Entendiendo el Evangelio de Mateo

Welcome to video lecture number three, the Gospel of Matthew. We're going to look at some details in the gospel that are unique to it and help us to understand how it connects with the other gospels. We'll look at more details in a deeper way when we look at the things like the narratives and the discourses in future lectures, but we're going to look at the specific overview of Matthew. Matthew is one of the favorite gospels of the early church writers. As they quoted it, they saw it as a bridge from the Old Testament until the New Testament. And even though it's not the earliest gospel, we think Matthew copied Mark, and so Mark would be the earliest gospel. There's evidence for that we're going to look at when we discuss the synoptic problem in a future lecture. It would mean that Matthew wasn't the first, but still is a favorite among the early Christians. Matthew was written by the person by that name. He was a tax collector. He calls himself Matthew in Matthew chapter 9, verse 9, but he's referred to as Levi by Luke and by Mark. And so why two different names? Well, one's probably like his family name and one is probably his personal name. And there may be some deference in terms of who the audience is, why different authors use a different name to refer to him out of sympathy for the audience that's paying attention to the book. When Matthew is talking about the temple tax himself, he uses a specific Aramaic term, the nomisma, that is simply written down as denarii in. Luke and in Mark, which indicates that the writer of this book is more familiar with things like temple taxes or taxes in general or money. And that makes sense because he was a tax collector turned disciple. When he writes these things down, he's very specific, very precise in the field that he's interested. We think that the gospel of Matthew was probably written down around the 80s AD. It was written after the destruction of the temple. And there's reasons for that because he talks about the destruction of the temple, and you wouldn't talk about something that had not existed had you not known about it. And yet at the same time, he has references to paying the temple tax, which would indicate that maybe the temple is still in existence. This is easily explained when one looks at the fact that he probably compiled the lattice portions of the gospel after the temple was destroyed and was able to edit it and add that part to it at the end, even though he had sayings and collections of thoughts that existed prior to that. Pope Pius thought that there was an original version of Matthew that was written down in Aramaic. He was one of the early church fathers. And if that's true, it could be that there was a version of the sayings that Matthew captured and collected that he would then later use as the foundation of the gospel. We know that he used Mark's writings. He probably used his own eyewitness accounts as a disciple of Christ. And then he has these collected sayings that are in Aramaic that become a. bulk of the discourses that we see in the gospel. And as a result, there may be portions of it that are Aramaic and portions of it that were Greek until the final version was written down in Greek. And I think this makes a lot of sense as I begin to view it. There seems to be a clear split forming by the time that Matthew is written down as a gospel that you don't quite find in Mark. And this would indicate that the Council of Jamnia had already taken place, and that takes place in the 80s, so that Judaism and Christianity are starting to split apart. And that helps me to think that it's not written right after the temple was destroyed, but the final version of Matthew was written in the 80s. And so, because at this point now, there's a clear distinction between Jews and Christians. The people that Matthew wrote to is probably the city of Antioch. to be honest with you, and they're an Aramaic speaking people who have a strong Greek influence. There are Aramaisms all throughout the book that he doesn't explain. Remember when we saw the video from Mark that Mark has to explain these Aramaic expressions? Matthew doesn't explain them because he doesn't need to because his audience would understand what they mean. Antioch had a large Jewish influence, a large Jewish population. But it also had a strong Gentile population, and Matthew kind of straddles both worlds. He has things that are geared toward Jews, and he has things that are geared toward Gentiles as well. Antioch had a lot of missionary activity, and this makes sense when you look at the Gospel of Matthew being a missionary book. He has the Great Commission in Matthew 28, verses 19 through 20, that would resonate with a community that's focused on missions. Ignatius of Antioch was the first person to quote Matthew. He was the bishop in Antioch. And so if he's quoting him, it's probably because that was a source that he was familiar with and would make sense that it was written for that city. Matthew uses a term for a coin, the stater is the name of the term. That is the coin only used in two cities, Antioch and Damascus, which would again indicate that the people he's writing to would understand it. Therefore, it must be he's writing to people in one of those two cities. And the one that makes the most sense is Antioch. So I think Peter, excuse me, I think Matthew was specifically writing this gospel for an audience that was living in the city of Antioch. backgrounds were Jewish and Gentile. They were Christians, obviously. The Antioch Church was one of the strongest churches early on. It was a missions-focused church, and so he's helping them to have the gospel. So as they carry the gospel out to the nations, they have a clear understanding of who Jesus is and how his mission is going to change the world. The purpose of the Gospel of Matthew is concerned specifically with establishing Jesus's identity. He stresses the four aspects of Jesus' identity. Number one, Jesus is the Messiah. He's the long-awaited king of God's people, of Israel. Number two, Jesus is the new Abraham. He's the fulfillment of Israel as a people in the person of the Messiah. He's a founder of a new spiritual people of God, the church. Whereas the Old Testament focuses on Israel as the people of God, after the Gospel of Matthew, and the functions that the people of God in that perform, it's going to be a new people that is the church. The third thing that we see is that Jesus is the new Moses. So in a similar way, he's the new Abraham. He's the new Moses. He's the deliverer of the people of God, and he's the giver of the law. In this case, it's a new law for God's people. And then the fourth thing that we see as an important identity of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew is Jesus is the Emmanuel. or God with us. He's the virgin-born son of God. In this, Matthew functions as a theological biography of Jesus, in which he explains Jesus' teachings, he records his actions, he offers him as an example for us, and he explains who Jesus is for his audience. And so he's trying to help his readers understand an identity of who Christ is, interpreting some Old Testament themes in new ways, and understanding how that affects the church. Let's look at the type of literature that Matthew comprises. Matthew's gospel has five major discourses that present the essence of Jesus's teachings. Whereas Mark was more interested in moving in action and stories that had narrative and plot, Matthew stops regularly to have these long discourses where Jesus just teaches. He teaches on a hillside. He teaches near the temple. We see this in Matthew 5 through 7, again in chapter 10, in chapter 13, in chapter 18, and in