Matthew's Gospel

He is known as the tax collector who turned disciple who writes to Jewish believers to emphasize the legitimacy of Jesus as the long awaited Jewish Messiah. According to Hindson and Elmer Matthew provides some of Jesus most prominent sermons, parables, and miracles, plus a record of important messages. He provides an eyewitness account of such significant events as the transfiguration, the triumph entry, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. He explains the character and nature of the ministry of John the Baptist as the last of the prophets. Matthew originally crafted the Gospel for a group of Christians who were already familiar with the Old Testament. Both church tradition (external evidence) and the contents of the Gospel itself (internal evidence) suggest that this Gospel was originally written for Jewish Christians who were given the responsibility to share its message with the world (Hindson and Elmer pg. 350). Matthew also gives special attention to the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish leaders. He exposes the religious blindness of his fellow countrymen, and he demonstrates Jesus superior understanding of the person of God, the intent of the law, and the proper application of biblical

The issue between the Gospel of Matthew and Judaism is a convoluted one. The picture that emerges when talking about whether Jesus’s teaching is anti-Semitic or not becomes ambivalent and it is not easy to interpret, as Coogan has pointed out, “Matthew functions as a bridge between the two Testaments . . .”(Coogan, 1746). In the context of Jewish-Christian dialogue, the fundamental question is how much of Judaism’s principles and practices ascribed to Jesus are preserved from traditional Judaism? As much as Matthew’s Gospel has been considered to be an extremely anti-Semitic, especially in the Christian realm, there remains substantial evidence indicating how Jesus, as presented by Matthew, had preserved the quintessence of Judaism.

Matthew is the first of four gospels in the New Testament. Matthew presents his story of Jesus, the demands of Christian discipline, and shares the news of the death and resurrection of Jesus. There are many questions in Matthew that can not be answered.The book of Matthew is a gospel that contains narrative history, genealogy, parables, sermons, and some prophetic oracles. The gospel of Matthew was originally written for a Jewish audience by a Jewish perspective. This is why Matthew is often referred to as "The Gospel for the Jews". Although Matthew was written for Jews, it does not include very much of the Jewish culture and tradition. Throughout the entire gospel of Matthew, it is very clear that the entire book is mainly incorporated with Jews. The book of Matthew ties in with the Old Testament several times, such as when they refer to Jesus as Messiah or King. The key word used in Matthew is "kingdom" and it is used 28 times. The reason Matthew was written was to reveal that Jesus was the messiah, the long of the Jews, and to conceive the Jews that Jesus Christ was indeed their long awaited messiah. The author of Matthew

The Jewish people were expecting a Messiah in the form of a military leader that would overthrow the Roman empire and restore the house of David. The Jewish people would not have envisioned Christ the servant of all (Mk 35:9 RSV). A leader who in humanity was humility to all He severed. The political aspiration of the Jewish people is given spiritual fulfillment when Christ ascensions into His heavenly kingdom.

In this paper, there will be research on the Gospel of Matthew from Daniel Harrington’s commentary “The Gospel of Matthew”, This paper will explain the teachings of the “6 Antithesis” in chapter 5 verses 21-48, and the main point on “Jesus came not to abolish but to “fulfill” the Law and Prophets (Harrington 90).” This paper will also have Daniel Harrington interpretations of the writing of the gospel of Matthew. I believe that Jesus had a reason for his teachings and how he went forward to preach them to the congregation.

While numerous scholars say that John is the Gospel to the world (and Matthew to the Jews, Mark to the Romans, and Luke to the Greeks), a Jewish scholar such as Israel Abrahams might very well believe that the Gospel of John is the most Jewish Gospel of the four by the way it reflects Jewish traditions and symbolisms. According to David Wenham[i], there is more attention given to Jesus as the Messiah in the Gospel of John than in any of other Gospels. In John, from chapter one onwards people are directly talking about Jesus as Messiah, and then there is intense public debate about whether Jesus is Messiah or not in John 7:25-31, 41-44[ii], which indicates that John is quite mindful of Jewish issues.

In Matthew 1-2, the infant stories are used to prepare the ground for the theme of Jesus; the new and perfect Moses, the great teacher and interpreter of God’s ways. A parallel can be drawn between the experiences of the infant Jesus and the experience of Moses. This can be seen in Matthew 2:16-18, where the slaying of innocent male Hebrew children occurred around the time of the birth of Jesus, and in Exodus 1:15-22, where Hebrew children were also murdered at the time of Moses’ birth. Just as Moses came out of Egypt, leading the people of God, so does Jesus. Following the infancy stories, the rest of Matthew’s Gospel is structured around five long discourses where Jesus teaches. On each occasion, the evangelist indicates that a great teacher has been at work (Maloney, 1988, p. 133-34).

