in general

• Matthew was the gospel most used and most revered by the early church, which is why it was placed first in the canon.
• It was considered to be the gospel that most successfully connected Jesus to the Old Testament, and most successfully portrayed Christianity as the continuation of Judaism, which suited early Christian apologetic purposes.
• It was regarded as the first gospel written among those that came to be included in the New Testament by the patristic writers (church fathers).

Matthew's Relationship to the Other Synoptics

• If we accept the Four Source Theory as a model for the development of the gospel tradition, then we assume that Matthew has probably copied from Mark.
• He has also apparently copied material from a source that is no longer known to us, but was known to the author of Luke.
  • This source was apparently a list of Jesus' teachings and has been designated "Q" (from Quelle, German for "source").
• There is also material in Matthew that is unique to his gospel, which is referred to as "M" material.
• The main storyline from Mark remains relatively unchanged in Matthew.
• The primary effect of adding the Q & M material has been the addition of a large amount of teachings or sayings of Jesus.
  • Much (but not all) of the Q & M material occurs in five big "blocks" in Mt:
    • Chapters 5-7: "The Sermon on the Mount"
    • Chapter 10: "The Missionary Discourse"
    • Chapter 13: "The Parables of the Kingdom"
    • Chapter 18: "The Community Discourse"
    • Chapters 24-25: "The Eschatological Discourse"
  • Contained within these sections are some of the most well-known and memorable verses of the NT (Lord's Prayer, Beatitudes, Golden Rule).

How does Matthew use/change Mark?

• He groups together stories from the same genre or with similar content
  • Matthew moves five of Mark's miracle stories to chs. 8-9, where other miracle stories occur.
• Details that Matthew considers irrelevant or inaccurate are edited out.
  • The roof that the paralytic is lowered through is deleted (9:1-8).
  • The woman with a hemorrhage is alone; there is no crowd (9:18-22).
•   Matthew changes material to make it more relevant to his own community.
  • Matthew's community is apparently Jewish Christian; he omits all references to Jewish customs in Mark.
  • Also changes "Kingdom of God" to "Kingdom of Heaven," a phrase which Jews would have considered more reverent (no direct mention of God).
  • Matthew's community is more "urban" (Is Mark's community rural? Doubtful; see Intro to Mark). Mt changes "village" in Mk to "city" (polis).

• "Idealized" image of Jesus. Matthew has higher Christology than Mark.

  • All questions that imply a lack of knowledge on Jesus' part are omitted (9:18-31).
  • Statements that imply a lack of ability are changed (13:58).
  • Number of references to human emotions is reduced.
  • Matthew claims that Jesus' followers "worshipped" him or "paid homage" to him.
  • Matthew prefers the title "lord" for Jesus (as opposed to "rabbi"- found more commonly in Mark).
• Image of the disciples is changed. In Mk, there are some things about Jesus that the disciples seem to never understand. In Mt, this impression is changed so that they do understand- after Jesus explains it to them.
  • Negative stories about disciples are often changed (Mt 20:20-27).
  • References to disciples "worshipping" Jesus and calling him "Lord" or "Son of  God" are added (Mt 14:22-33)- indicating that they understood who he was well before his death.  
  • Where Mark saw the disciples as without faith, Matthew prefers the phrase "little faith."
    • Jesus addresses his disciples as people of little faith four times in Matthew.
    • Two people are mentioned as having "great faith"- a centurion (8:10) and a Canaanite woman (15:28).
      • Both of them are Gentiles.
      • Neither of them is "called" or "commissioned" by Jesus.
    • Twice Matthew describes the disciples as "doubting"- but in the same two passages they are also said to worship him (14:32 & 28:17).
• Mt's portrait of the Jewish leadership gets worse:
  • Jairus and Joseph of Arimathea are no longer mentioned as Jewish leaders (Mk 5:22; 15:43 & Mt 9:18; 27:57).
  • Jesus speaks negatively of the title "rabbi."
  • John and Jesus both chastise the Jewish leadership as a "brood of vipers."

