The gospel of Jesus Christ is the announcement to the world that the Creator God has planned and brought about in history his purposes of redemption\u2014personal and cosmic\u2014through the birth, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension of his son Jesus Christ. Now all sinners are called to repent and put their trust in and follow Jesus, wherein they receive forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, inclusion into his international people, and the promises of resurrection and eternal life in a new creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is hard to find any singular passage that expresses all those ideas, but that is the progressive and cumulative message of the Bible. Anything less is a truncated and insufficient definition of the \u201cgospel.\u201d Anything different entirely is a false gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, that term \u201cGospel\u201d is also the name we give to the first four <\/em>books of the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are all biographies of Jesus Christ that climax in his death and resurrection for the salvation of his people, which is why we call them \u201cGospels.\u201d They tell that story of how God has climactically worked in history to forgive and save his people through Jesus Christ. Yet, for all their similarities, those four books are fascinatingly different. Each portrays Jesus from a slightly different angle\u2014same Jesus, unique perspective. That is why their proper titles are not \u201cThe Gospel of\u2026\u201d, but \u201cThe Gospel According to\u2026\u201d For they all tell that selfsame gospel, only with unique storytelling and structural dynamics. It is highly valuable, therefore, to look at each Gospel in its own right and let that author tell us his complete and coherent message, and not pick them apart to deal with the stories and sayings of Jesus in the abstract, or mash them all up into a monotone reading. The best reading of the Gospels is to let each have its unique voice and allow the structure and language of each to operate as whole narratives that can support and interpret themselves, as the authors gave them to the world. To that end, this essay will let Matthew speak. How does his text, as a whole and integrous unit, describe that one gospel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n To answer that question we must look to the details of Matthew itself, and notice the way the author has provided all the necessary linguistic and structural guidance for interpretation. When we give the text of Matthew that sort of controlling power, two critical features stand out: references to the Old Testament in the opening passages, and the careful organization of the material. When we take those features into careful consideration we can see clearly that Matthew\u2019s overall message is that the Lord has finally fulfilled his promises to Abraham and David by inaugurating an eternal kingdom and constructing his end-times temple, only through Jesus\u2019s death and resurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is impossible to overstate the importance of how any piece of art begins. What are the first words? What are the first impressions? These opening words and moments then instruct the reader\/audience how to interpret the rest of the work.[1]<\/a><\/sup> In Matthew\u2019s case, the book begins by invoking memories of David and Abraham<\/em> and emphasizing that Jesus is their \u201cson<\/em>\u201d (Matt. 1:1, 2, 6, 17, 20). The first sentence of the Gospel is, \u201cThe book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham\u201d (Matt. 1:1). This is a startling opening. Is it not a signal to the reader that the rest of this work will reveal how God has finally fulfilled his promises to David and Abraham? Those ancient promises, inhibited by so many struggles throughout Israel\u2019s history, are on the verge of fulfillment! Matthew is basically saying in this opening, \u201cRead on, and find out how!\u201d That means, to understand the Gospel according to Matthew, we must first understand what the Old Testament expectations are concerning David\u2019s and Abraham\u2019s \u201cson\u201d\u2014and what is holding them back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We begin with Abraham. In Genesis 12:1\u20123 we read this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup><\/strong> Now the Lord said to Abram, \u201cGo from your country and your kindred and your father\u2019s house to the land that I will show you. 2<\/sup><\/strong> And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3<\/sup><\/strong> I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n These are the Lord\u2019s first words to Abraham. Notice three elements here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n No sooner do these promises begin to be realized, however, that Abraham is told to sacrifice his one and only heir in Genesis 22. Yet, as Abraham raises the knife over Isaac, the Lord suddenly provides a ram to offer up \u201cas a burnt offering instead of his son\u201d (Gen. 22:13). Upon this act of obedience the Lord functionally repeats his promises of Genesis 12:1\u20133 (in Gen. 22:17\u201318). In turn, this episode with Abraham\u2019s \u201cson\u201d\u2014a word emphasized eleven times in Genesis 22\u2014becomes the paradigm for Israel\u2019s entire sacrificial system. Furthermore, the story of Abraham\u2019s son in Genesis 22 also carries a resurrection \u201con the third day\u201d typology (Gen. 22:4; see esp. Heb. 11:9).