Matthew
INTRODUCTION
The Gospel of Matthew launches the New Testament with a triumphant shout. The Messiah promised in the Old Testament has come! He is Jesus of Nazareth, whose death and resurrection offers forgiveness to all. The hunger of the early church to know about the Lord led to the drawing of four portraits of Jesus by four different writers. This one is by Matthew, one of Christ’s own disciples, who probably wrote before A.D. 70. Matthew quoted frequently from the Old Testament to show that Jesus is the Messiah promised there. Among his reports of what Jesus did, Matthew wove summaries of what Jesus taught: about God’s kingdom (Matt. 5–7), about discipleship (Matt. 10), about God’s plan (Matt. 13), about spiritual greatness (Matt. 18–20), about the future (Matt. 24–25). Perhaps the greatest contribution of Matthew is to help us see Jesus as a Servant-King, and to help us sense our own calling to a servanthood like His. Reading this book we understand why Matthew was the Gospel most quoted by Christian writers of the first three centuries of our era.
| I. | The Lineage of the King | Matt. 1–2 |
| II. | The Purposes of the King | Matt. 3–7 |
| III. | The Authority of the King | Matt. 8–15 |
| IV. | The Servant Attitude of the King | Matt. 16–20 |
| V. | The Suffering of the King | Matt. 21–27 |
| VI. | The Resurrection of the King | Matt. 28 |