chapters 23 through 25. And each of these discourses have a theme they're built around, and then there's these actions that take place in between the discourses. Now, we're going to look at the discourses in a future lecture in more detail, but I do want to talk about them a little bit here, particularly from Matthew's perspective, because they're giving us an understanding of how Matthew sees the world that he lives in and how he wants his readers to understand it. Let's look at each of those five that I just talked about. We call these the five discourses, and that's going to be intriguing as we look at Jesus compared to the new Moses later on. The first of these is the Sermon on the Mountain. That's chapters 5 through 7, and the theme of that is Jesus's vision for establishing the kingdom of God. This is how we're supposed to live. When you go through the Sermon on the Mount, it explains what a true Christian, a true disciple of Jesus, would live like and act like in community with other Christians. The second discourse is the instruction of the Twelve in chapter 10, where the disciples are told how to spread the gospel, and they're also warned. of coming persecution that they're going to experience. So Jesus is preparing them for what he's expecting to prepare. The third discourse that we see is in chapter 13, and it's the parables of the kingdom, where he's talking about the kingdom of God. And so he's got these parables that teach what the kingdom of God is going to look like. He explains the rejection of the gospel by some and presence of evil in the world. He talks about growth and ministry of the kingdom of God in the face of... persecution and in the face of opposition. The fourth discourse he gets to is in chapter 18, and this is the parables of the kingdom as well. But in this case, he explains how disciples are to relate to Jesus and how they're to relate to each other in light of the new kingdom. The last discourse we see are in chapters 24 and 25. We call it the Olivet Discourse, and it's more kingdom parables. But in this, he speaks about the prophecies of destruction. and of the temple and of the events that are preceding the second coming of the Messiah. Now that we've just briefly talked about the discourses, again, we're going to have an entire lecture on these later on if you find this intriguing. Let's move to theology that we find in the Gospel of Matthew. The most important thing that we see in the Gospel of Matthew in terms of theology is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Old Testament prophecies, predictions. the way that the Old Testament was supposed to be lived out. Jesus fulfills what the people of God could not do. There's these messianic predictions that starts this off. One of the most significant things in the Gospel of Matthew is that Jesus is the Messiah, presented as the Messiah who's predicted in the Old Testament scriptures. This fulfillment highlighted the fulfillment in quotations in chapters one through four. Each significant event in the life of Jesus that is recorded in the gospel of Matthew, is shown to be a fulfillment of Hebrew scripture prophecies. You'll often see that it says, it is said, and then he shows the example of how he fulfilled what was said or what was written. This is all part of a new kingdom of God. I said a moment ago, he's going to be like a new Moses. It's an important theme. Jesus functions for Matthew in a real sense as a new Moses. Let's look at the parallels between the two. Starting from their birth narrative, when Moses was born, the babies were being executed and it was under duress because the Egyptians did not want this one to be born and raised that's going to bring freedom to the people under the Pharaohs. In an uncanny similar sense, when Jesus is born, there's death because Herod is afraid there's going to be a new king that's going to replace him. And so he starts to kill the babies in a way very similar to what happened during the time of Moses. So the killing of children matches between Moses and Jesus. We have this idea of a flight of the baby. In the case of Moses, the flight was from his homeland in the land of the Hebrews in Goshen. He was taken to the princess where he was taken care of and be delivered and raised up under the protection of the kings of Egypt. In a similar way, when Jesus was a baby, his parents escaped from Herod's reign and his reign of terror. And they went to Egypt of all places. And that's where they lived out while he was a baby until it was safe to return back to Palestine. There's this idea of the return. Those who sought the child's life, it says in Exodus chapter 4, verse 19, it says those who sought his life are dead. When Moses had killed the Egyptian, he went off into exile. And then when those who sought his life are dead, he's able to come back. In a similar way, When Joseph and Mary goes off to Egypt, they are told that those who sought Jesus's life are dead. It's almost the same verbiage between what we hear from Moses and what we hear from Jesus. I don't think it's an accident. Matthew is trying to help us understand Jesus as the new Moses. And so those who were going to kill Jesus are gone. Therefore, they can return back to the promised land. Mary and Joseph, instead of going to Jerusalem, they go to Nazareth. As Jesus, as Moses went up the mount. Sinai to get the law to deliver to his people. In a similar way, Jesus went up the Mount of Olives and offered a new law in Matthew 5 through 7. These aren't coincidental things. They are Matthew's way of showing how Jesus is a new Matthew. So just as Moses gets the law from God on a mountain, Jesus gets the law of God to the people on the mountain. Instead of Mount Sinai, it's the Mount of Olives. where Jesus is speaking to the people in the Sermon on the Mount. Moses writes down five books of the law, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And Matthew, interestingly, has these five books, if you will, these five discourse sections that are throughout the Gospel of Matthew as five discourses that I think are meant to replicate the five books of Moses. And so he's... Clearly presenting to a Jewish audience that Jesus is the fulfillment of this new Moses, this new idea. Whenever Moses was delivering the children of God from Egypt, they went through the Red Sea and the waters parted on both sides and they walked on dry land to be able to be rescued. In a similar way, Jesus demonstrates power over water, but instead of separating the waters, he walks on the water. Again, I think Matthew's using a theme to show the power of Jesus as the new Moses. And these are things that happen, but the way that Matthew records them helps us to understand their significance. Just as in the desert, Moses fed the people with manna that God provided, when Jesus was preaching to crowds and there wasn't enough food to eat, Jesus provided for the people with manna. them bread to eat when there was just a few loaves and fishes, and he multiplied it and was able to feed the thousands of people. All of these are ways that Matthew is showing his Jewish audience that Jesus is a new, and if you will, better Moses. And so this is an important theme that we see in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew's presentation of Jesus as a new Moses fulfilled important theological purposes. Number one, it identifies Jesus as the Savior of his people. As Moses was a deliverer of the people of Israel, so now Jesus is a deliverer of the people that follow him, his new people, the church. Number two, it identifies Jesus as the redeemer of his people. He's not just delivering them. He's going to redeem them. He's going to pay for them. He's going to provide for them. He's going