Category Archives: Matthew

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August 28, 2013

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Jesus, Matthew

Just a Subordinate Clause

Leon Morris on Matthew’s phrase “after they crucified him” in Matthew 27:35.

It is noteworthy that Matthew dismisses in a single word one of the most dreadful ways of dying people have ever devised and that word is a participle forming a subordinate clause. In this he is doing the same as the writers of other Gospels; as we noticed earlier, none of them tries to harrow the feelings of his readers by going into detail about “what pains he had to bear.” Popular Christian piety through the ages has not followed this example, and many have attempted to bring out what we owe to our Savior by dwelling on his sufferings for us. But what mattered for the New Testament writers was that in his death Jesus dealt with our sins; they try to bring out the meaning of his death and leave their readers to work our for themselves that crucifixion was such a painful way of dying.

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August 1, 2013

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Jesus, John Calvin, Matthew

The Astonishing Love of Christ

John Calvin at the beginning of his commentary on Matthew 26:57-61:

First, in order to remove the offence of the cross, we ought to consider the advantage which we have derived from Christ’s emptying of himself (Philippians 2:7) for thus will the inestimable goodness of God, and the efficacy of his grace, be found to remove by its brightness every thing in it that was disagreeable and shameful. According to the flesh, it was disgraceful that the Son of God should be seized, bound, and made a prisoner; but when we reflect that by his chains we are loosed from the tyranny of the devil, and from the condemnation in which we are involved before God, not only is the stumbling block, on which our faith might have struck, removed out of the way, but in place of it there comes an admiration of the boundless grace of God, who set so high a value on our deliverance, as to give up his only-begotten Son to be bound by wicked men. This will also be a pledge of the astonishing love of Christ towards us, that he spared not himself, but willingly submitted to wear fetters [chains] on his flesh, that our souls might be freed from fetters of a far worse description.

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June 21, 2013

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Eschatology, Matthew

15 Reasons Why Matthew 24 is About the Destruction of Jerusalem

1.   The immediate context of Matthew 21-23 involves the temple, Jerusalem and the cursing of Israel not the end of the world.  

2.      The book of Matthew is about judgment coming upon Israel. See chapter 12:22-45, as well as the parables in 13. This theme is continued in chapter 24.

3.      “Generation” is used in Matthew 1:17, 11:16, 12:39, 41, 42, 45, 16:4, 17:17, 23:36, and 24:34.  Every other place besides Matthew 24:34 it refers to a literal generation or to the generation standing right in front of Jesus. Why should we change the meaning in 24:34?

4.      The imagery used throughout Matthew 24:15-20 is local imagery. Flee to the mountains. Get out of Jerusalem. Do not wait.  These commands make no sense if Jesus is describing a worldwide tribulation.  

5.      The use of Daniel 7:13 in Matthew 24:30 is a reference to Jesus going up to the Father, not coming down for the 2ndcoming. Matthew is not talking about Jesus coming again, but rather rising up to God and sitting on his throne. Matthew 26:63-64 shows the same thing.

6.      The constant use of “you” throughout the text. This must apply to the disciples or else the entire speech makes no sense. This does not mean it cannot in some way also apply down the line to something else, but there must be an application to the 1stcentury hearers.

7.      While it is possible for “tribes of earth” in Matthew 24:30 to mean the whole earth, the word often means land, as in Rome (Luke 2:1)or land of Israel (25:45, 51) or even just the ground (25:18).  With the word “tribes” attached to it, it is more likely that this refers to the 12 tribes of Israel and not the whole world.

8.      Matthew 24:32-33 shows that Jesus expected his disciples to see the signs and act accordingly.

9.      Luke 19:41-44 and 21:20 makes it clear this is referring to the destruction of Jerusalem.

10.  Paul is clear that Matthew 24:14 was fulfilled before his death. (See Romans 10:18, 16:25-26, Colossians 1:6, 23)

11.  The phrases used in Matthew 24:29 are not literal in the Bible. Isaiah 13:9-10 uses this imagery about the destruction of Babylon. Ezekiel 32:7-8 is about the destruction of Egypt. Joel 2 uses this imagery of a locust attack. While the locusts were probably literal, if you read through chapter 2 you will see that most of the imagery is not. Amos 8:9 uses this imagery to describe the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Acts 2:17-21 describes what is being fulfilled right in front of them and again it is not literal. There is no reason that it has to be literal here (or in Revelation for that matter).

12.  The description of what will happen to the disciples in Matthew 24:8-11, Mark 13:9-11, and Luke 21:12 are all in Acts and Paul’s letters. Matthew 24:8-11 does not demand a world-wide persecution of Christians. It fits very well into the history of the church we find in the N.T.

13.  Jesus and Stephen were accused of preaching against the temple. (See Matthew 26:61 and Acts 6:13) We can argue about what they said, but it is clear that those surrounding Jesus and the Jews in the New Testament felt they were against the temple.

14.  The use of the end of the age/last days, etc. throughout the N.T demands a first century reading for the phrase “end of the age” in Matthew 24:3, 13, and 14.  (See I Corinthians 10:11, Hebrews 1:1-2, and I John 2:18).

15.  There are comings of God/Jesus in the OT and NT that are not physical comings. (See Psalm 18:10-12, Isaiah 19:1, and Revelation 2:5, 16, and 3:3)
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June 18, 2013

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Eschatology, Luke, Matthew

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Who is Taken?

Many Christians think the following verses refer to the rapture:

Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. (Mat 24:40-41)

The idea is that the Christians are taken up into heaven so they can escape the great tribulation while are the non-believers are left on earth to endure 7 years of fire, hail, brimstone, rivers turning to blood, etc.

However, there are problems with this interpretation. First, Matthew does not support it. Here is Matthew 24:37-39:

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 

Who are the ones taken away or swept away in these verses? Not the Christians. It is the non-Christians. Those who were not prepared for the flood were the ones taken away.  Noah was the one  left behind.

Second, Luke also does not view this as the rapture, but rather as a taking away to judgment or to die just like Matthew. Here is the parallel passage in Luke to Matthew 24:36-44:

I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” (Luke 17:34-37)

Notice in Luke the disciples (see verse 22) follow up Jesus’ description about people being taken with a question about where they will be taken. Jesus’ answer does not indicate a rapture. Where will they be taken? Look for the vultures. They will be eating their flesh. Whatever you think about the rapture, vultures eating the flesh of those taken does not usually figure into it.

So being taken in Matthew 24 and Luke 17 is not about the rapture. It is about Roman soldiers coming and dragging men off to die and to be slaves and to be imprisoned.

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June 14, 2013

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Jesus, Matthew

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Who Will You Deny?

The word deny (in Greek aparneomai) is only used 4xs in Matthew. It is used three times in Matthew 26 (verses 34, 35, and 75) where it refers to Peter’s denial. But the other time it is used is Matthew 16:24 where it says:

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 

The upshot is we either deny ourselves or we will find ourselves denying Jesus.