One of my favorite series of books are the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. In fact, I love the whole world that Tolkien created. From Hobbiton to Mordor, to the Western shores, I love the depth of the lore and world building that the books contain. In fact I’ve read all the published books of Tolkien and some of the books that were prepared by his family through his notes. I’ve also listened to lectures on the background of how Tolkien brought together his world. From the lush country sides of England’s rolling hills for Hobbiton, to the smoke towers of London for Mordor. The world that surrounded Tolkien became the world that Bilbo and Frodo lived in.
It’s the same for all great writers. The more you know about the author, the greater insight into their writings you get. From John Bunyan’s time spent in prison because he stood firm in his Christian faith coming out in Pilgrim’s Progress, to C.S. Lewis’ fascination with ancient myths that come alive in his Chronicles of Narnia series. The author behind the writings, gives insight into the writings themselves.
And it’s this idea of knowing the person behind the writings that brings us to our summer series where we are going to be taking this summer, and most likely next summer, to go through the Gospel of Matthew. I say we might be taking two summers to go through Matthew, because it took us two summers to go through the Gospel of Mark. Mark only contains sixteen chapters, while Mathew has 28.
As we open up into Matthew, for some of you, today might feel a little unneeded. We’re going to take this week so that we can walk through the background of the Gospel of Matthew. We’re doing this so that we can have a better understanding of the Gospel as we make our way through it. At first this might seem like a waste of time, but by the end, I hope that you will see why this is so necessary.
First, let’s talk about the author. In the book Ecclesiastical History the historian Eusebius quotes an early church father named Origen. Origen lived toward the end of the second century and is quoted as saying, “Among the four Gospels, which are the only indisputable ones in the Church of God under heaven, I have learned by tradition that the first was written by Matthew, who was once a publican, but afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ, and it was prepared for the converts of Judaism (6:25).”
Though the author of the Gospel of Matthew never states their name, since the second century the Church has held that not only was the Apostle Matthew the author, but it was the first of all the Gospels written. Without getting into all the scholarly work, we just need to know that even today, Matthew is the accepted author of the writing. He has all the necessary qualifications to write the account, being a tax collector for Rome and the insight needed to tell the story, being both a Jew and an eyewitness to the events.
Understanding that Matthew is the author helps us place the writing of the Gospel. Matthew is traditionally said to have died in the city of Nadabah, in Ethiopia, around 60AD (https://overviewbible.com/how-did-the-apostles-die/). That means that the latest we can have the writing would be 60AD; with scholars placing it earlier roughly between 50-55AD.
Knowing that Matthew is the author also helps us understand the purpose behind the writing. As we read from Eusebius earlier, Origen states that the the purpose was to help Jewish converts to Christianity. And as we walk through the Gospel of Matthew we will see the hard work that Matthew has done to bring out the Jewishness of Jesus. A reader of the Gospel cannot not miss the Jesus who is both the Savior of humanity from sin, and the long awaited Jewish Messiah of the Old Testament. Every verse of Matthew’s Gospel brings out the fulfillment of the Old Testament in the person of Jesus. From the opening genealogy to the final commission. Each page contains the bridge from the God at work in Israel’s past, to how he worked through the person of Jesus, and how that work is to continue into the future.
In fact, Matthew not only shows how the Old Testament is fulfilled in Jesus, he organizes his Gospel in line with the writings of the Old Testament. A parallel in how Matthew structures his writing can be found in the book of Deuteronomy. Matthew structures his Gospel around five primary discourses or sermons that Jesus gives. This is fashioned after the six sermons of Moses that the book of Deuteronomy is structured around. The purposeful connection in structure with a Mosaic book, is just another way Matthew brings out the fulfillment of the Jewish Messiah in Jesus.
Finally, let’s touch briefly on the place that Matthew wrote his Gospel. Some scholars place the writing in Antioch, which was the first heavily non-Jewish church of the region. This is possible because Antioch had some problems with Jewish believers trying to get the Gentiles to follow the Jewish law and customs. This could have been a reason for Matthew to sit down and show how Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the law, which in turn would help the Jewish believers let go of the traditions that were no longer necessary as they pursued the grace of Jesus that was the fulfillment of the law of Moses. Because of this we can understand that by Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament Law, the grace of God is better seen in our own lives. As Matthew walks us through, point by point, the requirements of the law, we see how great the grace of God is through the cross at the end.
But why did we just take a good portion of our time to look at the background of Matthew? Something that is very easy to do is to forget that God purposefully used certain people, at certain times, in certain places, to communicate his Word. Because of that, we must try to keep the books of the Bible in their rightful place. Matthew needs to be understood in the moment of time it was written. We cannot approach any part of Scripture from our own point in history, because when we do, there’s the good chance that we will read things into the text that were never intended to be there. If we do not try and place the Scripture in the time that God ordained it to be written in, we can make the writing say anything we want to.
Let me give you a recent example. In Genesis 3:1-4 we get this interaction between Eve and the serpent, “1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”’ 2 The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”’ 4 ‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. 5 ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”
The common interpretation of this passage is that the death that God is speaking about is not instantaneous death. In other words, God’s intention, when he says, “…you will certainly die (Genesis 2:17b)…” is not that Adam and Eve would die immediately upon eating the fruit of the tree; as if one bite would drop them down dead.
But in a sermon given on February 25 in 2018 a man by the name of Branden Robertson takes this interaction and says that because Eve didn’t instantaneously die, that the serpent was telling the truth and God was the liar (https://vimeo.com/257414376). Robertson interprets this passage with God being the liar, because later on in his sermon, he makes the idea of truth, mean whatever we personally want it to mean. But his interpretation flies in the face of other Scripture passages such as Numbers 23:19 where Moses states, “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” Or Titus 1:2 where Paul states, “…in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time…”
But Robertson has an agenda that must be upheld at all cost, and to do so, he must change the interpretation of God’s Word to fit his beliefs. We must stay away from this. So, even before we jump into the Gospel of Matthew, let’s put it where God placed it.
When we understand the Scriptures as God placed them, by understanding the who, what, when, where, why, and how of it, then we will be better prepared to understand how God’s Word applies to our lives today.
In chapter 4 of Hebrews, the writer says this about God’s Word, “12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
One of God’s purposes for his Word is to help us come closer to him. God’s Word divides us from the world and all its trappings, so that we are brought into conformity with God’s will. But in order for God’s Word to work the way he intended it, we must allow it to speak for itself. I don’t know if you had this issue with kids, but we would constantly be telling our daughters not to speak for our son. That he needed to speak for himself so that we could understand what he wanted or needed. It’s the same with God’s Word. We must not manipulate the Word of God with our preconceived 21st century thoughts, but rather understand it the way God intended it. If we can do that, we will be transformed by it into the people that God created us to be.
This week I want to challenge you to explore who Matthew is. Who is this man that God used to write this Gospel that we will be studying for the next two summers. A couple of places to read about Matthew is in Mark 2:1-17, and Luke 5:27-32. An interesting thing is, Matthew doesn’t tell us his own conversation story. One reason I think this is, is because Matthew’s emphasis is on the Jewish Messiah, and him being a take collector for the Romans might detract from that.
But take this week and learn about Matthew from his conversion story, in the other Gospels so that when we come back next week, we’re ready to dive into his Gospel with a better understanding of who God used to write this part of his Word, for the purposes that we will explore.
In doing this, we will be a people brought closer to Christ and more inline with his will. Amen.
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