GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

Blake Boling, Dubi, Steven Baker, Dylon Thomas and Jon Barlow

Matthews Symbol

His symbol is an angel. This is because in the first story of his

Gospel, Matthew tells about how an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream

Biographical Background

Early Christian’s usually identified Matthew as Levi the tax collector.

However, he was most likely a Jewish Christian scribe who knew Hebrew and some Aramaic.

The Truth- Today

The truth is this Gospel is anonymous, and the writer might have known the Apostle Matthew or used a source from him.

Who Written For

Most scholars believe the Gospel of Matthew was written in Greek for a Greek speaking Jewish-Christian church.

Year and Place: Syria in the 80’s or possibly A.D. 85.

Why it was written

“His purpose in writing to the Jews was to show them that Jesus of Nazareth was the expected messiah and both his genealogy and his resurrection were legitimate proofs of this”.

Image of Jesus

Two popular titles Matthew uses to portray Jesus are Son of David and Emmanuel.

1. Son of David used to depict him as Israel’s promised Messiah

2. Emmanuel (“God with us”) used to reveal Jesus true identity and God’s love for his people.

Primary Aim

However, the primary aim of Matthews Gospel is to portray Jesus as the sole teacher worthy of our obedience.

There are also many parallels between Jesus and Moses in Matthew’s Gospel.

Why Unique

Matthew has the most references to The Old Testament and Judaism.

Most noticeably though, is this Gospel is the most challenging and critical of Judaism.

Jesus is against leaders who don’t practice how they preach and leaders that only seek to impress others with their titles.

Continued…

The Seven Woes This is a prophetic form of speech that

shows sorrow, grief, or announces a threat.

Its purpose is to shock people into examining their behavior and reforming it.

Gospel Text- Woes

“Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and evildoing”. Matthew 23: 27-29

Significance of Matthew

Shows that we could not have The New Testament without the Old Testament.

He maintains Christianity’s continuity with its Jewish roots.

Designed for use by the growing and expanding Church.

Important RQ material

Matthews Gospel was written to show how Christian’s could lay claim to Yahweh’s promises made to the chosen people, while still opening the Gospel to Gentile’s.

Also written to show how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament prophecy.

RQ material continued

The major themes of Matthews Gospel are Judgment, discipleship, Church, and true righteousness.

Jesus teaches that God will judge us based on how we treat others.

Importance of Matthew in Life In this Gospel, Jesus directly tells us

over 200 real and practical lessons of how God desires people to live and making choices regarding their future for eternity.

Examples of This

Having Faith Dealing with Fear The promise of Salvation Loving others Forgiving those that have sinned against

you. Resisting temptation Sacrificing

http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/gospel-of-matthew.htm

http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=651&C=870

http://www.blueletterbible.org/study/intros/matthew.cfm