Characteristics of Matthew:

• The only gospel to use the word ekklesia or "church."
  • The term is used twice: in 16:17-20 and again in 18:15-18.
  • Ekklesia does not refer to a building, but to a group. It is similar in meaning but distinct from the Greek work for "synagogue," or "assembly."
• The author frequently uses numerology, or numbers with symbolic religious significance:
  • 5 discourses, like five books of Torah  
  • 12 fulfillment citations
  • Genealogy symbolism:
    • Matthew breaks Jesus' genealogy into three sets of fourteen generations, possibly because the Hebrew letters for David ("DVD"; no vowels in Hebrew) add up to 14 (4+6+4).
  • Other numbers: 3= God or divinity; 4= the entire earth; 6= imperfection or evil; 7= completeness or creation; 10= number of men needed to start a synagogue; 40= new covenant, or new relationship with God.
• The author often doubles the number of characters in a story, probably to insure the proper number of witnesses, according to Jewish law. Compare Mark and Matthew on the following:
  • Gerasene Demoniac:  Mk 5:1-14 // Mt 8:28-33
  • Blind Man:   Mk 10:46-52 // Mt 20:29-34  
  • See also 18:20- "Where two or three are gathered..."
• Peter receives special attention, with many added stories unique to Matthew.  
  • Only in Matthew's version of "Peter's Confession" (16:13-20) does Peter receive the "keys to the kingdom" and the "powers of binding and loosing"- rabbinic terms for the authority to determine who is allowed into the kingdom, and the authority to determine what interpretation of the law is binding.
  • Also unique to Matthew:
    • Peter walking on water (14:22-33)
    • Jesus sends Peter to pay the temple tax (17:24-27)
    • Jesus' saying on forgiveness is directed to Peter (18:21-22)
  • This suggests that Peter was held in high esteem by Matthew's  community, possibly because Matthew's church had been founded by Peter.
• Conflicting attitude towards Judaism.
  • In some passages, it is clear that Matthew holds the traditions of Judaism in high esteem, and it is clear that his own community is Jewish Christian in orientation. He portrays Jesus' mission as being directed exclusively to Jews:
    • 10:5- "Go nowhere among the nations"
    • 15:24- "Go only to the lost sheep"
    • 17:24-27- paying the temple tax
    • 23:2-3- "Do whatever they teach, not what they do"  
    • However, at the end of the gospel, Jesus' "great commission" to his disciples expands the mission to include gentiles (28:18-20).
  • Matthew holds the Mosaic law in particularly high esteem, and he portrays Jesus as demanding a radically strict adherence to it:
    • 5:17- "Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill."
  • In other passages, Matthew's attitude is harshly anti-Jewish. His attitude turns particularly negative when dealing with the Jewish authorities, whose interpretation of the law competes with his own:
    • 12:34 & 23:33- Jesus and John refer to the Jewish leaders as a "Brood of vipers"
    • 9:4; 12:34; 16:4- The Jewish authorities are described as "evil" and "unfaithful"
    • 21:43- Jesus claims that the "kingdom of God will be taken away" from the chief priests and the Pharisees.
  • 27:25 is infamously vitriolic:
    • When Pilate presents the choice of Jesus or Barabbas to the crowds, the crowds demand that Jesus be executed and exclaim, "His blood be upon us and upon our children."
  • Matthew's anti-Judaism often has apocalyptic overtones. He portrays the Jewish leaders as representative of the power of evil in the world, the very power that Christ was sent to defeat.
    • In 15:13, for example, Jesus seems to suggest that the Pharisees are not from God, they are "plants that my heavenly Father has not planted."
• Jesus as fulfillment of prophecy. Matthew sees the fulfillment of prophecy in each major stage of Jesus' life.
  • There are twelve fulfillment citations from prophets, where Matthew explicitly states that an event in Jesus' life has fulfilled prophecy.
  • Matthew has over 200 quotes/allusions to the Old Testament.

• Above, I discussed how Matthew idealizes Jesus in his gospel. He alters stories in Mark that appeared to portray Jesus as uncomfortably human, as not all-knowing or all-powerful, or as too emotionally motivated.
  • This raises the question of how Matthew wants the reader to perceive Jesus' identity in his gospel. 
  • Mark apparently has no problem with portraying a human Jesus because that is precisely how he saw Jesus- nowhere in Mark is Jesus explicitly referred to as divine.
    • Even the titles given to Jesus in Mark do not automatically suggest divinity.
      • "Son of God," for example is used in the OT as a title for David and Solomon, among others, and in no case does it confer divinity, rather it describes a relationship: "sons" of God are those particularly close to him, those chosen as his spokesperson or representative.
      • "Messiah" merely means "anointed" and was used in the OT to refer to Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, and even the Persian king Cyrus the Great, none of whom were considered divine.
    • This does not, however, necessarily mean that Mark did not consider Jesus divine, and it is clear that Mark assumes Jesus' status as Messiah and Son of God includes powers normally reserved for God- probably the basis of the blasphemy charge regularly thrown at Jesus.

