New Testament

Matthew

Matthew tells the story of Jesus as the long-promised King of Israel, the son of David and son of Abraham, in whom God's earlier promises come true. It stands first in the New Testament because it is a bridge: it opens with Abraham, quotes Israel's Scriptures again and again, and ends with Jesus sending his followers to all nations.

Author: The book does not name its author, but early church testimony consistently attributes it to Matthew, the tax collector Jesus called from his booth (9:9). Many modern scholars question this, so it is best described as traditionally attributed to Matthew.
Audience: Most likely Jewish Christians who knew the Hebrew Scriptures well and needed to see that following Jesus was faithfulness to Israel's God, not a break from it. The book also looks outward, preparing them to welcome Gentiles.
When: The date is uncertain: many scholars place it around AD 70 to 85, while others argue for the 50s or 60s, before Jerusalem's temple fell. Early Christians believed it was the first Gospel written.
Where: The events take place in Galilee and Judea, ending in Jerusalem and on a Galilean mountain. Where it was written is unknown, though Syria, perhaps Antioch, is a common suggestion.
Genre: Matthew is a Gospel: a true account of Jesus' life, written like an ancient biography but with a clear purpose, to show who Jesus is and call readers to follow him. It mixes narrative, long teaching speeches, parables (short stories that reveal and conceal), debates, and in chapter 24 prophetic language about the end. Read it as history shaped with care: Matthew often groups material by topic rather than strict time order, so ask why he places a story where he does.

Shape of the book

The King Arrives · ch 1–4Jesus' family line, birth, escape to Egypt, baptism and testing show him to be David's heir and Israel's true Son, ready to announce the kingdom.
The Sermon on the Mount · ch 5–7From a mountain, as Moses once received the law, Jesus describes the life of those who belong to God's kingdom.
Mighty Works and the Mission of the Twelve · ch 8–10Ten acts of power show Jesus' authority over sickness, storms, demons and sin, and then he sends his disciples out with that same message.
Rising Opposition and the Kingdom Parables · ch 11–13As doubt and hostility grow, Jesus offers rest to the weary and explains in parables why the kingdom comes quietly and divides its hearers.
Who Is This? The King Forms His Community · ch 14–18Feedings, sea crossings and Peter's confession reveal Jesus as Messiah, who then predicts his death and teaches his disciples how to live together.
The Road to Jerusalem and the Final Confrontation · ch 19–25Jesus enters Jerusalem as a humble king, clashes with its leaders in the temple, pronounces woes, and teaches about the temple's fall, his return and the final judgment.
The King Crucified and Raised · ch 26–28Jesus is betrayed, condemned and crucified as King of the Jews, rises from the dead, and sends his disciples to make disciples of all nations.

Themes

The Kingdom of Heaven Has Come Near. John, Jesus and the disciples all preach the same message: the kingdom of heaven is near (; ; ). This is God's rule breaking into the world through Jesus, seen when demons are driven out by God's Spirit (). It starts small like a mustard seed () but will fill everything, and it is what Jesus teaches his followers to pray for: your will be done on earth as in heaven ().
Scripture Fulfilled. Matthew repeatedly says events happened to fulfill what the prophets spoke (; ; ; ; ; ). He is not only matching predictions; he shows Jesus stepping into Israel's whole story and bringing it to its goal. Jesus himself says he came not to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them ().
A Deeper Righteousness. Jesus says his followers' righteousness must surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees (). He does not mean more rule-keeping but a heart made whole: no hidden anger or lust (), giving and praying for God's eyes alone (), and mercy over show (; ; ). The tree is known by its fruit (; ).
Disciples and the Church. Matthew is the only Gospel to use the word church (; ), and its teaching on humility, forgiveness and restoring a straying brother (18) reads like a handbook for community life. is read differently across traditions: many Catholic readers see Peter and his successors as the rock; many Protestant and Orthodox readers see Peter's confession of Christ, or Peter as first among the apostles, as the foundation. Here we read the rock as Peter confessing Jesus, with the apostles' witness to Christ as the church's foundation ().
Israel and the Nations. Jesus is sent first to the lost sheep of Israel (; ), yet Gentiles keep appearing: the Magi (), the centurion whose faith amazes Jesus (), the Canaanite woman (), the soldier at the cross (). The promise that all nations would be blessed through Abraham's offspring () is fulfilled when the risen Jesus sends his followers to all nations ().
Judgment and Readiness. Matthew does not soften the reality of judgment: wheat and weeds are separated (), the unprepared are shut out (), and the nations are gathered before the King (). The aim is not panic but watchfulness, since no one knows the day or hour (, 42), and faithful service to the least of Jesus' brothers and sisters ().

Where Christ is

Matthew presents Jesus as the one in whom Israel's story arrives at its goal: the son of David who is the true King, the new and greater Moses, the Servant who suffers for many, and God himself come to be with his people. The book is framed by God's presence, from Immanuel, God with us (), to the risen Lord's promise, I am with you always ().

