Matthew is more than 50% longer than Mark, the greater length being largely explained by the two chapters of infancy narrative and the lengthy sermons composed of words absent from Mark. The healings of the centurion's young servant and of the blind and mute demoniac (Matt 8:5-13; 12:22-23), taken from Q, are the only miracle stories that are absent from Mark. For the rest, it is estimated that Matthew reproduces about 80% of Mark.

Matthew has long been the gospel par excellence of the church, for it served as the founding text of the church in the NT with Jesus' words about the church being built on rock against which the gates of hell would not prevail. The Sermon on the Mount with the (eight) beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer are among the best known treasures of the Christian heritage. The skill and clarity of the organization, as well as a penchant for unforgettable images, have given this Gospel priority as a teaching tool of the Church.

Note that Matthew follows the pattern established by Mark in which most of Jesus' ministry takes place in Galilee and only at the end of his ministry does he go to Jerusalem, so that much of Matthew's narrative parallels that of Mark; in the sections that do not have a parallel in Mark, Matthew uses a source also known to Luke and call the Q Document by biblical scholars.

1. General Analysis of the Message

   Two chapters of the infancy narrative precede the narrative of Jesus' ministry. The climax of the Gospel is the passion, death and resurrection narrative, aspects of which correspond to the infancy narrative as an inclusion. Jesus' ministry is marked by five long discourses or sermons. Most biblical scholars divide Matthew's gospel into five parts, alternating narratives and discourses. The basic inspiration for these sermons may come from the two discourses of Mark (parables in Mark 4; eschatology in Mark 13).

   1. Introduction: Origin and Infancy of Jesus the Messiah (1: 1 - 2: 23)
      1. The who and how of Jesus' identity (1: 1-25)

         The opening Greek phrase of the Gospel, biblos geneseōs (1: 1: book of Genesis), illustrates the difficulty of being sure of the evangelist's perspective.

         1. Most likely it means "the record of the generations [= birth record] of Jesus Christ," an echo of the Hebrew phrase sēper tôlĕdôt in Gen 5: 1, and thus would present us with a genealogy of Jesus' ancestors.

         2. This interpretation does not exclude a pun on genesis, which means "origin", and therefore means: "the story of the origin", and could cover the whole of chap. 1 and therefore include the conception and birth of Jesus Christ.

         3. Some commentators would associate the use of Genesis in Mt 1:1 with the Greek title given to the first book of Israel's Scriptures. Thus, Matthew would use a title for the whole of his Gospel with a global echo of Israelite history: "The book of Genesis as it was fulfilled by Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham".

         4. A versatile meaning of genesis is possible: in addition to referring to the birth and beginnings of Jesus, it also encompasses a view of the whole story of Jesus as a new creation, even greater than the old one.

         This chapter deals with the genealogy and conception of Jesus. The way the fourteen generations are counted in 1:17 gives the impression that God prepared with mathematical precision for the coming of the Messiah. Given such meticulous care, it is plausible that there is a common factor among the four OT women mentioned (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Uriah's wife [Bathsheba]): the first three women were not Israelites, and the fourth was not married to an Israelite, and the histories of the four women's marital unions with the husbands mentioned in the genealogy were irregular. Yet the women themselves were God's instruments for perpetuating the messianic lineage. Does this explain the unusual nature of Mary's conception and her union with Joseph, and does this genealogy prepare minds to accept Matthew's mixed congregation of Jews and Gentiles? The theological significance of the whole genealogy is more certain: it introduces into the story of Jesus a long period of Israelite history, involving the patriarchs (the first fourteen names), the kings (the second fourteen), and even the unknowns (the third fourteen). In this way, Matthew has set the stage for the Abraham and David motifs found elsewhere in the NT (Gal 3:16; Rom 1:3).

         The broken pattern in 1:16 (not "Joseph begat Jesus" but "Jesus was begotten of Mary") sets the stage for the extraordinary way Jesus was conceived (1:18-25). As in Luke 1, but more clearly, Mary conceives a child not by male seed but by the Holy Spirit - the virginal conception. Thus, Jesus is the son of God by the Holy Spirit, and the royal son of David by Joseph who recognizes him as his child by taking Mary, his wife, into his home and naming the child. Thus, Joseph, a law-abiding Jew (1:19), becomes the fulfillment of God's plan begun long ago when Abraham fathered Isaac.

      2. The where and whence of Jesus' birth and destiny (2: 1-23)

         After the birth of Jesus, wise men come to pay homage to the King of the Jews (2:1-12). The magi are pagans guided by a star (a revelation that comes from nature for those who do not have the Scriptures). On the other hand, those who have and can read the Scriptures do not believe: Herod, "all Jerusalem", the chief priests and the scribes of 2:3-4. But God will defeat the plan of the hostile adversaries. Matthew thus anticipates what Jesus' ministry will be like.

         Compared to chap. 1, chap. 2 broadens the context of the OT by echoing this time the figure of the patriarch Joseph, who like Jesus' father, interprets dreams and saves his family by going to Egypt. And there is also the echo to the story of Moses when the evil ruler (Pharaoh, Herod) tries to kill all the male children (of the Hebrews, the Bethlehemites), but only one (Moses, Jesus) escapes and becomes the savior of his people. The magi contribute to the parallelism with Moses, because in the Jewish legends of the time of Jesus, the pharaoh received information from the magi. Similarly, later, when Moses was leading Israel through Transjordan, the wicked king Balak brought Balaam (whom Philo calls a magos) from the East to curse Israel; but instead he saw the star of the Davidic king rise (Numbers 22-24).

         Finally, to cap his coverage of the OT, Matthew incorporates into his account five citations from prophetic formulas, showing that God prepared for a virginal conception, the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem, the suffering of other children near Rachel's tomb, and finally the Son of God's return from Egypt and his coming to Nazareth. These scriptural citations help to highlight the place of his birth and the place to which his childhood led him. By the time the readers finish the infancy narrative, they have received a whole background of the OT, the Law, and the prophets.

   2. Part One: Proclamation of the Kingdom (3: 1 - 7: 29)
      1. Narrative, Ministry of JBap, baptism of Jesus, the temptations, beginning of the Galilean ministry (3: 1 - 4: 25)

         As in Mark, the appearance of Jesus is introduced by the ministry of John the Baptist (Mt 3:1-12), the preaching in the wilderness as foretold by Isaiah, and the water baptism in anticipation of the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. But Matthew inserts here an element of Q Document where John the Baptist condemns the Pharisees and Sadducees, anticipating his rejection in 21:26. He modifies the baptism of Jesus that Mark passes on to him in order to respond to the problem that Jesus, who is greater than the Baptist, is baptized by the latter: this is part of God's salvific plan. As for the word from heaven, it is no longer addressed to Jesus, but to the audience ("This is...").

         Matthew expands Jesus' temptations using the Q Document. The three temptations want to distract Jesus from proclaiming the kingdom of God to become a kingdom according to the standards of this world: transforming stones for personal needs versus multiplying loaves for others; power over the kingdoms of the earth versus waiting for the power that God gives. Jesus' refusals to have his goals distorted are all articulated in citations from Deut 6-8, where, during Israel's forty years of testing in the wilderness, God spoke through Moses to the people who were tempted to rebel against God's plan by their complaining and false worship.

         Then Jesus goes to Galilee to begin his ministry and call his first four disciples to become fishers of men (4:12-22). To this sequence from Mark, Matthew adds a geographic detail linking Capernaum to Zebulun and Naphtali, which sets up a formula citation from Isaiah 8:23-9:1 that speaks of "Galilee of the Gentiles." Once again, Matthew has in view his community mixed with many Gentiles. The summary of the spread of the gospel (4:23-25), though taken from Mark, emphasizes that its fame spread "throughout Syria," perhaps because that is where the gospel was written.

      2. Discourse, Sermon on the Mount (5: 1 - 7: 29)
         • (5: 1-16) This is Matthew's greatest composition. He uses elements from the Q Document and his own material to compose a harmonious masterpiece of ethical and religious teaching, and reveals through eight beatitudes the values to which Jesus gives priority. It presents us with a Jesus who teaches with divine authority. A parallel can be drawn between this scene and that of Moses on Mount Sinai revealing the Ten Commandments. Luke, for his part, also draws on the Q Document to give us his version of this discourse with four beatitudes formulated in a more concrete way: "Blessed are you who are poor... you who hunger... you who weep... you who are persecuted...". Matthew preferred to spiritualize everything: "Blessed are the poor in spirit... those who hunger and thirst for justice... the meek... the merciful... the pure of heart... peacemakers...". It is by following this teaching that the disciples will be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (5:13-16).

         • (5: 17-48) "Do not think that I have come to abrogate the Law or the Prophets." According to Matthew, God's demand is not an abolition of the law, but a deeper observance that aims at being "perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (5:48). The polemic of Matthew's time is illustrated by the assessment of Jesus' righteousness as surpassing that of the scribes and Pharisees, and this is expressed in the form of six clauses: "You have heard that it was said... but I say to you". Matthew's Jesus, speaking more confidently than any first-century rabbi, suggests that he has more authority than Moses, and seems to legislate with all the confidence of the God of Sinai.

         • (6: 1-8) "Beware of practicing your religion before men to attract their attention...". Jesus remodels the practice of piety: almsgiving, prayer, fasting. His warnings are not against pious practices but against ostentation, a warning that will be repeated in 23:1-27.

