designated as "the
son of David, the son of
Abraham" (Mat 1:1). The
kingly ancestor who lived about a
thousand years after Abraham is
named first, for this is the
genealogy of Jesus Christ, the
Messiah, the royal anointed one
(Mat 1:16). In the first of the
episodes of the infancy narrative
that follow the genealogy, the
mystery of Jesus' person is
declared. He is conceived of a
virgin by the power of the Spirit
of God (Mat 1:18-25). The first of
the gospel's fulfillment
citations, whose purpose it is to
show that he was the one to whom
the prophecies of Israel were
pointing, occurs here (Mat 1:23):
he shall be named Emmanuel, for in
him God is with us.
The announcement of the birth of
this newborn king of the Jews
greatly troubles not only King
Herod but all Jerusalem (Mat
2:1-3), yet the Gentile magi are
overjoyed to find him and offer
him their homage and their gifts
(Mat 2:10-11). Thus his ultimate
rejection by the mass of his own
people and his acceptance by the
Gentile nations is foreshadowed.
He must be taken to Egypt to
escape the murderous plan of
Herod. By his sojourn there and
his subsequent return after the
king's death he relives the Exodus
experience of Israel. The words of
the Lord spoken through the
prophet Hosea, "Out of Egypt
I called my son," are
fulfilled in him (Mat 2:15); if
Israel was God's son, Jesus is so
in a way far surpassing the
dignity of that nation, as his
marvelous birth and the unfolding
of his story show (see Mat 3:17;
4:1-11; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16;
27:54). Back in the land of
Israel, he must be taken to
Nazareth in Galilee because of the
danger to his life in Judea, where
Herod's son Archelaus is now
ruling (Mat 2:22-23). The
sufferings of Jesus in the infancy
narrative anticipate those of his
passion, and if his life is spared
in spite of the dangers, it is
because his destiny is finally to
give it on the cross as "a
ransom for many" (20, 28).
Thus the word of the angel will be
fulfilled, ". . . he will
save his people from their
sins" (Mat 1:21; cf Mat
26:28).
In Mat 4:12 Matthew begins his
account of the ministry of Jesus,
introducing it by the preparatory
preaching of John the Baptist (Mat
3:1-12), the baptism of Jesus that
culminates in God's proclaiming
him his "beloved Son"
(Mat 3:13-17), and the temptation
in which he proves his true
sonship by his victory over the
devil's attempt to deflect him
from the way of obedience to the
Father (Mat 4:1-11). The central
message of Jesus' preaching is the
coming of the kingdom of heaven
and the need for repentance, a
complete change of heart and
conduct, on the part of those who
are to receive this great gift of
God (Mat 4:17). Galilee is the
setting for most of his ministry;
he leaves there for Judea only in
Mat 19:1, and his ministry in
Jerusalem, the goal of his
journey, is limited to a few days
(Mat 21:1-25:46).
In this extensive material there
are five great discourses of
Jesus, each concluding with the
formula "When Jesus finished
these words" or one closely
similar (Mat 7:28; 11:1; 13:53;
19:1; 26:1). These are an
important structure of the gospel.
In every case the discourse is
preceded by a narrative section,
each narrative and discourse
together constituting a
"book" of the gospel.
The discourses are, respectively,
the "Sermon on the
Mount" (Mat 5:3-7:27), the
missionary discourse (Mat
10:5-42), the parable discourse
(Mat 13:3-52), the "church
order" discourse (Mat
18:3-35), and the eschatological
discourse (Mat 24:4-25:46). In
large measure the material of
these discourses came to Matthew
from his tradition, but his work
in modifying and adding to what he
had received is abundantly
evident. No other evangelist gives
the teaching of Jesus with such
elegance and order as he.
In the "Sermon on the
Mount" the theme of
righteousness is prominent, and
even at this early stage of the
ministry the note of opposition is
struck between Jesus and the
Pharisees, who are designated as
"the hypocrites" (Mat
6:2,5,16). The righteousness of
his disciples must surpass that of
the scribes and Pharisees;
otherwise, in spite of their
alleged following of Jesus, they
will not enter into the kingdom of
heaven (Mat 5:20). Righteousness
means doing the will of the
heavenly Father (Mat 7:21), and
his will is proclaimed in a manner
that is startling to all who have
identified it with the law of
Moses. The antitheses of the
Sermon (Mat 5:21-48) both accept
(Mat 5:21-30,43-48) and reject
(Mat 5:31-42) elements of that
law, and in the former case the
understanding of the law's demands
is deepened and extended. The
antitheses are the best commentary
on the meaning of Jesus' claim
that he has come not to abolish
but to fulfill the law (Mat 5:17).
