Matthew Section 8: The Great Commission

In our overview of Matthew, some scholars see a final section of Matthew in 28:11-20. Personally, I believe this should actually be part of the seventh section for several reason. First, I think being a good Jew, Matthew may have made seven sections for his gospel, much like there are seven days to the week. This would be interesting in that the last day of the week was the Sabbath, the rest, and Matthew's seventh section is about the true Sabbath, the rest which comes through Jesus (Heb. 4:8-10).

The second reason I believe this section should be included in the previous section is that every section in his gospel has a major section of Jesus speaking (see the posts regarding the first six sections). However, in the post for section seven, you can see there is no discourse. However, if section 8 was part of section 7, then the Great Commission would be the discourse for the final section of Matthew (I am not sure that all made sense).

The final reason I think this section 8 should be part of section 7 is because if this is a separate section, it seems much too short. It is only 10 verses long. It does not seem like 10 verse constitute a section compared to the other sections Matthew has contructed.

That all being said, I posted this as section 8 just so you all could make your own decision. Here is the visual aide for this section (click picture for large image):


This is either one or two sermons, depending on how much time you want to spend on the Great Commission.

This is the overview of Matthew. I will be posting the individual sermons I am developing for this series. Hopefully, I will be doing so a bit more regularly than I have with the overview. I would love to hear any comments you have on this overview and if the visual aides have been helpful.

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Matthew Section 7: The Passion of Christ

The pinnacle of Matthew's gospel his recording the last week of Christ's life on earth. In this section, he does not spend time detailing the whole week as the other evangelists do. Instead, he focuses in on the night before the crucifixion, the crucifixion, and briefly on the resurrection. Therefore, we have a short story about Judas' betrayal and the institution of the ordinance of the Lord's Supper.

An interesting characteristic found in this section is that there is no major discourse found. In all the other sections, Matthew records a major discourse or sermon from Jesus. In the Passion section, Jesus needs no sermon as his sacrifice on the cross says more than any words can capture. And I think Matthew intended to capture this idea. Each section, Jesus preaches, teaches, rebukes, or something. In every section a powerful discourse to remember what Jesus said. But this section records the most powerful, loving, amazing thing Jesus had ever done: sacrificed Himself for us. Therefore, the real discourse of this section, and of the whole gospel, could be considered Matthew 27:32-56.

Here is the visual aide for this section (Click picture for larger image):

I anticipate maybe 20 sermons from this section. However, knowing that this is the purpose for the gospel to be written, and since this part of the gospel is the crux of the Christian faith, I could see possibly moving slower through this section.

While there is a brief section Jesus' resurrection, which is the real hope for believers, Matthew focuses mostly on Jesus sacrifice. This makes some sense. As he was writing to Jews, he paints Jesus as the ultimate Passover Lamb. What an amazing God we serve and how thankful I am that Jesus did pay the price for us!

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Matthew Section 6: Conflicts

Matthew strategically places the sixth section of his Gospel. After talking about Jesus' authority and purpose, Matthew draws the reading into the conflicts Jesus had with those who doubted Jesus' claims and the other trouble Jesus experienced near His crucifixion.

Many of the stories in this section start with the religious leaders asking Jesus a question to test him (19:3), 22:15-16, 22:34-35) or the disciples (or their mothers) asking questions of Jesus (19:10, 19:25, 20:20-21, 24:3, for example). While questions are not difficulties or problems, per se, they are showing the trouble Jesus had getting people to truly understand the nature of who He was.

This was really nothing new, as the reader see in the challenge to repent found in Matthew 23:37-39, where Jesus indicates that "Jerusalem" had been rejecting God for quite a long time. Of course, the main section of teaching in this section referred to as the Olivet Discourse and speaks of the coming Kingdom and the end of time.

Here is the visual aide for this section (Click picture for larger image):


I see maybe 25 to 30 sermons in this section. Perhaps more, depending on how slowly one needed to move through the Olivet Discourse. This section is filled with didactic material in that a question is given to Jesus and then He gives an answer. However, because the answers Jesus give can be difficult to understand and even harder to apply, preaching through this section would probably take a while.

Section six is a fascinating part of this Gospel and Matthew uses it well to contrast the previous five sections and to set off the pinnacle of his record found in the upcoming section: the crucifixion and resurrection.

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Matthew Section 5: Purpose Revealed

After showing Jesus' authority (Section 3) and explaining why Jesus came (Section 4), Matthew then shows that Jesus began to declare His purpose for coming. This section begins, interestingly, with examples of people misunderstanding Jesus' purpose. First, the people in His home town reject Him simply because they knew Him as he grew up (Matt. 13:55). Then, Matthew tells how Herod misunderstood Jesus as well. Herod saw Jesus as John the Baptist reincarnated and then Matthew gives the background story between John the Baptist and Herod. Next, the crowds misunderstand why Jesus came. Jesus feeds the 5000 and there are leftovers enough for twelve baskets, presumably for the disciples. John's Gospel indicated that the people misunderstood Jesus feeding them (John 6:14-15). Finally, after the feeding of the 5000, the disciples sailed out on the sea of Galilee and were afraid when Jesus came out to them. After Jesus commented on their lack of faith (Matt. 14:31), the disciples began to see that Jesus was in fact God's Son (Matt. 14:33).

After these stories, Matthew portrays Jesus interacting with the crowds directly and talking about Jesus' purpose. For example, Jesus explains why he speaks in parables (Matt 15:15-20), He talks to the disciples about who Jesus is (16:13-20), and He begins to tell them of His suffering and death (17:11-13). Then Jesus launches into an extended sermon about forgiveness.