to create redemption so they can be in a right relationship with the father. Number three, it identifies Jesus as the deliverer of his people. So he's the savior. He's the Redeemer and he's the Deliverer of the people and identifies Jesus as the Creator of his people. There was no Jewish nation prior to Moses. There was a Hebrew people. They were the descendants of Israel and when Moses comes on the scene, he creates them as a nation. Jesus does the same. There's no Christians before Jesus. Those who follow the way after the book of Matthew now can be identified as the people of God, the church. And so all of these are ways that it identifies Jesus as the new Moses and helps to create the identity of Jesus. Now, in a similar way, as he is presented as the new Moses, Jesus is also presented as the new David or the Davidic king. Matthew associates Jesus very closely with David. He starts the book off with a genealogy that has David at the center of the genealogy. David's name appears five times in that genealogy when most people only appear one time. He includes a direct claim of Jesus as the son of David. And of course, Jesus is not the biological son of David. Why would he isolate David out and call him the son of David? Because he's associating with David as the new David. In addition, David's name is used twice in the first two partitions of the genealogy. You would see it says so-and-so has so-and-so has so-and-so. this man begat this man, begat this man, and it has their names. But David is listed twice in the genealogy. And if you look closely enough, he sort of takes up two spaces in the genealogy. There's these segments of 14s. There's 14, 14, and 14 generations that make up the ancestors of Jesus. And that ends up being 42 generations from the beginning until Jesus of the genealogy. David occupies two of those. And that's curious. There's something that happens with Hebrew coding and Hebrew numbers that is called the gematra. And in that, there's this understanding that if you can associate a name with a number, it adds weight to that association. And in the gematra of David, the numbering of David is 14. And this idea of these 14 generations and David is the dividing of two of those generations of 14. It identifies Jesus in the Hebrew sense with David. He's telling... his audience, for those who understand what he's doing, is that David is now represented in the person of Jesus. Jesus is the new David. And so why would it be that he has this new David and new Moses? Well, David and Moses played two of the three critical roles in the Old Testament. Moses represents the priest of the people to God. He's the one that went to God on behalf of the people. David is the one that represents the king of the people. for God. And so the Old Testament themes of priest and king are found in these two individuals. Matthew is taking those identities and wrapping them around Jesus. Jesus is simultaneously both the new priest and the new king. Very interesting play with words that Matthew's doing in a way that if you look close enough, you see and appreciate what he's doing. His early Jewish audience would have reveled at reading it this way. Matthew states that Jesus' family moved to Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken by the prophets. He says this in this way, that Jesus would be a Nazarene. If you look at the Old Testament, there's not actually a direct quote that's being quoted when it says that Jesus was going to be a Nazarene. What it might actually allude to is this idea of a branch. The word branch in Hebrew is neser, and so a person who would be considered a branch would be what we would refer to as a neserim. And the idea there is that David is the branch. of Jesse and that the branch of Jesse would live forever, that there would always be one that God would bless and be on the throne of God. God would always have as his king. And so Jesus is that branch of David. He is the king in fulfillment and he is the lawgiver of Moses. And so all of this imagery is powerful in the gospel of Matthew and it's fun to read about. Jesus is also presented in the gospel of Matthew as the son of man. Now, if you watch the lecture, In Mark, you'll see that this is not something new. Jesus was the son of man in Mark, and he probably borrowed some of that from the gospel of Mark, but it certainly plays a role in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus uses the phrase son of man in Matthew in the context of either teaching about the imminent suffering of the coming Messiah or the second coming. He has the two together well. He uses the phrase for the suffering Messiah or the second coming. when he refers to the idea of the Son of Man. And so he's using it in a very specific way to help us identify that Jesus is human, but he's going to be the Messiah who suffers. Another important theme that we see in the Gospel of Matthew is the idea of Jesus's atoning death. It's not just that Jesus is going to suffer. We saw that in the Gospel of Mark, but that that suffering comes, there's something that it does, that accomplishes, and it's an atoning death. And there's some specific language that Matthew uses you don't find in the other gospels to help us to understand this. Matthew affirms the sacrificial system in the temple. He talks about it regularly. He has demonstrations of the temple sacrifices and temple taxes that take place, but he refers to the sacrifices in a unique way. We see the concept of sacrifices all throughout the Bible. Matthew refers to the word sacrifice as gift rather than the word sacrifice. Both terms are found in the Old Testament, but sacrifice is much more frequent and is associated when you take it to the temple itself as a sacrifice. This draws attention to Matthew's usage of this idea of a gift. There are passages where Matthew quotes or alludes to the Old Testament in which the Old Testament term is specifically sacrifice that he changes and uses the word gift. For example, When Matthew writes about the healing of the lepers in Matthew 8, 4, he writes that Jesus commanded the leper to offer his gift that Moses prescribed, which alters what Mark writes in Mark chapter 1, verse 44, what Moses prescribed for your cleansing as a testimony to them. Mark's account suggests that the healing is a result of the sacrifice. But Matthew separates the healing from the sacrifice, and instead he turns the gift into more of an act of gratitude. He does this a lot in his gospel. Matthew was evidently beginning to cause his readers to rethink the concept of sacrifice. He was setting the stage for the understanding of the work of Christ as a redemptive gift, as a payment for something. a new form of sacrifice. His quote in Isaiah 53, 4 and Matthew 8, 17 shows that he saw Jesus as the fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 53, the one whose sacrificial death was the means of atonement for sins. He quotes the chapter of Isaiah 53 more frequently than he quotes any other book of the entire Old Testament. That one chapter alone he quotes more frequently than any other book in the Old Testament. Matthew was teaching that Jesus was the one true and effective sacrifice that would make a payment. It would be a gift and that all other sacrifices, therefore, were somehow less significant. He's preparing the reader for the understanding that Jesus is going to pay the ultimate price for the sins of people. The Gospel of Matthew also talks about the Great Commission and also the inclusion of Gentiles in ways that you would not necessarily suspect if you think Matthew's only dealing with the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Matthew wrote as an announcement that Jesus was the hope of salvation to all