LESSON XXVII
A PRESENTATION OF JESUS TO JEWISH CHRISTIANS
The Gospel According to Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew is probably, as has been said, the most important book that was ever written. Its importance is due to the information which it contains about Jesus Christ. More fully perhaps than any other one book, the Gospel of Matthew has preserved the knowledge of Jesus.
Whatever be the future of the Church, the life of Jesus will now always remain the central fact of history. Even the secondary influence of Jesus is incalculable; even if none were left to own him as Lord and Master, still he would remain incomparably the most influential man that has ever lived. As a matter of fact, however, such a condition has never existed and never will exist. From the very beginning the life of Jesus made itself felt through those who accepted him, to the exclusion of all others, as the supreme Lord of their lives. If Jesus had been regarded merely as a quiet teacher of ethics, the Gospel of Matthew never would have been written, and probably the very name of Jesus would have perished. The wonderful influence of Jesus, which has transformed the world from darkness to light, which alone gives promise of a final reign of righteousness, has been exerted through the instrumentality, not of admirers, but of disciples. Jesus has been a Teacher only because he has been a Master.
To make Jesus Master in the lives of men was the purpose of the Gospel of Matthew, and it is the purpose of our study of the book. The Gospel was not written with merely scientific interest; it was not written merely to preserve certain gems from the lips of an inspired teacher. The ultimate purpose of the book was to make men fall at Jesus' feet with the words, "My Lord and my God." Such a purpose is not inconsistent with the most scrupulous truthfulness. Adoration of Jesus can be induced best of all, not by fanciful elaboration, but by sober fact. In the case of Jesus, truth was more glorious by far than the boldest fiction.
To make Jesus Lord and Saviour is the purpose of our work as teachers. That purpose cannot be attained by exhortation or by threatening, but only by impartation of knowledge. To know Jesus is to trust him and adore him. Many readers of the Gospels never attain to the true knowledge. Their failure is due to various causes—to moral laxness, to preconceived opinions, to spiritual dullness. One obstacle, however, is of a simpler kind. One thing that stands in the way of a real understanding of the Gospels is the habit of piecemeal reading. We read the Gospels bit by bit instead of allowing the whole to make its impression. We do not see the wood for the trees. Jesus is concealed from us by his individual acts. The Gospels should be read as well as studied—read rapidly, like an ordinary book, preferably in some rational form of printing where verse numbers and all editorial matters are relegated to the margin and the lines stretch across the page. These things may seem to be trivialities, and certainly they are not essential. What is essential—not in place of detailed study, but in addition to it—is a rapid reading of the Gospels, by which, through the exclusion of all non-essentials, the mysterious, holy person of Jesus is brought simply and freshly before the wondering soul. Not to know about Jesus, but to know him, is the prime object of our study. To know about him is a valuable part of education; but to know him is life eternal.
1. MEANING OF "GOSPEL"
The Greek word for "gospel" means "good news." Nowhere in the New Testament, however, is that word applied to a book. There is no reference in the New Testament to a "Gospel" of Matthew or of Mark or of Luke or of John. In the New Testament the word "gospel" has a more general reference. It designates the "good news" which lies at the basis of Christian preaching, however that news may be known. Christianity is based upon "a piece of information." The subject of that information is the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Without Christ we should have been hopeless, but Christ has saved us. Information about what he has done for us, however that information be conveyed, is the gospel.
This broad use of the word "gospel" appears even in the titles "Gospel according to Matthew," "Gospel according to Mark," "Gospel according to Luke," and "Gospel according to John," which are not due to the original authors of the books. "Gospel according to Matthew" did not originally mean the same thing as "Gospel of Matthew." It did not mean the Gospel which Matthew produced, but the one Gospel of Jesus Christ as Matthew narrated it. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John produced simply four accounts of the same thing. That common subject of the four accounts is the gospel, the good news, of what Jesus Christ has done for his followers.