[2]<\/a><\/sup> The upshot of all this is to understand that the \u201cson of Abraham\u201d in Matthew 1:1 bears connotations of sacrifice and resurrection in order to bring the \u201cblessing\u201d of Genesis 12:3 to \u201call the families of the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Considering now \u201cthe son of David,\u201d 2 Samuel 7 is the place to look. The chapter begins as David has \u201crest\u201d in the land (2 Sam. 7:1), a partial fulfillment of those Genesis 12 promises. Then in 2 Samuel 7:12\u201214a the Lord tells David,<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12<\/sup><\/strong> \u201cWhen your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13<\/sup><\/strong> He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14a <\/sup><\/strong>I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Here we see some very similar promises that we saw with Abraham, only more particular. David\u2019s son will:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Henceforward that great nation from Genesis 12 will become a kingdom, and David\u2019s son will rule as king over it. And the building of the temple will be the crowning achievement of this kingdom, for it is the means by which God graciously dwells among his people.[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/sup> Thus, the promises to David are a particularization and amplification of the promises to Abraham, now running through the House of David.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Immediately following David on the throne was Solomon. He too has rest in the land and reigns over a great kingdom all the days of his life. As David\u2019s son, Solomon also builds the temple of the Lord (1 Kings 5\u20137). Surely this is the highwater mark of the Old Testament as all the promises of Genesis 12 are realized, God dwells among his people, and all the surrounding nations are blessed (1 Kings 8).[4]<\/a><\/sup> Yet, this Solomonic kingdom does not last \u201cforever.\u201d For the House of David\u2014the subsequent kings after Solomon\u2014slides into exile, and the Old Testament ends with a question mark over God\u2019s promises to both Abraham and David. Will there be a new son of David who rules over God\u2019s people in the land? Will this new son of David build a temple for the Lord? Will the son of Abraham bring blessing to all the families of the earth? And if so, how?<\/p>\n\n\n\n By starting his Gospel account with a genealogy of Jesus Christ who is called \u201cthe son of David, the son of Abraham,\u201d Matthew builds anticipation around these ancient promises. They had an initial fulfillment in David and Solomon\u2019s kingdom, but for hundreds of years they have laid dormant. And it seems to be that Matthew is indicating that \u201cthe deportation to Babylon\u201d (Matt. 1:11\u201312, 17) is the historical barrier that has blocked up those promises.[5]<\/a><\/sup> Now, Matthew stimulates the reader with just the first sentence: get ready for the full realization of these promises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is important for reading the first Gospel because now we are clued in to what Matthew thinks he is accomplishing with his gospel account. Matthew\u2019s biography of Jesus is not a collection of stories of what Jesus did and said written merely so we can know the factoids of Jesus\u2019s life. Rather, the very reason for writing this biography is because the collective effect of what Jesus did and said is to bring God\u2019s purposes through Abraham and David to completion. This realization turns on our reading antenna to perceive critical Abrahamic and Davidic sonship emphases throughout the rest of Matthew.[6]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, those emphases and expectations are that the \u201cson\u201d of David and Abraham will:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We will see below how Matthew capitalizes on these massive Old Testament hopes to describe how Jesus brings the Kingdom of Heaven to Israel and all nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Matthew\u2019s Structure and Discourse<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to this invocation of Old Testament hopes in his first sentence, Matthew also provides helpful structural cues. In Matthew 4:17 and 16:21 this phrase gets repeated: \u201cFrom that time Jesus began to . . .\u201d Specifically, these verses read,<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4:17<\/sup><\/strong> From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 16:21<\/sup><\/strong> From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n This repetition is not coincidental. These are seams in the Gospel that divides its content into three conceptual blocks.[7]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n The first block provides the theological context for all that ensues. And what Jesus begins to do at those seam verses, Matthew 4:17 and 16:21, contextualizes the specific episodes in the subsequent blocks of text. Then the climax of each block opens the door to the next block.