Matthew 1:1-11:1 - Concordia Commentary

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,” (Matthew 28:19) is the evangelistic call within Matthew, and Dr. Jeffrey Gibbs maintains that the text of Matthew was intended to serve “all nations” and the whole church rather than the some singular congregation as is argued by many contemporary scholars. Still, Gibbs interprets the text in light of the original cultural and religious context in which Matthew wrote, as well as the audience for whom he wrote. He employs a narrative approach that carefully attends to the literary structure of Matthew’s unfolding message in his Gospel. Themes that receive particular emphasis include Jesus’ mission to save his people from their sins; the reign of God in Jesus; the Son of God’s vicarious role as the substitute for Israel and for us; Jesus’ fulfillment of the OT; Jesus’ ministry of mighty word (preaching, calling disciples, teaching) and mighty deed (healing the sick, exorcizing, and raising the dead); how God’s grace in Jesus now comes to us through Word and Sacrament; and eschatology—that the end times have begun already with Jesus’ ministry, and the Christian lives with joyful hope in the promises yet to be fulfilled on the Last Day.

Features

• A conviction that the Gospels can and should be treated as independent, inspired sources, each to be interpreted in their own terms and in their own ways.
• A narrative approach and analysis of the life of Christ in the Gospel
• An extensive outline of how, when, and where Matthew wrote his Gospel

Essays

• Matthew for the Whole Church
• Matthew as Narrative
• The Reign of Heaven in Matthew’s Gospel
• The Fulfilment of Mission in Matthew’s Gospel

About the Author

Dr. Jeffrey A. Gibbs is professor of exegetical theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. He studied at Rice University, Houston, Texas (B.A.), Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Indiana (M.Div., S.T.M.), and Union Theological Seminary in Virginia (Ph.D.).

Endorsments

"Overall, Gibbs's first volume on Matthew is highly readable, carefully argued, and sensitive to recent scholarship. One need not agree with all of his hermeneutical presuppositions or conclusions to profit from this work. It is a helpful resource, particularly for the pastoral audience that Gibbs envisions."

–Stephen J. H. Tu, Knox College, University of Toronto

"The greatest strength of Gibbs’s commentary is his commitment to theological exposition. Gibbs is not content to apply historical criticism, source criticism, or even narrative criticism to Matthew without also reflecting on the doctrinal implications of Matthew’s statements. Gibbs rightly emphasizes the christological claims of Matthew’s Gospel and traces important christological threads through the book that seem to have escaped the attention of others. Although many readers will be disappointed by Gibbs’s rejection of the view that Matthew presents Jesus as a new Moses, few details of christological significance seem to have escaped Gibbs’s attention. Since Gibbs insists that Matthew intended to write a biography of Jesus, this focus is very appropriate."

–Charles L. Quarles Louisiana College Pineville, Louisiana

About the Series

The Concordia Commentary Series: A Theological Exposition of Sacred Scripture is written to enable pastors and teachers of the Word to proclaim the Gospel with greater insight, clarity, and faithfulness to the divine intent of the Biblical text.

The series will cover all the canonical books of the Old and New Testament, with an original translation and meticulous grammatical analysis of the Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek of each text. The foremost interpretive lens centers on the unified proclamation of the person and work of Christ across every Scriptural book.

The Commentary fully affirms the divine inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of Scripture; Each passage bears witness to the confession that God has reconciled the world to Himself through the incarnation, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ His Son.

Authors expose the rich treasury of language, imagery, and thematic content of the Scripture, while supplementing their work with additional research in archaeology, history, and extrabiblical literature. Throughout, God’s Word emanates from authors careful attention and inculcates the ongoing life of the Church in Word, Sacrament, and daily confession.