         • (6: 9-13) "You, therefore, pray thus: Our Father...". Using Q Document material, Matthew fashioned the "Lord's Prayer" in part along the familiar lines of synagogue prayer. The organization into six petitions reflects Matthew's love of order. The first three, "Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," are different ways of asking God to establish the kingdom permanently. The other three deal with the fate of the petitioners in anticipation of the coming of the kingdom will involve the heavenly banquet, and so they ask for a share in its food (bread); it will involve judgment, and so they ask for forgiveness according to the criterion of forgiveness to others that Matthew emphasizes (25:45); it will involve a dangerous struggle with Satan, and so they ask to be delivered from the apocalyptic ordeal and from the Evil One.

         • (6: 19 - 7, 27) Also from the Q Document, the other instructions for kingdom behavior focus on total dedication to God, as opposed to concern for the things of this world. Careful self-examination rather than examination of others is called for; God's generosity in answering prayers is assured; and the golden rule (7:12) is proposed: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The warnings about the narrowness of the door (to enter the kingdom) and the danger of false prophets who abuse "my name" (presumably active Christians in Matthew's atmosphere) give an apocalyptic tone to the end of the sermon. The praise of those who listen to Jesus' words (7:24-27) as building a well-founded house is almost a judgment against those who reject him.

   3. Part Two: Ministry and Mission in Galilee (8: 1 - 10: 42)
      1. Narrative mixed with short dialogue, Nine miracles consisting of healings, calming a storm, exorcism (8: 1 - 9: 38)

         Having presented Jesus as a preacher and teacher of the kingdom, Matthew now focuses on the powerful acts (miracles) of Jesus performed through his word. This set reflects his taste for structure and order, as he groups similar material together and presents it in three blocks of three.

         1. A series of three healings (leper, centurion's servant and Peter's mother-in-law) followed by an account of a scribe's desire to follow Jesus, which causes him to comment on the severe demands of discipleship, demands higher than that of burying one's father (in rabbinic thinking, a duty superior to most others); this demand is to be understood as follows: "Let the spiritually dead (i.e., those who refuse to accept the kingdom) bury the (physically) dead".

         2. A series of three more miracles (storm calmed, the two Gadarenes demoniacs, healing of a paralyzed man) followed by a dialogue about discipleship after the call of Matthew, a tax collector (Matthew's adaptation of the Marcan call of Levi): Jesus came to call sinners and not the righteous, that his disciples need not fast while he (the bridegroom) is with them, and that new wine should not be put into old wineskins.

         3. A series of three more miracles (the daughter of Jairus and the hemorrhaging woman, two blind men and a mute demoniac) followed by the recognition that the harvest of the crowds needs workers, which leads Jesus to address the workers he has chosen and whom he will send on mission.

      2. Discourse, Mission Sermon (10: 1 - 42)

         Composed primarily of Mark and the Q Document, this segment is set in the context of Jesus sending out twelve "disciples" with authority over unclean spirits and the power to heal. Jesus gives them his power to proclaim the kingdom. Matthew pauses to recite the names of the twelve "apostles," thus linking the mission of the disciples in the midst of the ministry to the apostolic sending out after the resurrection (28:16-20).

         • (10: 5-6) The sermon begins with the admonition not to go to the Gentiles and Samaritans, but to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel," a likely reflection of Matthew's history of Christianity, which was at first almost exclusively a mission to the Jews, and only later a mission to the Gentiles.

         • (10: 9-10) Matthew's requirements for austerity of provisions and clothing for itinerant preachers show some curious minor differences from Mark 6:8-9, e.g., the prohibition of having a staff and sandals.

         • (10: 12-16) In describing the likely reception of missionary preachers, Matthew emphasizes the judgment that awaits those who refuse to welcome missionaries.

         • (10: 17-25) This sequence gives a warning about the fate that awaits preachers by transferring here elements of the eschatological discourse of Mark 13: 9-12, and then teaches about the attitude to have in persecution by using material from the Q Document.

         • (10: 26-42) This is followed by words of encouragement largely borrowed from the Q Document, but accompanied by a warning that the coming of the Son of Man will bring division and require difficult choices, and these choices will be the basis of judgment in heaven. The conclusion of the discourse returns to the sending of the twelve disciples: those who welcome them will have their reward.

   4. Part Three: Questioning of and Opposition to Jesus (11: 1 - 13: 52)
      1. Narrative setting for teaching and dialogue, Jesus and JBap, woes on disbelievers, thanksgiving for revelation, Sabbath controversies and Jesus' power, Jesus' family (11: 1 - 12: 50)

         Since this section is not part of Matthew's five sermons, it is sometimes listed as narrative. However, the narrative verses are brief and introduce a teaching. Matthew presents combined elements of Mark and Q in the context of Jesus traveling to and entering a synagogue in "their" cities (i.e., Galilee: 11:1.20; 12:9).

         • (11: 2-15) The context is that of an imprisoned John the Baptist who asks about Jesus. Jesus answers by referring to Isaiah (29:18-19; 35:5-6; 61:1). Then Jesus reveals who John the Baptist is, a messenger sent by God to lead Israel to the promised land (Ex 23:20) and the Elijah sent to prepare Israel for God's action (Mal 3:1:23-24 [4:5-6]).

         • (11: 16-24) Jesus strongly criticizes "that generation" which is not ready to accept either his person or that of John the Baptist. Matthew seems to present Jesus as both the Messiah and divine Wisdom, but this unbelieving generation is unable to recognize his works. So Jesus hurls woes at them, directed at the unbelieving cities by or near the Sea of Galilee. Then he switches to prophetic mode: for not paying attention to the mighty works of Jesus, these cities will suffer a fate worse than those spoken of in Isaiah (23:1) or Ezekiel (26-28), or Genesis (19:24-28) about Sodom.

         • (11: 25-30) This sequence is more positive, for there are people who have welcomed divine Wisdom with the same openness as a child, which gives rise to a cry of jubilation in Jesus: this cry of jubilation, taken from the Q Document, represents a type of high Christology very close to what we find in John's Gospel, where Jesus calls himself the divine Son to whom the Father has given everything, and where no one knows God except this Son, and where he reveals the Father to the chosen ones. This sequence ends with an appeal to those crushed by the burden of the Law: like God in Ex 33:14 and Wisdom in Sir 6:23-31, Jesus promises rest to those who take upon themselves the obligations of the kingdom, using some of the sweetest words ever attributed to him - words that make intelligible Paul's appreciation for "the gentleness and kindness of Christ" (2 Cor 10:1).

         • (12: 1-8) This sequence begins a series of disputes, starting with the ears of wheat plucked by the disciples on the Sabbath. The story has Christological significance as Jesus not only claims the right to do what David did, but declares that his presence is greater than the Temple and that the Son of Man is the lord of the Sabbath.

         • (12: 9-14) Another dispute concerns a healing on the Sabbath. No matter what detail of the Law on the Sabbath that unfortunately we do not know, Matthew is keen to portray the Pharisees as people more concerned with human precepts than with God's intention. In correcting them, Jesus acts in the spirit of the prophets (see Hos 6:6).

         • (12: 15-21) These disputes end with the Pharisees' intention to kill Jesus, which causes Jesus to withdraw. Matthew concludes with Isa 42: 1-4, reinforcing the image of Jesus' tenderness, which does not break a bruised reed or extinguish a smoldering wick.

         • (12: 22 - 42) Another dispute arises from a healing of a blind and mute demoniac where the crowd wonders if Jesus is not the Messiah, son of David. In a hostile reaction, the Pharisees attribute this power over the demoniac to Jesus' submission to Beelzebub. Jesus refutes the accusation, compares his expulsion of demons to the sacking of the strong man's house (i.e. Satan's kingdom) and warns that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (i.e. the obstinacy in attributing God's power to the demon) will not be forgiven. Then, with a sharp tone, he calls the Pharisees a brood of vipers from which evil emerges and whose works will condemn them on the day of judgment.

         • (12: 38-45) As an answer, the Pharisees and scribes ask for a sign, and Jesus only offers them the signs of Jonah (who produced repentance in Nineveh) and of the queen of the South (who appreciated Solomon's wisdom) - an argument a fortiori: the greater one is there, and this generation does not appreciate him. Then he serves this warning: after being cast out, the return of the evil spirits will make the last state of this evil generation worse than the first.

         • (12: 46-50) This set ends with the unexpected arrival of Jesus' mother and brothers, which raises the question of true kinship. Now that the kingdom is proclaimed, the disciples who do the will of the heavenly Father are brother, sister and mother to Jesus.

      2. Discourse, Sermon in parables (13: 1-52)

         Placed at the center of the gospel's structure, these parables serve as a varied commentary on the Pharisees' rejection of Jesus in the previous two chapters.

         • (13: 1 - 23) In taking the parable of the sower and its interpretation from Mark, Matthew adds two elements: a formula for quoting Isaiah 6:9-10 which was implicitly quoted in Mark, and a formula for blessing from the Q Document about the chance to know the secrets of the kingdom.

         • (13: 24-30.36-43) Matthew's next parable, the tares among the wheat, answers the question: since the adherents of the kingdom will live together in the world with evil people, why not eliminate the evil? This could lead to the good being eliminated as well, so the separation must be left to a future judgment of the Son of Man.

         • (13: 31-35) The paired parables of the mustard seed and the leaven illustrate the kingdom's present small beginnings and its great future using examples of extraordinary growth familiar to a man and a woman respectively. The purpose of the parables is made explicit by a quote from Ps 78:2, so that part of the purpose is now to fulfill the Scriptures

         • (13: 44-46) The twin parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price emphasize the great value of the kingdom and the need to seize the unique opportunity to gain it, even if it means selling everything else.

         • (13: 47-50) The parable of the net and its interpretation postpones the separation of the good and the bad in the kingdom until the end of time.

