Guide to Matthew

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The Gospel of Matthew (also, the Gospel of St. Matthew) is one of the 4 Gospels ^[1] in the New Testament. Like Mark and Luke, Matthew is a synoptic Gospel, meaning it shares much of the same material (in many places, word for word) of the other two. John is the "odd man out", and appears to be of independent sources.

[edit] Contents of Matthew

The Gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy of Jesus as traced from David through Joseph, and a section discussing John the Baptist. It then moves to a brief telling of Jesus' birth and his baptism by John the Baptist. Quickly the narrative moves to Jesus' time in the trenches challenging Satan, his collection of disciples, and the teachings he passes onto the Jews. Matthew 5 begins the Beatitudes, perhaps the most significant of Jesus' teachings and sayings. Matthew 18 and 19 list out many of the formal moral guidelines Jesus wishes people to live by. Matthew 20-25 are full of rich and vague parables, worthy of study for anyone wanting to understand both Jesus, and his followers. And of course the Passion, where Jesus is tried and killed. When Jesus is resurrected, it is the two Mary's who encounter him first.

[edit] Theology of Matthew

The writer of Matthew represents a church with strong Jewish connections. Matthew grounds his gospel in the Old Testament as often as possible, including the flight into Egypt and the exodus of the infant Jesus from Egypt, making literary allusions to Moses. Matthew's use of language and ordering in the Passion reinforces that this is a jewish text. The romans are the "bad guys", the Jews merely onlookers and sympathetic characters. Emphasis is on salvation through knowledge of Jesus, not through personal heritage or family religion, and unique to Matthew, Jesus here discusses the Kingdom of Heaven, and not the Kingdom of God.