people, not just to the Jewish people. Though likely written for Jewish Christians, it is a very inclusive letter for all who read it from all backgrounds. Four examples. There are four Gentile women who are included in Matthew's genealogy. People like Rahab and Tamar and Ruth. These are Gentile women that are included in the genealogy of Jesus. Not something a Jewish person would typically do, but it's indicating that the gospel is for all. Foreign wise men come to visit baby Jesus and provide gifts for him, not Jewish leaders. And even not later leaders of the Jewish nation, they don't recognize who Jesus is, but foreigners do from the East somewhere. They recognize that Jesus is the Messiah. Matthew 3, 6 warns that if Abraham's children reject Jesus, God will raise up new children that are not part of Abraham. Again, shocking stuff for someone who's quoting Old Testament literature. In Matthew 8, 15 through 13. Jesus offered to enter the house of a Roman centurion. This would have been unthinkable in his day for a rabbi to do. But he was doing this taboo thing because he was claiming that the Gentiles' faith exceeded the faith that he had counted in Israel. He's saying that God's got faith outside of his people. In Matthew 12, verses 15 through 21, he identifies Jesus as the fulfillment of Isaiah 42, 1 through 3. A prophecy that climaxes with this promise, that the nations will put their hope in his name. Jesus is not just the hope of the Jewish people, he's the hope of the Gentile nations. Well, we're glad of that because most of us aren't probably of Jewish descent. And finally, in Matthew 27, 54, similar to what we see in the Gospel of Mark, Matthew has the Roman centurion as the one who claims that this man is God's son. It's a Roman centurion that recognizes at the cross that Jesus is the Son of God. To conclude this lecture, let's look at a few more themes that kind of help us to understand the gospel of Matthew. Number one, Matthew's influence on Christian worship and ethics. Let's emphasize how Matthew's teachings have shaped Christian worship, particularly through the Lord's Prayer. Most Christian traditions around the world throughout all of history have said the Lord's Prayer. prayer as part of the worship tradition. We see that in Matthew 6, 9 through 13. And then also the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, 13 through 12 are a significant portion of the practices of the Christian church and worship in the Christian church. These passages are central to Christian liturgy and ethics. They influence not only personal piety, but communal worship and moral teaching as well. Another thing that is good for us to look at is how Matthew emphasizes discipleship. Let's highlight Matthew's ongoing significance, his strong significance on discipleship. The gospel repeatedly calls for a life of following Jesus, as seen in passages like the Great Commission, Matthew 28, 19 through 20, and Jesus' teachings on the cost of discipleship in Matthew 16, 24 through 26. Jesus presents discipleship. as a holistic commitment that involves faith, ethical living, and mission. You can't just say you follow Jesus. You have to live out your faith. Let's look at the role of the church. Matthew's unique focus on the church as the ecclesia, or the gathering of God's people, particularly in passages like Matthew 16, 18-19, and Matthew 18, 15-20, are where these passages reflect an early understanding of what the church would look like and what the church's role is for the Christian community of believers, dealing with the issues of authority, discipline, and community life. The other gospels don't deal with the concept of the church. And this could be because Matthew is written a little bit later. And so the church is now developed into a more of an organism by this time, but certainly his teachings on what the church looks like become foundational for the understanding of the church as well. Another important theme to recognize in the Gospel of Matthew is that the eschatological vision. Matthew sees the second coming of the Messiah as critical for the early church. Matthew's eschatological perspective is one that ends with end times and the return of Christ. These are significant themes in Matthew. The Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24-25 not only provides a word for the future, but also serves as a call to the future. to readiness for the faithful to live life in the present. This eschatological vision underscores the urgency of the gospel message to impact Christians in the here and in life to come. And finally, let's look at Matthew's gospel as a unifying document. Matthew's gospel serves as a unifying document for Jews and Christians that are Gentile, bridging cultural and theological divides. This is evident in Matthew's genealogy, the inclusiveness of his message to different of different peoples, and the way that he carefully interprets Jesus's life and teachings to resonate with diverse audiences. Matthew is trying to portray Jesus as the Messiah for the Jews and the Gentiles. These points reinforce the theological depth, practical significance, and enduring influence of the gospel of Matthew in the life. of the church, and of individual believers. Now, there are other things that we could look at in the Gospel of Matthew. I think it would be helpful just to kind of touch base with a couple of these before we close. Key themes in the Gospel of Matthew, if we took a little bit of a closer look, are the ideas of the kingdom of heaven that is unique to Matthew. He refers to the kingdom of heaven where Mark talks about the kingdom of God. This phrase, kingdom of heaven, occurs 30 different times in the Gospel of Matthew. emphasizing that the present and future reality of God's rule on earth. So when he talks about kingdom of heaven, it's this idea of the kingdom of the atmosphere, that which is around us. So God is around us, but now he's in control over us. In the second one, we would look at the fulfillment of Old Testament scripture. This theme is extremely important because, as I said a moment ago, Matthew is known by his demonstration of the Messiah Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament scripture. He fulfills the prophecies of the Old Testament. He lives out the pattern of the Old Testament. He is the new Moses. He is the new Abraham. He is the new David. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Jesus functions as a teacher in Matthew greater than the other gospels, specifically Mark and Luke. He is a rabbi. He's referred to as rabbi, which means teacher. Matthew himself emphasizes him as a rabbi or a teacher, presenting him as the new Moses while bringing in a new law on the Sermon on the Mount. There's also this concept of conflict and rejection that Jesus experiences when he's the Messiah. He's the Messiah that's coming for the people and one would expect would be well received, but instead he's rejected by the people. An important theme, finally, is discipleship and community. Jesus makes it known that if you're going to follow him, you have to lay everything else aside and be a true follower of his. And that being part of the community of the faithful is a critical component to being in the body of Christ. Matthew is a great book. It's one of the longer books in the New Testament. It's got the story of Jesus in it. We can understand so much of the gospel just with the gospel of Matthew alone. It's a powerful book. It's an inclusive book. It's a book that shows Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament, and it sets the foundation for the church and the actions of Christians in the New Testament and beyond. We are blessed to have this book. May God bless you all.

