“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”Read the surrounding chapter
Time, place, and setting
- Time
- First century ministry. Composition before or after AD 70 remains debated. 7
- Place
- Galilee and Judaea, with Jerusalem central to the passion and resurrection narratives. The final commission takes place on a Galilean mountain. 1
- Setting
- Jesus teaches, heals and gathers disciples amid Jewish scriptural hope, religious controversy and Roman authority. His death and resurrection lead to a mission to all nations. 1
A Gospel centred on Jesus
Matthew introduces Jesus as Christ, son of David and son of Abraham, then tells how his presence changes the lives of those who meet him. It gives sustained attention to what he teaches and does, the responses he receives and the mission he entrusts to his disciples. Ancient biography offers a useful frame for this focus on Jesus’ life. 17 The opening genealogy and the final Galilean commission belong to one story: the one located within Israel’s history is the risen Lord who sends followers to all nations. Matthew 1 to 28. 1
Five substantial teaching collections appear in chapters 5 to 7, 10, 13, 18 and 24 to 25, with chapter 23 closely connected to the final discourse. Speeches and narrative episodes together develop the challenge of following Jesus. 5 The movement from Galilee toward Jerusalem gives this teaching a direction. After Peter’s confession, Jesus begins to speak openly about suffering, death and resurrection. The disciples must learn what his kingship means while their own hopes, fears and rivalries are exposed. His teaching therefore sounds within particular encounters, rather than as a detached collection of sayings. 1
Israel’s history and the child in Bethlehem
The genealogy passes through Abraham, David and the Babylonian exile before reaching Joseph, Mary and Jesus. Added names and notices let the genealogy carry remembered history, beyond a succession list. 6 Matthew’s opening identifies Jesus through Israel’s history and hope of fulfilment. 8 Joseph receives the child with obedient care after the angel explains that Mary’s conception is of the Holy Ghost. The name Jesus is joined to his mission to save his people from their sins, and Emmanuel identifies the presence of God with them. 1
The wise men seek the child while Herod fears a rival. Their joyful homage exposes the contrast with Herod’s concealed purpose to harm Jesus. 20 Bethlehem, Egypt, Ramah and Nazareth each enter the narrative with scriptural associations. Matthew explicitly connects the return from Egypt with Hosea 11:1, where Hosea recalls God’s love for Israel. Jesus’ saving mission also invites comparison with Ezekiel’s promises of cleansing and restoration. 15 The comparison is a proposed conceptual background; Matthew does not quote Ezekiel there. Reading these earlier chapters in their own settings makes Christian fulfilment more intelligible. 1
The kingdom takes shape in teaching
John calls for repentance, and Jesus begins his public proclamation with the nearness of the kingdom of heaven. The Sermon on the Mount blesses the poor in spirit, mourners, the meek, the merciful and peacemakers. Jesus’ teaching about fulfilment belongs within this announced kingdom and his authority. 9 He addresses anger, reconciliation, desire, truthful speech, retaliation and love of enemies. Prayer and generosity are directed to the Father rather than performed for an audience. The house built on rock portrays the hearer who acts upon these words. 1
Doing the Father’s will is connected with hearing and following Jesus. 10 Matthew carries this theme through the rich man’s question, the children welcomed by Jesus and the final command to teach obedience. Repeated scriptural references help readers connect fulfilment with Jesus’ authoritative teaching. 11 The Lord’s Prayer gives the disciples words for hallowing God’s name, seeking his reign, receiving daily bread, forgiving debts and asking deliverance. These petitions locate ordinary need within allegiance to the Father, bringing worship and relationships together in the same prayer. 1
Authority expressed through compassion
Chapters 8 and 9 show Jesus cleansing, healing, forgiving and calling people who need him. The centurion trusts the effectiveness of Jesus’ word, drawing an analogy from his own experience of command. The promised meal with the patriarchs pictures the joy of belonging in the kingdom. 3 Peter’s mother in law rises after Jesus touches her hand, and many who are sick are brought to him. Matthew 8:17 explicitly relates this ministry to Isaiah 53:4. The Gospel presents bodily need as a matter for Jesus’ compassionate action. 1
This compassion also gathers people into a new life. Jesus calls Matthew from the receipt of custom, eats with publicans and sinners, and twice brings Hosea 6:6 into disputes about mercy. He sees crowds as sheep without a shepherd and tells the disciples to pray for labourers. Chapter 10 then commissions the Twelve to preach and heal among Israel’s lost sheep. The commission includes generosity, dependence on hospitality and courage before opposition. Its initial audience and geographical limits prepare the reader to notice the wider commission after the resurrection. 1