         • (13: 51-52) The sermon ends with a summary parable of the householder and the new and old treasure. The listeners who respond that they have understood the parables are like trained scribes who appreciate the new revelation in Jesus and the old revelation in Moses. The evangelist probably saw himself in this light.

   5. Part Four: Christology and Ecclesiology (13: 53 - 18: 35)
      1. Narrative mixed with much dialogue, Rejection at Nazareth, feeding the 5,000 and walking on the water, controversies with the Pharisees, healings, feeding the 4,000, Peter's confession, first passion prediction, transfiguration, second passion prediction (13: 53 - 17: 27)

         In what follows, Jesus focuses on the disciples from whom the Church will develop, especially on Peter, the rock on which the Church will be built.

         • (13: 53-58) The rejection in Nazareth helps explain why Jesus must focus on his disciples, since even the townspeople do not accept him. To show greater respect for Jesus and his family, Matthew makes three small changes to the Nazareth story from Mark 6:1-6: he does not report that Jesus was a carpenter, or that he was a prophet without honor "among his kinsmen," or that he "could do no miracles there."

         • (14: 1-12) The lack of faith in Nazareth is followed by an account of how Herod killed John the Baptist and his superstitious unease about Jesus.

         • (14: 13-33) To escape Herod, Jesus withdraws to a secluded place where he feeds the 5,000 people and then walks on the water. The end of the water-walking scene is remarkable in Matthew: instead of not understanding as in Mk 6:52, the disciples worship Jesus as "Son of God". Most significant is the scene added by Matthew where Jesus invites Peter to come to him on the water, and as Peter begins to sink, Jesus helps him. This is the first of three instances of special Petrine material in Matthew. Peter's impetuosity, the inadequacy of his faith, and Jesus' individual attention to leading him on are quite characteristic. Peter, a man of little faith who would sink if the Lord did not save him, is representative of the other disciples; their faith and his own in the Son of God are strengthened by Jesus' powerful and helping hand.

         • (14: 34 - 15: 1-20) Once the boat has arrived at Gennesaret and Jesus heals all the sick, a dispute arises with the Pharisees and the scribes from Jerusalem about the washing of hands. The attack on the Pharisees is strong in Matthew: they are blind guides who will be uprooted. Whereas in Mk 7:17 the disciples ask him about what defiles, in Mt 15:15 it is Peter who asks the question; and Matthew omits the comment that Jesus made all things clean - a comment that is historically implausible, but may also have offended Matthew for whom the Law is not so easily abolished.

         • (15: 21-28) Going to Tyre and Sidon, Jesus heals the daughter of a woman who is now a Canaanite (and no longer a Syrophoenician as in Mark), no doubt in order to respect Jesus' earlier commandment not to go among the pagans.

         • (15: 29-39) Matthew gives us a summary of the healing of many sick people along the Sea of Galilee to replace the scene in Mark (7:31-37), an account of the healing of a deaf-mute with saliva: he probably felt that this could be understood as magic. This sequence ends with the scene where Jesus feeds 4,000 people.

         • (16: 1-12) This sequence is dominated by the presence of the Pharisees and Sadducees who, even though they have seen Jesus' miracles, nevertheless ask for a sign. Jesus criticizes them for not knowing how to interpret the signs of the times, just as he criticizes his disciples for not having enough faith to interpret the feeding of the crowd. The sequence ends with a warning against the leaven or teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees, whom he equates with an evil and adulterous generation.

         • (16: 13-23) Matthew takes Peter's confession from Mk 8:27-30, but adds more Petrine material to it, first of all by adding "the son of the living God" to that confession, a revelation that can only come from the heavenly Father, a revelation that makes Peter the rock on which Jesus will build his church, a church against which even the gates of hell (that is, presumably, the destructive power of Satan) will not prevail. This formulation is rooted in 2 Samuel 7: David desires to build a house or temple for God, so God promises him a descendant who will reign after him and whom he will treat as a son. As for the expression "binding/unbinding" it appears in Isa 22:15-25 which describes the establishment of Eliakim as the new prime minister of King Hezekiah of Judah: God places on his shoulder "the key of the house of David; he will open ... and he shall shut up". What is the meaning of these keys to open/unlock and close/bind? The fact that this section follows a warning against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees suggests that it is about teaching what is to be observed, with the implication that Peter is the chief rabbi. That said, Matthew is not embarrassed to follow this scene with Jesus' subsequent chastisement of Peter as Satan thinking on a human level because he does not accept the notion of Jesus' suffering in the prediction of his passion. Instead, Matthew sharpens Mark's rebuke, for he adds, "You are a scandal to me.

         • (16: 24-28) Matthew repeats Mark's text about the suffering that awaits the disciple. But this suffering is contrasted with the future glory where the Son of Man will bring with him the kingdom in which his disciples are to play a part. But unlike Mark who speaks of the disciples soon seeing the kingdom of God, an allusion to the transfiguration that follows, Matthew speaks rather of seeing "the Son of Man coming in his kingdom", which is not a reference to the transfiguration that follows; is it a reference to the crucifixion and resurrection, or to the coming of the kingdom of the Son of Man, or to the parousia? It is not clear.

         • (17: 1-13) Although Matthew repeats Mark's account of the transfiguration, he introduces personal touches: the face of Jesus shining like the sun echoes Moses' description in Exodus 34:29-35 and reinforces the parallelism with the great theophany of Sinai; the role of Peter is emphasized, for it is he who will make the three tents; the voice of the cloud repeats more exactly what the voice from heaven said at Jesus' baptism. It is thus a new stage in the Matthaean Christological sequence of divine sonship, from the angelic announcement to Joseph about the child conceived by the Holy Spirit, through God's revelation of "my Son" (2:15) at the end of the sojourn in Egypt, to the voice from heaven at the baptism speaking of "my beloved Son," to the disciples' recognition after the walk on the water, and finally to Peter's confession. It is clear that the "Son of God" is a major motif in Matthew.

         • (17: 14-21) While taking Mark's account of the healing of a mute demoniac, Matthew cuts it almost in half and turns it into the healing of an epileptic. And the explanation of why the disciples could not heal the boy is improved by the introduction of a passage from the Q Document about their insufficient faith: a faith as small as a mustard seed could do the impossible, i.e. move the mountain (of transfiguration).

         • (17: 22-23) Matthew continues with the second passion prediction. The fact that Matthew does not eliminate this prediction as a doublet, as he often does with Mark's repetitions, may indicate the fixed nature of the three-prediction pattern.

         • (17: 24-27) Matthew's own account of the didrachma tax, with the stater found in the mouth of the fish, reflects an oral tradition that had a folkloric twist. During Jesus' lifetime, every Jew had to pay the didrachma for the support of the Temple. But since Matthew never mentions the temple, this could be the tribute to Caesar (22:15-22). On the other hand, if we are in Matthew's time, it could be the punitive tax of didrachma (= two denarii) imposed on the Jews for the support of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome, or even a collection to support the rabbinical academy in Jamnea. In any case, the teaching of Matthew is clear: Christians are to be exemplary citizens by voluntarily paying taxes (see Romans 13:6-7; 1 Peter 2:13-16).

      2. Discourse, Sermon on the church (18: 1-35)

         This somewhat disparate set of ethical teachings, most of which were once addressed to Jesus' disciples, has been placed in a perspective that makes it surprisingly suitable for an established church. Nevertheless, even as a structured church becomes the means of preserving the tradition and memory of Jesus, Matthew recognizes the danger that any established structure in this world will tend to take its values from other structures around it. This chapter is intended to ensure that these values do not stifle the values of Jesus, which is a teaching for today.

         • (18: 1-5) The sermon is preceded by the argument about greatness in the kingdom of heaven, which seems to have been taken from Mark with considerable adaptation. It is an argument that would have significance for the church, where inevitably there would be ambition for positions of authority. In Jesus' set of values, the humble are more important than the powerful, for it is dependence on God that makes the individual open to God's reign; that is why the little child is given as an example.

         • (18: 6-9) The condemnation of the scandals and temptations that can lead believers to sin would be appropriate for the church Matthew is addressing, judging from the disputes in the Pauline communities (see 1 Cor 8:13; 11:19; Rom 8:13).

         • (18: 10-14) The Matthean adaptation of the parable of the lost sheep, that is, the lost sinner, also has an institutional application, for by most world standards, organizations succeed to the extent that they take care of the majority. A political leader who managed to retain 99% of his or her constituents would have the most favorable rating in history, reflecting the "Caiaphas principle" of John 11:49-50: it is better to let one person perish than to destroy the whole institution. However, Jesus, who came to save the lost, has different values, which he expresses in an "impractical" directive that corresponds to his eschatological perspective, i.e., to leave the ninety-nine and go in search of the lost. No large church (or, in this day and age, no large congregation) could follow this practice on a regular basis, because the 99% of those who didn't go astray would revolt at being neglected. Yet this is how the kingdom of God becomes a reality.