What is meant by fulfillment of
the law is not the demand to keep
it exactly as it stood before the
coming of Jesus, but rather his
bringing the law to be a lasting
expression of the will of God, and
in that fulfillment there is much
that will pass away. Should this
appear contradictory to his saying
that "until heaven and earth
pass away" not even the
smallest part of the law will pass
(Mat 5:18), that time of
fulfillment is not the dissolution
of the universe but the coming of
the new age, which will occur with
Jesus' death and resurrection.
While righteousness in the new age
will continue to mean conduct that
is in accordance with the law, it
will be conduct in accordance with
the law as expounded and
interpreted by Jesus (cf Mat
28:20, ". . . all that I have
commanded you").
Though Jesus speaks harshly about
the Pharisees in the Sermon, his
judgment is not solely a
condemnation of them. The
Pharisees are portrayed as a
negative example for his
disciples, and his condemnation of
those who claim to belong to him
while disobeying his word is no
less severe (Mat 7:21-23,26-27).
In Mat 4:23 a summary statement of
Jesus' activity speaks not only of
his teaching and proclaiming the
gospel but of his "curing
every disease and illness among
the people"; this is repeated
almost verbatim in Mat 9:35. The
narrative section that follows the
Sermon on the Mount (Mat 8:1-9:38)
is composed principally of
accounts of those merciful deeds
of Jesus, but it is far from being
simply a collection of stories
about miraculous cures. The nature
of the community that Jesus will
establish is shown; it will always
be under the protection of him
whose power can deal with all
dangers (Mat 8:23-27), but it is
only for those who are prepared to
follow him at whatever cost (Mat
8:16-22), not only believing
Israelites but Gentiles who have
come to faith in him (Mat
8:10-12). The disciples begin to
have some insight, however
imperfect, into the mystery of
Jesus' person. They wonder about
him whom "the winds and the
sea obey" (Mat 8:27), and
they witness his bold declaration
of the forgiveness of the
paralytic's sins (Mat 9:2). That
episode of the narrative moves on
two levels. When the crowd sees
the cure that testifies to the
authority of Jesus, the Son of
Man, to forgive sins (Mat 9:6),
they glorify God "who had
given such authority to human
beings" (Mat 9:8). The
forgiveness of sins is now not the
prerogative of Jesus alone but of
"human beings," that is,
of the disciples who constitute
the community of Jesus, the
church. The ecclesial character of
this narrative section could
hardly be more plainly indicated.
The end of the section prepares
for the discourse on the church's
mission (Mat 10:5-42). Jesus is
moved to pity at the sight of the
crowds who are like sheep without
a shepherd (Mat 9:36), and he
sends out the twelve disciples to
make the proclamation with which
his own ministry began, "The
kingdom of heaven is at hand"
(Mat 10:7; cf Mat 4:17), and to
drive out demons and cure the sick
as he has done (Mat 10:1). Their
mission is limited to Israel (Mat
10:5-6) as Jesus' own was (Mat
15:24), yet in Mat 15:16 that
perspective broadens and the
discourse begins to speak of the
mission that the disciples will
have after the resurrection and of
the severe persecution that will
attend it (Mat 10:18). Again, the
discourse moves on two levels:
that of the time of Jesus and that
of the time of the church.
The narrative section of the third
book (Mat 11:2-12:50) deals with
the growing opposition to Jesus.
Hostility toward him has already
beenmanifested (Mat 8:10;
9:3,10-13,34), but here it becomes
more intense. The rejection of
Jesus comes, as before, from
Pharisees, who take "counsel
against him to put him to
death" (Mat 12:14) and repeat
their earlier accusation that he
drives out demons because he is in
league with demonic power (Mat
12:22-24). But they are not alone
in their rejection. Jesus
complains of the lack of faith of
"this generation" of
Israelites (Mat 11:16-19) and
reproaches the towns "where
most of his mighty deeds had been
done" for not heeding his
call to repentance (Mat 11:20-24).
This dark picture is relieved by
Jesus' praise of the Father who
has enabled "the
childlike" to accept him (Mat
11:25-27), but on the whole the
story is one of opposition to his
word and blindness to the meaning
of his deeds. The whole section
ends with his declaring that not
even the most intimate blood
relationship with him counts for
anything; his only true relatives
are those who do the will of his
heavenly Father (Mat 12:48-50).
