What makes Matthew special?

The Gospel According to Matthew is probably best known for what is known as the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5–7), which includes many familiar teachings of Jesus such as the Beatitudes, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Golden Rule. However, this particular Gospel is significant for a number of other reasons as well. For example:

1. Matthew has a distinct genealogy for Jesus (1:1–17; compare with Luke 3:23–38), which is tied directly to Matthew’s particular theology, and which emphasizes Jesus’s Jewish heritage and his intimate connection to the royal lineage of David

2. Matthew provides the most detailed description of Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness (4:1–11)

3. Matthew includes no less than nine parables not found anywhere else in the New Testament:

• The Weeds (13:24–30)
• The Hidden Treasure (13:44)
• The Pearl (13:45–46)
• The Dragnet (13:47–50)
• The Householder (Storekeeper) (13:52)
• The Unforgiving Servant (18:23–35)
• The Workers in the Vineyard (20:1–16)
• The Two Sons (21:28–31a)
• The Ten Virgins (25:1–12)

4. In Matthew, everything happens as a result of divine plan—the Gospel contains no less than ten “fulfillment citations” wherein Jesus is depicted as “fulfilling” prophecy, either in terms of prediction or in the sense of giving meaning to events that foreshadowed the coming of the Messiah (1:22; 2:5, 15, 17, 23; 8:17; 12:17; 13:35; 21:4; and 27:9. Cf., 3:15; 13:14; 26:54, 56.

Why was Matthew written?

As with the Gospel of Mark, the author of Matthew had the task of “explaining how Jesus could be the glorious and powerful messiah of the Jews when he was known to have experienced a public humiliation and ignominious death by crucifixion” (Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, 2nd ed. [Oxford University Press, 2000], 85). The author does this, in part, by turning to certain passages in the Hebrew Bible to demonstrate the numerous ways in which Jesus fit the profile of the Messiah that was to come. Of course, during the period in which Matthew’s story takes place, many of the passages the author relies on to make his case were not necessarily thought to reference the Messiah. Therefore, the Gospel of Matthew represents a wonderful example of the ways in which the early church imagined itself, took shape, and reinterpreted its inherited traditions.

The author of Matthew fits Jesus to the prophecies of the Hebrew Bible just as much as he simultaneously fits those prophecies to Jesus (see also the book of Hebrews). The primary way in which the author accomplishes this is by depicting Jesus as a “new Moses” or the “prophet like Moses” that was to come (see Deuteronomy 18:15–19). As such, Jesus is understood to be the “true and final interpreter” of the Law (see e.g., chps. 5—7; 9:14–17; 12:1–14; 15:1–20; 19:3–12; 16–22; 22:23–33, 34–40, 41–46; and ch. 23). He fulfills and follows the Law perfectly and expects his disciples to do likewise. This is not to say that Jesus replaces Moses; but rather, believers follow Moses by following Jesus. Throughout his Gospel, Matthew works diligently to emphasize Jesus’s Jewish heritage, the apocalyptic nature of his message, and the antagonism between him and those who opposed and ultimately rejected him.

What’s the story behind the scene?

The author of Matthew is unknown to us. Although church tradition has, for centuries, identified him as the tax collector mentioned in 9:9, there is no strong evidence to support such a claim. It seems evident, however, that the author himself was Greek and that he wrote for a Greek-speaking community and thus one located somewhere outside of Palestine. The author drew heavily upon the Gospel of Mark as a source in the composition of his Gospel, but he modified and expanded a number of the stories, and it appears that he used at least one additional source as well. Most scholars date the Gospel of Matthew sometime during the last 10 to 20 years of the first century, though a few place it as late as the early part of the second century.

How is Matthew constructed?

There are a number of ways that one might outline the Gospel of Matthew. The following focuses specifically on Matthew’s story of Jesus. It is taken from Frank J. Matera, New Testament Christology (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1999), 28.

• The appearance of Israel’s Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of God (1:1—4:16)
• The Messiah’s ministry of teaching, preaching, and healing to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (4:17—11:1)
• Israel’s opposition to the Messiah’s ministry and the establishment of a new community (11:2—16:20)
• The destiny of the Messiah to suffer, die, and rise from the dead in order to complete his mission (16:21—20:34)
• The final rejection, death, and vindication of the Messiah, and the Messiah’s commission to his disciples to teach to all nations (21:1—28:20)

An important feature of Matthew’s narrative is the emphasis placed on Jesus’s teaching. This characteristic is demonstrated structurally by means of five teaching blocks (compare this with the Torah or Law, which is often referred to as the “Five Books of Moses”):

• Chapters 5–7, the Sermon on the Mount
• Chapter 10, teachings on the work of missions
• Chapter 13, parables on the kingdom of God
• Chapter 18, teachings on discipleship
• Chapters 24–25, the Mount of Olives discourse on the end of the age