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1694 | INTRODUCTION TO Matthew

Mediterranean world often translated freely , putting their own stylistic stamp on their work . The Gospel as we have it does contain a lot of parallelism in its literary style , a regular feature of both Semitic prose and poetry . ( 2 ) Early church tradition affirmed that Mark got much of the contents of his Gospel from the apostle Peter , the leader of the apostles in the mid-first century , which would make his narrative one of great interest to Matthew . ( 3 ) It is not at all clear that 13:52 is the author ’ s self-reference , but even if it is , the unusual literacy of tax collectors would have made it natural for Matthew as a follower of Jesus to turn to scribal activity . ( 4 ) Finally , a careful reading of his Gospel shows that while Matthew depicts Jesus as sharply challenging certain Jewish leaders and more general national trends , he does so as a devoted insider , not as an outsider to the movement . There is no compelling reason , then , to reject the early church ’ s uniform conviction that Matthew was the author of this narrative . Little interpretive significance necessarily changes , however , if one rejects this conclusion and attributes the book , as many today do , to an otherwise anonymous first-century Christian .

DATE
The second-century Christian writer Irenaeus declared that Matthew wrote “ while Peter and Paul
were preaching the Gospel and founding the church in Rome ” ( Against Heresies , 3.1.1 ). If this is
accurate , Matthew was probably
written in the early to mid-60s ,
because this is the one time
before the martyrdoms of these
International transportation artery					Mt . Hermon		two Christian leaders that we know they were together in
Regional roadway			Transfiguration ? ( possible site )				the capital of the first-century
Tyre				Predicts his death Heals the centurion ’ s servant , a paralytic , and Peter ’ s			Roman Empire . There are at least three objections to this line of reasoning : ( 1 ) Matt 22:6 – 7 is “ prophecy ” after
Turns water into wine			Sermon on the Mount ? Sea of Galilee Tiberias		mother-in-law ; restores Jairus ’ s daughter to life Heals blind man ; feeds 5,000 ? Heals man with demons ( Mark 5:1 ; Luke 8:26 )		the fact , reflecting knowledge of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 by the Romans . ( 2 ) The tensions with Pharisaic Judaism recurring throughout the Gospel reflect conditions in the latter decades of the first century , when
Spends boyhood	Nazareth					Heals men with demons ( Matt 8:28 )	Christian Judaism and rabbinic Judaism were competing to be
Restores widow ’ s son to life			Transfiguration ( traditional site )	Bethany on the other side of the Jordan ?		Baptism ( Possible site ?)	the one true remaining form of Judaism after the destruction of the others due to the war with Rome . ( 3 ) Matthew was written
SAMARIA							after Mark , and Mark was written either just before or after AD 70 ,
Talks with woman at well Ascends into heaven		Sychar Heals blind Bartimaeus ; calls Zacchaeus down from tree			Tempted ?		so Matthew must have been written later still . In reply : ( 1 ) The first objection holds only if Jesus could not have actually predicted the coming fall of Jerusalem , which seems
Clears temple Emmaus						Baptism ( traditional site )	to require unwarranted antisupernatural presuppositions . ( 2 ) The competition described
Crucifixion and resurrection	Bethany Birth		Bethany on the other side of the Jordan ? Raises Lazarus from dead ; anointed in Simon the Leper ’ s house Machaerus Dead Sea				was beginning already in the 60s , and the numerous references to the Sadducees ( not the Pharisees ) and the larger Jerusalem temple leadership as Jesus ’ primary antagonists , especially during his passion , could support a pre- 70 debate ( before the Pharisees alone were left ). ( 3 ) Mark may well have been written in the early 60s , so that Matthew ’ s use

HIGHLIGHTS OF JESUS ’ MINISTRY

Heals Canaanite woman ’ s daughter

Caesarea Maritima

Appears to two after resurrection

0 10 km . 0 10 mi .

Ptolemais

Chorazin Capernaum

Magdala Cana of Galilee

Mt . Gerizim

Jerusalem

P H O E N

J U D E A

I D U M E A

G A L I L E E

Mt . of Olives

I C I A

Nain

Bethlehem

Mt . Tabor

Salim ?

Jordan R .

Jericho

P E R E A

Gergesa ( Kursi )

Gadara

Caesarea Philippi

Bethsaida ( Julias )?

Bethsaida ( Galilee )

Yarmuk R .

Jabbok R .

D E C A P O

Gerasa

L I S

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