In the Gospel of Matthew, the infancy narrative contributes a large sum of background information of Jesus that contributes to the development of Matthew’s Christology. In order to analyze how Matthew develops the Christology, we have to cut the infancy narrative into sections. This paper will discuss background information of the writing of this Gospel, literary elements of Jesus’ miraculous conception that reinforce his Jewishness, how Magi and literary devices help to understand Matthew’s Christology, what important biblical hero the infancy narrative parallels, and what foreshadowing is caused from this infancy narrative. Comparatively, the use of divine intervention in dreams to fulfill prophecy has been a key focus of the infancy narrative in order to create an unusual birth narrative and develop the unique Christology that Matthew envisioned specifically for the Jewish Messiah.

     Who is this man Jesus? Where was he from? What did he do for others and us? A great source of reference to answer this question would be someone who had direct contact with him in everyday life. Someone who saw the daily wonders he created would be the best source for information. Matthew, the apostle, is believed to have written the gospel of Matthew. He was able to experience firsthand all of the amazing miracles that Jesus performed. God inspired his words, and his gospel relates to the other three gospels in overall context. They were written in different formats and styles, but the overall message and story remains constant throughout all four gospels. This creates a strong

Matthew records Jesus entering into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, to cries of 'Hosanna to the Son of David', in direct animated fulfilment of Zechariah's prophecy regarding the King of Zion, who will establish peace and whose kingdom will extend to the ends of the earth (Zechariah 9:9-10).

The Gospel according to Matthew is the first book in the New Testament, and also serves as a bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The gospel tells us of Jesus and his teachings. It is believed that the Gospel originated with Matthew, one of Jesus' disciples, and it circulated anonymously (Harris 149). The message in this gospel was compiled to minister to a Jewish and Jewish-Christian community when tensions between early Christians and postwar Jewish leaders aggravated bitter controversy. The Gospel of Matthew was written as an encouragement to the Greek-speaking Jewish Christians and Gentiles who were, at least partly, Torah observant during the 80s C.E. probably at Antioch in Syria

The early beginnings of the Common Era displayed several Jewish expectations of the Messiah that were complex. As compiled in the Dr. Peter Flint, some was expecting the return of Elijah (Mal 4:5-6, Mark 6:15), or even Moses (Deut 18:15-19, John 1:21) and many expected the Messiah to be a descendent of King David, one that would arrive in Bethlehem . Apart from the background of messianic expectations seen in modern Bibles, several sectarian scrolls shed light on such expectations. Four select texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls in Cave 4 helps shed some light into this area of messianic expectations and will aid help answering this question on who was the Messiah.

The Gospel According to Matthew is the first book of the New Testament in the Bible, and is a Gospel narrative. The narratives provided by the Gospels in the New Testament are here to provide us with descriptions of the life, death, and resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ, as well as to share His teachings. Like any other narrative, it is important to understand the historical and literary contexts surrounding the Gospel of Matthew, as well as the importance and significance of Matthew itself. As a Gospel, Matthew is here to present us with the narrative of Jesus Christ as our Messiah, as promised in the Old Testament Prophesy. While it is important to evaluate the extensive context surrounding the narrative of Matthew, the meaning behind the narrative can be found through relating it to the various events that are described in the other Gospels. By comparing the Gospels, it is easy to evaluate the underlying meaning and significance, within the context of the Gospels. Because the Gospels were written as narratives to provide us with information on the life and death of Jesus Christ, and all that happened in between, it is important to compare the different accounts described in the Gospels whenever possible. In doing so, it is possible to examine the Gospels within the appropriate context. With 4 Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), it is important to compare them with one another in order to further evaluate the importance of Jesus Christ, as he is the

In previous chapters, the real identity of Jesus is unknown- the crowds wonder if he is the Son of David (Matt 12:23), the disciples previously said that he was “the Son of God (Matt 8:29, 14:33) and Jesus himself identifies himself as “the Son of Man” (Matt 10: 23; 2:8; 12:40) and even likening himself to a Prophet (Matt 13:57).

The Book of Matthew, he said, is the most complete account of Jesus’ life on earth, and of His message to the world. The professor says that Gospel of Matthew was written for the conversion of the Jews. He further stated that the writer of this book was obviously interested in the establishment and maintenance of the Church, and the coming of Christ. Hence, the presenter was quite adamant about his