To say that Matthew is “pro-Jewish” is incorrect it is better to say that he is “pro-Jesus,” and presents Jesus as the authentic Jewish Messiah, whom sadly many of the Jewish people (especially the religious establishment) rejected. We also see that Matthew is deeply critical of the Jewish leadership and their rejection of Jesus. So the Gospel of Matthew is deeply rooted in Judaism, but at the same time is able to look beyond it sees the gospel itself as more than a message for the Jewish people rather it is a message for the whole world. Yet significantly, the Gospel of Matthew also triumphantly ends with Jesus commanding His followers to make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19-20). Matthew uses the more Jewish phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” instead of “Kingdom of God.”.Matthew frequently refers to Jesus as the “Son of David.”.Matthew presents the name of Jesus and its meaning in a way that assumes the reader knows its Hebrew roots (Matthew 1:21).Matthew starts his genealogy with Abraham (Matthew 1:1).Matthew refers to Jewish customs without explanation (Matthew 15:2 to Mark 7:3-4 see also Matthew 23:5). Matthew doesn’t translate Aramaic terms such as raca (Matthew 5:22) and corban ( Matthew 15:5).There are many indications that Matthew expected that his readers would be familiar with Jewish culture. The Jewish character of this Gospel is evident in many ways. For these reasons, the early church placed it first in order among the four gospel accounts. The Jewish flavor of the Gospel of Matthew makes for a logical transition between the Old and New Testaments.“Matthew’s Gospel was in fact far more quoted in Christian writings of the second Christian century than any other.” (France).It was the only one of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) to have an apostolic author – Matthew (who was also known as Levi), who was a former tax collector before he followed Jesus as a disciple.The early Christians rightly saw the Gospel of Matthew as important because it has some significant portions of Jesus’ teaching that are not included in other gospels, such as a fuller version of the Sermon on the Mount.In the early days of Christianity, many people thought that the Gospel of Matthew was the first written.“It is a remarkable fact that, among the variations in the order in which the Gospels appear in early lists and texts, the one constant factor is that Matthew always comes first.” (France).There are many reasons why Matthew belongs first among the gospel accounts. Though most New Testament scholars believe that the Gospel of Matthew was not the first of the four written, it is well placed as the first book of the New Testament. Matthew begins his account of the life of Jesus Christ with the record of the lineage of Jesus from the patriarch Abraham. The Son of David, the Son of Abraham: In this overview of explaining the lineage of Jesus, Matthew clearly and strongly connects him to some of the greatest men in the history of the Old Testament. “We know that he was a tax-gatherer and that he must therefore have been a bitterly hated man, for the Jews hated the members of their own race who had entered the civil service of their conquerors.” (Barclay)ī. “Matthew nobly used his literary skill to become the first man ever to compile an account of the teaching of Jesus.” (Barclay) We might say that when Matthew followed Jesus, he left everything behind – except his pen and paper. Some think that Matthew was the “recorder” among the disciples and took notes of Jesus’ teaching. A tax collector of that day must know Greek and be a literate, well-organized man. As a former tax collector (also called “Levi”), Matthew was qualified to write an account of Jesus’ life and teachings.
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