Gospel of Matthew

Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament, but it wasn't written until around 80-90 CE, after several of Paul's epistles and the Gospel of Mark. Indeed, scholars suggest that Matthew is composed of large portions of Mark and the Q source in addition to it's own unique writing. Matthew reinterprets Mark making the man at the tomb an angel, the private revelation that Jesus is the son of God to a public statement, etc.

Reviews

• The lineage makes Jesus a clear descendant of the line of David, in order to fit prophecy. Another lineage exists in Luke that is entirely different, the two authors couldn't even agree on the name of Joseph's father! The author writes that there are 14 generations between Jesus and the Babylonian Exile, 14 between the exile and King David, and 14 generations between David and Abraham. This is probably done for reasons of numerology, but there are actually only 13 names listed in each of the three groups! All of this is pointless anyway, because Joseph is not the actual father of Jesus (1:1-17)!
• Only Matthew and Luke talk about Jesus being born through immaculate conception (Do Mark and John not think this miracle is even important enough to bother?), and they can't agree on any of the details.
• God couldn't come up with a better way to tell people about the birth of their savior than astrology (2:2)? Not just astrology, but a star that guides people on Earth and hovers over a building (2:9-10). That's not how stars work.
• Herod's only motivation to commit mass child-murder is that he was disturbed by news of the Messiah (2:3, 2:16). This seems like a thin pretense for fulfilling a prophecy.
• God really likes warning people about things in dreams (1:20, 2:12, 2:13, 2:19, 2:22)!
• The god of John the Baptist is really brutal (3:4-12).
• When Jesus is baptized, God speaks from heaven saying, "This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." This is framed as a public address, different than another gospel where it is private.

• Over and over again the Pharisees, Sadducees, disciples, and people in general are said be amazed and awed by the teachings of Jesus, but most the the teachings they're amazed with are nonsensical or common sense. Nothing he says is astounding.

Links

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Matthew - Wikipedia.