Gospel of Matthew Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Setting === Most scholars view the gospel of Matthew as a work of the second generation of Christians, for whom the defining event was the [[destruction of Jerusalem]] and the [[Second Temple|Temple]] by the Romans in 70 AD in the course of the [[First Jewish–Roman War]] (66–73 AD). From this point on, what had begun with Jesus of Nazareth as a Jewish [[messiah|messianic]] movement became an increasingly gentile phenomenon evolving in time into a separate religion.{{sfn|Scholtz|2009|pp=34–35}} They hold that the author wrote for a community of Greek-speaking Jewish Christians located probably in Syria. [[Antioch]], the largest city in Roman Syria and the third largest city in the empire, is often proposed.{{sfn|Nolland|2005|p=18}} Other scholars hold that the [[historical Jesus]] had already predicted that the Jerusalem Temple would be destroyed.{{sfn|Barber|2023|p=84}} The community to which Matthew belonged, like many 1st-century Christians, was still part of the larger Jewish community.{{sfn|Saldarini|1994|p=4}} The relationship of Matthew to this wider world of Judaism remains a subject of study and contention, the principal question being to what extent, if any, Matthew's community had cut itself off from its Jewish roots.{{sfn|Senior|2001|pp=7–8, 72}} It is evident from the gospel that there was conflict between Matthew's group and other Jewish groups, and it is generally agreed that the root of the conflict was the Matthew community's belief in Jesus as the Messiah and authoritative interpreter of the law, as one risen from the dead and uniquely endowed with divine authority.{{sfn|Senior|2001|p=11}} The divine nature of Jesus was a major issue for the Matthaean community, the crucial element separating the [[early Christians]] from their Jewish neighbors; while Mark begins with [[Baptism of Jesus|Jesus's baptism]] and [[Temptations of Christ|temptations]], Matthew goes back to Jesus's origins, showing him as the [[Son of God (Christianity)|Son of God]] from his birth, the fulfillment of [[Christian messianic prophecies|messianic prophecies]] of the [[Old Testament]].{{sfn|Peppard|2011|p=133}} The title [[Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament#Son of David|Son of David]], used exclusively in relation to miracles, identifies Jesus as the healing and miracle-working Messiah of Israel sent to Israel alone.{{sfn|Luz|1995|pp=86, 111}} As [[Son of Man]] he will return to judge the world, an expectation which his disciples recognize but of which his enemies are unaware.{{sfn|Luz|1995|pp=91, 97}} As [[Son of God]], God is revealing himself through his son, and Jesus proving his sonship through his obedience and example.{{sfn|Luz|1995|p=93}} Unlike Mark, Matthew never bothers to explain Jewish customs, since his intended audience was a Jewish one; unlike Luke, who traces Jesus's ancestry back to Adam, father of the human race, he traces it only to Abraham, father of the Jews. Of his three presumed sources only "M", the material from his own community, refers to a "church" (''ecclesia''), an organized group with rules for keeping order; and the content of "M" suggests that this community was strict in keeping the [[Halakha|Jewish law]], holding that they must exceed the scribes and the Pharisees in "righteousness" (adherence to Jewish law).{{sfn|Burkett|2002|pp=180–81}} Writing from within a Jewish-Christian community growing increasingly distant from other Jews and becoming increasingly gentile in its membership and outlook, Matthew put down in his gospel his vision "of an assembly or church in which both Jew and Gentile would flourish together".{{sfn|Senior|2001|p=19}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page