         • (18: 15-35) Matthew now presents a set of elements largely specific to his gospel. First, there are the instructions concerning the reprobates, a church situation: after the unsuccessful efforts of individuals to win over the reprobates, a report is to be made to the "church" (= local community). This process is intended to avoid too early and too frequent recourse to authority - a danger in any structured community. The quarantine of the recalcitrant reprobate "as a pagan and a tax collector" seems very definitive, reinforced by the power to bind and loose. Yet Matthew ends his gospel with the instruction to go to the Gentiles and teach them, just as his Jesus asked a tax collector, Matthew, to become a disciple. Therefore, the repudiated Christian can still be the object of attention and interest, especially since the sequence that follows is about the permanent forgiveness of the "sinning" brother (or sister). Peter, a figure of authority, is at the center of this scene where he appears a bit "legalistic" in trying to find out how many times he should forgive, his offer being quite generous. Jesus gives a remarkable answer: seventy-seven is an infinite number of times (see Gen 4:24). Christian forgiveness must therefore imitate the unlimited scope of God's forgiveness. Matthew's own parable of the unforgiving debtor supports what Jesus has just said to Peter by invoking divine judgment on those who refuse to forgive. All this has a very concrete application in the life of the church, for the number of people who turn away from the church where they have not found forgiveness is legion. Overall, to the extent that churches listen to the Jesus who speaks to his disciples in this chapter, they will keep his spirit alive instead of memorializing him. Then it will be fulfilled Mt 18:20: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

   6. Part Five: Journey to and Ministry in Jerusalem (19: 1 - 25: 46)
      1. Narrative mixed with much dialogue, Teaching, judgment parables, third passion prediction, entry to Jerusalem, cleansing the Temple, clashes with authorities (19: 1 - 23: 39)
         • (19: 1-9) The account of what happened on the road to Jerusalem begins with an example of Jesus' standards for the kingdom. The question of divorce is set in the context of Jesus being put to the test by the Pharisees. The most remarkable Mathean feature is the addition of the exceptional phrase in 19:9: "Whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality [porneia], and marries another commits adultery [verb: moichasthai]", an exception that also appears in Mt 5:32, but is absent from the other three passages prohibiting divorce (Luke, Mark, 1 Cor). What is meant by porneia? The Greek word covers a wide range of immorality, but allowing divorce for any type of immorality would seem to negate the force of the prohibition. The exception cannot concern a case of adultery, because Matthew would then have used the word moicheia (adultery), not porneia. A more likely interpretation would be a reference to marriages in what the Jews considered to be forbidden degrees of kinship. Matthew would insist that Jesus' prohibition of divorce does not apply to such marriages contracted by Gentiles who came to believe in Christ - in fact, such marriages should be dissolved as if they had never taken place.

         • (19: 10-12) The disciples' dismay at Jesus' severity is unique to Matthew. In response, Jesus mentions the possibility of being eunuchs (i.e., totally celibate) for the sake of God's kingdom. Like marriage without the possibility of divorce, this celibacy is an eschatological value (see Isaiah 56:3-5).

         • (19: 13-15) Matthew's passage about the rejection of the children by the disciples not only does not contain the indication from the parallel passage in Mark that Jesus was indignant with the disciples, but also provides a more ecclesiastical atmosphere for bringing in the children: "that he might lay his hands on them and pray.

         • (19: 16-30) The story of the rich young man and its consequences adds to the commandments of the Decalogue the requirement to love one's neighbor as oneself; however, even in this case, one is not perfect without sacrificing all one's possessions to follow Jesus. Once again, the severity of the eschatological requirement creates consternation among the disciples. In Jesus' response, Matthew incorporates an important promise from the Q Document concerning the exalted future role of the disciples: in regeneration, they will sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. The reward at the end has the same inverted character as the kingdom: it is not given to the first and mightiest of this world, but to the last who have left behind precious things for the sake of Jesus' name.

         • (20: 1-16) The themes of first and last and reward also govern the parable called "the worker of the 11th hour." This parable, specific to Matthew, would be an interpretive illustration of the evangelist to highlight God's sovereignty and a gratuity that is not based on merit.

         • (20: 17-28) The third prediction of the passion is a paradoxical consideration of the role of suffering in victory. This prediction leads to the misunderstanding represented by the demand for places in the kingdom (20:20-28). To avoid dishonoring the disciples, Matthew shifts the request of the sons of Zebedee to their mother. The answer to this request can only come from the Father in Matthew. This is immediately followed by the warning against dominating others, for whether it is the Son of Man or the Twelve, the necessary attitude is one of service.

         • (20: 29-34) The continued journey to Jerusalem brings Jesus to Jericho and the healing of two blind men. This is clearly a variant of Mark's account of the healing of the blind Bartimaeus; it illustrates Matthew's preference for two people (perhaps reflecting the requirement for two legal witnesses).

         • (21: 1-9) The entry into Jerusalem is based on Mark, with the addition of a formula quoting Isa 62:11 and Zech 9:9, which emphasizes the gentle and peaceful character of the messianic king. The Matthean combination of donkey and colt (which were originally parallel designations of the same animal), so that Jesus sat "on them", is particularly illogical.

         • (21: 10-25) The sequence of the cleansing of the Temple, the curse and the withering of the fig tree rearranges Mark's narrative, where the cleansing is interspersed with the curse and the withering. The cleansing of the Temple now takes place on the day of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem (not the next day as in Mark) and is set in the context of an entire city that is stirring and recognizing Jesus as the prophet. Moreover, the juxtaposition of the curse and the withering has the effect of accentuating the miraculous, for the fig tree now withers on the spot when Jesus curses it (instead of being discovered the next day).

         • (21: 23-46) To the challenge to Jesus' authority by the priests and elders, Matthew joins a parable of his own, that of the two sons. By comparing the authorities to the son who says he will obey his father but does not, Jesus creates a highly polemical contrast: the tax collectors and prostitutes who believed in John the Baptist will enter the kingdom of God before the authorities. The sharpness of the judgment continues in the parable of the homicidal vinedressers, as the chief priests and Pharisees understand themselves as the target of the warning that the kingdom of God will be taken away and given to a nation that will produce fruit. Matthew is thinking of the church composed of Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus.

         • (22: 1-14) The parable of the wedding feast, apparently adapted from the Q Document, is another example of the rejection of rulers. The first invited by the king are unworthy and do not come; and as they kill the servants sent with the invitation, the king sends his troops and destroys their city. The once independent parable of the man without a wedding garment, which was added as a conclusion, deals with a reality that Matthew knows well: the church has received good and bad elements, so that those who accepted the initial call must face a new judgment. Christians who are not worthy will suffer the same fate as those who once had the kingdom but were not worthy to keep it. Note that Matthew never speaks of the replacement of Israel by the church or of Jews by Gentiles, but rather of the replacement of the unworthy of Judaism (especially the leaders) by a community of Jews and Gentiles who have come to believe in Jesus and have responded worthily to his demands for the kingdom.

         • (22: 15-46) Matthew follows Mark's account with a series of three questions: Caesar's taxes proposed by the Pharisees and Herodians, the resurrection proposed by the Sadducees, the great commandment proposed by a Pharisee lawyer. These questions are followed by a question proposed by Jesus to the Pharisees about the Messiah as the son of David. To emphasize Jesus' superiority, Matthew adds observations, such as the crowd's astonishment at Jesus' teaching, and the fact that no one dares ask Jesus any more questions.

         • (23: 1-39) The denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees, which serves as a bridge to the last great discourse, is an extraordinary Matthaean construction. Jesus rebukes the authorities for their prideful behavior and love of titles and pronounces seven "curses" against their casuistry - curses that function almost as the antitheses of the beatitudes. The initial directive to observe everything the scribes and Pharisees say, because they are sitting on the chair of Moses, is perplexing because elsewhere Matthew's Jesus criticizes their words or teaching. The scribes and Pharisees opponents are criticized for their words or claims not accompanied by actions and also for acting from despicable motives. For Matthew's reader, these criticisms could apply to the synagogue leaders of his day, more than half a century later. Some of the woes involve disputes about the Law, but the last one associates the scribes and Pharisees with the murderers of prophets, sages and scribes. For Christians in Matthew's church, the crucifixion of Jesus would have set a sharper tone for this controversy, and "Amen, I say to you, all these things will come to pass in this generation" would have been seen as fulfilled by the capture of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in the year 70. The chapter ends with an apostrophe to Jerusalem (23:37-39) from the Q Document. Jesus did not succeed in persuading the city. Therefore, his house (the Temple) is abandoned and desolate, and Jerusalem will not see Jesus again until he says, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."

      2. Discourse, Eschatological Sermon (24: 1 - 25: 46)

         The sequence 24:1-26 largely repeats the eschatological discourse of Mark 13, while the rest of chap. 24 and chap. 25 come from the Q Document and Matthew's own material.

         • (24: 1-36) A series of warnings begins with the disciples' question about the destruction of the Temple buildings and the second coming. As in Mark, the present and the future tense are mixed up. Matthew adapts the discourse for his time with the double reference to false prophets who lead people astray, a probable reflection of the struggle against Christian enthusiasm. Moreover, the prediction of desolate sacrilege is clearly located in the Temple (it is more obscure in Mark 13:14) and therefore applies more to the Roman desecration of the holy place. The Jewish background of part of Matthew's audience is reflected in the prayer that the flight in the last days would not take place on a Sabbath.

         • (24: 37-51) While Mark had indicated that there was no timetable for the last events, Matthew emphasizes that no one can know when the Son of Man will come. The warning that the servant who does not wait for his master to come will be put out with the hypocrites shows that unfaithful Christians (and perhaps especially church leaders) will be judged no less severely than the scribes and Pharisees.

         • (25: 1-46) The vigilance continues in Matthew's own parable of the ten virgins. The judgment motif becomes stronger in the parable of the talents - a parable from the Q Document that shows how Matthew and Luke can vary in their presentation of the same subject. For Matthew's readers, the message is not one of deserved reward, but of a Christian's dedicated and fruitful response to God's gift in and through Jesus. The discourse ends with an element unique to Matthew: the Son of Man on the throne judging the sheep and the goats. As the Son of Man speaks of God as "my Father," this is the Son of God in the apocalyptic context of the judgment of the whole world. The admirable principle that the verdict is based on the treatment of the destitute outcasts is the final warning of Matthew's Jesus to his disciples and to the church, demanding a religious standard that is very different both from that of the scribes and Pharisees and from that of a world that pays more attention to the rich and powerful.