Matthew is one of the favorite gospels of the early church writers. As they quoted it, they saw it as a bridge from the Old Testament until the New Testament. And even though it's not the earliest gospel, we think Matthew copied Mark, and so Mark would be the earliest gospel. There's evidence for that we're going to look at when we discuss the synoptic problem in a future lecture. It would mean that Matthew wasn't the first, but still is a favorite among the early Christians.

Matthew was written by the person by that name. He was a tax collector. He calls himself Matthew in Matthew chapter 9, verse 9, but he's referred to as Levi by Luke and by Mark.

And so why two different names? Well, one's probably like his family name and one is probably his personal name. And there may be some deference in terms of who the audience is, why different authors use a different name to refer to him out of sympathy for the audience that's paying attention to the book.

When Matthew is talking about the temple tax himself, he uses a specific Aramaic term, the nomisma, that is simply written down as denarii in. Luke and in Mark, which indicates that the writer of this book is more familiar with things like temple taxes or taxes in general or money. And that makes sense because he was a tax collector turned disciple.

When he writes these things down, he's very specific, very precise in the field that he's interested. We think that the gospel of Matthew was probably written down around the 80s AD. It was written after the destruction of the temple. And there's reasons for that because he talks about the destruction of the temple, and you wouldn't talk about something that had not existed had you not known about it. And yet at the same time, he has references to paying the temple tax, which would indicate that maybe the temple is still in existence.

This is easily explained when one looks at the fact that he probably compiled the lattice portions of the gospel after the temple was destroyed and was able to edit it and add that part to it at the end, even though he had sayings and collections of thoughts that existed prior to that. Pope Pius thought that there was an original version of Matthew that was written down in Aramaic. He was one of the early church fathers. And if that's true, it could be that there was a version of the sayings that Matthew captured and collected that he would then later use as the foundation of the gospel.

We know that he used Mark's writings. He probably used his own eyewitness accounts as a disciple of Christ. And then he has these collected sayings that are in Aramaic that become a.

bulk of the discourses that we see in the gospel. And as a result, there may be portions of it that are Aramaic and portions of it that were Greek until the final version was written down in Greek. And I think this makes a lot of sense as I begin to view it. There seems to be a clear split forming by the time that Matthew is written down as a gospel that you don't quite find in Mark.

And this would indicate that the Council of Jamnia had already taken place, and that takes place in the 80s, so that Judaism and Christianity are starting to split apart. And that helps me to think that it's not written right after the temple was destroyed, but the final version of Matthew was written in the 80s. And so, because at this point now, there's a clear distinction between Jews and Christians.

The people that Matthew wrote to is probably the city of Antioch. to be honest with you, and they're an Aramaic speaking people who have a strong Greek influence. There are Aramaisms all throughout the book that he doesn't explain.

Remember when we saw the video from Mark that Mark has to explain these Aramaic expressions? Matthew doesn't explain them because he doesn't need to because his audience would understand what they mean. Antioch had a large Jewish influence, a large Jewish population.

But it also had a strong Gentile population, and Matthew kind of straddles both worlds. He has things that are geared toward Jews, and he has things that are geared toward Gentiles as well. Antioch had a lot of missionary activity, and this makes sense when you look at the Gospel of Matthew being a missionary book. He has the Great Commission in Matthew 28, verses 19 through 20, that would resonate with a community that's focused on missions. Ignatius of Antioch was the first person to quote Matthew.

He was the bishop in Antioch. And so if he's quoting him, it's probably because that was a source that he was familiar with and would make sense that it was written for that city. Matthew uses a term for a coin, the stater is the name of the term.

That is the coin only used in two cities, Antioch and Damascus, which would again indicate that the people he's writing to would understand it. Therefore, it must be he's writing to people in one of those two cities. And the one that makes the most sense is Antioch.

So I think Peter, excuse me, I think Matthew was specifically writing this gospel for an audience that was living in the city of Antioch. backgrounds were Jewish and Gentile. They were Christians, obviously.

The Antioch Church was one of the strongest churches early on. It was a missions-focused church, and so he's helping them to have the gospel. So as they carry the gospel out to the nations, they have a clear understanding of who Jesus is and how his mission is going to change the world. The purpose of the Gospel of Matthew is concerned specifically with establishing Jesus's identity. He stresses the four aspects of Jesus' identity.

Number one, Jesus is the Messiah. He's the long-awaited king of God's people, of Israel. Number two, Jesus is the new Abraham. He's the fulfillment of Israel as a people in the person of the Messiah. He's a founder of a new spiritual people of God, the church.

Whereas the Old Testament focuses on Israel as the people of God, after the Gospel of Matthew, and the functions that the people of God in that perform, it's going to be a new people that is the church. The third thing that we see is that Jesus is the new Moses. So in a similar way, he's the new Abraham.

He's the new Moses. He's the deliverer of the people of God, and he's the giver of the law. In this case, it's a new law for God's people.

And then the fourth thing that we see as an important identity of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew is Jesus is the Emmanuel. or God with us. He's the virgin-born son of God. In this, Matthew functions as a theological biography of Jesus, in which he explains Jesus' teachings, he records his actions, he offers him as an example for us, and he explains who Jesus is for his audience. And so he's trying to help his readers understand an identity of who Christ is, interpreting some Old Testament themes in new ways, and understanding how that affects the church.

Let's look at the type of literature that Matthew comprises. Matthew's gospel has five major discourses that present the essence of Jesus's teachings. Whereas Mark was more interested in moving in action and stories that had narrative and plot, Matthew stops regularly to have these long discourses where Jesus just teaches.

He teaches on a hillside. He teaches near the temple. We see this in Matthew 5 through 7, again in chapter 10, in chapter 13, in chapter 18, and in chapters 23 through 25. And each of these discourses have a theme they're built around, and then there's these actions that take place in between the discourses. Now, we're going to look at the discourses in a future lecture in more detail, but I do want to talk about them a little bit here, particularly from Matthew's perspective, because they're giving us an understanding of how Matthew sees the world that he lives in and how he wants his readers to understand it. Let's look at each of those five that I just talked about.

