Journey with Jesus: Introduction to a Study of Matthew

I would like to start a study on the book of Matthew. Over the next month, I will post thoughts and research on this book with the hope that this type of in depth study will enrich your spiritual life. I will basically be sharing with you what I feel God is teaching me in my daily Scripture study, therefore I will most likely post one chapter a day (or spread a chapter over two days). In this culture of immediate gratification, I have no plans of dumbing this study down. There is an aspect to the study of Scripture that is hard work. However, it is so life-giving.

I would like to start with a rather technical overview of the Gospel of Matthew. Starting tomorrow, I begin working through the book of Matthew, one chapter at a time. Some of my thoughts will be technical, historical, and theological. Other thoughts will be devotional and more practical. I believe we have GREATLY watered down the faith today. Many Christians would readily agree with this statement. However, I would suggest that the areas where we have watered down the faith have nothing to do with what movies we see, what songs we listen to, whether or not we are patriotic, whether or not we have a tattoo, or what fluid we put in our bodies. Instead, I believe we have watered down the faith by ignoring the Word. We have lost the practice of deep Bible study, the discussion of Scripture around the dinner table, the practice of the presence of the Lord, the discipline of Scripture memory, and the allowance of freedom in Christ within moderation just as Scripture teaches. Instead, we have traded in these practices for a cheap set of man’s rules and traditions. We swing back and forth between license and legalism. In fact, we have done exactly what the Pharisees had done in Jesus’ day. I would like to call us to deep and thoughtful Bible study. Journey with me through the life of Jesus. Take this journey with your children, with your spouse, or by yourself if you are alone. Send me your thoughts, comments, questions, and your feedback. I love deep discussions, so let’s do it.

Matthew was written - A.D. 55-70.

Matthew is mentioned by Ignatius of Antioch around A.D. 110, placing its writing before this period. Matthew was most likely written somewhere between A.D. 55 and A.D. 70. Critical scholars date it after A.D. 70 basing their judgments on the assumption that Jesus could not have predicted the future destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. However, we believe that Jesus certainly did predict the destruction of Jerusalem and so the book was written before this time. Matthew most likely wrote the book between A.D. 55-70 from Antioch in Syria, with the destruction of Israel in view to a community of Greek speaking Jewish Christians, perhaps in Antioch of Syria. The community is surrounded by Jews hostile to the Christian faith.


What is Matthew trying to accomplish?

1. Evangelism.
*The gospel of the kingdom is proclaimed.

2. Apologetics (defense of the facts of the Gospel).
*The book is thoroughly Jewish in nature. It is written as a Jew for the Jews. It is saturated with Old Testament prophecies and quotations as no other Gospel account. Matthew contains over 50 OT prophecies and/or allusions to the Old Testament. Simply put, Matthew wrote the book to prove to the Jewish establishment and people that Jesus was the Son of God, the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises of a Messiah. I imagine Matthew writing this book, as an older man, recalling through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the facts of Jesus’ life and ministry. It is also interesting to note that Matthew is not mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles and did not seem to be a major player in the early church (by human accounts). However, he quietly wrote one of the most monumental pieces of literature, a witness to the life of Christ. He was a tax collector, among the most hated in culture, and Jesus rescued him from this life. Jesus hung out with sinners. Jesus even broke bread with sinners. Jesus says to Matthew and he says to us, “it’s time to stop watching…it’s time to get in the game…follow me.” You may feel insignificant in the scope of history, but God has a great plan and purpose for your life. What is God calling you to?

a. Revelation.

In Jesus of Nazareth, the Old Testament reaches its appointed goal! At the very outset of Matthew, Jesus is identified as the Messiah, who is “God with Us” as the one who “saves his people from their sins.” (1:21)

*He is revealed as the Son of Man of Daniel 7 (Matt. 8:17).
*He is revealed as the Suffering Servant of Is. 53 (Matt. 26:64).
*Throughout Matthew, Jesus’ actions are expressly represented as fulfillments of OT prophecies.

b. Rejection.

Many of the Jews have rejected Jesus as their Messiah and placed themselves in the most perilous of positions as rejecters of grace. A major reason for their rejection is due to the poor leadership of the Pharisees. A few points about the Pharisees:

1. They have not prepared the people for Jesus’ coming by rightly teaching them the OT—instead they have replaced that teaching with their own traditions (15:1-9, Clean and Unclean). What traditions of man are you holding onto? If Christ were to come today, what traditions of man would he break to show us that it isn’t about following a set of rules, but it is about His finished work? How many modern day Christians would have a problem with Jesus turning water in wine, for instance. Would we be like the Pharisees and condemning Jesus because he isn’t following our man-made sets of rules? Having not lived in the first century, we cannot imagine how “sac-religious” it was for Jesus to break the traditions of the Pharisees and the people. Many evangelical Christians are legalists. Usually, these people are legalistic as it pertains to an issue of little value to themselves, but are liberal when it pertains to their own pet hobbies. More on this later.

