The Gospel Of Matthew, The Infancy Narrative

The foundation of the Christian faith is cradled within truth of the virgin birth, life, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As diverse as the world-wide Christian culture is, the truth in the birth and life of Jesus stands without border and language limitations. Just as each individual life story can be adapted to be relevant for a variety of audiences, the birth story of the Messiah was also. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke are an example of the well-rounded and diverse narration of the birth story of Jesus—Matthew’s narration spoke to the history of the Jewish people and Luke presented to the citizen of Rome.

It is possible to write on the life of Jesus from the information gathered from the bible. I will be dividing my essay into three parts. In the first part of the paper, I will talk about the nature of the gospels, John’s views vs. the Synoptic, discuss if the authors of the gospels are eyewitnesses and how they used written sources. Also I will talk about the Q source. Then I will elaborate on the topic of how Matthew and Luke were similar. Then I will continue on by discussing how the Old Testament uses Moses, Samuel and Elijah to interpret Jesus, and finally whether or not the Sermon on the Mount happened. In the second part of my paper, I will talk about Jesus’s birth and childhood, his miracles, his resurrection, and what Jesus did to cure people, spirits and how they are interpreted to the prophet, magician and the mad man compared to Saul and Elijah. The final part of the paper I will talk about what Jesus talked about as regards to the Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdom of the Romans and what he intended by speaking of the end of the world. I will also speak of the reasons behind the Romans executing him. My sources for this paper will be the New Jerusalem Bible Readers edition as my primary source and lecture notes from Professor Trumbach.

It can be argued that the similarities and differences of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke can cause the reader to either see both of these accounts to complement one another with their different perspectives or that they contradict one another by certain events being mentioned in one birth narrative but not the other. Different aspects of both of these birth narratives such as the way Matthew and Luke treat Mary, the extent to which they use the Old Testament and the audience to whom they are writing to reveals the authors’ agenda as they allow their culture and own personal beliefs to influence what they write. These factors could be argued to have an effect on the historical authenticity of these texts as it could be possible that they could have caused the authors to twist the truth to fit in with their own beliefs.

     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

The two books of the Bible, Matthew and Mark are alike in many ways, they do tell some of the same stories. On the other hand, if one takes a closer look there are small changes to the stories that bring a whole new meaning to the way that the story is told. I will focus on the stories of Jesus walking on water and the transfiguration of Jesus. In this paper, I will review the changes that Matthew made to the Gospel according to Mark. I will also explain the reasons why he may have made those changes and to what purpose those changes served.

Scholars believe that it is unlikely that Matthew/Levi is the true author of the Gospel of Matthew (Harris,2014). This is due to the premise that the Gospel of Mark was used as a source for much of the book of Matthew. The scholars consider Matthew as an extended edition of the book of Mark. The book shows separation between Jews and believers in Jesus. This leads scholars to believe that this book was written in Syria during the 80s,decades after the destruction of Jerusalem. This region contains a large community of Jews and Christian-Jews during this time frame.

In the Infancy Gospel of Thomas Jesus is a young boy who is angry. He does not honor the Sabbath day by making sparrows and collecting water. Jesus is quick to harm other children who challenge him. In the story it says Jesus was illiterate as a young boy and that his father Joseph sent him to a teacher to learn the languages but Jesus was stubborn and would not cooperate. Jesus challenged his teacher and he became unconscious. Jesus was not allowed to play outside anymore because when children annoyed him they could die. Joseph sent for another teacher and after time with him Jesus was preaching the Holy Gospel and had a wide vocabulary and started to heal people and be helpful.

Controversial and “embellished”, the Infancy Gospels of James, otherwise known as the Protoevangelium of James, has an extensive history in the archaeological sources of early canonical Christian writings; yet, the precise date when it was first transcribed is unknown. However, scholars know of two other ancient manuscripts that seem to refer to the Protoevangelium of James. Origen and Clement of Alexandria both wrote in their personal commentaries on the synoptic gospels, of aspects and storylines found in the Infancy Gospel. From this, one can reason that the Gospel would have to be written some time before the two writers’ deaths. Origen died in 254 AD, while Clement of Alexandria died in 215 AD. So the death of Clement of Alexandria and his explicit references to the Infancy Gospel has helped scholars determine that the original document must have been written by 215 AD at the latest. Otherwise, the Infancy Gospel of James would have to have been written at just before Origen and Clement of Alexandria had been born since there is no other evidence of scholars or theologians writing about the Gospel prior to the aforementioned writings.