   7. Climax, Passion, Death, and Resurrection (26: 1 - 28: 20)
      1. Conspiracy against Jesus, Last Supper (26: 1-29)

         By having Jesus predict from the beginning that the Son of Man would be given over at this Passover, Matthew emphasizes Jesus' foreknowledge. The plot against Jesus takes place in the palace of the high priest Caiaphas, in preparation for the Jewish trial that will take place later. The sum paid to Judas is specified as thirty pieces of silver to echo Zech 11:12. The preparations for the Passover are briefly recounted and lead directly into the story of the Last Supper. Matthew clarifies the identification of the one who will betray Jesus (which Mark had left in the dark). Not only is Judas named, but he responds to Jesus by calling him "Rabbi," the very title Jesus had forbidden earlier.

      2. Arrest, Jewish and Roman trials, crucifixion, death (26: 30 - 27: 56)
         • (26: 30-56: Gethsemane) Matthew, as usual, eliminates Mark's repetition that, if possible, the hour passes away from him, which makes Matthew's Jesus seem less desperate than Mark's. He gives content to Jesus' second prayer, which is only mentioned in Mark. At the arrest, Judas once again addresses Jesus as "Rabbi," and Jesus responds in a way that shows he is aware of what Judas has planned. Since Matthew makes it clear (unlike Mark) that it was one of Jesus' disciples who cut off the ear of the high priest's servant, it is morally significant that Jesus would comment unfavorably on such strength. The fact that the Father would have sent more than twelve legions of angels if Jesus had appealed softens the fact that the Father did not answer Jesus' prayer for the cup to be removed. Finally, the fact that this fulfills the Scriptures is typically Matthean.

         • (26: 57 - 27: 1: the Jewish trial) Matthew includes the name of the high priest Caiaphas, and emphasizes the iniquity because the authorities are supposed to have been looking for false testimony from the beginning. The fact that two witnesses came forward and their testimony was not designated as false (unlike Mark) means that, for Matthew, Jesus did say, "I am able to destroy the sanctuary of God, and in three days I will rebuild it." This statement plus the non-rejection of the title "Messiah, Son of God" is the basis for the accusation of blasphemy. The irony of Peter's denial that he knows Jesus at the very moment that Jesus confesses to being the Messiah, the Son of God, is accentuated in Matthew, for it is the very title that Peter confessed earlier. Matthew's sense of order makes three different agents (not two as in Mark) cause Peter's three denials.

         • (27: 2-31a: the Roman trial) The storyline is the same as Mark's: the interrogation by Pilate, Barabbas, the intervention of the chief priests and the crowds, the scourging and crucifixion, and the mocking of the Roman soldiers. However, Matthew's special material makes the story more vivid and dramatizes the responsibility for Jesus' death through the image of "innocent blood. Matthew interrupts the beginning of the Roman trial with the story of Judas' reaction to the Jewish decision against Jesus. Judas does not want to be responsible for innocent blood, nor do the chief priests, and so they use the thirty pieces of silver for which Judas had sold Jesus to buy a potter's field (Zech 11:12-13; Jer 19:1-13; 32:9). The fact that Judas hanged himself echoes the suicide of Ahithophel (David's trusted advisor who sided with Absalom, David's rebellious son), the only character in the OT who hanged himself (2 Sam 17:23). Just as in Matthew's infancy narrative, there were revelations in dreams and the Gentiles were receptive while the Jewish authorities were not, here Pilate's wife receives the revelation in a dream that Jesus is a righteous man. Pilate washes his hands to signify that he is innocent of Jesus' blood; but finally "all the people" say, "His blood on us and on our children" (27:24-25). This is not a gesture of self-condemnation by the Jewish people, but a legal formula that takes responsibility for the death of the one who is considered a criminal. Matthew knows what the people do not, that Jesus is innocent; and he judges that the responsibility (and punishment) for the death of this righteous man was inflicted on the whole Jewish people later, when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.

         • (27: 31b-56: Matthew points out that the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus sat and watched over him, so the Roman centurion had companions (Gentiles) to confess that Jesus was truly the Son of God. The Jewish authorities' challenge to the crucified Jesus is extended to echo the Scriptures (Ps 22:9; Wis 2:17-18). The two drinks offered to Jesus become wine mixed with gall and wine with vinegar to match the gall and vinegar of Ps 69:22. Matthew's major addition, once again of the vivid and popular type, poetically elaborates on what happened at the time of Jesus' death. Not only was the veil of the sanctuary torn from top to bottom, but the earth was shaken, the rocks were split open, the tombs were opened, and many bodies of sleeping saints were risen, to come out and enter the holy city after Jesus' resurrection. This is a scriptural way of describing the end times. If Jesus' birth was marked by a sign in heaven (the rising of a star), his death is marked by signs on the earth (an earthquake) and under the earth (tombs). His death brings about the judgment of the Temple but also the resurrection of the saints of Israel. Man's relationship with God was changed, and the cosmos was transformed.

      3. Burial, guard at the tomb, opening of tomb, bribing of the guard, resurrection appearances (27: 57 - 28: 20)

         Although in Mark the burial is part of the crucifixion narrative, Matthew has rearranged the sequence to link the burial more closely to the resurrection. In a pattern similar to that of his infancy narrative, Matthew presents five subsections in an alternating pattern: favorable to Jesus, unfavorable, favorable.

         1. (favorable - 27: 57-61: the burial) Matthew specifies that Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man and a disciple of Jesus

         2. (unfavorable - 27: 62-66: guards at the tomb) This scene, unique to Matthew, is intended to refute the Jewish polemic against the resurrection. Pilate's cooperation with the chief priests and Pharisees echoes the cooperation of Herod, the chief priests and the scribes who send to kill the child Jesus.

         3. (favorable - 28: 1-10: the account of the empty tomb). This central subsection, both here and in the infancy narrative, shows divine intervention to defeat the hostile plot, for Matthew's account of the empty tomb is markedly different from Mark's: there is an earthquake, an angel comes down and rolls away the stone, and the guards are scared to death. The angel's message to the women about Jesus' victory has a different reaction than Mark's message: they run with joy to tell the disciples, and Jesus himself appears to them.

         4. (unfavorable - 28: 11-15: guards bribed) The chief priests bribe the guards and ask them to spread the lie that the disciples have stolen Jesus' body.

         5. (favorable - 28: 16-20: Jesus appears to the Eleven). This meeting takes place on a mountain in Galilee. It contains the typical details of an apparition story: doubt, reverence for Jesus and a sending. The mountain is the symbolic Matthaean place of Jesus' revelation, and the exalted Jesus who speaks has received all power in heaven and on earth (see Dan 7:14). The sending to all nations here at the end revises the restricted sending to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and not to the Gentiles in the midst of the Gospel. The baptismal formula in the name of three divine agents was probably in use in Matthew's church at this time, having replaced the earlier custom of baptizing in the name of Jesus (Acts 2:38; 8:16; etc.). The instruction to teach all nations "all that I have commanded you" probably refers to the content of Matthew's five major discourses. The final verse "I am with you always, to the end of the age" is an inclusion of God's revelation about Jesus through the prophet Isaiah at the beginning of the Gospel (1:23): "His name will be called Immanuel (which means 'God with us').

2. Sources and Composition Features

   Let us recall that for the majority of biblical scholars, Matthew used mainly two sources to compose his Gospel, the Gospel of Mark and the Q Document.

   1. Mark

      Matthew's primary source is Mark, and a written version of his Gospel. Rewriting a Gospel is not unique, as Deuteronomy does by rewriting the earlier texts of the Pentateuch, or the two books of Chronicles by rewriting the books of Samuel and Kings. But by taking Mark's Gospel, which was addressed to a Gentile audience, and incorporating the Q Document, a very Jewish collection of Jesus' teaching, Matthew sought to reformulate the Gospel message for a community composed of Jews, but with an increasing number of Gentiles. On the whole, Matthew is remarkably faithful to Mark, almost like a scribe copying his source. Nevertheless, in the changes he makes, one can detect his own thinking and tendencies. Here are a number of examples.

      1. Matthew writes Greek more elegantly than Mark by eliminating difficult phraseology and double expressions and by softening turns of phrase, for example,
         • the unrecognizable name of Dalmanoutha (Mk 8:10) becomes "the territory of Magadan" (Mt 15:39),
         • He drops the first time indicator "today, this night" (Mk 14:30) and keeps only "this night" (26:34),
         • In 26:45 he drops the untranslatable Greek word apechei (Mk 14:41).

      2. Matthew omits or modifies passages in Mark that are unfavorable to those whose later careers make them worthy of respect, such as the omission
         • of Mk 3:21, where Jesus' family thinks he is out of his mind,
         • from Mk 8:17, where Jesus insinuates that the disciples' hearts are hardened,
         • of Mk 8:22-26, which shows the slowness of the disciples to see,
         • of Mk 9:10,32, where the disciples do not understand the idea of resurrection from the dead;
         • of sons of Zebedee as those who ask to share the power of Jesus in his glory (Mk 10: 35) to replace them by their mother (Mt 20: 20)

      3. Because of his christological sensitivity, Matthew is more reverent about the figure of Jesus and avoids anything that might limit him or make him seem naive or superstitious, for example,
         • Mt 8:25-26 modifies the disciples' reproach to Jesus in Mk 4:38 that he does not care about them and eliminates the fact that Jesus speaks to the wind and the sea in the next verse;
         • Mt 9:22 eliminates the mention in Mk 5:30-31 that Jesus did not know who had touched him and that the disciples thought he had asked a stupid question;
         • Mt 13:55 replaces the description of Jesus as a carpenter in Mk 6:3 with "son of a carpenter";
         • Mt 15:30-31 omits the account in Mk 7:32-36 of the healing of the deaf-mute by saliva;
         • Mt 19:16-17 modifies Mk 10:17-18 to avoid the implication that Jesus cannot be called good, for God alone is good;
         • Mt 21:12-13 omits Mk 11:16 where Jesus blocks the entrance to the Temple.