The narrative of rejection leads
up to the parable discourse (Mat
13:3-52). The reason given for
Jesus' speaking to the crowds in
parables is that they have
hardened themselves against his
clear teaching, unlike the
disciples to whom knowledge of
"the mysteries of the kingdom
has been granted" (Mat
13:10-16). In Mat 13:36 he
dismisses the crowds and continues
the discourse to his disciples
alone, who claim, at the end, to
have understood all that he has
said (Mat 13:51). But, lest the
impression be given that the
church of Jesus is made up only of
true disciples, the explanation of
the parable of the weeds among the
wheat (Mat 13:37-43), as well as
the parable of the net thrown into
the sea "which collects fish
of every kind" (Mat
13:47-49), shows that it is
composed of both the righteous and
the wicked, and that separation
between the two will be made only
at the time of the final judgment.
In the narrative that constitutes
the first part of the fourth book
of the gospel (Mat 13:54-17:27),
Jesus is shown preparing for the
establishment of his church with
its teaching authority that will
supplant the blind guidance of the
Pharisees (Mat 15:13-14), whose
teaching, curiously said to be
that of the Sadducees also, is
repudiated by Jesus as the norm
for his disciples (Mat
16:6,11-12). The church of Jesus
will be built on Peter (Mat
16:18), who will be given
authority to bind and loose on
earth, an authority whose exercise
will be confirmed in heaven (Mat
16:19). The metaphor of binding
and loosing has a variety of
meanings, among them that of
giving authoritative teaching.
This promise is made to Peter
directly after he has confessed
Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son
of the living God (Mat 16:16), a
confession that he has made as the
result of revelation given to him
by the heavenly Father (Mat
16:17); Matthew's ecclesiology is
based on his high christology.
Directly after that confession
Jesus begins to instruct his
disciples about how he must go the
way of suffering and death (Mat
16:21). Peter, who has been
praised for his confession,
protests against this and receives
from Jesus the sharpest of rebukes
for attempting to deflect Jesus
from his God-appointed destiny.
The future rock upon whom the
church will be built is still a
man of "little faith"
(see Mat 14:31). Both he and the
other disciples must know not only
that Jesus will have to suffer and
die but that they too will have to
follow him on the way of the cross
if they are truly to be his
disciples (Mat 16:24-25).
The discourse following this
narrative (Mat 18:1-35) is often
called the "church
order" discourse, although
that title is perhaps misleading
since the emphasis is not on the
structure of the church but on the
care that the disciples must have
for one another in respect to
guarding each other's faith in
Jesus (Mat 18:6-7), to seeking out
those who have wandered from the
fold (Mat 18:10-14), and to
repeated forgiving of their fellow
disciples who have offended them
(Mat 18:21-35). But there is also
the obligation to correct the
sinful fellow Christian and,
should one refuse to be corrected,
separation from the community is
demanded (Mat 18:15-18).
The narrative of the fifth book
(Mat 19:1-23:39) begins with the
departure of Jesus and his
disciples from Galilee for
Jerusalem. In the course of their
journey Jesus for the third time
predicts the passion that awaits
him at Jerusalem and also his
resurrection (Mat 20:17-19). At
his entrance into the city he is
hailed as the Son of David by the
crowds accompanying him (Mat
21:9). He cleanses the temple (Mat
21:12-17), and in the few days of
his Jerusalem ministry he engages
in a series of controversies with
the Jewish religious leaders (Mat
21:23-27;
22:15-22,23-33,34-40,41-46),
meanwhile speaking parables
against them (Mat 21:28-32,33-46),
against all those Israelites who
have rejected God's invitation to
the messianic banquet (Mat
22:1-10), and against all, Jew and
Gentile, who have accepted but
have shown themselves unworthy of
it (Mat 22:11-14). Once again, the
perspective of the evangelist
includes not only the time of
Jesus' ministry but that of the
preaching of the gospel after his
resurrection. The narrative
culminates in Jesus' denunciation
of the scribes and Pharisees,
reflecting not only his own
opposition to them but that of
Matthew's church (Mat 23:1-36),
and in Jesus' lament over
Jerusalem (Mat 23:37-39).
In the discourse of the fifth book
(Mat 24:1-25:46), the last of the
great structural discoursesof the
gospel, Jesus predicts the
destruction of the temple and his
own final coming. The time of the
latter is unknown (Mat 24: 36,44),
and the disciples are exhorted in
various parables to live in
readiness for it, a readiness that
entails faithful attention to the
duties of the interim period (Mat
24:45-25:30). The coming of Jesus
will bring with it the great
judgment by which the everlasting
destiny of all will be determined
(Mat 25:31-46).
The story of Jesus' passion and
resurrection (Mat 26:1-28:20), the
climax of the gospel, throws light
on all that has preceded. In Mat
"righteousness" means
both the faithful response to the
will of God demanded of all to
whom that will is announced and
also the saving activity of God
for his people (see Mat 3:15; 5:6;
6:33). The passion supremely
exemplifies both meanings of that
central Matthean word. In Jesus'
absolute faithfulness to the
Father's will that he drink the
cup of suffering (Mat 26:39), the
incomparable model for Christian
obedience is given; in his death
"for the forgiveness of
sins" (Mat 26:28), the saving
power of God is manifested as
never before.