Son of David, the True King (promise and fulfillment). The first verse calls Jesus the son of David, linking him to God's oath that David's descendant would reign forever. Blind men, a Canaanite mother and the Jerusalem crowds all cry out to him as Son of David, and he enters the city on a donkey as Zechariah foretold. Yet his throne turns out to be a cross labeled King of the Jews. (; ; ; ; ; )
The New Moses and Faithful Israel (type). Jesus relives Israel's story, but faithfully. A king kills baby boys as Pharaoh did; Jesus comes out of Egypt, which Hosea said of Israel; he is tested forty days in the wilderness and answers from Deuteronomy where Israel failed; he teaches on a mountain with an authority beyond Moses. At the Transfiguration, with Moses present, the Father says, Listen to him, echoing the promise of a prophet like Moses. (; ; ; ; ; ; )
The Suffering Servant (fulfillment). Matthew directly applies Isaiah's Servant songs to Jesus: he bears our diseases, and he does not break a bruised reed. Jesus says he came to give his life as a ransom for many and pours out his blood of the covenant for the forgiveness of sins. On the cross he prays the opening words of . (; ; ; ; ; ; ; )
Immanuel, God With Us (fulfillment). Matthew applies Isaiah's sign of Immanuel to Jesus' birth, then lets the theme run through the book: where two or three gather in his name, he is among them; and the final words promise his presence to the end of the age. Jesus receives worship from the Magi and his disciples without correcting them. (; ; ; ; ; )
The Son of Man Given All Authority (fulfillment). Jesus' favorite name for himself, Son of Man, comes from Daniel's vision of one like a son of man who receives an everlasting kingdom from God. At his trial Jesus claims that vision for himself, and after his resurrection he declares that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. (; ; ; )

Voices

John Calvin. Calvin opens his commentary by facing an honest puzzle: Matthew's and Luke's genealogies differ widely in names, and interpreters disagree over whether both trace Joseph's line or Luke follows Mary's. He treats the difficulty as worth careful work rather than something to hide. Read the full commentary ↗
John Wesley. Wesley argues the evangelists copied the genealogies from the public records as they stood, and that these records accomplish their purpose: proving Jesus was "of the family from which the promised seed was to come." Read the full commentary ↗
Matthew Henry. Henry warns against knowing the Gospels only the way children learn to read from them. He urges readers to use them as working tools for serving God, like "the sailor his chart and compass." Read the full commentary ↗
Charles Spurgeon. Of the two hundred sermons Spurgeon preached from Matthew, he returned most often to , the crucifixion, followed by with its invitation to the weary. His preaching keeps the cross at the center of the book. More from Spurgeon at CCEL ↗

Reading well, key terms and common misreadings

Read it well

Watch the rhythm of story and sermon. Five long teaching blocks (5–7, 10, 13, 18, 24–25) each end with a phrase like When Jesus had finished saying these things (7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1), and each is surrounded by narrative that shows the teaching in action.
When Matthew says this happened to fulfill what was spoken, look up the Old Testament passage and read its context. Hosea 11:1, for example, is about Israel coming out of Egypt; Matthew is showing Jesus as the faithful Son who relives and completes Israel's story, not misreading Hosea.
Notice the bookends. The book opens with Immanuel, God with us (1:23), and Gentile Magi worshiping; it closes with I am with you always (28:20) and a mission to all nations. Much of the middle makes sense when read between those two frames.
Compare parallel stories in Mark and Luke. Matthew often shortens miracle stories and gathers sayings by topic, so differences in order or detail usually show his emphasis rather than a contradiction.
Read the Sermon on the Mount slowly and as a whole, starting with the Beatitudes in 5:3–12. The blessings come before the commands, and that order matters for how you hear everything that follows.

Key terms

Kingdom of heaven βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν (basileia tōn ouranōn) — Matthew's usual phrase for God's reign. Jewish speakers often said heaven instead of God out of reverence, so it means the same as kingdom of God (compare 19:23–24); it is God's rule arriving on earth, not only a place we go after death.
Fulfill πληρόω (plēroō) — To fill up or bring to completion. Matthew uses it for prophecies and patterns in Israel's Scriptures reaching their full meaning in Jesus (1:22; 5:17).
Righteousness δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosynē) — Right living that matches God's will and his own faithful character. In Matthew it is something to hunger for (5:6) and to seek first along with God's kingdom (6:33).
Son of Man ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (ho huios tou anthrōpou) — Jesus' most common title for himself. It can sound humble, simply a human being, but it echoes Daniel 7:13–14, where a son of man receives everlasting rule from God.
Church ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia) — An assembly or gathered people, used in the Greek Old Testament for Israel gathered before God. Among the Gospels only Matthew uses it (16:18; 18:17), for the community Jesus builds.
Little faith ὀλιγόπιστος (oligopistos) — A word nearly unique to Matthew, Jesus' gentle rebuke to disciples who trust him but falter (6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8). It describes real but wavering faith, not unbelief.

Easy to misread

Reading the Sermon on the Mount as a ladder for earning God's favor. It begins by blessing the poor in spirit (5:3), people with nothing to offer, and describes the life of those already welcomed into the kingdom. Its high standard (5:48) shows our need of grace, yet its commands are meant to be lived, not shelved as impossible ideals.
Taking the kingdom of heaven to mean only going to heaven when you die. In Matthew it is God's reign arriving now through Jesus (12:28), which his followers pray will come on earth as in heaven (6:10), and which will be completed when the Son of Man returns (25:31).
Treating Matthew as anti-Jewish. It was written by a Jew, quotes Israel's Scriptures constantly, and records a family argument within Israel; Jesus himself laments over Jerusalem like a hen longing to gather her chicks (23:37). The cry in 27:25 has been tragically misused to justify hatred of Jewish people, which the Gospel never permits.
Reading chapter 24 as a detailed timetable for the end. Jesus is answering two questions, about the temple's destruction and about his coming (24:3), and Christians differ on how much refers to Jerusalem's fall in AD 70 and how much to his return. Jesus' own point is clear: no one knows the day or hour, so stay ready (24:36, 42–44).

Further reading: David Guzik, Enduring Word · Matthew Henry on CCEL · BibleProject overview video