What the book is
Matthew stands first in the New Testament, and for much of the church’s history it was the most read of the Gospels. It begins with a family line that ties Jesus to Israel’s whole story, “the son of David, the son of Abraham” (1:1), and again and again it pauses to show that what happened to him fulfilled what the prophets had said. It is the Gospel of the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord’s Prayer and the Beatitudes:
“Blessed are those who are poor in spirit: the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
It ends with the risen Jesus sending his disciples out to the whole world:
Go, then, and make disciples of all the nations: baptize them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to keep everything I have commanded you. And remember this: I myself am with you every day, until the close of the age.”
Who wrote it, and when
Like the other Gospels, Matthew does not name its author. From the early second century, Christian writers said it was written by Matthew, the tax collector whom Jesus called to follow him (9:9) and one of the Twelve. Many readers still hold that view. Many scholars think instead that the author is unknown, a Jewish Christian teacher who drew on Mark’s Gospel, since nearly all of Mark is in Matthew, often in the same words, and on a collection of Jesus’s sayings that Luke also used. The Gospel is usually dated between AD 70 and 90, though some place it in the 60s. Its concern with the law, the Pharisees and the fulfilment of Scripture suggests it was written for a church with many Jewish believers.
How the book is laid out
Matthew sets Jesus’s teaching in five long discourses, each closing with words like “When Jesus finished these words” (7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1), with the story told between them.
- Birth and beginnings (1–4): the family line, the visit of the Magi, the flight to Egypt, John the Baptist, the baptism and the testing in the wilderness.
- The Sermon on the Mount (5–7): the Beatitudes, salt and light, the law fulfilled, the Lord’s Prayer, the house built on rock.
- Mighty deeds and the mission of the Twelve (8–10).
- Parables of the kingdom (11–13): the sower, the weeds, the mustard seed, the treasure and the pearl.
- The Messiah and his community (14–18): the feeding of the crowds, Peter’s confession, the transfiguration, and teaching on humility and forgiveness.
- On the way to Jerusalem, and in it (19–25): the entry into the city, the conflict in the temple, the woes against the scribes and Pharisees, and the teaching about the end and the judgment.
- Death and resurrection (26–28): the last supper, the arrest, the trials, the crucifixion, the empty tomb and the great commission.
What to look for
Matthew speaks of “the kingdom of heaven” where Mark and Luke say “the kingdom of God”, in the Jewish way of honouring God’s name by not saying it. He quotes the Old Testament more than any other Gospel, often with words like “so that the word the Lord had spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled” (1:22). See How the New Testament quotes the Old. And the name given to Jesus at his birth, Immanuel, “God is with us” (1:23), is answered by his last words: “I myself am with you every day”.
How Open Word Bible translates Matthew
The virgin (1:23). Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14 from the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which has the word for a virgin, and the context makes his meaning plain: Mary conceived before she and Joseph came together. The draft says “the virgin” here. In Isaiah itself, the Hebrew word means a young woman of age to marry, and the draft of Isaiah says “the young woman”, with “the virgin” in a footnote. The decisions on both verses explain why.
The text. The draft follows the SBL Greek New Testament. Some verses familiar from older Bibles are not in it, such as 17:21, 18:11 and 23:14; the numbering skips them as the source does, and a footnote gives their words. The Lord’s Prayer ends at “rescue us from the evil one” (6:13); the closing words “for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever” are in many later manuscripts and are given in a footnote. See Verses missing from modern Bibles.
”On this rock” (16:18). Who or what is the rock on which Jesus will build his church: Peter himself, Peter’s confession of who Jesus is, or Jesus? The draft reads it as Peter, the apostle who has just confessed Jesus as the Messiah, marks the decision uncertain and gives the other readings in a footnote.
Divorce (19:9). The decision explains what the exception, divorce “for any reason other than sexual unfaithfulness”, most likely means, and the footnote gives the other views held by scholars and churches.
Jeremiah or Zechariah? (27:9). Matthew says the words about the thirty silver coins were spoken through Jeremiah, but they are closest to Zechariah 11:12–13. The draft keeps “Jeremiah”, as Matthew wrote, and a decision explains that he has most likely joined Zechariah’s words with themes from Jeremiah.
All the nations (28:19). A decision notes that “all the nations” most likely includes Israel, not only the Gentiles.