Status Updates From Matthew, Volume 1 (1) (New ...

"The report of Jesus's words should be distinguished from the event of Jesus's words. When Jesus said certain things in his ministry, the old era was fading but the new had not come in full yet... Jesus's life falls between the times, because the New Covenant is starting to be introduced. Therefore, we need to carefully investigate how Jesus both upholds the Jewish law, fulfills it, and introduces a new era."

"Matthew begins with a genealogy about a child who will make things right. This alludes to Genesis, the OT genealogies, and the promise of the seed who will crush the serpent... As Greg Beale says, 'Matthew is narrating the record of the new age, the new creation.' As Jesus meets people, he establishes the new creation by introducing them to the kingdom of heaven."

"Jesus does not add laws, or even deepen them, but recovers what God has always required in the law from of old."

"One of the reasons it is so difficult to ascertain information about the author of The First Gospel is because the writing is not about the author but about Jesus... Matthew's gospel wasn't about his journey from the tax Booth to jesus; it was about Jesus's Journey to the cross. Though Our Testimony is important, our primary testimony is to Christ's life, not ours"

The chapter on Jesus and the Law was decent. I still see a strong Reformed reading underlying his arguments like, "holiness (in Jesus' day) had become just an outward show," and other perjorative comments that are dated and have better explanations in Sloan or Thiessen. Funny enough, for all his emphasis on the return from exile, Patrick doesn't connect this chapter to it!

Patrick offers a phenomenal reading of "fulfill all righteousness" (3.15). I'm one hundred percent with him on the eschatological and ethical dimensions but think that the idea of imputation in Matthew is too much of a stretch. But then again, I don't think Paul talks about it either 😆

Phenomenal reading of "fulfill all righteousness". I'm one hundred percent with him on the eschatological and ethical dimensions but think the idea imputation in Matthew is too much of a stretch. But then again, I don't think Paul talks about it either 😆