(d) The Relation of the New Law to the Old.—Verses 17-48, cf. also, addition at xxii. 40 and xix. 19b. Further, his use of δικαιοσύνη (“righteousness”) and δίκαιος(“righteous”) (specially frequent in this Gospel) is such as to connect the New with the Old; the standard in mind is the law which “fulfilled” that previously given.
(e) The Christian Ecclesia.—Chap. xvi. 18, xviii. 17.
(f) The Messianic Dignity and Glory of Jesus.—The narrative in i. and ii. show the royalty of the new-born child. The title “Son of David” occurs with special frequency in this Gospel. The following instances are without parallels in the other Gospels: ix. 27; xii. 23; xv. 22; xxi. 9; xxi. 15. The title “Son of God” is also used with somewhat greater frequency than in Mark and Luke: ii. 15; xiv. 33; xvi. 16; xxii. 2 seq. (where it is implied); xxvii. 40, 43.
The thought of the future coming of Christ, and in particular of the judgment to be executed by Him then, is much more prominent in this Gospel than in the others. Some of the following predictions are peculiar to it, while in several others there are additional touches: vii. 22, 23; x. 23, 32, 33; xiii. 39-43; xvi. 27, 28; xix. 28; xxiv. 3, 27, 30, 31, 37, 39; xxv. 31-46; xxvi. 64.
The majesty of Christ is also impressed upon us by the signs at His crucifixion, some of which are related only in this Gospel, xxvii. 51-53, and by the sublime vision of the Risen Christ at the close, xxviii. 16-20.
(5) Time of Composition and Readers addressed.—The signs of dogmatic reflection in this Gospel point to its having been composed somewhat late in the 1st century, probably after Luke’s Gospel, and this is in accord with the conclusion that some insertions had been made in the Marcan document used by this evangelist which were not in that used by Luke (see [Luke, Gospel of St]). We may assign A.D. 80-100 as a probable time for the composition.
The author was in all probability a Jew by race, and he would seem to have addressed himself especially to Jewish readers; but they were Jews of the Dispersion. For although he was in specially close touch with Palestine, either personally or through the sources at his command, or both, his book was composed in Greek by the aid of Greek documents.
See commentaries by Th. Zahn (1903) and W. C. Allen (in the series of International Critical Commentaries, 1907); also books on the Four Gospels or the Synoptic Gospels cited at the end of [Gospel].
(V. H. S.)
