Analysis Of Determining The Focus Of St. Matthew's Gospel

Determining the focus of a Gospel may seem like a daunting task. However, by examining the text, the task becomes much less intimidating. The focus of St. Matthew’s Gospel can be broken down into two parts: the audience and the message. Matthew is writing this Gospel with the Jews as his intended audience. His message to the Jews is that Christ is the Messiah. Evidence of the Jew’s being Matthews intended audience is seen throughout the entirety of the text. It is mainly seen through his writing style and the type of content. Proof of the audience is seen in the fact that Matthew does not need to provide detailed explanations of the Laws or customs. Also, the references Matthew makes to the Old Testament show that he was writing to an audience that knew the text and put a large amount of trust into it. The references Matthew makes to the Old Testament leads nicely into his message. Throughout his Gospel, Matthew tries to make the point that Christ is the Messiah. This is seen throughout many points in the text and is continuously backed up with

In Matthew 1:22-23, he makes the point that Christ is born of a virgin, making one of many connections to Isaiah. “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord has said through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means ‘God is with us.’” Another connection is made to Isaiah in Matthew 8:16-17 when he speaks on how Christ heals. “When it was evening, they brought him many who were possessed by demons, and he drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick, to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet: ‘He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases.’” Matthew once again makes a connection to the Old Testament in 12:15-19 when he states that