[8]<\/a><\/sup> A visual depiction of Matthew\u2019s structure and discourse, therefore, would look like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have already commented above how Block I opens with a very strong invocation of Davidic and Abrahamic expectations. Throughout the rest of this block Matthew places seven direct Old Testament quotations, which is a very high concentration compared to the rest of the Gospel. Each of them comes from contexts that deal with Israel\u2019s end-times vision for the re-enthronement of the House of David and\/or their hopes for return from exile.[9]<\/a><\/sup> Taken together, the quotations anticipate that the son of David will resolve the exile and open the door to the rest of God\u2019s promises. The last quotation especially rings that bell. This is where we find the famous quote of Isaiah 9. Matthew 4:15\u201216 reads,<\/p>\n\n\n\n 15<\/sup><\/strong> The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,<\/p>\n\n\n\n the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n 16<\/sup><\/strong> the people dwelling in darkness<\/p>\n\n\n\n have seen a great light,<\/p>\n\n\n\n and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,<\/p>\n\n\n\n on them a light has dawned.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The language of \u201cthe way of the sea\u201d and light in the darkness are Isaianic images for the end of the exile.[10]<\/a><\/sup> And in the broader context of Isaiah, this \u201cway\u201d will be opened and the light<\/em> will shine when the \u201cchild is born\u201d to inherit \u201cthe throne of David\u201d (Isa. 9:6\u20127). Thus, Matthew\u2019s final Old Testament quotation in his prologue invokes the hope that the House of David will end Israel\u2019s exile\u2014that great calamity of the Old Testament that is blocking the Abrahamic and Davidic promises of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is with that that Block II begins: \u201cFrom that time Jesus began to preach, saying, \u2018Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand\u2019\u201d (Matt. 4:17). The conclusion to be drawn here is that Jesus\u2019s preaching ministry is that end-of-exile light<\/em> now shining into history.[11]<\/a><\/sup> Thus, the barrier that has long damned up the promises of God is now receding in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Block II, therefore, according to Matthew 4:17, the principle focus is Jesus\u2019s preaching<\/em>. In this block of text we have the famous sermon on the mount, missionary discourse, teaching on the sabbath, parables, and Jesus\u2019s query of Peter regarding who he is. The astute observer, however, will quickly point out that this section is not only preaching, but also filled with miracles: the healing of many people, casting out demons, controlling nature, and multiplying the fish and loaves on two occasions. The value of noticing the seam in Matthew 4:17 is understanding that Jesus\u2019s preaching <\/em>leads the way, and those miracles are therefore related to the preaching. That is, the miracles are not set in the abstract, as though they are raw demonstrations of Jesus\u2019s power. Rather, they are part of Jesus\u2019s preaching ministry, and they find their meaning therefore in relation to the content of Jesus\u2019s preaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that content, according to Matthew 4:17, is about the kingdom of heaven and the need to repent<\/em>. We can take a step further, therefore, and say that the preaching (and related miracles) in this section are aimed at explaining all things concerning the kingdom and what people\u2019s response ought to be\u2014namely, the nearness of the kingdom, the nature of the kingdom, the inevitable spread of the kingdom, the ethic of the kingdom, who is the king of the kingdom, and so forth. Our reaction to such is simple. In light of all this, Jesus says \u201cfollow me\u201d (Matt. 4:18\u201225).<\/p>\n\n\n\n It all leads to the climactic episode at the end of Block II in Matthew 16:13\u201320. For brevity\u2019s sake and to keep with the structural focus of this essay, we will only look at Peter\u2019s identification of Jesus as \u201cthe Christ,\u201d and Jesus\u2019s identification of Peter as \u201cthe rock\u201d on which he builds his church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus\u2019s question in Matthew 16:13, \u201cWho do people say the Son of Man is?\u201d is the capstone question for Block II. After all his preaching of the kingdom, and concomitant miracles, it is time to clearly identify for the reader who this Jesus is. By calling him \u201cthe Christ, the Son of the living God\u201d (Matt. 16:16) Peter proclaims Jesus as the heir to the House of David<\/em>. This is clear for several reasons, but we can point out just one: \u201cthe Son of God\u201d is the term arising from 2 Samuel 7:14 as a moniker for David\u2019s lineage.[12]<\/a><\/sup> Thus, Peter has accurately identified Jesus as the genealogy already has\u2014this is the one who will reverse the exile and bring all the promises to the House of David to bear. As we saw above, that means inaugurating an eternal kingdom and building the temple of God. On that first point we see, therefore, that Jesus\u2019s preaching ministry has been effective: Peter has made the connection from Jesus\u2019s preaching that the kingdom is nigh, and Jesus, the one that is in the line of David, must be its King.