The purpose of this article is to present the uniqueness of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, which would then assist you in understanding the narrative of Matthew and also to appreciate how Matthew, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is presenting the Gospel in a unique and intriguing way to display the sayings and works of Jesus Christ in a way that brings all glory to Him. This is by no means an exhaustive list, rather 10 unique style or perspective that Matthew presents in understanding the person of Jesus Christ, which is heavily dependent on Old Testament prophecies, and rightly so.
1. GENEALOGY
As one starts to read Matthew, there would be this realization that Matthew starts his account of the Gospel in a rather unique manner, by proclaiming that Jesus is the fulfilment as the Son of Abraham and Son of David, and immediately goes into the genealogy, starting from Abraham right to Jesus, as a strong affirmation that Jesus is indeed the fulfilment of God’s covenant to Abraham. Obviously, one can argue that Luke also adopted the use of genealogy in his account of the Gospel, yet Luke uses a distinct genealogy and for a different purpose from the one in Matthew.
2. OLD TESTAMENT QUOTATIONS
This point is far easily explained through visual aid and therefore refering to the column chart below, one can quickly discern that between the 4 Gospel accounts, Matthew has the highest number of Old Testament quotations as a means by which to show it’s fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is imperative for the reader to understand the significance of the OT passages, in fact advised to read the OT passages in context while reading Matthew, to fully appreciate the message that Matthew is trying to convey through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
3. KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
A unique phrase that only found in Matthew; 33 times uses “Kingdom of Heaven” which is synonymous to the phrase “Kingdom of God”. One of the conclusions derived from this observation is that Matthew was clearly writing his account of the Gospel to the people of the Hebrew, and rightly so since the early church fathers also in their writings say that Matthew wrote his book to the Hebrews, in fact adding on to say that he wrote it in their own language – check out my previous article regarding this topic.
4. EMMANUEL
O Come, O Come Emmanuel, a song sung around the world proclaiming the birth of Jesus Christ as the Emmanuel, the God with us. However, the child born from a virgin prophesied in Isaiah was only quoted in the writing of Matthew. It is only in this Gospel account we find that Jesus is proclaimed to be Emmanuel, the God with us, ultimately proclaiming the deity of Jesus Christ, fulfilled through the nature of His virgin birth.
5. ANNUNCIATION TO JOSEPH
This event is contemporary to Luke where there it is Mary that experiences the visitation of angels to proclaim the incarnation of Jesus through her. Here in Matthew, Joseph too received a visitation from the angels of God that strengthened, convinced, and emboldened Joseph to not abandon Mary, rather to care for her and for this child Jesus, who is prophesied to be Emmanuel, God with us.
6. THE MAGI
Another strange event we find unique to Matthew is the visitation of Magi during the birth of Jesus Christ; NOT three kings! as written in the all-favourite Christmas carol. Matthew did not specify the number of Magi that visited, rather the Magi brought three gifts – Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh – and it seems like this reasoning of there being three kings comes from the idea that they brought three gifts. Who are these Magi? Why were they significant in Matthew’s account of the Gospel? Good questions, but they require a whole independent article dedicated to this topic and hope to do so soon, God willing.
7. FLIGHT TO EGYPT
The event of Joseph, Mary and Jesus Christ needing to flee to Egypt is an account found only in Matthew to depict a parallel event in the OT about Israel going to Egypt. Israel being a type and a shadow of Jesus Christ goes to show that Matthew clearly wrote his account to show that Jesus is the fulfilment of Israel, the true Israel. Matthew goes on to say; like in many of the passages; that then the return of Jesus from Egypt was a fulfilment of God in saying “Out of Egypt I called my Son”.
8. SERMON ON THE MOUNT
Okay, I know, the sayings in the sermon on the mount is found in the other accounts of the Gospel, you got me! But that is not my point! My point is that, only in Matthew we find a fuller extent of the sermon preached by Jesus. It is evident that Matthew found it crucial to record the sermon on the mount in a unique way rather than only recording snippets from the words of Jesus Christ. For instance, in Mark and Luke we only find certain portions of the sermon rather than a fuller script. This is not to say that the Gospels are in contradictions – as some heretics go on to conclude – rather quite the contrary, each of the Gospel writers, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and in their own unique view point express the Gospel.
9. THE PARABLES
This is a pretty simple one. In Matthew, there are unique parables not found in Mark, Luke and John; and these are:
- The Good and Bad Fruit – Mt 7:15-20
- Wheat and Weeds – Mt 13:24-30, 36-43
- Hidden Treasure – Mt 13:44
- Pearls – Mt 13:34-46
- Net – Mt 13:47-50
- Unforgiving Servant – Mt 18:21-35
- Vineyard workers – Mt 20:1-16
- The Two Sons – Mt 21:28-32
- The Wise and Foolish Virgins – Mt 25:1-13
- The Sheep and Goats – Mt 25:31-46
One of the aspects that Matthew primarily focusses on is Discipleship; and it is unmistakable by knowing the inclusion of these 10 specific, unique parables thought by our Lord, Jesus Christ. Also take note, that Matthew consistently writes his account that relates to money, and some parables in this unique list of parables makes that evident.
10. THE BODY STOLEN
Interestingly, in Matthew we find the conspiracy that the chief priests spewed that the disciples stole the body of Jesus and that He did not truly resurrect. This goes to show that Matthew is indeed writing this account to affirm his people that they should not doubt Jesus, rather believe that He truly rose again from the dead, that death can never hold Him captive, that He is truly the one that fulfils the covenant of God, and that they can put all their faith in Him and live their life for Him.
This marks the end of my articles, hope it was a blessing. Bookmark my blog as I am working on new articles in regard to the Gospel according to Matthew as study material for the Matthew series I am about to re-boot on my YouTube channel
Till then,
May the Grace of Jesus Christ our Lord be with you. Amen.
Keep Exploring Theology!