Bible Final: Matthew

How many major speeches does it have?

five

Jesus’ Geneology

Jesus is established as the son of David and Abraham

what is different about matthew

adds a genealogy, birth story, and stories of Jesus’ resurrection appearances

one possibility of this gospel

might have been written to prove that the early church was God’s people in face of Jewish opposition

Jesus is cast as:

• the teacher of Torah

• the fulfillment of Torah: sacrificial lamb, no longer do we have to make sacrifices to atone for our sins

• the personification of Torah: he takes on our yoke and we take his

Sermon on the Mount

The beatitudes, disciples in the World, Jesus and Torah, Religious practices and the Kingdom, the heart of Kingdom ethics

View 1 – The Way of Jesus as an Interim Ethic

• Jesus believed final judgment was near

• Called his disciples to a rigorous way of life in preparation for this end

• Jesus was wrong: the end of age did not occur

• Therefore one cannot apply the Sermon on the Mount in the modern world, we don’t see our time as the world is about to end

View 2 – The Way of Jesus as an “Impossible Possibility”

• Jesus is the embodiment of defined love and calls his disciples to embody this

• Jesus calls humans to do the impossible – sin leads humans to fall short

• is the standard of human life

• Turning the other cheek only applies to private relations

• Christians aspire to love our enemies – but we cease to do so fully 

• Jesus does not offer love as a norm for public life

• Doesn’t work in a modern judicial system

• Can not expect nation-states to love enemies

View 3 – The Way of Jesus as The Way of Love

• All of Christ’s teaching is defined by his call to love God and neighbor

• Asserts that Jesus expected his followers to love all things

• Love is not an impossibility

• Love friends, neighbors, and enemies 

• Love sometimes requires the sacrifice of one’s interests

• Love applies to public life too

View 4 – The Way of Jesus as The Way of the New Age

• God’s kingdom is different than the kingdoms of this world

• Jesus proclaimed the arrival of this kingdom

• Jesus offered a way of life for the church

• The church has a mission: Christians are to reveal the reality of this new age

• Reject returning violence for violence in all its forms

• Loving the enemy

View 1

Jesus’ teaching does not apply

View 2

Jesus teaches us to love, and war falls short of love, but we always fall short so just make certain that justice is your aim in war

View 3

Jesus teaches us to love. Love compels the Christian to fight the just war while constraining violence

View 4

Jesus teaches us to forsake returning violence for violence. War is inconsistent with the new age that Christ proclaimed.