What Is the Book of Matthew About?

Understanding Matthew 28:18-20, Matthew 1:1, Matthew 5-7, Matthew 16:16

Matthew is the bridge between the Old and New Testaments. Placed first in the New Testament canon — though likely not the first Gospel written — it opens by connecting Jesus directly to Abraham and David, establishing from its very first verse that this is the story Israel has been waiting for. Matthew presents Jesus as the promised Messiah-King who fulfills the Law and the Prophets, teaches with unparalleled authority, and inaugurates the Kingdom of Heaven.

Author and audience

The Gospel is traditionally attributed to Matthew (also called Levi), a tax collector whom Jesus called to become one of the twelve apostles (Matthew 9:9). The book itself does not name its author. What is clear from the text is that the author wrote for a primarily Jewish audience. He assumes familiarity with Jewish customs, quotes the Old Testament more than any other Gospel writer, and structures his entire narrative around the theme of fulfillment.

Structure: five great discourses

Matthew organizes Jesus' teaching into five major blocks, each ending with the formula 'When Jesus had finished saying these things' (7:28, 11:1, 13:53, 19:1, 26:1). Many scholars see this as a deliberate echo of the five books of Moses — presenting Jesus as the new Moses who delivers the definitive teaching of God:

The Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7): Jesus' most extended ethical teaching. The Beatitudes, the antitheses ('You have heard it said...but I tell you'), the Lord's Prayer, the Golden Rule, and the command to build on rock rather than sand. This sermon does not abolish the Law but intensifies it — moving from external behavior to internal motivation. Murder becomes anger; adultery becomes lust; oath-keeping becomes absolute truthfulness.

The Missionary Discourse (chapter 10): Instructions for the twelve apostles as Jesus sends them out. Warnings about persecution, promises of the Spirit's help, and the cost of discipleship: 'Anyone who does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me' (10:38).

The Parables Discourse (chapter 13): Seven parables of the Kingdom — the sower, the weeds, the mustard seed, the yeast, the hidden treasure, the pearl, and the net. Together they reveal that the Kingdom of Heaven grows gradually, contains both genuine and counterfeit members, is of incomparable value, and will be sorted at the final judgment.

The Community Discourse (chapter 18): Teaching on life within the church community — humility (become like a child), dealing with sin (the process of church discipline), unlimited forgiveness (seventy-seven times), and the parable of the unmerciful servant.

The Olivet Discourse (chapters 24-25): Jesus' teaching on the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the age. Includes the parables of the ten virgins, the talents, and the sheep and goats — the last of which declares that how we treat 'the least of these' is how we treat Christ Himself.

Key themes

Fulfillment of prophecy: Matthew uses the formula 'This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet' at least twelve times. Jesus' birth in Bethlehem (2:5-6), the flight to Egypt (2:15), the slaughter of innocents (2:17-18), settlement in Nazareth (2:23), healing ministry (8:17), entry into Jerusalem on a donkey (21:4-5) — all are presented as fulfillment of specific Old Testament texts. Matthew's argument is cumulative: Jesus is not just a teacher or miracle-worker. He is the one the entire Old Testament points toward.

The Kingdom of Heaven: Matthew uses 'Kingdom of Heaven' (not 'Kingdom of God' as in Mark and Luke) over thirty times. The Kingdom is the central topic of Jesus' preaching: 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near' (4:17). It is both present (already breaking into the world through Jesus' ministry) and future (coming in fullness at the end of the age). It is entered through repentance and faith, characterized by radical ethics, and will culminate in final judgment.

Jesus as teacher with authority: Matthew emphasizes Jesus' teaching more than any other Gospel. The crowds' response to the Sermon on the Mount sets the tone: 'The crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law' (7:28-29). Jesus does not cite other rabbis — He speaks on His own authority, reinterpreting and intensifying the Law of Moses.

Conflict with religious leaders: Matthew records the sharpest conflicts between Jesus and the Pharisees, scribes, and Sadducees. Chapter 23 contains seven 'woes' against the Pharisees — devastating critiques of religious hypocrisy: 'You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead' (23:27).

The Great Commission

Matthew's climax is the Great Commission — Jesus' final instructions to His disciples after the resurrection:

'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age' (28:18-20).

This passage marks a dramatic shift. Matthew began with a Jewish genealogy and a Jewish Messiah — but it ends with a universal mission to 'all nations.' The one who fulfilled Israel's hopes now sends His followers to the entire world. The promise that closes the book — 'I am with you always' — echoes the name 'Emmanuel' that opened it (1:23): 'God with us.'

Why Matthew matters

Matthew matters because it demonstrates the continuity between the Old and New Testaments. Christianity is not a break from Judaism but its fulfillment. Jesus did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them (5:17). Matthew provides the most comprehensive account of Jesus' ethical teaching, making it the most-quoted Gospel in early Christian worship and instruction. Its final commission — make disciples, baptize, teach — has shaped the church's mission for two thousand years.