The Birth Narrative
The Birth Narrative
The purpose of this essay will be to focus on what Matthews Gospel is about and then evaluating the biblical and theological significance of the birth narrative of Matthews Gospel and what it says about the agenda of that particular Gospel.
Matthews’s gospel is the most Jewish of the gospels and his particular emphasis is to show that Jesus is the Royal Jewish messiah and the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy. His whole life from start to finish lay within god’s foreordained plan. Jesus is shown as the new Moses in the rest of the Gospel and is shown as the Davidic royal king. The great discourses or speeches in the gospel match those of Moses. There are many features of Jewish thought and theology and Matthew also features of Jewish theology and talks of the kingdom of heaven rather than the kingdom of God because the Jews do not pronounce the divine name.
“The Gospel according to Matthew is a manual of Christian teaching in which Jesus Christ, lord of the new yet old community, the church is described particularly as the fulfiller and fulfilment of Gods will disclose in the Old Testament. Jesus is set forth as Israel’s Messiah in whom god’s purpose culminates and by whose words and life his followers, the true Israel may gain divine forgiveness and fellowship. Within the natural framework the accounts of what Jesus said or did are grouped by common subject matter”. (May, Herbert. G and Metzger, Bruce. M, 1957:1171)
The five discourses of Jesus are a miniature version of the gospel itself, which are the five books of the law of Moses, a noteworthy feature of this Gospel are collections of teachings on specific themes, the Sermon on the Mount, Instructions for missionary disciples, the parables of the kingdom of God, on sincere discipleship and on the end of this age. The Gospel is anonymous, the unknown Christian teacher who prepared it during the last third of the century may have used it as one of his sources a collection
The purpose of this essay will be to focus on what Matthews Gospel is about and then evaluating the biblical and theological significance of the birth narrative of Matthews Gospel and what it says about the agenda of that particular Gospel.
Matthews’s gospel is the most Jewish of the gospels and his particular emphasis is to show that Jesus is the Royal Jewish messiah and the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy. His whole life from start to finish lay within god’s foreordained plan. Jesus is shown as the new Moses in the rest of the Gospel and is shown as the Davidic royal king. The great discourses or speeches in the gospel match those of Moses. There are many features of Jewish thought and theology and Matthew also features of Jewish theology and talks of the kingdom of heaven rather than the kingdom of God because the Jews do not pronounce the divine name.
“The Gospel according to Matthew is a manual of Christian teaching in which Jesus Christ, lord of the new yet old community, the church is described particularly as the fulfiller and fulfilment of Gods will disclose in the Old Testament. Jesus is set forth as Israel’s Messiah in whom god’s purpose culminates and by whose words and life his followers, the true Israel may gain divine forgiveness and fellowship. Within the natural framework the accounts of what Jesus said or did are grouped by common subject matter”. (May, Herbert. G and Metzger, Bruce. M, 1957:1171)
The five discourses of Jesus are a miniature version of the gospel itself, which are the five books of the law of Moses, a noteworthy feature of this Gospel are collections of teachings on specific themes, the Sermon on the Mount, Instructions for missionary disciples, the parables of the kingdom of God, on sincere discipleship and on the end of this age. The Gospel is anonymous, the unknown Christian teacher who prepared it during the last third of the century may have used it as one of his sources a collection
References: Brown, Raymond. E. (1977) The Birth of the Messiah, A commentary on the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke. London: Cassell & Collier Macmillan Publishers Ltd Guy, H http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/christianity_birthnarrative.html (Accessed 22nd November 2007) Bibliography Holmgren, Fredrick. C. (1999) The Old Testament, the significance of Jesus. Cambridge: Eerdmans Publishing Co May, Herbert Riches, J. (2000) The Bible A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press Sanders, E.P and Davies, M (1989) Studying the Synoptic Gospels Scrase, L. (2000) Conversations on Matthews Gospel between an Atheist and a Christian. Exeter, Devon: Short Run Press Ltd Woodhead, L http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2004/12/19/do1904.xml) (Accessed 20th November 2007) http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/christianity_birthnarrative.html (Accessed 22nd November 2007) http://www.philipharland.com/Blog/2006/02/02/a-very-jewish-jesus-the-gospel-of-matthews-portrait-nt-4/ (Accessed 23rd November 2007) http://www.progressiveu.org/213837-skeptical-bible-study-matthews-messianic-prophecies (Accessed 23rd November 2007)