Learning amid misunderstanding
The disciples hear parables, ask questions and sometimes misunderstand what they have seen. The sower describes different receptions of the kingdom’s word, including the pressures of trouble and riches. Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ, yet resists the announcement of his suffering. Jesus calls followers to take up the cross, making allegiance more costly than admiration. Strong images such as a beam in an eye sharpen the moral force of teaching. 19 Their vividness asks readers to recognise the actual point of the comparison and respond to it. 1
The chapter 18 discourse turns questions of greatness toward humility and care for little ones. Correction seeks to recover a brother within a community that also prays together. 4 Forgiveness received is meant to shape forgiveness offered to another. 12 The servant whose immense debt is cancelled is confronted for refusing mercy over a much smaller debt. The story makes the contrast visible rather than turning forgiveness into a calculation. A community that hears it can hold truthful accountability, protective care and reconciliation together, with the harmed person’s dignity taken seriously. 1
The king enters a contested city
Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey, with the crowd’s words drawn from Psalm 118 and the narrator’s quotation from Zechariah 9. Humility and hoped for victory meet in the Gospel’s use of Psalm 118. 16 The temple scene includes the healing of blind and lame people and the praise of children. Questions about authority lead into parables and disputes. When opponents ask about tribute, Jesus requests a coin and asks whose image and inscription it bears. The coin is part of the answer, limiting the claim made for Caesar. 18 Allegiance to God gives the encounter its wider horizon. 1
The denunciations of chapter 23 name hypocrisy, neglected justice, mercy and faith, and burdens placed upon others. They are followed by Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem. Chapters 24 and 25 speak of the temple, coming trouble, deception, endurance and the Son of man’s return. The concluding parables concern faithful attention during delay. Feeding, welcoming, clothing and visiting people in need appear in the judgment scene. The discourse thus joins watchfulness with actual conduct toward others, while its complex horizons call for patient interpretation. 1
The saving death and risen Lord
At the supper Jesus speaks of his blood of the new testament, shed for many for remission of sins. Gethsemane shows his grief and prayerful obedience as disciples struggle to watch. The arrest, trials, mocking and crucifixion make his suffering concrete. Psalm 22 is heard in his cry from the cross. Women remain as witnesses, and Joseph of Arimathaea places his body in a tomb. The announcement of resurrection is given to the women, who meet Jesus and carry his word to the disciples. These scenes are essential to Matthew’s presentation of salvation. 1
The final scene joins the risen Lord’s authority, baptism and a mission beyond Israel. 13 Israel and universal mission remain related themes throughout the Gospel’s unfolding story. 14 The eleven worship on the mountain, though some doubt, and Jesus gives them a commission that includes teaching people to observe what he commanded. His promise of presence answers the Emmanuel theme from the beginning. Christian discipleship is therefore grounded in the crucified and risen Jesus, whose authority accompanies the people he sends. Matthew 26 to 28. 1
Witness, prayer and the Spirit
Matthew names the Holy Ghost in Jesus’ conception, the baptism scene, John’s promise and the disciples’ future testimony under persecution. In 12:28 Jesus relates his ministry by the Spirit of God to the arrival of the kingdom. Acts 1 and 2 offer an explicit Christian companion: the risen Lord promises the Spirit’s power for witness, and Pentecost joins tongues, proclamation, repentance, baptism, prayer and shared provision. These contexts support a Pentecostal reading that receives spiritual power as service to Christ and others. 1
First Corinthians 12 to 14 connects active gifts of healing, prophecy and tongues with the common good, love and intelligible edification. James 5 places prayer for sick people within a patient, caring congregation. In Pentecostal Church of God life, prayer for divine healing and expectation of the Spirit’s gifts can therefore stand beside the Gospel’s teaching about mercy and faithfulness. The same Lord who authorises witness teaches truthfulness, forgiveness and care. His commission calls disciples into a continuing life of learning and obedience, sustained by his promised presence. 1
Sources
Numbered references support the material above. Scripture quotations use the KJV.
