Jesus Brings the Reign of Heaven (Matthew, Part 4)
This episode covers Matthew 4:12-5:1.I mention a document I created called A Bit About Matthew. This is the information it contains:A Bit About the Gospel of Matthew(Pastor Mark Daniels)1. The Gospel of Matthew is one of the three synoptic gospels, also including Mark and Luke. Synoptic is a compound word that comes from the Greek. It literally means, “seeing together.” The three synoptic gospels have more in common with each other–they see things similarly–than they have with the Gospel of John, or vice versa.2. Gospel is a term that means good news, good tidings, or God’s tidings, since our English word good is related to our English word for God. The Gospel, or good news. Is that God, unwilling to see us remain eternally condemned under our inborn sin, came into our world in God the Son, Jesus, to lead a sinless human life, bear our punishment for sins in the cross, and rise from the dead, so that all who receive God-given repentance from sin and God-given faith in Jesus, are forgiven and have eternal life with God.
The four books we call gospels recount the time when God the Son, Jesus, came to the earth, lived, ministered, died, rose, and ascended.3. Since at least the early second century, Matthew has universally been regarded as part of the “Scriptures,” or the Biblical canon. That means the early New Testament Church saw this gospel and other writings now in our New Testament as on a par with the Old Testament writings as God’s authoritative Word for the Church and the world.4. The Church has long believed the author of the gospel to be Matthew, also known as Levi, a former tax collector and, obviously, one deeply steeped in the Old Testament. While some scholars, beginning in the nineteenth century, have expressed doubts about Matthew as author of the gospel, I can find no compelling reason for the doubts. Why do I think it was written by Matthew? For one thing, the Church, as I say, going back a long time, asserted this was true. For another, if you were going to pick someone to “wow” the Church or the world to whom you would ascribe this gospel, you wouldn’t pick Matthew. He’s hardly a blip in the Biblical narrative. He wasn’t a leader in the Church like the other apostles. We have no record of Matthew preaching or taking missionary journeys. He was a “holy nobody,” just the kind of person God would choose for a big calling.So, I think the author was Matthew. 5. Broadly speaking, the gospel was written between 50-100 AD, some narrow it down to between 50-69 AD, the latter date being the year before the destruction of the temple. I’m inclined to date it to about 60 AD. This would have been a prime time, as the original followers of Jesus Christ were dying or being martyred for their faith, to get things committed to scrolls, the motivation of the other gospel writers. (Who we usually refer to as the evangelists, or the good newsers.)6. Matthew was a Greek-speaking Jewish Christian deeply conversant in the Old Testament and rabbnic traditions. His audience would have been other Jewish Christians because he often refers to Jewish traditions and customs without explanations.7. Matthew heavily emphasizes how Jesus fulfills not just Old Testament prophecy, but also the Old Testament call of the descendants of Abraham, generally. Jesus is the faithful Israel. He faithfully does what ancient Israel consistently failed do: follow God (Yahweh) and be a light to the nations. Jesus, in Matthew’s gospel, is God’s faithful son called out of Egypt, after Jesus’ exile there, and like ancient Israel similarly called, to be the faithful heir Who calls the nations of the world to become part of the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16). The “Israel of God” is the eternal Church, the body of Christ. Jesus then isn’t “a new Moses; He is the faithful Israel, Who grafts all who believe in Him, from all the nations of the world, into the Israel of God.8. Complicated efforts have been made to outline the gospel of Matthew as a “new Torah,” divisible into five sections based on the first five books of the Old Testament. But if that was really Matthew’s intention, you would expect each succeeding section of this alleged “new Torah” to correspond with (and contain quotes from and references to), in turn, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Whether Matthew worked with an outline or not, I like this