Bible Studies

Introduction To Matthew

The Gospel of Matthew is one of the Gospels of the New Testament. The word Matthew means "gift of the lord". It is a descriptive account of Jesus' life, his death, resurrection to the post resurrection. The Gospel of Matthew is considered as the first among all the Gospels of the New Testament. This account is originally anonymous but the authorship has conventionally been given to Matthew the Evangelist. Matthew was a tax collector who later became an Apostle to Jesus. There is still a dispute over who actually wrote the Gospel though it bears Matthew's name. Many of the church authorities refuse his authority over the Gospel. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are together described as Synoptic Gospels. But the Gospel of Matthew has been placed at the highest positions among all the gospels by the church authorities as it the only reliable account of Jesus' life. As Matthew was one of the earliest disciples of Jesus, he had the privilege of being closely associated with his life. He was one among the highly educated people of those times.

Overview

The New Testament is a structurally organized collection of text. One of them is the Gospels which has been sub structured further. This book is comprised of four distinct sections as given below:

- Two introductory sections:

Main section: contained the information about the genealogy, birth and childhood of Jesus Christ. This was further sub divided into five sections.

Second section: this section followed the main section and was comprised of narrative components and the discourse of Christ's ministry.

- The discourses and action of Jesus Christ in Galilee. - The privations, sufferings, death and the resurrection of Jesus.

There is no evidence to elucidate when was the Gospel of Matthew was written. But according to people of Christian theologies, it dates back to some 70 and 100 years. It is believed that Matthew had preached in Palestine while he was writing this Gospel in Hebrew. He then went to Antioch in Syria where he completed his writings in Greek.

Conclusion

The Gospel of Matthew is a book describing the life of Jesus Christ, he deeds and how we are supposed to implement them in our life. It is the most popular among the Bible readers. The main objective of this gospel was to show that Jesus was the imminent Messiah and all the conventional prophesies found their fulfillment in him. The Old Testament is believed to have predicted the birth, life and mission of someone who would change the world and would be known as Messiah. There are more than 60 citations and references for the same in the Old Testament.

Bible Studies