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But what about that related expectation that this same Davidic son will build God\u2019s temple<\/em>, the special place where God dwells among his people? This is the first bullet point on the messianic job description per 2 Samuel 7:13.[13]<\/a><\/sup> Well, right on cue after Peter decisively identifies Jesus as this Davidic \u201cson,\u201d Jesus goes on to call Peter \u201cthe rock\u201d and then talk about what he will build on this rock. The reader anticipates that he will say \u201cI will build my temple.\u201d[14]<\/a><\/sup> That Jesus says \u201cI will build my church<\/em>\u201d powerfully identifies his community of followers as the new covenant theological equivalent of Israel\u2019s old covenant temple![15]<\/a><\/sup> This is an awesome claim, because as we have seen, Matthew is all about creating expectations. Thus, now that Jesus is clearly identified as the Davidic King, and because he has continually announced the arrival of David\u2019s kingdom in his preaching (and affiliated miracles), two promises then remain for the rest of the book: that this kingdom will remain forever and that Jesus will build a community of people who fill the theological role of Israel\u2019s Old Testament temple, the dwelling place of God<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n To sum up Block II, the material in Matthew 4:17\u201216:20 is focused on Jesus\u2019s preaching<\/em>, and specifically his preaching about the kingdom <\/em>and the response it calls for. This is forecasted for the reader by the structural seam at Matthew 4:17\u2014\u201cFrom that time Jesus began to preach, saying, \u2018Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.\u2019\u201d The block ends with specific Davidic language and the promise that Jesus will build his end-times temple as the church<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In turn, it is vital to see that after this climactic dialogue that Block III immediately <\/em>begins with Jesus announcing his death and resurrection for the first time <\/em>in Matthew 16:21. Now that we know Jesus is the eternal King in the line of David, we know who <\/em>Jesus is. Now what must he do <\/em>to bring this kingdom to earth and raise his temple?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Opening Block III, the seam verse Matthew16:21 employs the operative verb \u201cshow<\/em>.\u201d Thus, the rest of the Gospel is now a demonstration. To be sure, Jesus still preaches and performs miracles, but judging by Matthew 16:21 it is all designed to show one thing: that he must be killed, and on the third day be raised<\/em>. In this section we have the famous transfiguration, two more explicit predictions of his death and resurrection, teachings about smaller acts of self-sacrifice, and most of it takes place during Jesus\u2019s passion week. Thus, after Matthew 16:21 the movement of the story is straight to the cross and empty tomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is critical for the same reason as above: it orients our reading of the details and keeps us on the same train of thought as the text. Taking these two blocks together now, we draw this very important conclusion: the kingdom about which Jesus preached and the temple he promises only come into existence through his death and resurrection. And in this too his people must be ready to \u201cfollow\u201d him (Matt. 16:24). Thus, Blocks II and III work together to emphasize the what<\/em> of Jesus\u2019s ministry (Davidic kingdom) and the how<\/em> (through the true death and resurrection of Abraham\u2019s son). Again, this is helpful because there is so much material in Matthew that is it easy to major on the minors and miss how it all works together. The Gospel is not a disassociated collection of sayings and factoids of Jesus\u2019s life, but it is a specifically organized narrative for understanding this thing called the kingdom of heaven and the requisite manner in which it must come about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The climax of Block III, Matthew 28:16\u201320, pulls it all together. What is the result of the kingdom inaugurated by death and resurrection? The answer is that now \u201call authority in heaven and earth\u201d belongs to Jesus! His kingdom is not over any limited territory, but over all creation! Therefore, Jesus sends his disciples out to all nations to instruct them in the things he preached and showed them, and baptize them into his new community. As such, each convert the apostles win to Christ becomes another stone in the internationally expanding temple of God. This is why Jesus receives worship in this setting (Matt. 28:17) and promises to always be with his people (Matt. 28:20), for these are divine actions in the temple!<\/p>\n\n\n\n To summarize what we have seen, the very first sentence of Matthew invokes the Old Testament hopes and dreams surrounding the promises to David\u2019s and Abraham\u2019s \u201cson.