THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
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INTRODUCTION
The apostle and evangelist
Matthew, the author of the first synoptic Gospel, had been a publican, bearing
the name of Levi, the son of Alphaeus, in or near the
city of Capernaum, before his conversion, Matt. 10, 3. He was sitting at the
receipt of custom when Jesus called him, Matt. 9, 9; Mark 2, 14. 15; Luke 5, 27—29. There can be no doubt as to the identity
of the former publican Levi and the later apostle Matthew, from a comparison of
the parallel passages as well as from the established custom of the Jews to
adopt a new name upon the occasion of some important happening in their lives. Cp. Acts 4, 36; 12, 12; 13, 9. It is evident throughout the
Gospel that the author was a Jewish Christian of
The purpose of the Gospel
according to Matthew is indicated in almost every section of the book. He wrote
for his fellow-countrymen, not, indeed, in the Hebrew or Aramaic language, as
some have thought, but in Greek, the common language of the Orient in those
days. His object was to show the glorious culmination of Old Testament type and
prophecy, to prove that Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Rod out of the stem
of Jesse, is the promised Messiah, that His entire life, passion, death, and
resurrection is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant. The genealogical table establishing the claim that Jesus is the Son of David, the
continual reference to the Old Testament, the frequent repetition of the phrase
"That it might be fulfilled," furnish abundant evidence for
this. It is the principal fact which the author wishes to impress upon his
hearers.
So far as the date of the
Gospel is concerned, it appears from chapter 27, 8; 28, 15 that it was written
some time after the events there recorded. It seems evident, also, that it was
composed before the final destruction of Jerusalem, since the author, in that
event, would undoubtedly have referred to the fulfillment of Christ's prophecy
concerning the fate of that city. Ancient reports have it that Matthew's Gospel
was the first to be written, and the date 60 A. D. has been suggested with some
degree of plausibility. The fact that the later extensive missionary labors of
Matthew precluded the leisure required for literary work makes it probable that
he wrote while still living in
The authenticity of our
Gospel cannot be called into question. Historical and textual considerations
consistently uphold not only Matthew's authorship, but also the fact that this
book is a part of the sacred canon and belongs to the inspired writings of the
Bible. We may rest assured that we have today the Gospel as written by Matthew,
one of the apostles of the Lord, in the same form in which he penned it by
inspiration of the Holy Ghost.
The contents of
the Gospel may be briefly summarized as follows. Matthew presents, first of
all, a brief narrative of the nativity and the earliest childhood of Jesus.
Then comes an account of the ministry of the Lord,
which was ushered in with His baptism by John. The evangelist devotes the
greater part of his Gospel to the work of the Savior in Galilee, in the course
of which He also trained His disciples for the work of preaching the Gospel of
the Kingdom, but which finally brought upon Him the increasing hatred of the
Jews, and especially of their leaders. In the second part of the Gospel there
is a detailed account of the Savior's last journey to
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Paul E. Kretzmann>