How does the book of Matthew begin?

Answer 1

AnswerWe know little about the origins of Matthew's Gospel. some have speculated that the author wrote for a mainly Jewish audience, because he made so many references to the Old Testament. Others have pointed out that his use of Old Testament material out of context and from the Septuagint, a flawed early Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, would have been quickly apparent to the Jews, who would have rejected his message.

Most critical scholars say that Matthew's Gospel was written in the 80s of the first century CE by an anonymous author, and was later attributed, by the Church Fathers, to the apostle Matthew. We do know that the principal source used by the author of Matthew for the life and Mission of Jesus, was Mark's Gospel, written some ten or twenty years earlier. The author is also considered to have used a hypothetical sayings document, now known as the 'Q' document, as a source for many sayings or parables attributed to Jesus.

Answer 2

The Gospel of Matthew was written in Greek Koine, originally anonymously. Eusebius indicates that Papias, the bishop of Hieropolis of Phrygia, first associated Matthew, the tax collector with the first Gospel, around 130 CE. Nevertheless, there are good reasons for believing that the disciple Matthew was not the real author of the Gospel that now bears his name, in fact scholars say that it could not have been written by an eyewitness to the events that it portrays.

Matthew's Gospel is largely based on Mark's Gospel and includes 600 of the 666 verses in Mark. Whenever Matthew agrees with Mark, the sequence and words in the Greek language are almost identical. It also relies on the hypothetical 'Q' document for sayings attributed to Jesus.

Matthew was written some ten to twenty years after Mark - during the eighties of the first century. It appears that the author was responding to criticisms that Christianity was a new superstition and did not deserve the respect accorded to paganism and Judaism. He countered this by including a great many references to the Hebrew scriptures, to provide the necessary impression of antiquity.

At the time of writing, the Jewish religion was in turmoil after the disastrous end of the First Jewish-Roman War. These scriptural references and frequent portrayals of the Old Testament as prophesying or foreshadowing the life of Jesus may also have been intended to show Christianity as the natural successor to Judaism.

Answer 3

Matthew's Gospel begins with one version of the genealogy of Jesus, back through Joseph and the royal line of Judah to Abraham. This differs from the Old Testament genealogy of the royal line of Judah in that Kings Jehoash, Amaziah and Uzziah have been omitted. Verse 1:17 explains why: "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations." In other words, the author of Matthew was using numerology to prove to his readers that Jesus was destined for greatness. He sought to demonstrate that dramatically important persons or events occurred every fourteen generations, but had to omit three kings from the Old Testament, to get the number of generations right.

Answer 4

Matthew begins with a genealogy of Jesus Christ:

Matthew 1:1-4 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:

Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. etc