RELIGION 155 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: T&T Clark, Cumin, Minutiae
18 Oct 2016
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Rel 155: The New Testament: 29 September 2016
Class 10: Matthew’s Gospel
1. Structure and Plot
➢ Birth Narrative (Matt. 1- sets Jesus story within the wider framework of Scripture &
Jewish History (Genealogy, new Moses theme, fulfilment of Scripture).
➢ End of the Gospel looks outwards . Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them . . .
➢ Matthew is apparently structured around five discourses. Why is this?
Matt. 5-7 Sermon on the Mount Formula: 7.28-29
Matt. 10 Mission Formula: 11.1
Matt. 13 Parables Formula: 13.53
Matt. 18 Church Matters Formula: 19.1
Matt. 24-25 Last Things Formula: 26.1
2. Matthew’s Bible
➢ Quotations from the Hebrew Bible: Matt. Has an excellent knowledge of the Hebrew
Bible and the LXX cf. Matt 1-2 (especially Isaiah 7.14, LXX). But note the following
oddities:
21.5-7: Behold your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt,
the foal of an ass [Zech. 9.9] . . . they brought the ass and the colt, and put their garments
on them, and he sat thereon.
8.16-17: . . . he healed all who were sick. This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet
Isaiah, He took our infirmities and bore our diseases’ [Isa. 53.4]
➢ Jesus Story as Fulfilment Matthews use of Scripture is not just about quotation.
o Matt. 1-4 and 5-7: Israel / Moses typology - the thesis of Dale C. Allison, The New
Moses: A Matthean Typology (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1993)
o Israels story is summed up in Jesus - or does Jesus story retells Israels?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
➢ ”ut is Matthews knowledge of Judaism a first century Jews knowledge of his own
religion, or is it an outsiders view? Is the author a Jew or a Gentile?
3. Biblicism or Judaism?
➢ Knowledge of Jewish Minutiae
. the woman touched the fringe kraspedon of his garment cf. .
23.23-24: Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cumin,
and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy and faith; these you ought to
have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing
a camel.
➢ Hostility towards Gentiles
5.47: And if you salute only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others?
Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
6.7: And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do
18.17: If he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax-
collector
➢ The Kingdom of Heaven: 32/0/0 - but kingdom of God in . . . .
4. The Problem: Anti-Judaism
➢ Hostility to Jewish Authorities
3.7: You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? cf. 12.34;
23.33 and Chapter 23: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!; 5.20; 6.5
21.43: The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the
fruits of it.
➢ General Hostility
8.5-13, especially vv. 10-12, the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer
darkness; there people will weep and gnash their teeth
27.25: All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
The Matthean riddle: Why is Matthew’s Gospel so Jewish and yet also apparently so
anJewish?
The Matthean riddle: Why is Matthew’s Gospel so Jewish and yet also apparently so
anti-Jewish?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Rel 155: the new testament: 29 september 2016. Class 10: matthew"s gospel: structure and plot. 1-(cid:344)(cid:508) sets jesus(cid:514) story within the wider framework of scripture & Jewish history (genealogy, new moses theme, fulfilment of scripture). End of the gospel looks outwards(cid:497) (cid:344)(cid:350). (cid:343)(cid:351)(cid:497) (cid:513)go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them . (cid:514) Matthew is apparently structured around five discourses. 21. 5-7: behold your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass [zech. 9. 9] . they brought the ass and the colt, and put their garments on them, and he sat thereon. 8. 16-17: . he healed all who were sick. This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet. Isaiah, he took our infirmities and bore our diseases" [isa. Jesus(cid:514) story as fulfilment(cid:497) matthew(cid:514)s use of scripture is not just about quotation: matt.
