Continued from Part 1
We have seen the theme, but what is Matthew’s purpose for writing his account? His purpose is clearly to show that Jesus is the Christ. The word Christ (Christos) is the Greek word for Messiah. Therefore, Matthew’s purpose is to show that Jesus is the Messiah.
All of the Gospel writers use Old Testament prophecy to show how Jesus fulfilled those prophecies, but Matthew uses nine different Old Testament prophecies that none of the other Gospel writers use. The nine that are about to be shared are particular to Matthew. He does use other Old Testament proofs to show that Jesus of Nazareth—is in fact the son of David—the Messiah, the Christ, but these nine are particular to him. They are found nowhere else in the New Testament. They are:
- Matthew 1:22-23, “And all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord, by the Prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
- Matthew 2:15, “And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.”
- Matthew 2:17-18, “Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”
- Matthew 2:23, “And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.”
- Matthew 4:14-16, “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.”
- Matthew 8:17, “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.”
- Matthew 12:14-21, “Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all; And charged them that they should not make him known: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.”
- Matthew 13:34-35, “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.”
- Matthew 27:9-10, “Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me”.
Matthew and Grace
We have already seen how Matthew employs numbers to declare truths in a covert manner; he continues to do so with his use of the number five. Matthew is very focused on the number five; this is most likely true because five is God's number for Grace. Matthew would have understood grace, for he had earned his living by taking money from his countrymen and giving it to an occupying country. No doubt Matthew was a sinner of proportions that we would never understand, so grace was important to him. Thus, his focus on the number five.
- There are five women in the genealogy of Jesus Christ
- Thamar, 1:3;
- Rachab, 1:5;
- Ruth, 1:6;
- Wife of Urias;
- Mary, 1:16.
- There are five stories in the prologue
- The Genealogy, 1:1-17;
- The Birth Of Christ, 1:18-25;
- The Magi’s Visit, 2:1-12;
- The Flight To Egypt, 2:13-18;
- The Return To Nazareth, 2:19-23.
The Gospel of Matthew is neatly divided into five sections; we call these five sections The Five Books of Matthew. Matthew takes five of Jesus's sermons and builds his Gospel on and around them. We call these sermons: discourses. Before each discourse Matthew records a litany of narratives. The narratives and their respective discourse constitute one book. In his Gospel, Matthew does this five times.
The Five Books of Matthew are arranged as follows:
- The Proclamation Of The King, 3:1-7:29; the discourse is the Sermon on the Mount;
- The Ministry Mission In Galilee, 8:1-11:1; the discourse is The Mission Discourse;
- The Opposition Of The Jews, 11:2-13:53; the discourse is The Seven Kingdom Parables;
- The King, The Kingdom And The Church, 13:54-18:55; the discourse is Church Order;
- The Ministry In Judah and Jerusalem, 19:1-25:46; the discourse is The Olivet Discourse.
Conclusion: A Word On Inspiration
We will close this study with a word about inspiration.
When one considers the order and structure of the Gospel of Matthew, one can not ignore the fact that a plan, a design, is clearly apparent. This brings us to consider the matter of inspiration of Holy Scripture.
We, as Christians, understand the Bible to be inspired. By inspiration we mean, God breathed. The Greek word used by Paul for inspiration is: θεόπνευστος (theopneustos). The English Standard Version gets closer to the Greek "theopneustos" than most translations, when it says that: “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” —2 Timothy 3:16
Listed, here, are three versions of biblical inspiration:
- Verbal plenary inspiration: This view gives a greater role to the human writers of the Bible while maintaining a belief that God preserved the integrity of the words of the Bible. The effect of inspiration was to move the writers so as to produce the words God wanted. In this view the human writers' individual backgrounds, personal traits, and literary styles were authentically theirs, but had been providentially prepared by God for use as his instrument in producing Scripture. However, the theory nuances that God so mysteriously superintended the process that every word written was also the exact word he wanted to be written—free from all error.
- Dynamic inspiration: The thoughts contained in the Bible are inspired, but the words used were left to the individual writers. This suggests the underlying message of the Scriptures are inspired, while the exact wording is dynamic.
- Verbal dictation theory: The dictation theory claims that God dictated the books of the Bible word by word, suggesting the writers were no more than scribes used to communicate God's precisely intended message.
Of the three versions of inspiration, listed above, we hold that version #1 Verbal Plenary Inspiration is the proper way to understand the inspiration of Holy Scripture. Version #2, Dynamic inspiration, would not be the best understanding of inspiration in that it would allow the human element to employ less than perfect illustrations for the perfect thought from God. Moreover, it would be error to think in the terms of version #3, Verbal dictation theory, which would amount to nothing more than automatic writing. Automatic writing is when one picks up a pen and places their hand on the paper, disengages human thoughts, then the Holy Spirit moves their hand. That’s not the way we got our Bible. That is not what should be understood by inspiration.
As a Spirit filled preacher, I know something about inspiration. I know that when God inspires me with a thought, that thought is God-breathed. That is to say: It is breathed into me by the Holy Spirit. I have sermons which I preached during my evangelistic career that are very popular and are repeatedly being preached by other ministers today all around the world; they are using the title God gave me, using the outline God gave me, using the illustrations God gave me. It humbles me that the Lord used me in such a way. When God breathed those things into me, I went to my desk I opened my Bible, I opened my reference books, opened my books of illustrations (oh, yes, I have all of those), these things are the arsenal of my weaponry. Then I took that God breathed, and seminally inspired thought, and construct (I fabricated from my ability, which included my knowledge and life experiences.) a presentation which I could present to the people of God. The Holy Spirit inspired the thought and then lead me all along the way of the building of the message. I can honestly say that the anointing was, very often, just as strong upon me during the construction of the sermon as it was/is during the delivery.
An example of Verbal Plenary Inspiration is found in the Gospel of Luke. Although we are not reviewing Luke here, yet he provides a classic example of our subject: In the Gospel of Luke there is a plethora of medical terms that do not appear in other biblical writings, but, because he was a physician, they do appear in Luke's. So, this is what is seen: Luke takes the inspiration of God and then crafts his Gospel according to the giftings and the ability which he had—the Spirit guiding his words.
Matthew did the same thing. This is why certain things are so particular to Matthew. For instance, it is on purpose that he used the number five: it's on purpose that he used five women in the first chapter; it's on purpose Matthew includes five stories in the prologue; on purpose there are five sermons from Christ. Jesus did not preach only these five sermons, but these were the five sermons that Matthew chose to illustrate the inspiration that God had given him. Now, five is the number of grace and Matthew employs it because he understood grace. When Jesus found him he was sitting at the seat of customs counting the money that he had taken from his fellow countrymen to give to the Romans. Some of it probably extorted. The master walked up to him and said: Follow me. Matthew understood grace, and he understood that Jesus was the son of David, that he was the Christ—the Savior—the dispenser of the GRACES of God to the world. Matthew’s Gospel would manifest that truth.
To be continued:
Apostolically Speaking,
Bp. Jerry L Hayes D.D.
Be sure to read Part I and Part III of the Introduction To The Gospel Of Matthre at the lonks listed here:
Introduction To The Gospel Of Matthew I,
http://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2023/09/introduction-to-gospel-of-matthew.html
Introduction To The Gospel Of Matthew III,
http://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2023/09/introduction-of-gospel-of-matthew-part.html
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