simple one from Jeffrey A. Gibbs that suits our purposes as readers of the gospel:Part 1, The Presentation of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-4:16)Part 2, Ministry and Opposition in Israel (Who is this Jesus?) (Matthew 4:17-16:20)Part 3, The Road to the Cross, the Empty Tomb, and Making Disciples of All Nations (Matthew 16:21-28:20)Outlines like this one can give us an idea of where we’re at in the narrative. But they’re not to be given the authority of God’s Word.9. Matthew interprets passages of the Old Testament in ways we may find surprising. But he, like his contemporaries, saw the Word of God as a living thing that could, simultaneously, have both immediate and long-term, or even eternal, implications. This view is shared by the other Biblical writers. The preacher in Hebrews, also addressing first-century Jewish Christians, writes: “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) Looking back on the Old Testament through the prism of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, Matthew could see how the entire Old Testament pointed to Jesus. I think Matthew is right, and that means that the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is about Jesus and the salvation God wants to give to the entire human race.Sources:
Eerdmans Handbook to the Bible [https://www.amazon.com/Eerdmans-Handbook-Bible-David-Alexander/dp/0802806392/ref=sr_1_1?crid=23N1Z0YMSY9QV&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.BsBVBF3M9gX2cz-ZUKy2L7QdgkJrp6AtBZpRLYwCu8PmjdhJEyEV4I8TvsB2BBc2GYGkUM3lDCUfFo7BzcH2FYcXJoPNII1wcniBtgynt0s1r_MSQ923_m5d46Qg934gHaYDDE5Ni9dkOCXOOJJNhLaZ58UbDcRSpfAzlK8rOtPJWmKKyo7V2Dmb98GkqSe92crCAs3gfrXn2NpoqlmFXOjfbzIb-1-31E-csQ016UU.7Tx1GZolb-45k5Fj7pDyr_E-CrZtXfI9A7FftEHp21w&dib_tag=se&keywords=eerdmans+handbook+to+the+bible&qid=1776282436&sprefix=Eerdmans+Handbook%2Caps%2C195&sr=8-1]Matthew 1:1-11:1 (Concordia Commentary) [https://www.amazon.com/Matthew-1-11-Commentary-Bible-Study/dp/0758679416/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=ENXO1KBU3V3Q&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Ip8m0uuOwBvSsRUHv10WfIq38qwUVE0unA6tonr4S0bLELXg2fvUXKB9351RYandoFfPWgePFB9kAbVG29pk8WMrer1Vq7kFBDM5bC6ucvf1ZXSo8t9b0d_QC3Au2MBhtHwn3WDOQ4jRlu4VbJ6643lCU0xH5qcvqRPAtx-b4uqqKIw61cSp78Aq8Bcg8VAo.oz96UlEtfJpPU9EdDK3VbZk5U9yRn8X1RCXpgz5xfu8&dib_tag=se&keywords=concordia+commentary+Matthew+1%3A1-11%3A1+Jeffrey+A.+Gibbs&qid=1776282514&sprefix=concordia+commentary+matthew+1+1-11+1+jeffrey+a.+gibbs%2Caps%2C204&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1](Jeffrey A. Gibbs)The New Testament Devotional Commentary (volume 1: Matthew, Mark, and Luke) [https://www.amazon.com/New-Testament-Devotional-Commentary-Commentaries-ebook/dp/B0CD9LX1B3/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1NRKZTCOD65WC&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.EwOMuABPMktaHMaQxZU62TqDqjwmyV9-3CLXCN6MKF6iPAPxlFYSKhciJx77zKiLYTVqiuUAZi34h2daIVgvmRkoWFVGr2JFcJ15v7c_keEvrSsKOr49LD5-_pHRWbNcShk0MDeLx8gpDDcjwJolrZNQCflTTa3l8AkLue4XFXwCk-WcyVbW69XsaADw9iUUL0Hklq4tFn1RVhNRZ316pk0vOxmOKqTtshTbKxk45eE.LlmvjHKAuRmNwBWKtiwdoIbTsW_rUCqkThGTKoYDSIg&dib_tag=se&keywords=The+New+Testament+Devotional+Commentary+%28volume+1%3A+Matthew%2C+Mark%2C+and+Luke%29&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1776282573&sprefix=the+new+testament+devotional+commentary+volume+1+matthew%2C+mark%2C+and+luke+%2Caps%2C181&sr=8-1](Bo Giertz)Annotations on the Gospel According to St. Matthew I-XV [https://www.amazon.com/Annotations-According-Chapters-Lutheran-Commentary/dp/0692424059/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2LCL0GSWHKVGX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ukNO_OAIuMxDEpCK9CcMRVhT96jxm0DmtevmXRmqJaTy9mP4Zm8WPF8tE1CwI4otnwYlxe12WKB10KPjFQxpd3nd2h9uPkWaknP_SdqqO5fGbxSzHXRZpI4Ywz1IglOrnRg8RHOAtnzF5KluBJzkXgDwn4q7MND9u-bX4oeNw_dZVBJemqdquR0vQicdNkIX5Km7FJ12fS8npeTX6cBiJmzhpaL8kUhkq0f4XWLTqtc.aKxvGr2ZftfQ1lDIQvrs2XEel9vy9IxGj87vPMRyUVs&dib_tag=se&keywords=Annotations+on+the+Gospel+According+to+St.+Matthew+I-XV+%28Charles+F.+Schaeffer%29&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1776282621&sprefix=annotations+on+the+gospel+according+to+st.+matthew+i-xv+charles+f.+schaeffer+%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-1](Charles F. Schaeffer)If you get anything out of this podcast, please like, share, and subscribe.
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