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Introduction: Matthew was the earliest church's favorite gospel.

Introduction: Matthew was the earliest church's favorite gospel. . R.P. Martin points to five factors that led to this popularity:. Martin, NT Foundations 1: 224-6.

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Introduction: Matthew was the earliest church's favorite gospel.

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  1. Introduction: Matthew was the earliest church's favorite gospel.

  2. R.P. Martin points to five factors that led to this popularity: • Martin, NT Foundations 1: 224-6.

  3. 1) The need for a "New Law" to replace Mosaic Law for the Gentile Church led immediately to Matthew's Gospel, in particular, to the Sermon on the Mount.

  4. 2) The need for instruction for new converts led to Matthew's Gospel ; in particular, Matthew's discourses were important for teaching the basics.

  5. 3) Early "hot topics": e.g., the inclusion of some infancy stories about Jesus satisfied early interests and led to Matthew (and Luke) as opposed to Mark; the inclusion of material on church discipline (Matt 18).

  6. 4) Polemical and apologetical problems found a sure home in Matthew for here Jesus rebuts Judaism and here there are some "proofs" of Jesus' messiahship.

  7. 5) Early Christian views (particularly expressed by Papias) about Matthew having recorded the "oracles of the Lord" surely aided the popularity of Matthew.

  8. For an introduction to Matthew, one cannot do better than R.T. France’s book Matthew: Evangelist and Teacher (Zondervan: 1989). For a good devotional commentary on Matthew France’s work is very, very good. For a more technical work, see Hagner, or the magnificent Davies and Allison.

  9. The Authorship of Matthew • The anonymity of the Gospels • Was Matthew originally written in Hebrew? • Arguments for Matthean Authorship: • Theological implications of the question.

  10. The Date of Matthew • Arguments for a date from A.D. 80-90 • The relationship with Mark. There are two problems with this argument: • Jesus predictions of the destruction of Jerusalem. (see for example Matt. 22) • The use of the phrase “until today” in 11:2; 27:8; and 28:15 may suggest an interval between the events and the writing.

  11. Arguments for a date before A.D. 70 • The anti-Judaism of the book seems to point to a period when the church had fully separated from Judaism. • The Patristic tradition-Irenaeus dates the gospel in the early sixties. • The forward looking nature of all the references to the destruction of Jerusalem.

  12. DATE • There is no sign in Matthew that any of the Pauline Epistles were known. • Gundry, in his commentary on Matthew has a fairly impressive list of specific passages which point to the period before the Jewish war in A.D. 70.

  13. The Style of Matthew • Matthew's Gospel is balanced, both in structure and style. • Matthew focuses his Gospel on the sayings of Jesus.

  14. The Structure of Matthew. • The Geographical-Chronological approach: • The Five-fold approach: • The Two-fold approach: • The Mountains approach: • The Eclectic approach:

  15. Five important factors. • 1) The genre of the synoptic Gospels, in particular, Matthew. • 2) The presence of theological overlays and motivations (e.g. exile). • 3) The influence of sources • 4) The presence of thematic sections • 5) The use of formal devices. The most important is the alternation between narrative and discourse.

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