Guide to Matthew

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The Gospel of Matthew (also, the Gospel of St. Matthew) is one of the 4 Gospels ^[1] in the New Testament. Like Mark and Luke, Matthew is a synoptic Gospel, meaning it shares much of the same material (in many places, word for word) of the other two. John is the "odd man out", and appears to be of independent sources.

[edit] Authorship and dating

Matthew was written anonymously in about 70 to 100 CE, evidently by a Jewish Christian. Obviously borrowing heavily from Mark, the author of Matthew often explicitly indicates a prophecy fulfillment where the Old Testament passage was merely alluded to in the parent work.

Per church tradition the author was Matthew the Apostle, although there is no evidence to support this attribution.

[edit] Contents of Matthew

The Gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy of Jesus as traced from David through Joseph, and a section discussing John the Baptist. It then moves to a brief telling of Jesus' birth and his baptism by John the Baptist. Quickly the narrative moves to Jesus' time in the trenches challenging Satan, his collection of disciples, and the teachings he passes onto the Jews. Matthew 5 begins the Beatitudes, perhaps the most significant of Jesus' teachings and sayings. Matthew 18 and 19 list out many of the formal moral guidelines Jesus wishes people to live by. Matthew 20-25 are full of rich and vague parables, worthy of study for anyone wanting to understand both Jesus, and his followers. And of course the Passion, where Jesus is tried and killed. When Jesus is resurrected, it is the two Mary's who encounter him first.

Matthew, like most of the Bible, is often contradictory. "Whosoever shall say Thou fool, shall be in danger of hellfire.” (Matt. 5:22) but then later it quotes Jesus as saying, "Ye fools are blind." (Matt. 23:17). Of course, Jesus went to Hell for a stay, maybe that was why.

[edit] Theology of Matthew

The writer of Matthew represents a church with strong Jewish connections. Matthew grounds his gospel in the Old Testament as often as possible, including the flight into Egypt and the exodus of the infant Jesus from Egypt, making literary allusions to Moses. Matthew's use of language and ordering in the Passion reinforces that this is a Jewish text. The romans are the "bad guys", the Jews merely onlookers and sympathetic characters. Emphasis is on salvation through knowledge of Jesus, not through personal heritage or family religion, and unique to Matthew, Jesus here discusses the Kingdom of Heaven, and not the Kingdom of God.

[edit] Unique in Matthew

Matthew is the only narrative to include the flight of Mary and Joseph into Egypt. (Mt 2:14) Matthew included this passage in order to create the appearance of a fulfilled prophecy of Jesus returning from Egypt in Matthew 2:15.