We call these the five discourses, and that's going to be intriguing as we look at Jesus compared to the new Moses later on. The first of these is the Sermon on the Mountain. That's chapters 5 through 7, and the theme of that is Jesus's vision for establishing the kingdom of God. This is how we're supposed to live.

When you go through the Sermon on the Mount, it explains what a true Christian, a true disciple of Jesus, would live like and act like in community with other Christians. The second discourse is the instruction of the Twelve in chapter 10, where the disciples are told how to spread the gospel, and they're also warned. of coming persecution that they're going to experience.

So Jesus is preparing them for what he's expecting to prepare. The third discourse that we see is in chapter 13, and it's the parables of the kingdom, where he's talking about the kingdom of God. And so he's got these parables that teach what the kingdom of God is going to look like. He explains the rejection of the gospel by some and presence of evil in the world. He talks about growth and ministry of the kingdom of God in the face of...

persecution and in the face of opposition. The fourth discourse he gets to is in chapter 18, and this is the parables of the kingdom as well. But in this case, he explains how disciples are to relate to Jesus and how they're to relate to each other in light of the new kingdom. The last discourse we see are in chapters 24 and 25. We call it the Olivet Discourse, and it's more kingdom parables.

But in this, he speaks about the prophecies of destruction. and of the temple and of the events that are preceding the second coming of the Messiah. Now that we've just briefly talked about the discourses, again, we're going to have an entire lecture on these later on if you find this intriguing. Let's move to theology that we find in the Gospel of Matthew.

The most important thing that we see in the Gospel of Matthew in terms of theology is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Old Testament prophecies, predictions. the way that the Old Testament was supposed to be lived out. Jesus fulfills what the people of God could not do.

There's these messianic predictions that starts this off. One of the most significant things in the Gospel of Matthew is that Jesus is the Messiah, presented as the Messiah who's predicted in the Old Testament scriptures. This fulfillment highlighted the fulfillment in quotations in chapters one through four.

Each significant event in the life of Jesus that is recorded in the gospel of Matthew, is shown to be a fulfillment of Hebrew scripture prophecies. You'll often see that it says, it is said, and then he shows the example of how he fulfilled what was said or what was written. This is all part of a new kingdom of God. I said a moment ago, he's going to be like a new Moses. It's an important theme.

Jesus functions for Matthew in a real sense as a new Moses. Let's look at the parallels between the two. Starting from their birth narrative, when Moses was born, the babies were being executed and it was under duress because the Egyptians did not want this one to be born and raised that's going to bring freedom to the people under the Pharaohs. In an uncanny similar sense, when Jesus is born, there's death because Herod is afraid there's going to be a new king that's going to replace him. And so he starts to kill the babies in a way very similar to what happened during the time of Moses.

So the killing of children matches between Moses and Jesus. We have this idea of a flight of the baby. In the case of Moses, the flight was from his homeland in the land of the Hebrews in Goshen.

He was taken to the princess where he was taken care of and be delivered and raised up under the protection of the kings of Egypt. In a similar way, when Jesus was a baby, his parents escaped from Herod's reign and his reign of terror. And they went to Egypt of all places. And that's where they lived out while he was a baby until it was safe to return back to Palestine. There's this idea of the return.

Those who sought the child's life, it says in Exodus chapter 4, verse 19, it says those who sought his life are dead. When Moses had killed the Egyptian, he went off into exile. And then when those who sought his life are dead, he's able to come back. In a similar way, When Joseph and Mary goes off to Egypt, they are told that those who sought Jesus's life are dead.

It's almost the same verbiage between what we hear from Moses and what we hear from Jesus. I don't think it's an accident. Matthew is trying to help us understand Jesus as the new Moses. And so those who were going to kill Jesus are gone.

Therefore, they can return back to the promised land. Mary and Joseph, instead of going to Jerusalem, they go to Nazareth. As Jesus, as Moses went up the mount.

Sinai to get the law to deliver to his people. In a similar way, Jesus went up the Mount of Olives and offered a new law in Matthew 5 through 7. These aren't coincidental things. They are Matthew's way of showing how Jesus is a new Matthew.

So just as Moses gets the law from God on a mountain, Jesus gets the law of God to the people on the mountain. Instead of Mount Sinai, it's the Mount of Olives. where Jesus is speaking to the people in the Sermon on the Mount.

Moses writes down five books of the law, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And Matthew, interestingly, has these five books, if you will, these five discourse sections that are throughout the Gospel of Matthew as five discourses that I think are meant to replicate the five books of Moses. And so he's... Clearly presenting to a Jewish audience that Jesus is the fulfillment of this new Moses, this new idea. Whenever Moses was delivering the children of God from Egypt, they went through the Red Sea and the waters parted on both sides and they walked on dry land to be able to be rescued.

In a similar way, Jesus demonstrates power over water, but instead of separating the waters, he walks on the water. Again, I think Matthew's using a theme to show the power of Jesus as the new Moses. And these are things that happen, but the way that Matthew records them helps us to understand their significance.

Just as in the desert, Moses fed the people with manna that God provided, when Jesus was preaching to crowds and there wasn't enough food to eat, Jesus provided for the people with manna. them bread to eat when there was just a few loaves and fishes, and he multiplied it and was able to feed the thousands of people. All of these are ways that Matthew is showing his Jewish audience that Jesus is a new, and if you will, better Moses.

And so this is an important theme that we see in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew's presentation of Jesus as a new Moses fulfilled important theological purposes. Number one, it identifies Jesus as the Savior of his people. As Moses was a deliverer of the people of Israel, so now Jesus is a deliverer of the people that follow him, his new people, the church. Number two, it identifies Jesus as the redeemer of his people.

He's not just delivering them. He's going to redeem them. He's going to pay for them.

He's going to provide for them. He's going to create redemption so they can be in a right relationship with the father. Number three, it identifies Jesus as the deliverer of his people. So he's the savior.

He's the Redeemer and he's the Deliverer of the people and identifies Jesus as the Creator of his people. There was no Jewish nation prior to Moses. There was a Hebrew people.