2. They have not provided good examples. (Matthew 23, the Woes).

3. They have sought to turn the people against Jesus and are the ones chiefly responsible for condemning him to death.


c. Summons.

Let the Jews of Matthew’s day recognize that they, their capital and their culture, stand under judgment (23:33-39) and let them repent before it is too late. The Pharisees and the people are to repent for not recognizing Jesus as the Messiah. Most people today believe in a creative God, or at least in intelligent design. There are also those who do not believe in a creative God at all…but most people would at least say they believe in God. However, most people have a problem when confronted with Jesus of Nazareth. Who was he? Was he just another great prophet like Elijah? A great leader like Moses? Or was he the son of God, was he…God in the flesh…the God-Man…God himself? The other day we had dinner with friends from church. We were talking about one of their unsaved friends. They continually invite this young man to church but he won’t come because he “doesn’t believe.” My friends told him, “don’t worry...just pretend you believe and you will fit right in.” This was said tongue in cheek, but I am afraid that most people struggle in their belief, especially when confronted with the dangerous Jesus of Scripture.

3. Catechesis.

He writes as a Jew for Jews, but also writes as a Christian for Christians. He presents Jesus as the new Moses, indeed Yahweh Incarnate, expounding his law for his people (5-7, Sermon on the Mount), now newly constituted around his person under the leadership of Peter and the other apostles. It is vital that the new Christian church follow the moral, spiritual and practical teachings of Jesus to function properly.

The Gospel of John Mark is probably the earliest of the Gospels with Matthew employing Mark as one of his sources (which is why we have word for word similarities between the two and Luke as well). However, it is also possible that the Holy Spirit simply chose to separately reveal the Word of God to each of the authors with the end result being word for word copies of one another. Either position is acceptable in evangelical circles. The former being more of a slippery slope.

The “Q” tradition stands for Quelle (German word for “source”) which is the oral and written (lost) sources. The Gospel story was passed down orally perhaps from a lost source (Q), which was probably recorded by Mark. This is why Mark reads more like a newspaper than the other Gospels.

MAJOR THEMES OF MATTHEW

1. Jesus is the Son of God. He is God with us (1:23).

2. Ushering in the Kingdom of God. In Jesus, God is invading history to inaugurate his Final Rule (4:23, 12:28), a Rule that will one day surely be consummated (6:10) by Jesus’ glorious return and the Final Judgment (16:27; 24:26-25:46).

3. The salvation of God. Jesus cares for the material and physical needs of the people. Yet Jesus’ chief concern is man’s relationship with God. His principle mission is to save people from their sins (1:21), not only from their poverty or hunger (4:2-4; 5:3-10; 25:31-46). He achieves this saving purpose through the atonement (20:28; 26:28). Then, Jesus’ mission is to save people from their sins, thus giving them a right relationship with God. Thus, he is the second, perfect Adam, the perfect law giver, the perfect second Moses.

4. Jesus has come to bring together the people of God. Jesus has come to reconstitute God’s covenant-people around his own Person, and to establish his church (16:18), the redeemed community of the Last Days consisting of both Jews and Gentiles. He concentrates upon the “lost sheep of Israel” (10:6). But he “gives his life as a ransom for many” (20:28)—for Gentiles as well as Jews. Once the redemption is accomplished in his death, it is ready to be announced to all the nations of the world. (28:18-20).

From the earliest tradition it is thought that Matthew wrote the book. Early church father, Papias, bishop from 130-135, affirmed Matthean authorship. Matthean authorship is really not in doubt.

Matthew uses the name “Matthew” as opposed to Levi. Matthew says, “in the house” in Matt. 9:10 to describe his own house.

The writer is obviously well-educated and extremely organized, just like many accountants we know and love. One of the most organized and professional people I know is our Business Manager, Scott Winchester. People like Scott think differently than the general public. I envision Matthew thinking the way Scott thinks. He took his time and “got it right.” The book is brilliantly organized in narratives (telling the story of Jesus’ life and work) and discourses (sermons/exhortations/devotions/words of Jesus). There are five “great” discourses, with narratives in between. The writer refers to Matthew as the tax collector (none of the other gospels do this)—perhaps to suggest the life Jesus called him out of. What life has Jesus called you out of today?

Challenge: read the entire book of Matthew (this takes the average person 2-4 hours), identifying the narratives and discourses. Name the discourses (parables, woes, etc) and memorize their location (chapter 13, 23, etc). Tomorrow, we will look at chapter one of this great book. I am so thankful for the Gospel of Matthew. I am so glad that God in his great goodness and graciousness has given us a record of the life of Christ.