answersLogoWhite

0


Best Answer

Scholars now know that the author of Matthew's Gospel relied entirely on Mark's Gospel for information about the life and mission of Jesus. Whenever the two gospels agree, the wording is the same in Greek, something that could not happen unless one gospel was being copied. Matthew also relies on the hypotheticasl 'Q' document for sayings attributed to Jesus.

Since Matthew, and therefore his community, had a copy of Mark's Gospel, there must have been a compelling reason to write an entirely new gospel rather than simply writing out more copies of Mark.

When we look at the differences between Matthew and Mark, we can see a defensive strategy in Matthew. The author goes to considerable pains to demonstrate that Jesus was both prophesied and foreshadowed in the Old Testament. In particular, he tells how Jesus was born of a virgin, as he believed the prophet Isaiah prophesied, that magi came from the east to worship the baby Jesus and even that Herod feared for his throne on hearing of Jesus. He also describes angelic visitations and awe-inspiring miracles that do not appear in the other gospels.

A reasonable conclusion is that Mark's Gospel was being criticised for a certain lack of plausibility, which Matthew set out to counter in his new gospel. If Mark's Gospel was facing this criticism, we could find Luke's Gospel being written for the same reason, although the author of that gospel sought to bolster its credibility by inserting apparent historical references. So a concern or issue that could be read out of Matthew is the need for a more convincing gospel story.

User Avatar

Wiki User

13y ago
This answer is:
User Avatar

Add your answer:

Earn +20 pts
Q: Were there any concerns or issues in the community of the audience of Matthew's gospel?
Write your answer...
Submit
Still have questions?
magnify glass
imp
Continue Learning about Math & Arithmetic

What was the gospel Matthews cultural background?

Jewish


What was context of the times of the Gospel of John?

Like the other gospels, John's Gospel was written about the times when Jesus is believed to have lived.John's Gospel was originally written anonymously early in the second century and only attributed to the disciple whose name it now bears later in the second century. It appears to have been written in a closed, Gnostic Christian community, but has been modified subsequently, to remove some of the more overt Gnostic content and make it more acceptable to a broader Christian audience. Scholars reading the First Epistle of John, written in the same community, say that it points to a split in that community soon after the Gospel was written. Part of the community joined another branch of Christianity, more aligned to the synoptic gospels, taking a copy of John with them and amending it to better suit their new faith. The other part of the community probably joined other Gnostic communities which were eventually defeated by the emerging dominance of the Christianity of the synoptic gospels. The Gnostic version of John's Gospel no longer exists.


Who did Mark write to in the Bible?

Mark primarily wrote to a Gentile audience especially a Roman audience. Mark is the Gospel of action and this would appeal to the practical, action-oriened Romans. Jesus is portrayed as the Servant who came to suffer for the sins of many.


In what community did Luke write his gospel?

We know little about the community in which Luke his Gospel, but we can infer some things. The Gospel was written in Greek Koine, long after 70 CE and very possibly in the first decade of the second century. It was therefore, no doubt, intended for a community somewhere in the Middle East around the end of the first century.There is no reason to believe that Luke's Gospel was written by Luke, the companion of Paul, an attribution that was only made later in the second century. It is possible to establish that this Luke knew nothing about the gospel Jesus, other than what he found in an incomplete copy of Marks' Gospel. Whenever Luke agrees with Mark, the text is almost identical in Greek, something that could not happen unless one Gospel was being copied. We also have the "Missing Block", a section of text that was obviously missing from the copy of Mark that Luke was using. That he was trying to follow Mark faithfully and did not know that there were missing sheets in his copy, is demonstrated by the fact that he unintelligibly merged the verses from Mark, before and after the Missing Block. Given the importance of material in the "Missing Block", particularly the miracle of walking on water, we could expect that Luke would have added this material from his other sources, if any such sources were known to him. If Luke knew nothing of the gospel story, we can infer that Luke's community knew nothing about the gospel Jesus before Luke began to preach from his Gospel, although they might have received the 'Q' document, which contained sayings attributed to Jesus.So we can build a picture of a Greek-speaking, gentile community in the Middle East, with no knowledge of the gospel stories, but which could have read and followed the sayings of Jesus from the 'Q' document, and wondered about the great man behind those sayings.


What is the first gospel found in the bible?

According to the bible the first gospel found i it is the Gospel of Matthew, it has a total of 28 chapters in it, this gospel is followed by the gospel of Mark.

Related questions

Was John's Gospel only for his community?

No. John's Gospel was written for all men in all ages that they might believe. It is universal in its intended audience.


What was the gospel Matthews cultural background?

Jewish


When was Community of the Gospel created?

Community of the Gospel was created in 2007.


Gospel play mama I'm sorry who wrote?

Michael Matthews


What was the location of the audience in the gospel Matthew?

Galilee


Who was the audience for the gospel of wealth?

Wealthy Americans


Which gospel was written for an audience?

Rhoads, Dewey and Michie (Mark as Story) say that Mark's Gospel was designed to be performed orally by a narrator to an audience that would have, for the main part, been illiterate.


Who was the audience of the apostle John?

A:The apostle John is traditionally attributed with writing the Gospel that now bears his name, as well as the three epistles that also bear the same name. John's Gospel was the last New Testament gospel to be written. There is good evidence that this gospel was inspired by Luke's Gospel, and it is generally considered to have been written sometime in the first two decades of the second century. The Gospel was apparently written in a closed community, possibly a mildly Gnostic one, and this community is now known as the Johannine Community because of the Gospel's name. However, there is uncertainty as to where the community was located.Scholars say that 1 John was written shortly after a painful split in the 'Johannine' Community. The author wanted to charge his opponents with being sinners (1 John 1:8-10), but did not want to offer his opponents the promise of forgiveness. First John was written to those members of this community who had decided to join a more centrist Christian movement, and the despised opponents were those who left, to follow a Gnostic Christian path.


Who was John's primary audience?

Unlike the other gospels, scholars are unsure regarding the intended audience of John's gospel. Some believe it was mainly a Gentile audience.


Who was Matthew's gospel written for and by?

Matthews Gospel was written by Matthew [also called Levi] for fellow Jews. His account highlights many of the Hebrew messianic prophecies that were fulfilled in connection with Jesus.


Which religious movement was joined by organized labor to improve work concerns?

Social Gospel movement


What was the culture of John the gospel writer?

Scholars say that John's Gospel was written within a closed community now known as the 'Johannine community' from the tradition that the Gospel was written by the apostle John. The location of this community is unknown, but some scholars believe that it was a mildly Gnostic community. They say that after the community split, which can be identified in the Epistles of John, part of the community joined a more centrist branch of Christianity and modified John's Gospel to remove much of the Gnostic content. The other part of the community probably joined a more Gnostic branch of Christianity, but its version of the Gospel has been lost to us. The members of the Johannine community were probably relatively well-to-do, based on John's emphasis on the rich and poweful friends of Jesus.