      4. Matthew emphasizes the miraculous element found in Mark, for example,
         • Mt 14:21 increases Mark's 5,000 at the feeding of the crowd by adding women and children;
         • Mt 14:24 increases the distance between the disciples' boat and the shore in the scene of the walking on the water;
         • Mt 14:35 insists that Jesus healed all the sick;
         • Mt 15:28 makes the woman's daughter heal instantly.

   2. Q Source

      By including material from the Q Document, Matthew places a strong emphasis on Jesus as a teacher. In terms of content, the evangelist seems to be reasonably faithful to Q, just as he was to Mark. However, the way Q is used is not consistently the same, and the order of Q is adapted to Matthew's sense of order. For example, he rearranges the material of Q into sermons or discourses. To a group of four beatitudes (see Lk 6:20-23), Mt 5:3-11 adds others to bring the number to eight. Mt 6:9-13 expands the Lord's Prayer with additional petitions that do not exist in Lk 11:2-4.

   3. Special Matthean Material (often called M)

      When one approaches Matthew's material that does not come from Mark or Q, one enters a field that is not homogeneous and on which scholars disagree. How much of it is the evangelist's own creation and how much of it he drew from a source or sources (M) known only to him among the four evangelists? Certainly the evangelist may have created his own compositions along the lines of what he found in Mark and Q, but he seems to have followed other sources, such as a special set of documents on Peter (14:28-31; 16:17-19; 17:24-27). The analysis of Matthew's infancy narratives is instructive in this regard, whereas for his genealogy he would have used lists of names of patriarchs and kings to which he added a messianic family tree; for the announcement of Jesus' birth he would have taken the birth announcements from the OT; for the story of the birth of Jesus he would have been inspired by the story of the patriarch Joseph with his dreams and the legends surrounding the birth of Moses; and finally for the story of the magi he would have reworked the story of the magician Balaam who came from the East and saw the Davidic star rise. Similar observations can be made about the passion narrative in Matthew, where he adds scenes not found in Mark: Judas hangs himself, the dream of Pilate's wife, Pilate washing his hands of Jesus' blood, a poetic quatrain on the extraordinary events that followed Jesus' death, and the story of the tomb keeper. These birth and passion narratives are characterized by vivid imagination (dreams, child murder, guilt by blood, suicide, conspiracies, lies), extraordinary celestial and earthly phenomena (angelic interventions, star moving westward and stopping over Bethlehem, earthquake, resurrection of the dead), an unusual amount of scriptural influence, and a strong hostility toward Jews who do not believe in Jesus, combined with a sympathetic presentation of Gentiles (the magi, Pilate's wife); these characteristics reflect the imagination, interests, and prejudices of ordinary people and are mostly absent elsewhere in Matthew. It is plausible, then, that Matthew had a popular, perhaps oral, source of folk traditions about Jesus (which may have had a historical core that is no longer recoverable).

      In addition to all these sources, there may be minor passages and phrases of Matthew's that represent his own creativity. From the oral preaching about Jesus that gave rise to Christianity, the evangelist surely knew Jesus before he read Mark, so it is possible, even likely, that some minor additions represent his use of known oral expressions to expand on what he found in the written sources. Such an oral tradition could explain some minor agreements between Matthew and Luke, even though they are independent of each other.

   4. Formula or Fulfillment Citations

      In ten of the fourteen cases where Matthew quotes the OT (Isaiah in eight of them), the scriptural passage is accompanied by the following formula (with slight variations): "All this to place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet who said ..." Even though all the evangelists reflect the fact that the first Christians understood the Jesus event in reference to Scripture, it is nevertheless a peculiarity of Matthew to have standardized this reference with a stereotyped formula. And when he quotes a text from Scripture, he focuses only on the detail that makes it possible to associate the Jesus event with it. His aim is didactic, wanting to inform Christian readers and give support to their faith. Some citations are attached to the details of Jesus' career, as if to emphasize that the whole life of Jesus, down to the smallest detail, is part of God's predestined plan.

      Did these citations produce the narrative they accompany, or were they appended to a narrative that already existed? The arguments tend to favor the latter case. For example, in the infancy narratives, in four out of five cases (1:22-23; 2:15b, 17-18, 23b), the plot makes perfect sense without the citations and even flows more easily. It is hard to imagine how the story of 2:13-23 (flight to Egypt and slaughter of the children) could have been invented from the three formula citations it contains. In one case over which we have external control, Mk 1:14 and Lk 4:14 agree that after his baptism Jesus went to Galilee; the formula citation in Mt 4:12-16 did not, therefore, give rise to this account, but colored it with a reference to the Gentiles. Sometimes Matthew may have introduced into the material from Mark a citation already used more widely (Mt 21:4-5 relies on Zech 9:9, which is also repeated in Jn 12:15-16). However, it is often difficult to imagine that Matthew's citations could have been used independently of their present context. It is therefore very likely that Matthew is the originator of the use of many citations introduced by a formula.

      As for the text of the citation itself, it is very difficult to determine whether the scriptural formulation is Matthaean or pre-Matthean. Let us recall that in the first century there was a multiplicity of textual traditions of Scripture - not only a standardized tradition in Hebrew (MT) and Greek (LXX), but variant formulations in Hebrew, Aramaic Targums and a number of Greek translations, some of which were closer to the MT than to the Septuagint. In the many instances where the Matthean evangelist was the first to perceive the possibilities of OT fulfillment, he likely selected or even adapted a formulation that best suited his purposes. In addition to using the formula citations to meet the general theology of the unity of God's plan, Matthew selected them to serve his particular theological and pastoral interests in addressing a mixed Christian community of Jews and Gentiles.

3. Authorship

   The title "Gospel according to Matthew" was added to it towards the end of the 2nd century. Papias, around the year 125, wrote:

   "Matthew arranged in order [syntassein] the sayings [logia] in the Hebrew [=Aramaic?] language, and each one interpreted/translated as he was able." (according to Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History 3.39.16)

   When Papias refers to the "sayings [logia] in the Hebrew language", does he mean that Matthew wrote a complete gospel? If Papias wanted to refer simply to individual words, he would have used the word logioi. Moreover, as he describes the Gospel of Mark as "not with a view of making an orderly account of the Lord's sayings [logia]", it is plausible that he was referring to a gospel when he says that Matthew arranged the logia in Hebrew. The meaning of syntassein (arrange in order) could refer to a persuasive or pleasing literary arrangement or even a more complete narrative.

   The canonical Matthean Gospel exists in Greek. Was Papias referring to a Semitic original from which it was translated? Three different observations have been used to support this thesis.

   1. In antiquity there was a Jewish gospel, probably in Aramaic, used by Palestinian Christians and associated by the Church Fathers with Nazarene (or Nazorean) Jewish Christians, especially in the Aleppo region of Syria. References to this gospel link it closely to Matthew; Jerome claims to have translated it into Greek and sometimes treats it almost as if it were the Semitic original of Matthew. Unfortunately, compared to the canonical gospel, the few Nazarene passages preserved in the patristic citations seem to be secondary expansions of Matthew or interpolations.

   2. There are medieval Hebrew forms of Matthew that most scholars consider to be retroversions of the Greek of the canonical Matthew, often created to serve in disputes between Christians and Jews.

   3. Still other scholars believe they can reconstruct the original Hebrew or Aramaic underlying all or parts of the Greek text of the canonical Matthew, but unfortunately this presupposes at the outset that the original was Semitic.

   The vast majority of scholars, however, maintain that the Gospel we know as Matthew was originally composed in Greek and is not a translation from a Semitic original. As for the attribution of the logia by Papias, and so that the canonical Matthew was inspired by the canonical Mark, let's say this: the idea that Matthew, a member of the Twelve and an eyewitness, would have used a Greek account (Mark) as his primary source is implausible. Thus, either Papias was mistaken in attributing a Hebrew/Aramaic gospel to Matthew, or he was correct but the Hebrew/Aramaic composition he described was not the work we know in Greek as the canonical Matthew.

   As an overall judgment on the Matthew question, it is best to accept the common position that the canonical Matthew was originally written in Greek by someone who was not an eyewitness, who is unknown to us, and who depended on sources like Mark and Q.

   Today, a more divisive issue is whether the unknown canonical evangelist was a Jewish Christian or a Gentile Christian. For example, biblical scholars sometimes detect errors in Matthew that they cannot conceive of a Jew making, e.g., the evangelist joined the Pharisees and Sadducees four times in chapter 16 as if they had the same teaching. Yet this joining may be only a shorthand way of grouping Jesus' enemies, and 22:34 ("When the Pharisees heard that he had shut his mouth to the Sadducees, they gathered together") shows that the evangelist is aware of the differences between them. In favor of identifying the evangelist as a Jewish Christian, the Papias tradition suggests at least a Jewish background for Matthew. The evangelist's use of the OT indicates that he knew Hebrew and perhaps even Aramaic, which is unlikely for a Gentile. Although not conclusive and may reflect sources rather than the evangelist himself, many features of Jewish thought and theology are found in Matthew:

   • the infancy narrative with a genealogy, a parallelism with Moses for Jesus, and a knowledge of Jewish legends;
   • the sermon on the mount with modifications of the Law ;
   • debates with the Pharisees;
   • the images of Peter's authority (keys of the kingdom, binding and loosing);
   • the command to obey those who sit on the seat of Moses;
   • concern about running away on the Sabbath;
   • and the special material in the passion narrative which is almost a midrash on passages from the OT.