\u201d As such, that means a substitutionary sacrifice and resurrection (\u201cson of Abraham\u201d) will be the means to inaugurating the everlasting kingdom and temple (\u201cson of David\u201d). The prologue of Matthew 1:1\u20134:16, which I have called Block I, continues to build this anticipation by citing more Old Testament material that promises an end to Israel\u2019s exile, the very barrier that had inhibited the Abrahamic and Davidic promises of God so far. Therefore in Block II, Matthew 4:17\u201316:20, Jesus preaches about the kingdom of David and provocatively promises that in his role of building the temple of God he will build his church<\/em>! In Block III then, Matthew 16:21\u201328:20, Jesus shows his disciples how this kingdom comes only through his substitutionary death and resurrection, to the end that he now has all authority forever now to build up his temple-church with the peoples from all nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One particular boast the Lord makes in the Old Testament is that he is able to save, for he exercises sovereign control over all time and space; the false gods of the nations can do nothing of the sort (e.g. Isa. 46:1\u201311). The Gospel according to Matthew is a powerful literary demonstration of this truth! The promises of God through Abraham and David had hit the hard barrier of exile. It has become the dam through which God\u2019s purposes of redemption could not flow. And so remained the situation for hundreds of years. But now, with the birth of Jesus Christ, the end of the exile has come. As Abraham\u2019s and David\u2019s son, Jesus is the long awaited heir to all the promises of God. In the Gospel according to Matthew we see, therefore, how the kingdom promised to David has finally dawned. And we see in Jesus\u2019s resurrection how such a kingdom can be eternal. Indeed, Jesus\u2019s authority extends over all space\u2014\u201call authority and heaven and earth has been given to me\u201d\u2014and because he lives forever, his kingdom therefore has no end\u2014\u201cI am with you always\u201d (Matt. 28:18, 20). Moreover, Jesus does not say that he has authority to rule his kingdom only in the land, but as expected from Genesis 12:3, that kingdom stretches as a blessing to all peoples. And because the Great Commission involves bringing those peoples into the fold of his followers\u2014the church\u2014missions is therefore the means through which Jesus is constructing the great son-of-David-built temple, the international dwelling place of God. All of this is accomplished only through his sacrifice and resurrection. Thus, the great expectations through David\u2019s and Abraham\u2019s son have exploded onto the stage of history: a blessing for the people all over the world, an eternal kingdom, a temple for God\u2019s dwelling, all through sacrifice and resurrection. More concisely, the Lord has finally fulfilled his promises to Abraham and David by inaugurating an eternal kingdom and constructing his end-times temple through Jesus\u2019s death and resurrection. Because he is raised, he can raise the temple in himself.[16]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is good that there is only one gospel message. It creates clarity. If there were multiple gospels how would we know where to put our confidence? But because there is one gospel<\/em>, the way of salvation is straightforward and clear. And it is also good that there are four Gospel accounts<\/em>. There are four carefully and beautifully constructed narratives that bring us into the life and ministry of Jesus\u2014and quintessentially his climactic cross and resurrection\u2014to experience the saving work of God in dynamic ways. Matthew\u2019s contribution to that end is a breathtaking tour of kingdom and temple through sacrifice and resurrection<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What is the Gospel according to Matthew all about? A royal Son of Abraham and David who builds a worldwide temple. Keep reading to find out what this means, and how this life-changing message arises from the three-fold structure of Matthew’s Gospel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"The Gospel According to Matthew: Kingdom & Temple through Sacrifice & Resurrection","_seopress_titles_desc":"What is the Gospel according to Matthew all about? A royal Son of Abraham and David who builds a worldwide temple. Keep reading to find out what this means, and how this life-changing message arises from the three-fold structure of Matthew's Gospel.","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"[]","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[32,1974,12,38],"tags":[823,129,662,2203,102,1931,1307,909,1297,1701,185,661,122],"scripture-reference":[],"post_folder":[],"ppma_author":[193],"class_list":["post-22489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-august-2025","category-concise","category-theme","tag-christ","tag-church-history","tag-easter","tag-four-gospels","tag-gospel","tag-gospels","tag-historical-criticism","tag-historical-jesus","tag-historicity","tag-jesus","tag-jesus-christ","tag-resurrection","tag-theology"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025\u201308-One-Gospel-Four-Witnesses-no-text-e1754891323274.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-01-13 11:25:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"authors":[{"term_id":193,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"nicholas-piotrowski-1","display_name":"Nicholas Piotrowski","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Nicholas-Piotrowski.jpeg","url2x":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Nicholas-Piotrowski.jpeg"},"author_category":"1","job_title":"","church_city_state":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","church_site":"","user_url":"","description":"Nicholas Piotrowski<\/b>\u00a0is the President of\u00a0Indianapolis Theological Seminary<\/a>. His books include\u00a0In All the Scriptures: The Three Contexts of Biblical Hermeneutics<\/i>\u00a0(IVP Academic, 2021) and\u00a0Return from Exile and the Renewal of God's People\u00a0<\/i>(Crossway, 2025), and he has has written dozens of articles and book reviews in various journals. Dr. Piotrowski has two boys with his wife, Cheryl, and they are members at Castleton Community Church (Indianapolis, IN)."