Introducing Matthew’s Gospel

Introduction

In two weeks we will begin a sermon series through Matthew’s Gospel. Below you will find crucial information about the Gospel as well as a two week long reading plan through the Gospel and some supporting texts. Use this introduction to the Gospel and reading plan to help you prepare your heart and mind for the sermon series, and also use it as a reference point for your own studies.

About Matthew’s Gospel

Summary: Matthew’s Gospel selectively recounts the life and ministry of Jesus, highlighting His teaching and miracles, and it aims to prove that He is the Messiah of the Old Testament.

Purpose: Matthew is a Jew writing to a Jewish audience to convince them that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah–the King of the Jews. The Gospel was also likely used as a primer for early Church evangelists. This purpose is accented by the fact that Matthew’s Gospel has teaching sections aimed toward equipping teachers/evangelists (10) and ends with the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20).

Author: The author of this Gospel is Matthew or Levi, the disciple of Jesus who was a tax collector. The authorship of the Gospel is unanimously Matthew according to the earliest Church fathers.

Date: According to the early Church Fathers Matthew was likely written in the late 50s AD to the early 60s before the fall of the temple and Jerusalem in 70AD. Making Jesus (Olivet Discourse: chapters 24-25) and the Gospel itself prophetic to that then future event.

Audience: Matthew is writing to a primarily Jewish audience to convince them that Jesus is the Messiah of the Old Testament. Thus, he constantly tries to show how Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy (which is the reason he quotes from the OT so much) and show that He is a greater Israel, Moses, and David.

Structure: Matthew’s Gospel is broken into six narrative sections and five discourse sections that alternate one after the other. The discourses form a chiasm (literary form in a ABCBA structure), with the parables of the Kingdom (13) at the center and the longest discourses forming the brackets (Sermon on the Mount and Olivet Discourse).

Narrative: 1-4, 8-9, 11-12, 14-17, 19-22, 26-28.

Discourse: 5-7, 10, 13, 18, 23-25.

Themes in Matthew’s Gospel 

Key Themes: There are several major themes in the Gospel of Matthew. The major themes include the Kingdom of God, the Messiah, the Gospel of the Kingdom, and Moses and David being types of Christ (think of types as characters or systems in the OT that point to and find fulfillment in the NT. For instance the sacrificial system is a type of Christ in the OT that points forward to Jesus’s final sacrifice on the cross).

Jesus as the Greater Moses in Matthew: One of the key features of the Gospel of Matthew are parallels Matthew makes between Jesus and Moses, which he does specifically to show his Jewish audience that Jesus is indeed the fulfillment of the Old Testament. There are many similarities between Moses and Jesus that Matthew displays here, as he paints Moses as a type of Christ, revealing that Jesus is the greater Moses. These connections include:

·      Moses and Jesus both fled their birthplace (Exodus 2:11-15 and Matthew 2:13-15).

·      Both Herod and Pharaoh issued orders to kill all babies at the time of Christ and Moses’ birth (Exodus 1:22 and Matthew 2:16-18).

·      Moses and Jesus both grew up in Egypt for a time (Exodus 2:1-10 and Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23).

·      The Passover was instituted during Moses time as leader, while Jesus instituted the Lord’s super at Passover (Exodus 12:1-28 and Matthew 26:17-30).

·      Moses and the Hebrews escape from bondage through the waters of the Red Sea while Jesus institutes Baptism as a symbol of salvation from the bondage of sin (Exodus 14 and Matthew 3:13-17).

·      Moses and the people of Israel wander in the desert for forty years due to their disobedience, while Jesus is tempted in the desert for forty days and remains obedient (Matthew 4:1-11).

·      Moses goes up (Exodus 19:3) on Mount Saini to receive the Law from God, while Jesus goes up (Matthew 5:1-2) on mount Tabor to say that He is the fulfilment of the Law and to expand the Law making it not only an issue of action but of the heart (Matthew 5:17-28).

·      Moses leads the people to the edge of the promised land, while Jesus makes a way by His death to enter into the final promised land, Heaven (Hebrews 4).

·      Matthew contains five major sections of Jesus’ teachings (Matthew 5-7, 10, 13, 18, 23-25) and the Old Testament contains the five books of Moses the Torah (the Law); Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

·      Moses’ grave and body cannot be found (Deuteronomy 34:5-6) and Jesus’ tomb is empty as He walked out from it alive (Matthew 28:1-8).

·      Moses led the people of Israel out of the bondage of slavery, which is called the Exodus. Jesus has led all who believe in Him on an Exodus from slavery and bondage to sin (Romans 6:5).

As you can see Matthew is showing his Jewish audience who see Moses as a hero of the faith, that Jesus is the greater Moses. Who fulfills the prophecy of Deuteronomy 18:15-19, which describes a coming prophet who is like Moses. Understanding that Moses is a type of Christ, and that Christ is the greater Moses is key to understanding the Gospel and also the Sermon on the Mount. Moses gave the Law, Christ fulfilled it. Moses led the Israelites out on an exodus from the bondage of slavery. Jesus has taken us out on an Exodus from the bondage of our slavery to sin.

Jesus as the Better David: Matthew’s opening words declare that Jesus Christ is the Son of David who is the Son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1). Following these opening words Matthew gives Jesus’s genealogy from Abraham, to David, to Solomon, to Joseph, and then Jesus. Matthew is majorly concerned with showing that Jesus Christ is of the bloodline of David and is the King Whose kingdom will be established forever, as promised to David in the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7). In the twenty-second chapter of Matthew Jesus is debating with the Pharisees and declares that David referred to Him as Lord in Psalms one hundred and ten (Matthew 22:44-46, Psalms 110:1). Jesus is the promised Davidic King, and Matthew’s Gospel aims to prove this to its Jewish audience.

Jesus as the True and Better Israel:

There is also a recurring theme and typology in Matthew’s Gospel of Jesus being the true and better Israel in Whom the promises made to Israel are fulfilled in. For instance the language of calling a son out of Egypt is applied to Jesus (Matt 2:15), the title of Beloved Son which was used for Israel in the Old Testament is given to Jesus (3:17), and Jesus is tempted in the wilderness for 40 days after passing through the waters of Baptism (Israel passed through the waters of the red sea) by Satan in the same ways Israel was tempted for 40 years (4).

Reading Plan

Day 1 – Chapters 1-4

Day 2 – Chapters 5-7 (The Sermon on the Mount)

Day 3 – Chapters 8-9

Day 4 – Chapter 10

Day 5 – Chapters 11-12

Day 6 – Chapter 13 (Parables of the Kingdom) and Mark 4

Day 7 – Chapters 14-17

Day 8 – Chapter 18

Day 9 – Psalm 110

Day 10 – Chapters 19-22

Day 11 – Chapters 23-25 (The Olivet Discourse)

Day 12 – Mark 13

Day 12 - Chapters 26-28

Day 13 – Luke 24

Day 14 - Acts 1-2