   The overall probability thus favors the evangelist's Jewish Christian identity.

   But what kind of Jewish Christian? Matthew's Greek is probably not translation Greek; the evangelist often corrects Mark's style, and there are puns in Greek. This linguistic competence might suggest a diaspora upbringing, like Paul of Tarsus. Theologically, the evangelist belonged neither to the group of radical conservatives who opposed the admission of uncircumcised Gentiles into Christian communities (see 28:19: "make disciples of all nations"), nor to the group of radical liberals who considered the Law to be irrelevant (see 5:17: "Do not think that I have come to abrogate the Law..."). Yet it is difficult to reconstruct Matthew's exact state of mind regarding the Law. Many biblical scholars believe that the evangelist describes himself in 13:52 as "a scribe trained for the kingdom of heaven... a householder who draws from his treasure new and old things." This respect for what has gone before is attested to by Matthew's addition (9:17: "and both are preserved") to Mark 2:22 ("new wine in new wineskins"), which emphasizes that the old and the new are preserved. If we compare the evangelist with Paul, each may find the other's slogans too broad: "I have not come to abolish the Law" (Mt 5:17); "You are not under the Law" (Rom 6:14-15).

4. Locale or Community Involved

   By the end of the second century, the Church Fathers placed the composition of Matthew in Palestine. This was probably an assumption based on the earlier tradition that Matthew wrote in Hebrew/Aramaic, and on internal evidence of disputes with the Jews. However, some elements of the proposed Palestinian context may reflect the time of Jesus, rather than the situation in the Gospel. The majority view of biblical scholars links Matthew to Syria and specifically to Antioch. "Syria" is added in Mt 4:24 to Mark's description of the spread of Jesus' activity. The early Jewish gospel of the Nazarenes linked to Matthew circulated in Syria. The argument from Matthew's use of Greek that we should assume a Syrian city because Aramaic was spoken in the countryside is uncertain; but the urban location can be suggested by twenty-six uses in the gospel of the word "city" as opposed to four of the word "village. The dominant influence that Matthew would have in later Christianity suggests that he served as gospel to a major Christian church in a major city, such as Antioch. If, as noted below in the discussion of dating, Ignatius and the Didache provide the earliest evidence for Matthew's knowledge, Ignatius (certainly) and the Didache (probably) are associated with Antioch. However, the most compelling evidence derives from the correspondence of the internal evidence with what we know of the church at Antioch, as we shall now see.

   The interaction of Jewish and Gentile interests in Matthew is complex. Some passages strongly echo the interests of a law-abiding Jewish Christianity (5:17-20; 10:5-6; 23:1-3), yet other passages revise the Law or Jewish observances (5:17-48; 23:1-36). Despite all of Matthew's discussion of points of Jewish law, "the Jews" are called foreigners in 28:15, as are the synagogues of the Jewish authorities (10:17; 23:34). Matthew took Mark, a gospel addressed to the Gentiles, but omitted the explanation of Jewish customs in Mark 7:3-4, as if the Gentile section of the Matthean community were to know about cleanliness in meals. The most plausible interpretation is that Matthew was addressing a Christian church that was once strongly Jewish but whose membership had become increasingly Gentile. There were probably more Jews in Antioch than in any other place in Syria, and their ceremonies attracted many Gentiles (Josephus, Jewish War 7.3.3; #45). It is not surprising, then, that when the Hellenistic Jewish Christians were dispersed from Jerusalem after Stephen's martyrdom (ca. 36: Acts 8:1) and came to Antioch, they spoke of Christ to the Gentiles in that city as well (Acts 11:19-20). The list of "prophets and teachers" in Antioch (13:1: early 40's?) includes a childhood companion of Herod Antipas, so the Christian community in that city may have included some prestigious and wealthy people. Paul's mission to the Gentiles, begun with Barnabas, was under the auspices of the church at Antioch; the objections of some ultra-conservative Jewish Christians to its success led to the meeting in Jerusalem in 49 AD. After it was agreed there that Gentiles could be welcomed without circumcision, it was at Antioch that Paul, Peter and men of James (the "brother of the Lord") clashed sharply over how Jewish dietary laws affected the table relations of Jewish and Gentile Christians. Paul lost this battle and left Antioch, so that for the period immediately following 50, Christianity in that region was dominated by a more conservative view of how the Law was binding on Gentile converts. Peter played a moderating role in keeping the community together.

   In the 60s, another major change would have occurred. Peter was executed in Rome during this decade, and James in Jerusalem. The Christians were dispersed from Jerusalem when the Jewish revolt (66-70) began. There and in Antioch the antipathy of the Jews for the Christian Jews increased since the latter did not support their colleagues in the revolt. The image of the Jews in Antioch would have been affected at this time by the Jewish renegade Antiochus who aroused the fury of the Gentiles with false stories of Jewish plots to burn the city (Josephus, Jewish War 7.3.3; #46-53). In the 70s, after the first Jewish revolt was crushed by the Romans, an academy of scholars emerged as an influential force in Jamnea on the Palestinian coast; they were close to Pharisaic thought and honored as rabbis. In the same post-70 period, in Antioch, the pagans probably became the majority in the Christian group, while the conservative and radical wing of Jewish Christians broke away from the koinonia ("unity, communion") and separated. They would become the source of both the Syrian Ebionites - and of those later responsible for the Pseudo-Clementine Reconcibilities that appeal to the memory of James of Jerusalem as a great hero.

   This story of the changing relationship between Jewish and Gentile Christians would largely correspond to what we find in Matthew. Peter and James were very present in Antioch. Peter appears more often in this Gospel (14:28-31; 16:17-19; 17:24-27) than in any other; and to the list of the Twelve taken from Mark, Mt 10:2 adds "first" before the name of Peter. The Q material preserved in Matthew is very close to the epistle attributed to James. In terms of the variety of views that marked the history of Antiochian Christianity, the outright rejection of a mission to the Gentiles is stated in Mt 10:5-6; 15:24; yet later a mission to the Gentiles is commanded by Jesus in Mt 28:19. In the story of the magi in the first chapter, this outcome is announced as God's plan, but historically, was it the opposition of the synagogue that drove Christian preachers to the Gentiles? If there were Christian libertines among the Gentile converts who misunderstood Christian freedom, Matthew would have served as a firm corrective. Mt 5: 18 affirms a respect for the least part of a letter of the Law ; Mt 5:21-48 shows a very demanding attitude towards the spirit of the Law; Mt 19:9 introduces into Jesus' rejection of divorce (cf. 5:32) a clause opposed to the porneia. Yet other sections show strong hostility to eternal Jewish practices and treat the Pharisees as casuistic legalists (the designation hypokrites is used more than a dozen times, compared to twice in Mark). Matthew's rejection of the title "Rabbi" (23:7-8) is unique. In short, Matthew would have been written as a Christian response to the Judaism that was emerging after 70 AD in Jamnea, where the rabbis were revered as interpreters of the Law. Perhaps Matthew's Christians lived in the shadow of a larger Jewish community that resented them. If the two groups shared the same Scriptures and many of the same beliefs, their differences were all the more open to dispute. All of this fits the situation at Antioch, so Matthew's church could plausibly have been the antecedent of the church at Antioch which, two or three decades later, would have Ignatius as its bishop.

   Had the Christian audience envisaged by Matthew left the local Jewish synagogues or been ejected from them? Much depends on whether certain statements in the Gospel represent the past (before the year 70) or the final and current status (the 80s?). Matthew 10:17 predicts that Jesus' disciples will be scourged in the synagogues; Matthew therefore knows of Christians, past or present, who were subject to synagogue authority. Mt 23:2-3 says that the scribes and Pharisees succeeded Moses and therefore we must observe what they say (but not what they do). If this were the case, Matthew's Christians would still be under the obedience of the synagogue. However, five times Matthew (4:23; 9:35; 10:17; 12:9; 13:54) has Jesus teach in "their synagogue(s)"; and in 23:34 Jesus addresses the scribes and Pharisees, "I am sending you prophets, wise men, and scribes...some of them you shall scourge in your synagogues." In 28:15 we are told, "This story has spread among the Jews to this day." This language of alienation suggests a separation from Judaism on the part of the Jewish Christians who, with the Gentile Christians, formed a self-subsistent church.

5. Date of Writing

   The majority view dates Matthew to the period 70-100; but some prominent conservative biblical scholars argue for a dating earlier than 70. At the upper end of the spectrum, Papias may have written around 115; if he knew the canonical version of Matthew, a second-century date is ruled out. Matthew betrays no awareness of the problem of Gnosticism; therefore, if Matthew was written in the Antioch area, it was probably written before the time of Ignatius (ca. 110), for whom Gnosticism was a threat. Further confirmation of this is provided if Ignatius, in Ephesians 19, shows knowledge of Mt 2, and in Smyrnaeans 1:1, knowledge of Mt 3:15; and if Didache 1:4 shows knowledge of Mt 5:39-41, and Didache 8:2, knowledge of Mt 6:9-15. The Gospel of Peter, probably dated to about 125, was inspired by Matthew.

