Understanding The Bible |
BY THE AUTHOR
Dr. Clarence E. Mason, Jr.
Philadelphia College of Bible
1971
INTRODUCTION
COMPARISON OF THE FOUR GOSPELS
Properly there is no such thing as a Gospel BY Matthew or Luke or John. There is only one Gospel. Various aspects of that Gospel, as embodied in the Lord Jesus, are portrayed in the writings of the Evangelists. So actually we have before us what might be described as the Spirit-breathed Gospel THROUGH Matthew.
Old Testament prophecies pointed toward a Coming One. There were innumerable prophecies made as to what He would be and do, but all of these come under the general heads of: Christ as a King, a Servant, a Man, and God. This is the purpose of Evangelists (as the writers of the four gospel narratives are called). They present Christ in these aspects of His life and death and subsequent events. For this reason seeming discrepancies disturb people who look at the Gospels as merely four Lives of Christ.
But this same situation would be presented if one read books
about Dwight Eisenhower in the aspects of Statesman, Traveler, Soldier, and
Golfer. There would be seemingly glaring contradictions between the view of him
as the dignified statesman in full dress and as a rough and ready infantry
major, etc. Or take, for instance, our main College building. If a different man
were to describe its appearance from each of four positions--front, back, east,
and west sides--when these descriptions were compared, there would seem to be
ample ground for concluding that they did not refer to the same building,
although there would be some points in common. So it is with the Gospels. These
books give us the complete view of Christ that the Holy Spirit intended. We
therefore need no Apocrypha.
Some very significant words in Old Testament prophecies indicate the distinctive
viewpoint from which each gospel writer foresaw Christ's person and ministry:
MATTHEW | MARK | LUKE | JOHN |
"Behold THY" KING |
"Behold MY" SERVANT |
"Behold THE" MAN |
"Behold
YOUR" GOD |
Zechariah 9:8 | Isaiah 42:1 | Zechariah 6:12 | Isaiah 40:9 |
Matthew - the Zechariah passage
does not say "Behold THE king, or the king of the ROMANS" or anything of the
kind, because He is King of the Jews, to whom the passage was spoken: "Behold
THY King" Matthew is not writing a life of Christ. He is merely setting down
those things which set forth Christ as Israel's^ long-promised Messiah King.
Mark - "Behold MY Servant." God is speaking. Christ is not man's servant
but god's. He served FOR God at HIS bidding. Christ could have healed all at the
pool of Bethesda, but He healed only one; for some inscrutable reason God gave
orders that way; He was not the servant of man. That's where these humanitarians
go wrong; they think Christ served man primarily. He served God primarily; man
incidentally and secondarily.
Luke - "Behold THE Man." Christ is THE second MAN; He has no connection
with the FIRST man. His supernatural birth affirms this. He is the Head of a new
creation of men. It is the only way He could redeem man.
John - "Behold YOUR God." His deity is emphasized throughout. "The Word
was God" (1:1).
For the simple reason that the books are not LIVES of Christ, there can be no
such thing as a complete chronological harmony of the Gospels (e.g., Tatian's
Diatessaron).
Each Gospel might be compared to a painting. On the canvas of Matthew we have
the striking face and carriage of Christ as King, with flashes in the background
of Christ as Man, God, and Servant. So correspondingly with others. The
characteristic of the particular book dominates the painting, but other phases
can be seen at times.
Some peculiarities of each Gospel may be noted:
MATTHEW - King - Jews - (Key question: Who are His ancestors?)
MARK - Servant - Romans - (Key question; What can the man DO?)
LUKE - Man - Greeks - (Key question: What is the IDEAL MAN?)
JOHN - God - Church - (Key question: What is His nature?)
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW
Matthew was led by the Holy Spirit to reveal our Lord Jesus as the
long-promised Messiah-King. This aspect of our Savior's ministry was especially
aimed at meeting the — need of the Jewish people. Jesus Christ's right to be
king is asserted in many different ways in 1:1-11:1.
Philadelphia College of Bible teaches that our Lord was first of all "a minister
of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the
(Jewish) fathers" (Rom. 15:8). These promises included the land (through
Abraham) and a kingly house and throne in perpetuity (through David). So in
Matthew our Lord’s genealogy is not traced to Adam (as in Luke's gospel--3:38),
but to Abraham and David,
Our Lord Jesus was "born king of the Jews". (2:2) and came into the human family
with the throne rights of His father David (Lk. 1:32-33). His herald and
forerunner, John announced the imminence of the setting up of that kingdom
(promised to Israel in numerous Old Testament prophecies) and conditioned it
only upon the repentance of a covenant people who had drifted far from God
(3:1-2). Our Lord Jesus took up this message when John was cast into prison
(4:12, 17) and .later selected apostles to go over all Israel bearing that
message (to Israelites ONLY, 10:5-7). Our Lord announced the principles upon
which He would rule when that kingdom is established (The Manifesto of the
Kingdom, 5-7). Both John and He warned Israel of the judgment that would follow
if repentance was not forthcoming (3:9-10, 12; 10:13-15).
Thus the long-promised Messianic kingdom was offered Israel, but the growing
opposition (9:34) of Israel's religious leaders led them to blaspheme the Holy
Ghost (12:24), which moral rejection our Lord recognized and responded to with
solemn warnings of judgment (12:31-45: 11:20-24). Our Lord anticipated the
nation's formal rejection of Him which would lead to the cross (16:21; 27:22,
25), and prophesied a form of the kingdom of heaven (called "the mysteries of
the kingdom") which would run its course between the time of His rejection and
that of His coming again (13:11,16-17, 34-35). A "mystery" means literally a
secret, thus something in relation to the kingdom which had been unrevealed
previously.
We are now living in this intervening period between the King's rejection and
the King's return. As a result of Israel’s rejection of Christ as King, the
nation has been set aside by God in age-long discipline, and the kingdom has
been put in abeyance (until the time of its manifestation), until the seed
sowing of wheat and tares has produced a harvest (13:36-43). Our Lord
pre-announced and identified the Church as His instrument of witness during the
period of the setting aside of Israel (16:18-19).
Israel will not "see Him again" until a substantial portion of them repent
(23:39) in response to the re-announced message of the coming King and kingdom,
which ministry will be interrupted by Christ's return (10:23). At the close of
that period of Tribulation, climaxed by Christ's return to earth, the hearers of
that message of a returning King will be judged on the basis of their attitude
of faith or disobedience toward the bearers of the message (25:31-46). This is
more properly called the Judgment of the Gentiles.
The book closes with the great facts of our Lord's death and resurrection,
26-28.
Here is a chart of major Bible events, showing the relation of the book of
Matthew to them:
Here is a bird's-eye view of the main transitions of the book of Matthew
which you should learn before memorizing the fuller outline on page 7
I. The Kingdom OFFERED 1:1-11:1 (and His rights DISPLAYED)
II. The Kingdom REJECTED 11:2-12:45 (and Israel DISQUALIFIED)
III. The Kingdom POSTPONED 12:46-28:20 ( and the Church DISCLOSED)
SUMMARY OUTLINE (Learn!)
"Mason's Notes"
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