They were the descendants of Israel and when Moses comes on the scene, he creates them as a nation. Jesus does the same. There's no Christians before Jesus.

Those who follow the way after the book of Matthew now can be identified as the people of God, the church. And so all of these are ways that it identifies Jesus as the new Moses and helps to create the identity of Jesus. Now, in a similar way, as he is presented as the new Moses, Jesus is also presented as the new David or the Davidic king. Matthew associates Jesus very closely with David.

He starts the book off with a genealogy that has David at the center of the genealogy. David's name appears five times in that genealogy when most people only appear one time. He includes a direct claim of Jesus as the son of David. And of course, Jesus is not the biological son of David.

Why would he isolate David out and call him the son of David? Because he's associating with David as the new David. In addition, David's name is used twice in the first two partitions of the genealogy. You would see it says so-and-so has so-and-so has so-and-so. this man begat this man, begat this man, and it has their names.

But David is listed twice in the genealogy. And if you look closely enough, he sort of takes up two spaces in the genealogy. There's these segments of 14s. There's 14, 14, and 14 generations that make up the ancestors of Jesus. And that ends up being 42 generations from the beginning until Jesus of the genealogy.

David occupies two of those. And that's curious. There's something that happens with Hebrew coding and Hebrew numbers that is called the gematra.

And in that, there's this understanding that if you can associate a name with a number, it adds weight to that association. And in the gematra of David, the numbering of David is 14. And this idea of these 14 generations and David is the dividing of two of those generations of 14. It identifies Jesus in the Hebrew sense with David. He's telling... his audience, for those who understand what he's doing, is that David is now represented in the person of Jesus.

Jesus is the new David. And so why would it be that he has this new David and new Moses? Well, David and Moses played two of the three critical roles in the Old Testament.

Moses represents the priest of the people to God. He's the one that went to God on behalf of the people. David is the one that represents the king of the people. for God. And so the Old Testament themes of priest and king are found in these two individuals.

Matthew is taking those identities and wrapping them around Jesus. Jesus is simultaneously both the new priest and the new king. Very interesting play with words that Matthew's doing in a way that if you look close enough, you see and appreciate what he's doing. His early Jewish audience would have reveled at reading it this way.

Matthew states that Jesus' family moved to Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken by the prophets. He says this in this way, that Jesus would be a Nazarene. If you look at the Old Testament, there's not actually a direct quote that's being quoted when it says that Jesus was going to be a Nazarene.

What it might actually allude to is this idea of a branch. The word branch in Hebrew is neser, and so a person who would be considered a branch would be what we would refer to as a neserim. And the idea there is that David is the branch.

of Jesse and that the branch of Jesse would live forever, that there would always be one that God would bless and be on the throne of God. God would always have as his king. And so Jesus is that branch of David. He is the king in fulfillment and he is the lawgiver of Moses.

And so all of this imagery is powerful in the gospel of Matthew and it's fun to read about. Jesus is also presented in the gospel of Matthew as the son of man. Now, if you watch the lecture, In Mark, you'll see that this is not something new.

Jesus was the son of man in Mark, and he probably borrowed some of that from the gospel of Mark, but it certainly plays a role in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus uses the phrase son of man in Matthew in the context of either teaching about the imminent suffering of the coming Messiah or the second coming. He has the two together well.

He uses the phrase for the suffering Messiah or the second coming. when he refers to the idea of the Son of Man. And so he's using it in a very specific way to help us identify that Jesus is human, but he's going to be the Messiah who suffers.

Another important theme that we see in the Gospel of Matthew is the idea of Jesus's atoning death. It's not just that Jesus is going to suffer. We saw that in the Gospel of Mark, but that that suffering comes, there's something that it does, that accomplishes, and it's an atoning death.

And there's some specific language that Matthew uses you don't find in the other gospels to help us to understand this. Matthew affirms the sacrificial system in the temple. He talks about it regularly.

He has demonstrations of the temple sacrifices and temple taxes that take place, but he refers to the sacrifices in a unique way. We see the concept of sacrifices all throughout the Bible. Matthew refers to the word sacrifice as gift rather than the word sacrifice.

Both terms are found in the Old Testament, but sacrifice is much more frequent and is associated when you take it to the temple itself as a sacrifice. This draws attention to Matthew's usage of this idea of a gift. There are passages where Matthew quotes or alludes to the Old Testament in which the Old Testament term is specifically sacrifice that he changes and uses the word gift. For example, When Matthew writes about the healing of the lepers in Matthew 8, 4, he writes that Jesus commanded the leper to offer his gift that Moses prescribed, which alters what Mark writes in Mark chapter 1, verse 44, what Moses prescribed for your cleansing as a testimony to them.

Mark's account suggests that the healing is a result of the sacrifice. But Matthew separates the healing from the sacrifice, and instead he turns the gift into more of an act of gratitude. He does this a lot in his gospel.

Matthew was evidently beginning to cause his readers to rethink the concept of sacrifice. He was setting the stage for the understanding of the work of Christ as a redemptive gift, as a payment for something. a new form of sacrifice. His quote in Isaiah 53, 4 and Matthew 8, 17 shows that he saw Jesus as the fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 53, the one whose sacrificial death was the means of atonement for sins.

He quotes the chapter of Isaiah 53 more frequently than he quotes any other book of the entire Old Testament. That one chapter alone he quotes more frequently than any other book in the Old Testament. Matthew was teaching that Jesus was the one true and effective sacrifice that would make a payment.

It would be a gift and that all other sacrifices, therefore, were somehow less significant. He's preparing the reader for the understanding that Jesus is going to pay the ultimate price for the sins of people. The Gospel of Matthew also talks about the Great Commission and also the inclusion of Gentiles in ways that you would not necessarily suspect if you think Matthew's only dealing with the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Matthew wrote as an announcement that Jesus was the hope of salvation to all people, not just to the Jewish people.

Though likely written for Jewish Christians, it is a very inclusive letter for all who read it from all backgrounds. Four examples. There are four Gentile women who are included in Matthew's genealogy.

