![]() The Infancy Narrative of Matthew comprises the first two Chapters and emphasizes the appearance of an Angel of the Lord in a dream to Joseph, the Star of Bethlehem to guide the Visit of the Magi, Joseph's role in the Flight into Egypt before the Massacre of the Innocents, and the return of the Holy Family to Nazareth. There are elements to Matthew's Gospel that are unique to it alone. Matthew 18:10 is traditionally cited as biblical evidence of Guardian Angels. In the Parable of the Wedding Feast, the King remarks, "For many are called but few are chosen" (22:14). Matthew relates ten Parables on the Kingdom of Heaven, seven of which occur in Chapter 13 and are central to his Gospel. Characteristic of all three are the Parables of Jesus. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels, as they follow a similar pattern in describing the Life of Jesus and his teachings. The 'keys to the kingdom of heaven' in 16:19 recalls Isaiah 22:20-25 and indicates the rite of succession to the Steward of the Kingdom. The name Peter or Πέτροϛ in 16:18 is the same as the word for rock - kepha in Aramaic or Κηϕᾶϛ in Greek. Upon Peter's statement "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," Jesus designates the Apostle Simon Peter to lead his Church (Matthew 16:15-19). Matthew records five major speeches of Christ Jesus: the Sermon on the Mount (5-7) the Missionary Sermon to the Apostles (10) the Parables of the Kingdom (13) the Discourse on Life in the early Christian community the Church (18) and his eschatological speech on the End Times (24-25). The relative pronoun "of whom" in Greek is ῆς, which clearly refers to Mary, for it is specific to the feminine gender! And the passive voice of the verb ἐγεννήθη - "was born" - is the only passive among the forty occurrences of γεννάω in the genealogy, which prepares the way for the divine conception and natural birth of Jesus Christ in 2:1. ![]() The genealogy regularly notes the male who fathers a child, but Matthew delivers an exact statement when he reaches Joseph, "the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born" (1:16). Matthew names five women in the Genealogy: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the wife of Uriah (Bathsheba), and Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Gospel begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham (1:1). Just as the twelve sons of Jacob were the origin of the twelve tribes of Israel, Jesus as the Christ chose Twelve Apostles to inaugurate the Kingdom of Heaven. He is called the Son of David nine times in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus calls himself the Son of Man thirty times, fulfilling the destiny of the Messianic figure in Daniel 7:13. Yeshua, his very name in Hebrew, means "the Lord Saves." Jesus grew up in Nazareth of Galilee and was called a Nazarene (2:23). He was named "Jesus because he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). For example, Jesus fulfills the prophecies of Isaiah 7:14, that the Lord is to be born of a virgin and Micah 5:2, that the Lord is to be born in Bethlehem. ![]() The Gospel of Matthew emphasized that Jesus is the Christ (1:16, 16:16) foretold in Hebrew Scripture, our Old Testament, and that the Kingdom of the Lord is the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew's Gospel is directed to an audience steeped in Hebrew tradition. Indeed, the Acts of the Apostles (11:26) recorded that the followers of Jesus were first called Christians in Antioch. The Gospel of Matthew was possibly written in Antioch, Syria, an early home of Christianity. The Gospel of Matthew is especially important for it is one of the two Gospels originally written by an Apostle (the other being the Gospel of John). Known as the Great Commission, the Gospel closes with Jesus calling the Apostles, "to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded to you" (28:19-20). Christ reaffirms the Law of Moses (5:17) and the Commandments of God (19:17-19). Jesus states the Golden Rule in the Sermon on the Mount (7:12). Noted especially for Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Chapters 5-7, Matthew is the source of the Beatitudes (5:3-10) and the Lord's Prayer, the Our Father (6:9-13). ![]() Matthew is one of the most quoted books of the Bible. The four Gospels are followed by the Acts of the Apostles, the Letters of Paul beginning with Romans, the catholic or universal letters beginning with James, and the Book of Revelation. The Gospel according to Matthew - Μαθθαῖον - is the opening book of the New Testament of the Bible, and the first of the Four Gospels, Matthew,
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