   At the lower end of the spectrum, most who believe that the apostle Matthew himself wrote the Gospel tend to date it earlier than 70. There are, however, strong arguments against the assumption of such an early composition. For example, the omission in Matt 21:13 of the description of the Temple in Jerusalem as serving "all nations" (Mk 11:17) and the reference in Matt 22:7 to the king burning the city may reflect the destruction of Jerusalem by Roman armies in the year 70. In terms of theological development, the Trinitarian formula of Mt 28:19 ("in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit") is the most advanced stage of the NT in a Trinitarian direction and is best understood as coming at the end of the NT period, as is the emphasis on Jesus' permanent presence in 28:20 rather than on the second coming. The disputes with the Pharisees in Matthew and the condemnation of the free use of the title "rabbi" fit well into the atmosphere of the early rabbinic period after 70. Two passages (27:8 "the field of blood"; 28:15 "corruption of the guards") describe elements of the passion narrative in Matthew that are remembered "to this day", using an OT expression to explain long-standing place names (Gen 26:33; 2 Sam 6:8). Such a description would be highly inappropriate if Matthew was not written until two or three decades after 30 or 33. Probably the best argument for a date later than 70 is Matthew's dependence on Mark, a gospel generally dated to the period 68-73.

   All this makes 80 or 90 the most plausible dating; but the arguments are not precise, so at least a decade in either direction must be considered.

6. Issues and Problems for Reflection
   1. The best attested reading of 1:16 is "Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary; from her was begotten Jesus, called the Christ. There are variants, one of which omits "husband of Mary", and another preserves the usual pattern of X begetting Y but still calling Mary a virgin. It is highly unlikely that the different recensions represent a different understanding of conception by Mary; they are clumsy attempts by copyists to correct the grammar of the best attested reading.

   2. The King James Version of Matthew 6:13 has a doxology that ends the Lord's Prayer: "For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen". This version is based on minor Greek manuscripts. The clause was missing in Jerome's Vulgate, on which the Roman Catholic translations were based; thus an ecumenical problem developed: in the English-speaking world, there were two different ways of ending the Lord's Prayer. Today, the vast majority of textual critics recognize that the doxology was not written by the evangelist Matthew, but that it is an ancient expansion for liturgical use based on 1 Chr 29:11. The earliest attestation is found in Didache 8:2, "For thine is the power and the glory forever," following the Lord's Prayer, but also appearing two other times (9:4; 10:5) and in a Eucharistic context. The ecumenical situation has been partially resolved today; in fact, in the Roman Catholic Mass, after the Our Father and a short invocation, the doxology has been incorporated: "For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, now and forever.

   3. Let us say a few words about Matthew's Christology, Ecclesiology and Eschatology.
      1. Christology

         The divine revelation of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God, occurs in the middle of the Gospel (Mt 16:16); the Son of God and Son of Man motifs are prominent throughout; and the Emmanuel ("God with us") motif appears at the beginning and end. Jesus is implicitly compared to Moses in the infancy narrative and in the Sermon on the Mount, and the Davidic parallelism is strong in the genealogy and the last days of Jesus' life. The theme of Jesus as divine Wisdom also appears in 11:19.27. The Son is placed together with the Father and the Holy Spirit at the end of the Gospel.

      2. Ecclesiology

         Not only is Matthew's community life reflected throughout the gospel, but the theme of the founding of the church appears in 16:18-19, and the qualities to be emphasized in the life of the church are found in chap. 18. The kingdom of heaven has become quite complex, encompassing both the whole of salvation history and the final eschatology. The church does not coincide with the kingdom of heaven, but it plays a role as the place where Jesus is confessed as Lord. In 21:43, the kingdom is transferred from the unbelieving Jewish authorities to a worthy and fruitful people, who constitute the church. The focus on Peter among the Twelve in Matthew's own scenes also has an ecclesial function, since he is the rock on which the church is founded. The speeches that set the tone for discipleship (especially chapter 18) also have an ecclesial function.

      3. Eschatology

         The appearance of Jesus, which marks a decisive change in the times, is already anticipated in the infancy narrative, where his birth is signaled by a star in the heavens. This motif is taken up again by the typically Matthaean events that accompany both Jesus' death (earthquake, resurrection of the saints, appearance in Jerusalem) and his resurrection (earthquake, angel coming down to open the tomb). In Matthean moral teaching, some of the most difficult demands reflect eschatological morality. The eschatological sermon in chapters 24-25 is much longer than the parallel in Mark and ends with the great parable of the last judgment, that of the sheep and the goats. The appearance of Jesus at the end of the gospel echoes Daniel's vision of the final triumph, and the promised presence of Jesus until the end of time already brings us into the victory of the Son of Man.

   4. Matthew 1:16.18-25 clearly describes a virginal conception of Jesus. Although Matthew's interest is theological, there is no reason to think that the evangelist did not believe in the historicity of this conception. Many serious biblical scholars believe in the historicity of the virginal conception:
      1. it is affirmed independently by Matthew and Luke, which suggests a tradition prior to either evangelist;
      2. In both gospels, the virginal conception takes place in delicate circumstances: Mary becomes pregnant before going to live with Joseph, to whom she was married - an unlikely invention for Christians, as it could lead to scandal;
      3. Those who deny its historicity have not been able to provide decisive arguments;
      4. there is theological support for a virginal conception: some Protestants would accept it as true on the basis of inerrancy or biblical authority; Catholics would accept it on the basis of church teaching; and some theologians link it closely to their understanding of Jesus as divine

   5. Matthew's Jesus is often described as a teacher of ethics, for example in the Sermon on the Mount. Despite the first century challenge, most Christians would still consider his critique of ostentation in almsgiving, prayer and fasting (6:1-8, 16-18) to be valid. Yet we must also recognize that if Jesus were addressing people in the 20th century, he might be addressing the opposite vice. Often a highly secularized society would be embarrassed by any pious action, including prayer, and would see no meaning in fasting as self-denial. Jesus might well say in such a situation: when you pray, pray publicly to challenge those who never pray and see no meaning in prayer; when you fast, let others see it so that their assumptions about comfort are challenged.

   6. Some of the words of the canonical Matthew are also found in The Gospel of Thomas, hence the question: are the words of The Gospel of Thomas derived from or independent of the words of Matthew? Let's make a number of comparisons using the parables of Matthew's chap. 13:
      • The parable of the sower, the seed and its interpretation, and the parable of the weeds and their interpretation also appear in EvTh 9 and EvTh 57, but in a shorter form that does not include an interpretation. Is this because it is more original or because the author of the EvTh collection rejected the canonical explanation and wanted the parables to remain open to gnostic applications?

      • The twin parables of the mustard seed and the leaven appear separately in EvTh 20 and 96, in a shorter form but with a somewhat different orientation: the mustard seed produces a huge leaf because it falls on a plowed field, and the leaven produces huge loaves. Are these Gnostic elements?

      • The twin parables of the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price appear separately in EvTh 109 and 76 in a longer form with much more emphasis on the hidden aspect of the treasure and the pearl. Does this reflect the Gnostic idea of the divine hidden in the material world? And doesn't the separation of these two parables represent a further reorganization from the Gnostic use of Matthew?

   7. Mt 16:16c-19 ("You are Peter...") is one of the most debated passages in the NT, largely because Roman Catholics have used it to support the role of the pope. The unusually heavy Semitic background of the phraseology makes it likely that it was not created by Matthew but drawn by the evangelist from an earlier source. Many biblical scholars do not believe that this phrase was spoken by Jesus himself, not least because it does not appear in the presumably earlier account of the scene in Mark, and because it contains a reference to the "church" that is unique in the Jesus tradition. But a widely followed thesis is that Matthew added to Peter's confession in Mark a Petrine confessional passage that originally had another context, a post-resurrection context. It is at this point that we find provisions for the future church in the NT, that Paul received a revelation from God about Jesus as the "Son of God" who was not dependent on flesh and blood (Gal 1:16), and that the power to forgive or retain sins is given in John 20:23. In any case, this Petrine passage can be paralleled with Lk 22:31-32 (Jesus promises that Simon [Peter] will not fail despite Satan's attempt to destroy him and that he will return and strengthen his brothers) and John 21, 15-17 (Jesus tells Simon Peter three times to feed his lambs/sheep) as evidence that in the Gospels written in the last third of the first century, after Peter's death, he is remembered as a figure to whom Jesus had assigned a special role in supporting the other Christians. Clearly, there was an important step between this NT image and the later historical assertion that the bishop of Rome is Peter's successor. This development would have been facilitated by a variety of factors: Rome was the capital of the Roman Empire and thus of the pagan world to which the Christian mission was increasingly directed (Acts 28:25-28); Peter's (and Paul's) martyrdom took place in Rome; and the church that regarded Peter and Paul as pillars (1 Clement 5) began in its letters to show interest in the other churches of the Empire. Christians today are divided, mostly along denominational lines, on whether the development of the papacy should be considered God's plan for the church; but given the NT evidence relevant to the growth of Peter's image, it is not easy for those who reject the papacy to portray the concept of a successor to Peter as contradictory to the NT.

   8. Matthew's extremely hostile criticism of the scribes and Pharisees, whom he accuses of having a casuistic outlook, is not atypical of the harsh criticism of one Jewish group by another Jewish group in the early centuries before and after our era - a criticism that sometimes crossed the line into slander. Tragically, when Christianity began to be seen as another religion than Judaism, Matthew's criticism became the vehicle for a claim that Christianity was balanced and honest while Judaism was legalistic and shallow. But many of the recorded views of the second century CE rabbis (often considered the heirs of the Pharisees) are not casuistic but sensitive and ethical. It is therefore important to realize that Matthew uses the scribes and Pharisees to characterize attitudes that he did not want Christians to emulate and that he would condemn as strongly in believers in Jesus as in their Jewish opponents. The casuistic approach to the law criticized by Matthew is inevitable in any established religion, including the church. By making some adaptations from the local color of the first century to that of our century, those who study Matthew could profitably go through chapter 23 looking for parallels in Christianity and/or society for condemned behavior.