• Five women are mentioned in Jesus' genealogy.
• Peter receives the "keys to the kingdom," and the powers of "binding and loosing."
• Uses the phrase "Kingdom of Heaven" rather than "Kingdom of God".
• Jesus insists that the entire Mosaic law must be followed.
• Jesus is called by the title "Lord" 79 times.
• Magi witness Jesus' birth.
• Jesus given the name "Emmanuel" at birth.
• Divides Jesus' genealogy into three sets of fourteen generations.
• The mother of James and John asks Jesus to let her sons sit at his right and left side in the kingdom.
• "His blood be upon us and upon our children."
• Characteristically doubles characters to ensure the proper number of witnesses.
• Infancy narrative parallels the story of Moses' life.
• Judas dies by hanging himself.
• "Blessed are the poor in spirit."
• The most used and revered gospel for the early church.
• Pilate is warned by his wife to have nothing to do with Jesus.
• The only gospel to use the word "church."
• Jesus described as the "son of the carpenter."
• Twelve fulfillment citations, where Jesus fulfills prophecies from the OT.
• The only gospel to mention the price for Judas' betrayal (thirty pieces of silver).
• Placed first in the canon of the New Testament.
• "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness."
• Joseph and Mary are forced to flee from Bethlehem to Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod.
• Judas betrays Jesus because he misunderstands  who he is, calling him "rabbi" rather than "Lord."
• Pilate "washes his hands" of the responsibility for Jesus' death.
• Jesus is baptized only after disagreement with John over whether or not he should be.
• Frequently uses numerology, or numbers with symbolic significance.
• Focuses the most on Jesus' identity as a true Israelite.
• The "Sermon on the Mount."
• Jesus is clothed in a scarlet military cloak by the soldiers who mock him.
• "Go and learn the meaning of the words, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'"
• Jesus claims that "all who take the sword will perish by the sword."
• "...this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins."
• 6 "Antitheses" where Jesus rejects or expands upon the Mosaic Law.
• Peter tries to walk on water.
• An earthquake occurs when Jesus dies.
• Peter pays the temple tax with a coin taken from the mouth of a fish.
• The Parable of the Bridesmaids.
• The resurrected Jesus sends forth his disciples to preach the good news of God to the world.
• Pilate places a guard outside Jesus' tomb.
• The guards at Jesus' tomb are bribed to say that Jesus' disciples stole his body from the tomb while they were sleeping.
• Peter asks Jesus how many times one must forgive, and Jesus responds, "not seven times but seventy-seven times."
• The "saints" are raised from the dead when Jesus dies.
• "The book of the geneaology of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."
• "Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh."
• "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest."
• "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
• "Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you."
• "The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers and burned their city."
• "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."
• "The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice."
• "As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers."
• "You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity."
• "You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of filth."
• "And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

• Explain Matthew's apparent ambivalence towards Judaism. What aspects of Judaism does Matthew respect and try to preserve? What aspects does he reject? What does this tell us about the author's own community? How does this help us to understand Matthew's one-dimensional portrayal of Jesus' opponents?

• If the traditional assumptions about the authorship of the gospel of Matthew are true, how do these assumptions affect our understanding of and solution to the synoptic problem? What problems arise with the assumption of Markan priority if Matthew is written by an eyewitness to Jesus' ministry? Consider the question in reverse: What problems arise with the assumption that an eyewitness to Jesus' life wrote Matthew, if Mark was in fact written first?

• Consider the role of Jesus' family in Mark and Matthew. How do these two gospels differ in their portrayal of Jesus' parents and siblings? What new information do we learn about Jesus' family in Matthew? Now that we have two gospels to compare, what information about Jesus' family is notably ABSENT from Mark?

• Discuss Matthew's use of the Old Testament in his gospel. Give examples of ways Matthew both "prooftexts" and alludes to the OT in his narrative of Jesus' life. Which OT characters does Matthew consider archetypical for his portrayal of Jesus? How does he reveal this in the text?

• On This Site:
  • The Gospels
  • The Synoptic Problem
  • The Gospel of Mark
  • The Gospel of Luke
  • The Gospel of John