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1 in Faith: A Christian Bible Study |
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The Gospel of Matthew
The gospel of Matthew is anonymous. Second century Christians believed that the teachings of Jesus in the gospel had been preserved by the disciple Matthew, and gradually the gospel came to bear his name. In Christian literature prior to our contemporary era the gospel according to Matthew was the most quoted of the first three gospels, which are known together as the "synoptic gospels" because they have so much in common. Perhaps it is placed first in the New Testament canon because, of the synoptic gospels, it is the only one attributed to a disciple of Jesus. But it also gives greater emphasis than the other gospels to the fulfillment of Israelite prophecies in Jesus Christ, and thus it makes sense to place it Bible immediately after the Old Testament. During the course of his ministry Paul said many things about Jewish law. Perhaps his views changed over the years. But as he struggled to help congregations of Gentile and Jewish Christians, he finally came to the conclusion that Jewish law should not be imposed on Gentiles or on Jewish Christians. Moreover, he believed that among Jewish Christians even the practice of keeping the law voluntarily might lead to arrogance and division. Therefore, he urged Christians to set the law aside and proclaim salvation through faith. The gospel of Matthew teaches Jewish Christians to go beyond the dictates of the law by following Jesus. The law is affirmed, but the moral demands of Jesus require even greater self-discipline. It is righteousness that is saving, rather than keeping the details of Jewish law. The gospel of Matthew reaches out to Gentiles as well as Jews, but it does not embrace Paul's judgment of the law. Rather, it passes judgment on the Jewish hypocrites who preach the law but are not righteous. The gospel of Matthew does not share Paul's concern that striving for perfection under the law may lead to arrogance and division in the church. On the contrary, it presents Jesus as a teacher who counsels and prepares his disciples to give up everything in the pursuit of the perfect life.
Both the gospels of Mark and Matthew agree with Paul that salvation is through Jesus Christ. In the gospel of Mark there is no other character who is in the right, except John the Baptist, and he points to Jesus as completing his mission. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus defeats all his adversaries in argument, has healing powers that are unmatched, and only just before his death prepares his disciples to take up the mission of the church. On their own, however, they will be unable to provide the leadership that the churches need. Therefore, the last words of the gospel promise that Jesus will be with them always in order to inspire and encourage those who follow his teachings. Finally, Paul's claim that Jesus is the first fruit of the resurrection from the dead is affirmed by the gospel of Matthew in that Jesus is raised from the dead after three days and thus fulfills messianic prophecy. But the gospel tells us that Jesus is not alone out of the grave and allows that there is some doubt within the church about the resurrection that Paul proclaims. A gospel that is extremely harsh in its judgments about the Pharisees who lead Jewish opposition to the Jewish Christians of the author's time is far more tolerant with respect to differences in belief and understanding among those with faith in Jesus as the Messiah.
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1 in Faith: A Christian Bible Study † Copyright © 2000 by Robert Traer |
Paul
and the author of the gospel of Matthew agree about spiritual gifts. Teaching is
the heart of the church. The gospel of Matthew takes the gospel of Mark, which
presents Jesus as a teacher of his disciples, and fills it with additional
teachings attributed to Jesus. Furthermore, the sermons seem to be a success, as
the disciples in the gospel of Matthew finally understand their teacher and are
commissioned to lead the church.