The Literary Genius of the Structure of Matthew's Gospel

I this video I explore Matthew's ingenious structure of his Gospel.

The Bible is the greatest work of literary genius. And The Bible is Art is a YouTube Channel devoted to explaining this literary art in all its sophistication, elegance, and design.

twitter: @johnbhiggins

| How to Learn to Read the Bible as Literary Art |

| Literary Structure |

| Genesis |

| Transcription |
There are many different ways to organize a story, how to order the scenes into a whole. And if you want more of an explanation of the different ways to structure stories, you can see the video linked in the description and in the upper right of the screen.

But we’re going to talk about what Matthew does and it’s extraordinary.

Matthew organizes his book into alternating sections of stories and teachings. And we know this not only because we see Jesus doing things and then having long speeches but also because after each of the teaching sections Matthew repeats the same phrase, “when Jesus finished saying these things…” And Matthew does this to indicate the end of each teaching section (7:28, 11:1, 13:53, 19:1, 26:1).

In total there are five teachings, five blocks of teachings. And Matthew does this because he’s alluding back to the first section in the Bible, the Pentateuch, the first five books of Moses. And as we saw in the last video the first sentence in Matthew alludes back to the book of Genesis, so also the arrangement as a whole alludes back to the first section in the Bible, the five books of Moses. And this is because Jesus is bringing a whole new order of reality a whole new kingdom a whole new creation. And Matthew wants to highlight that by organizing his work in the similar way to the organization of the first books of the Bible.

But wait, there’s more. You see, these teachings of Jesus relate in interesting ways. The first and the fifth teaching both happened on the mountain. The sermon on the mount and what’s traditionally called the Olivet discourse, that is, Jesus was teaching on the Mount of olives. And these teachings contrast. The sermon on the mount opens with eight blessings while the Olivet discourse opens with seven woes.

The second and the fourth teaching blocks are on land, in a town and both are about discipleship. In the third teaching, in Matthew chapter 13, the structural center of the book, Jesus teaches on the secrets of the kingdom. Jesus tells eight parables that he says are about the secrets, the character of the kingdom Jesus is bringing.

And it’s fascinating because Jesus has told no parables up to chapter 13.

Now, when you first see this you might think that this very structure looks like a mountain. And Matthew emphasizes mountains, he actually has seven of them. Because one of the themes in Matthew’s gospel is that Jesus is a new Moses leading his people and giving them a new law from the mountain, the sermon on the mount. And there’s also many other fascinating parallels between Jesus and Moses that will look at another video.

But I actually don’t think that that’s what Matthew is trying to communicate with the structure. I think he’s actually doing the opposite. Let me show you what I mean.

To understand what Matthew is doing we have to look at the geographical movement in Jesus’ teachings.

Remember, there are five blocks of Jesus’ teaching.

[TheBibleisArt]

Thanks for watching, let me know if ya'll have any insights.

[heartsandmindsathome]

Oh this is so fun! I just saw what I think is a chiasm in John 5 (vv 19-30) and came to look up more from people who can explain it better than me. This on Matthew’s gospel is just beautiful! Thank you for sharing!

[rafaelcdantas]

Man I have to say that's one of the best explanations I've seen... I already saw various materials on Theopolis institute (which I love), and this video helps me to fit the pieces.
Thanks

[drewsgotblues]

Where has this channel been all my life!?! :)

[InspiredbyJM]

Subscribed !
Thanks for this great video.

[deleneholm]

The gospel of Mathew is absolutely amazing and to me shows the inspiration from God as you can cut it in so many ways with each way showing a different aspect.
For example, the 5 discourses are an echo of the Ketubah or marriage contract between Christ and his bride. Look up how often appear in Mathew's gospel compared to the other gospels.
Secondly, the echoes of 3 and 7 and the gematria associated with this and the next point. Lots of echoes of these numbers through the old and new testament.
Thirdly, you can also arrange a chiasm based on 41 matching pairs and 15 interludes or 42 matching pairs and 14 interludes with the 42nd idea or 8th interlude being in the middle of the gospel (Matt 15: 10-20). The echoes from the 41/42 generations or 3 sets of 14 generations in Mat 1 just leap out. ( father = Ab = 3; mother = Em = 41, blood/birth = 41 + 3 = 44 etc)
Fourthly, the 14 interludes are themselves a chiasm with 7 matching pairs that move away from the evil things in the heart of man (Mat 15: 20) and centre of the gospel via the 7 steps of the beatitudes that enable you to withstand persecution and lead to the kingdom with the 7th pair being a choice again contrasting forgiveness with taking things in your own hands and living by the sword instead of being a peacemaker so you loop back down to the centre again so you can try again, so there is always hope.
Fifthly, trace the pattern of the blind.
Lots more ways where this gospel is amazing, some of which you have shown in your video.

[ANDRE-spmi]

🙏🙏🙏Thank God for another blessed opportunity. I am greatful to work hard for my soon to be marriage and. I am greatful to work hard for my family. John316 Hebrews chapter 1 Matthew1:1 Zechariah 9:6 Isaiah 9:6 Isaiah 40 Ephesians Song of Solomon 1kings 6 Jude Romans 1:20 Thank God for the cross

[JoMamma]

Olivet discourse has 8 woes in your Received text based translations.

[petersonnenberg]

Ch.13 is not the center of the structure. The scolars for the past 100 years have not been patient enough to brake through the structure of this masterpiece. Blind leading blind. Lord son of David have mercy on us!