Matthew

Who is Matthew?

Jew - Levi

tax collector

little Mohke, Zacchaeus is a big Mohke

Levi - Jewish name

apostle, evangelist to Ethiopia (Martyrs Mirror)

died around AD 70, burned at stake or nailed to the ground and beheaded

early church unanimously attributed this gospel to Matthew the apostle

Matthew 9:9 ESV

9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

The Gospel According to...

99 references to OT, more than Mark, Luke, John combined

“This was to fulfill...”

quotes from every OT section/genre

Jesus is the Messiah

lineage traced to David and Abraham

fulfillment of promise

takes every opportunity to highlight that Jesus is the promise, the anointed one, the savior. Highlights moments in His life in which unusual people understood who He was - Matt. 8 - 9 - 15(Canaanite woman)

this means he also highlights the rejection of Jesus more vividly than any other gospel writer. He is the Jewish Messiah but also rejected by the Jewish people

Matthew even guards Jewish sensitivities about speaking the name of God by referring to “the kingdom of heaven 32x” where the other evangelists speak of “the kingdom of God.”

MacArthur, John. 2003. The MacArthur Bible Handbook. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

- not necessarily in chronological order. He has a reason for writing what he is writing

This is a discipleship Gospel

Matthew is calling people to follow the one who was promised who has come. He is worthy.

No other gospel writer records this much of Jesus teaching. Luke is not far behind.

after the initial introduction to Jesus incarnation and baptism, He is taken into the wilderness to show us how He will overcome what Adam, and us cannot.