The Gospel of Matthew, Essay Example

The five items that I find most surprising about the Gospel of Matthew are: the gospels is both Jewish and anti-Semite, Jesus rebelled against the law, the apocalyptic vision of the world Matthew has, and it’s the only gospel that talks about the church.

Ten characteristics of Matthews Gospel are: he likes to organize (reference to numbers like 5 speeches, 10 miracles, etc), five great speeches given (i.e. Sermon on the Mount, parables, missionary discourse), Matthew likes pairs (i.e. two demons, two blindmen, two donkeys), Jewish characteristics (i.e. “Go nowhere among the Gentiles” (10:5)), it’s anti-Jewish (i.e. refers to Israel’s religious leaders as “evil”), prophecy fulfillment is important (i.e. vinegar to drink, tomb of a rich man), the law and Jesus’ relationship to the law is important (i.e. tradition of the elders, Pharisees preach), apocalypse (i.e. people being either good or evil), Jesus talks about the church (i.e. “on this rock I will build my church” (16:18)), Peter’s importance (i.e. “blessed by Jesus” (16:17-19)), and God’s presence (i.e. “whoever receives you receives me, …and he who sent me” (10:40)).

Powell states that the church historian Eusebius attributes the gospel being written by Matthew as documents the historian held were written by Papias who said as much, however, Powell states this cannot be the case as the gospel is written in Greek (not Hebrew), the gospel pulls a lot of its information from Mark, the theological debates/themes in the gospel are related more to a second generation Christian, and the gospel was written around 70 or 85 A.D. which scholars believe was too late for an apostle to have lived that long to write anything down.

Powell states that whoever wrote the gospel was Jewish, or leaned toward the religion (e.g. temple tax, Jewish law, Jewish piety).

Intra muros means the teachings of Jesus (literally translated to “within the walls,” aka the church), and extra muros means outside of the teachings or community.

Most scholars believe the gospel was written in 70 or 85 A.D.

Powell argues that Matthew was written for there to be an emphasize on the church (previously discarded) and the presence of God. Jesus (son of God) takes a prominent place among the gospel’s pages as his teachings are the basic curriculum for future Christianity (as a religion). Jesus’ presence is an interpreter for God (scripture) and thus previous esoteric passages of the bible are made more clear in this gospel. The emphasis for Matthew was placed more heavily on God’s presence.