The Infancy Gospel of James, otherwise known as the Protoevangelium Gospel of James, begins by introducing part of Mary’s lineage. It informs the reader of Joachim and Anna, Mary’s parents. Joachim is known to be a very rich and generous man with his money, but is prevented from offering gifts to Israel because he has yet to produce offspring for Israel. Joachim decides that he will go into the desert and fast and pray in the effort to receive a message from God about offspring. He is recorded as saying that he “shall not go down either for food or for drink until the Lord my God visits me.” In the fourth chapter, the angel of the Lord who informs her that she will conceive a child who will be known throughout the world visits Anna. Near that time, the angel of the Lord who delivers the same good news also visits Joachim. Mary is born to them nine months later.

Matt 1:1-2:23. Predominantly, the Gospel of Matthew 1 traces the lineage of Jesus the Messiah, the son David and the son of Abraham. These genealogies were important to Israel, as they took meticulous records for identifying one as a Jew to receive blessings from God, his chosen people. Furthermore, each tribe received inherited land in Israel, and required evidence that he was descended from that precise tribe. Expressly, if you were a Jew descended from Moses and could prove this connection, it was considered to secure a meaningful blessing. Matthew’s sole purpose is to present Jesus Christ as the Savior of Israel. Additionally, he recited numerous prophecies from the Old Testament, incorporating how Jesus fulfilled them

The Gospel of Matthew was written around the year 90 AD by Saint Matthew. It is one of four gospels that has been accepted into the Christian Bible. This gospel is written from the Jesus’s sayings and teachings while showing the similarities between Jewish law and Jesus’s teachings. Jesus first preaches to his people that the poor, mourning, meek, hungry, merciful, pure, and peacemakers shall see god and inherit the kingdom of heaven. God came to not destroy but fulfil, whoever breaks the commandments will be called last to the kingdom of heaven, while the ones uphold the commandments and teaches them will be called into the kingdom of god. The Ten Commandments tell the followers of god you shall not worship other gods, you shall not make

Matthew never stopped seeing Jesus as part of the Jewish culture and he never abandon completely those traditions and for that reason he always mention the law, the prophets and everything related to that culture such as holidays, rituals, etc. although he saw Jesus as the Messiah. The first two chapters of this book are dedicated on fitting the prophecies of the OT in Jesus Messiahship. The author manifested broad knowledge about the law and the Jewish traditions and for that reason it is said that he was a rabbi or a trained scribe converted to Christianity. The date of composition is closely related to the book of Mark, which was written about A.D. 65.

The beginning of the book of “The Gospel According to Matthew”, describes the first early stages of Jesus and his ancestry’s. Jesus is the child of Mary and the Holy Spirit. Jesus was born with a mission. The mission of baby Jesus as he grew older was to save his people from their sins. Once he was born, King Herod had heard a rumor that baby Jesus would be the king of the Jewish people. Baby Jesus’s existence frightened King Herod. As Jesus grew older the more enemies he accumulated and there were more people that were frightened by his power. Many readers believe that the more powerful Jesus was, the more arrogant he was. However, there is a possibility that Jesus was compassionate and humble towards his people. There are many artists that show how Jesus is compassionate and humble, and there are other artists that

The book of Matthew gospel is the first book of the New Testament. The theme in Matthew speaks about The Kingdom of Heaven. The phrase "The Kingdom of Heaven" occurred numerous times being spoken by Jesus. The Gospel Writer Matthew wrote to a Jewish audience expounding upon the fact Jesus was the Messiah.

The book of Matthew, one of the synoptic Gospels found in the New Testament, is distinctive in its many features that are not found anywhere else in the Bible. While each synoptic Gospel endeavoured to retell the life, messages, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, all three of them had a different intention and audience in mind when writing their books. With this in mind, the book of Matthew features a distinctive structure, an emphasis on the Kingdom of Heaven, and a prominent focus on the the apostle Peter. The book of Matthew is also highlighted for the titles which the author ascribes to Jesus such as Immanuel, Son of David, and a New Moses. This essay will employ the use of the Scriptures and academic research to prove and explore