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22489"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22507,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22489\/revisions\/22507"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22489"},{"taxonomy":"scripture-reference","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/scripture-reference?post=22489"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=22489"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=22489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Matthew\u2019s Old Testament Background<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. See e.g. Rikki E. Watts, Isaiah\u2019s New Exodus in Mark <\/em>(BSL; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2000; repr. from WUNT 2\/88; Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1997), 53\u201390; Nicholas G. Piotrowski, Matthew\u2019s New David at the End of Exile: A Socio-Rhetorical Study of Scriptural Quotations<\/em> (NovTSup 170; Leiden: Brill, 2016), 18\u201231.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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2. Stephen G. Dempster, \u201cFrom Slight Peg to Cornerstone to Capstone: The Resurrection of Christ on \u2018The Third Day\u2019 According to the Scriptures,\u201d WTJ <\/em>76.2 (2014): 379\u201380, 387\u201388.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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3. As Nicholas Perrin puts it, \u201cThe main significance of this land [lies] in the fact that it would contain Yahweh\u2019s dwelling\u201d (The Kingdom of God: A Biblical Theology<\/em> [BTL; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019], 49).<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
4. See Graeme Goldsworthy, Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles<\/em> (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2012), 111\u201332.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
5. Nicholas G. Piotrowski, \u201c\u2018After the Deportation\u2019: Observations in Matthew\u2019s Apocalyptic Genealogy,\u201d BBR <\/em>25.2 (2015): 192\u201398.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
6. Leroy Andrew Huizenga, \u201cMatt. 1:1: \u2018Son of Abraham\u2019 as Christological Category,\u201d HBT <\/em>30 (2008): 103\u201313.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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7. See Jack Dean Kingsbury, \u201cThe Structure of Matthew\u2019s Gospel and His Concept of Salvation-History,\u201d CBQ<\/em> 35 (1972): 453\u201266.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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8. To be sure, many outlines of Matthew have been proposed, and most have a more detailed organization of the material than just three major blocks. But they must at least take these seems verses into account and incorporate them somehow, even in a more detailed outline.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Matthew_August-2025_Piotrowski-1024x371.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n9. Piotrowski, Matthew\u2019s New David<\/em>, esp. 227\u201236.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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10. Piotrowski, Matthew\u2019s New David<\/em>, 205\u201211.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
11. Piotrowski, Matthew\u2019s New David<\/em>, 215\u201317.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
12. R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew<\/em> (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 618\u201319. In other contexts \u201cSon of God\u201d means the second person of the Trinity (e g. John 17:1; Romans 1:3), but here it means the earthly king to rule Israel and the nations. Context tells which one any New Testament author has in view at any time.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
13. See Donna Runnalls, \u201cThe King as Temple Builder: A Messianic Typology,\u201d in Spirit within Structure: Essays in Honor of George Johnston on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday<\/em> (ed. E. J. Furcha; Allison Park, PA: Pickwick, 1983), 18\u201226.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
14. Michael Barber, \u201cJesus as the Davidic Temple Builder and Peter\u2019s Priestly Role in Matthew 16:1\u201319,\u201d JBL <\/em>132.4 (2013): 939\u201342.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
15. This is, of course, an idea that both the apostles Paul and Peter equally capitalize on in their letters.<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Matthew\u2019s Overall Message<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
16. Especially helpful, see Edmund P. Clowney, The Final Temple<\/em>, WTJ <\/em>35.2 (1973): 156\u201389.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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