Matthew's portrayal of Jesus in
his passion combines both
themajestic serenity of the
obedient Son who goes his destined
way in fulfillment of the
scriptures (Mat 26:52-54),
confident of his ultimate
vindication by God, and the depths
of fear and abandonment that he
feels in face of death (Mat
26:38-39; 27:46). These two
aspects are expressed by an Old
Testament theme that occurs often
in the narrative, i.e., the
portrait of the suffering
Righteous One who complains to God
in his misery, but is certain of
eventual deliverance from his
terrible ordeal.
The passion-resurrection of God's
Son means nothing less than the
turn of the ages, a new stage of
history, the coming of the Son of
Man in his kingdom (Mat 28:18; cf
Mat 16:28). That is the sense of
the apocalyptic signs that
accompany Jesus' death (Mat
27:51-53) and resurrection (Mat
28:2). Although the old age
continues, as it will until the
manifestation of Jesus' triumph at
his parousia, the final age has
now begun. This is known only to
those who have seen the Risen One
and to those, both Jews and
Gentiles, who have believed in
their announcement of Jesus'
triumph and have themselves become
his disciples (cf Mat 28:19). To
them he is constantly, though
invisibly, present (Mat 28:20),
verifying the name Emmanuel,
"God is with us" (cf Mat
1:23).
The questions of authorship,
sources, and the time of
composition of this gospel have
received many answers, none of
which can claim more than a
greater or lesser degree of
probability. The one now favored
by the majority of scholars is the
following.
The ancient tradition that the
author was the disciple and
apostle of Jesus named Matthew
(see Mat 10:3) is untenable
because the gospel is based, in
large part, on the Gospel
according to Mark (almost all the
verses of that gospel have been
utilized in this), and it is
hardly likely that a companion of
Jesus would have followed so
extensively an account that came
from one who admittedly never had
such an association rather than
rely on his own memories. The
attribution of the gospel to the
disciple Matthew may have been due
to his having been responsible for
some of the traditions found in
it, but that is far from certain.
The unknown author, whom we shall
continue to call Matthew for the
sake of convenience, drew not only
upon the Gospel according to Mark
but upon a large body of material
(principally, sayings of Jesus)
not found in Mark that
corresponds, sometimes exactly, to
material found also in the Gospel
according to Luke. This material,
called "Q" (probably
from the first letter of the
German word Quelle, meaning
"source"), represents
traditions, written and oral, used
by both Matthew and Luke. Mark and
Q are sources common to the two
other synoptic gospels; hence the
name the "Two-Source
Theory" given to this
explanation of the relation among
the synoptics.
In addition to what Matthew drew
from Mar and Q, his gospel
contains material that is found
only there. This is often
designated "M," written
or oral tradition that was
available to the author. Since Mk
was written shortly before or
shortly after A.D. 70 (see
Introduction to Mk), Mt was
composed certainly after that
date, which marks the fall of
Jerusalem to the Romans at the
time of the First Jewish Revolt
(A.D. 66-70), and probably at
least a decade later since
Matthew's use of Mk presupposes a
wide diffusion of that gospel. The
post-A.D. 70 date is confirmed
within the text by Mat 22:7, which
refers to the destruction of
Jerusalem.
As for the place where the gospel
was composed, a plausible
suggestion is that it was Antioch,
the capital of the Roman province
of Syria. That large and important
city had a mixed population of
Greek-speaking Gentiles and Jews.
The tensions between Jewish and
Gentile Christians there in the
time of Paul (see Gal 2:1-14) in
respect to Christian obligation to
observe Mosaic law are partially
similar to tensions that can be
seen between the two groups in
Matthew's gospel. The church of
Matthew, originally strongly
Jewish Christian, had become one
in which Gentile Christians were
predominant. His gospel answers
the question how obedience to the
will of God is to be expressed by
those who live after the
"turn of the ages," the
death and resurrection of Jesus.
The principal divisions of the
Gospel according to Matthew are
the following:
I. The Infancy Narrative (Mat
1:1-2:23)
II. The Proclamation of the
Kingdom (Mat 3:1-7:29)
III. Ministry and Mission in
Galilee (Mat 8:1-11:1)
IV Opposition from Israel (Mat
11:2-13:53)
V. Jesus, the Kingdom, and the
Church (Mat 13:54-18:35)
VI. Ministry in Judea and
Jerusalem (Mat 19:1-25:46)
VII. The Passion and Resurrection
(Mat 26:1-28:20)
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