- The Holy Bible, King James VersionKing James translators · 1611
Matthew 1 to 28; Genesis 12; Exodus 4 and 24; Deuteronomy 6 and 8; Isaiah 7, 42 and 53; Jeremiah 31; Hosea 6 and 11; Micah 5; Zechariah 9 and 13; Psalms 22 and 118; Ezekiel 36 and 37; Daniel 7; Luke 3 and 24; John 20; Acts 1, 2 and 15; 1 Corinthians 12 to 14; James 5; Greek Matthew 28:16 to 20
View the source - A Greek English Lexicon of the New TestamentJoseph Henry Thayer
Historical entry 3100, complete senses 1 and 2, especially Matthew 28:19
View the source - The Gospel according to St Matthew, Cambridge Bible for Schools and CollegesA. Carr · 1893
Matthew 8:1 to 15; introduction, Authorship of the Gospel
View the source - Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, MatthewHeinrich August Wilhelm Meyer
Matthew 18:15 to 20
View the source - The Structure of the Gospel of Matthew as NarrativeH. J. Bernard Combrink · 1983
Pages 66 to 70 and 87 to 90
View the source - Genealogical Annotation in Genesis as Background for the Matthean Genealogy of JesusJohn Nolland · 1996
Pages 115 to 122
View the source - The Oath Formulas of Matthew 23:16 to 22 as Evidence for a Pre 70 Date of Composition for Matthew’s GospelCharles L. Quarles · 2021
Pages 1 to 5 and 20 to 22
View the source - Matthew, Tyndale New Testament CommentaryR. T. France · 1985
Commentary opening and Matthew 1:1 to 17, genealogy
View the source - The nature of the law’s fulfilment in Matthew 5:17: An exegetical and theological studyBradley M. Trout · 2015
Contextual consideration: Literary context, The antitheses, The kingdom of heaven and Fulfilment of the Old Testament
View the source - The fulfilment of the law according to Matthew 5:17: A dialectical approachP. la G. du Toit · 2018
Sections 3 and 4, following Jesus and righteousness
View the source - Fulfilment of Scripture and Jesus’ Teachings in MatthewR. Alan Culpepper · 2015
Fulfilment of Scripture and Jesus’ teaching and narrative authority
View the source - The motive of forgiveness in the Gospel according to MatthewMarius J. Nel · 2015
Narrative, epilogue, historical and internal conflict discussion; conclusion
View the source - The Resurrection Narratives in Matthew’s GospelDavid Wenham · 1973
Pages 49 to 54
View the source - Israel and the Universal Mission in the Gospel of MatthewTae Sub Kim · 2013
Published dissertation summary, pages 153 to 155
View the source - I Will Save My People from Their Sins: The Influence of Ezekiel 36:28b to 29a; 37:23b on Matthew 1:21Nicholas G. Piotrowski · 2013
Pages 36 to 42 and 52 to 54
View the source - Psalm 118 and the Eschatological Son of DavidIan J. Vaillancourt · 2019
Pages 733 to 737
View the source - What Are the Gospels? A Comparison with Graeco Roman BiographyRichard A. Burridge · 2018
Introduction, I.4 to I.8 and I.13 to I.15; preview PDF pages 20 to 24 and 29 to 31
View the source - Show Me the Money: Jesus, Visual Aids, and the Tribute QuestionN. Clayton Croy · 2020
Pages 202 to 206
View the source - Jesus’s Use of Hyperbole in the Gospel of MatthewStefanus Kristianto · 2026
Published dissertation summary, pages i to iv
View the source - Matthew, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New TestamentDavid L. Turner · 2008
Matthew 2:1 to 12, pages 77 to 79 and 85 to 86, licensed preview
View the source