Matthew

Matthew's Gospel opens with a genealogy — a long list of names stretching from Abraham to Joseph — and that is entirely deliberate. Matthew is writing primarily for a Jewish audience, and he wants them to see from the very first line that Jesus is the heir of all of Israel's history. He is the son of Abraham, the son of David, the One the whole story was moving toward.

Matthew presents Jesus as the long-awaited King and Messiah. Throughout the book he uses a recurring phrase — "that it might be fulfilled" — to show how Jesus brings Old Testament prophecy to completion. The Sermon on the Mount, the parables of the Kingdom, the triumphal entry, the Last Supper, the crucifixion and the resurrection are all presented with royal and prophetic weight.

Yet Matthew also shows a Jesus who is remarkably accessible — who touches lepers, eats with sinners, welcomes children and calls ordinary fishermen to follow Him. The King who fulfils all the promises of Israel is also the Shepherd who goes after the lost sheep.

Written by Matthew, also called Levi — a tax collector who became one of Jesus' twelve apostles. Tax collectors in first-century Judea were generally despised as collaborators with Rome and exploiters of their own people, which makes Matthew's calling and subsequent discipleship all the more striking.

Matthew's Gospel was likely written between AD 50 and 70, probably from a Jewish-Christian community, possibly in Antioch. It became one of the most widely read and used Gospels in the early church, frequently quoted in early Christian writings.

Matthew's entire Gospel is a sustained argument that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

He is the new Moses — giving the new law from a mountain in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), just as Moses received the old law on Sinai. He is the true Israel — going into Egypt and coming out, being tested in the wilderness for forty days, passing the tests where Israel failed.

He is the Son of David — healing and restoring, as the crowds repeatedly call Him. And He is the Son of God — declared so at His baptism, at the transfiguration, and confessed by Peter in Matthew 16:16: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

The Great Commission at the close of the book (Matthew 28:18–20) shows the full reach of His authority: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations."

"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins." — Matthew 1:21

"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." — Matthew 16:16

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." — Matthew 28:18–19

Jesus is the fulfilment of all that Israel hoped for — the King who came to save His people and establish an everlasting Kingdom.

Matthew shows that Jesus does not merely fit Israel's story: He completes it. Every promise, every pattern, every prophecy finds its "yes" in Him. And the Kingdom He announces and inaugurates is open to all who repent and believe.

Matthew is an excellent Gospel to give to someone who wants to understand the Jewish roots of Christianity, or who is asking whether Jesus really is who He claimed to be. The careful way Matthew connects Jesus to the Old Testament is not merely historical argument — it is an invitation to see that the entire sweep of Scripture is moving toward one Person.

For the believer today, Matthew's account of the Sermon on the Mount remains one of the most searching descriptions of the life Jesus calls His followers to live. And the Great Commission at its close reminds every Christian that the risen King has not withdrawn from His world — He is present with His people as they go.