People like Rahab and Tamar and Ruth. These are Gentile women that are included in the genealogy of Jesus. Not something a Jewish person would typically do, but it's indicating that the gospel is for all.

Foreign wise men come to visit baby Jesus and provide gifts for him, not Jewish leaders. And even not later leaders of the Jewish nation, they don't recognize who Jesus is, but foreigners do from the East somewhere. They recognize that Jesus is the Messiah.

Matthew 3, 6 warns that if Abraham's children reject Jesus, God will raise up new children that are not part of Abraham. Again, shocking stuff for someone who's quoting Old Testament literature. In Matthew 8, 15 through 13. Jesus offered to enter the house of a Roman centurion. This would have been unthinkable in his day for a rabbi to do.

But he was doing this taboo thing because he was claiming that the Gentiles' faith exceeded the faith that he had counted in Israel. He's saying that God's got faith outside of his people. In Matthew 12, verses 15 through 21, he identifies Jesus as the fulfillment of Isaiah 42, 1 through 3. A prophecy that climaxes with this promise, that the nations will put their hope in his name. Jesus is not just the hope of the Jewish people, he's the hope of the Gentile nations. Well, we're glad of that because most of us aren't probably of Jewish descent.

And finally, in Matthew 27, 54, similar to what we see in the Gospel of Mark, Matthew has the Roman centurion as the one who claims that this man is God's son. It's a Roman centurion that recognizes at the cross that Jesus is the Son of God. To conclude this lecture, let's look at a few more themes that kind of help us to understand the gospel of Matthew. Number one, Matthew's influence on Christian worship and ethics. Let's emphasize how Matthew's teachings have shaped Christian worship, particularly through the Lord's Prayer.

Most Christian traditions around the world throughout all of history have said the Lord's Prayer. prayer as part of the worship tradition. We see that in Matthew 6, 9 through 13. And then also the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, 13 through 12 are a significant portion of the practices of the Christian church and worship in the Christian church. These passages are central to Christian liturgy and ethics. They influence not only personal piety, but communal worship and moral teaching as well.

Another thing that is good for us to look at is how Matthew emphasizes discipleship. Let's highlight Matthew's ongoing significance, his strong significance on discipleship. The gospel repeatedly calls for a life of following Jesus, as seen in passages like the Great Commission, Matthew 28, 19 through 20, and Jesus' teachings on the cost of discipleship in Matthew 16, 24 through 26. Jesus presents discipleship. as a holistic commitment that involves faith, ethical living, and mission.

You can't just say you follow Jesus. You have to live out your faith. Let's look at the role of the church. Matthew's unique focus on the church as the ecclesia, or the gathering of God's people, particularly in passages like Matthew 16, 18-19, and Matthew 18, 15-20, are where these passages reflect an early understanding of what the church would look like and what the church's role is for the Christian community of believers, dealing with the issues of authority, discipline, and community life. The other gospels don't deal with the concept of the church.

And this could be because Matthew is written a little bit later. And so the church is now developed into a more of an organism by this time, but certainly his teachings on what the church looks like become foundational for the understanding of the church as well. Another important theme to recognize in the Gospel of Matthew is that the eschatological vision. Matthew sees the second coming of the Messiah as critical for the early church. Matthew's eschatological perspective is one that ends with end times and the return of Christ.

These are significant themes in Matthew. The Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24-25 not only provides a word for the future, but also serves as a call to the future. to readiness for the faithful to live life in the present. This eschatological vision underscores the urgency of the gospel message to impact Christians in the here and in life to come.

And finally, let's look at Matthew's gospel as a unifying document. Matthew's gospel serves as a unifying document for Jews and Christians that are Gentile, bridging cultural and theological divides. This is evident in Matthew's genealogy, the inclusiveness of his message to different of different peoples, and the way that he carefully interprets Jesus's life and teachings to resonate with diverse audiences.

Matthew is trying to portray Jesus as the Messiah for the Jews and the Gentiles. These points reinforce the theological depth, practical significance, and enduring influence of the gospel of Matthew in the life. of the church, and of individual believers.

Now, there are other things that we could look at in the Gospel of Matthew. I think it would be helpful just to kind of touch base with a couple of these before we close. Key themes in the Gospel of Matthew, if we took a little bit of a closer look, are the ideas of the kingdom of heaven that is unique to Matthew.

He refers to the kingdom of heaven where Mark talks about the kingdom of God. This phrase, kingdom of heaven, occurs 30 different times in the Gospel of Matthew. emphasizing that the present and future reality of God's rule on earth. So when he talks about kingdom of heaven, it's this idea of the kingdom of the atmosphere, that which is around us.

So God is around us, but now he's in control over us. In the second one, we would look at the fulfillment of Old Testament scripture. This theme is extremely important because, as I said a moment ago, Matthew is known by his demonstration of the Messiah Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament scripture. He fulfills the prophecies of the Old Testament. He lives out the pattern of the Old Testament.

He is the new Moses. He is the new Abraham. He is the new David.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Jesus functions as a teacher in Matthew greater than the other gospels, specifically Mark and Luke. He is a rabbi.

He's referred to as rabbi, which means teacher. Matthew himself emphasizes him as a rabbi or a teacher, presenting him as the new Moses while bringing in a new law on the Sermon on the Mount. There's also this concept of conflict and rejection that Jesus experiences when he's the Messiah. He's the Messiah that's coming for the people and one would expect would be well received, but instead he's rejected by the people. An important theme, finally, is discipleship and community.

Jesus makes it known that if you're going to follow him, you have to lay everything else aside and be a true follower of his. And that being part of the community of the faithful is a critical component to being in the body of Christ. Matthew is a great book.

It's one of the longer books in the New Testament. It's got the story of Jesus in it. We can understand so much of the gospel just with the gospel of Matthew alone.

It's a powerful book. It's an inclusive book. It's a book that shows Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament, and it sets the foundation for the church and the actions of Christians in the New Testament and beyond. We are blessed to have this book. May God bless you all.

Transcript for:Entendiendo el Evangelio de Mateo

Transcript for:
Entendiendo el Evangelio de Mateo