Here is a visual aide for the fifth section of Matthew (Click picture for larger image):


I would expect about 20 sermons from this section as well. This fifth section, Matthew begins to clearly show Jesus' purpose. While the disciples will not truly understand until Jesus rises from the dead, believers today have the benefit of hindsight and see that Jesus did tell them His purpose as Messiah.

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Matthew Section 4: The Parables

After a couple of days of graduation obligations, a holiday, and a couple of days of conferences, I am trying to get back on track with my overview of Matthew. The forth section of Matthew is a little hard to summarize. The title (not original with me) is "The Program of the Messiah Explained." This is not real helpful when reading just the title. However, this section starts with John sending his disciples to ask Jesus if He is the one they had been waiting for or is their someone else coming. Jesus answers them by saying:

Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me. Matthew 11:4-6

After this, Jesus shows through actions and short speeches explaining His purpose. For example, Matthew 11:30, 12:8, 12:50. Then, Jesus gives word pictures (parables) of what His Kingdom is like. All of this helps us see clearer what is was Jesus was accomplishing through His ministry.

The main discourse of this section is the parables, which is really more like several short speeches put together. But again, this shows Matthew "editing" Jesus' parables for a purpose. Matthew 11:28 provides the reader with a challenge to accept Jesus and His purpose and Matthew 13:51 provides the reader with a challenge to understand Jesus' purpose.

Here is the visual aide for this section (click picture for larger image):


I would expect about 20 sermons from this section, although some of the shorter parables will be taught together to get the thrust of overall message conveyed through them.

In the forth section, we get a clearer picture of Matthews purpose of His Gospel. Jesus fulfilled the Messianic predictions, and He taught the principles of the new Kingdom. He showed He had the authority He claimed He had. He now begins to communicate why the Messiah was sent.

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Matthew Section 3: Jesus' Authority

As section two closes there is a mention that the people are impressed with Jesus' authority (Matt. 7:28-29). As section 3 opens, Matthew gives story after story which shows that the people were right on track. In each of the narratives found in section three of this gospel, Jesus displays His authority over sickness, the physical world, the spiritual world, and even death. However, the authority is linked to the theme of people placing their faith in his authority. For example, the centurion who wanted his servant healed displayed enough faith in Jesus' authority that Jesus comments on it (8:10). The woman who touched Jesus' garment was told her faith in Jesus' authority to heal was rewarded (9:22). Then, after these stories, Jesus lays his hands on the disciples and transfers His authority to them (10:1).

The major discourse for this section is the commissioning of the disciples found in chapter 10. The challenge Jesus sets forth in this section is the challenge to follow, found in 10:34-42. In short, Jesus says He must be first priority over every aspect of the believer's life or they cannot follow him.

Below is the visual aide for this section


I would anticipate somewhere between 15-18 sermons in this section (at least another four months). With the third section we begin to see some progression with Matthew's thoughts. Jesus fulfilled the Messianic predictions, and Jesus taught the principles of the new kingdom. Now he begins to show the power with which he will rule His Kingdom.

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Matthew Section 2: Jesus' Teaching

The second section of Matthew begins with Jesus calling the first of His disciples and beginning actual ministry. The majority of this section is what is known as The Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is essentially setting the religious establishment on its ear with this sermon. Matthew shows that Jesus, being the Messiah, has the authority to preach in such a manner. In fact, that is how the section ends (7:28-29).

The major discourse for this section is obviously the Sermon on the Mount. It is two chapters long is the longest sermon of Jesus we have on record. If we want to know what Jesus was about, we must understand these chapters. In this section we have the first of the challenges we find throughout Matthew. Here we have the challenge to enter into the kingdom. The bible student will remember this passage as the wide gate and the narrow gate. The observations of these challenges are not original with me but, again, I cannot seem to find who enlightened me of them.

Again, I have a visual aide for this section. And, as with all the visual aides I will produce for the overview of Matthew, the title is not mine but I cannot find whose it is. The brief section titles are mine to help me remember the flow of thought throughout Matthew. (Click picture for larger image).


Jesus covers a multitude of topics in this section and it should be fascinating to not only trace Jesus' thoughts throughout this sermon, but also to preach on what Jesus preached on.

I see no more than twenty-three sermons in this section. However, I would anticipate a much smaller number since many of the section are two verse sections. This indicates to me that they are not stand alone thoughts but are related to the previous or following verses. Again, this is one whole sermon and was not meant to be busted up into several weeks of teaching. However, to do a fair job with the text and in the culture we live in today, the pastor must do just that while remaining faithful to the passage. In short, I am not sure how many sermons would be produces from this section but I would anticipate at least four months in the sermon on the mount.

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Matthew Section 1: Messianic Fulfillment

The first section of Matthew is the story of Jesus' preparation for ministry. It is Matthew's genealogy, birth narratives, some discussion of John, and Jesus' baptism and temptation. The major discourse of this section is John's preaching, which makes sense because Jesus' ministry had not started yet. But it also helps Matthew show that John is the "voice in the wilderness" (Matt 3:3) which Isaiah wrote about.

In fact, Matthew uses six Old Testament passages to show that Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah. Also, Matthew uses four Old Testament passages during Jesus' temptation (one misused by Satan) to highlight places where the people of God had failed miserably. But where they had failed, Jesus succeeded. In addition to all these, when being baptized by John, Jesus says He needed to do so to "fulfill all righteousness" (3:15). In short, by simply existing, being born, and being baptized and tempted, Jesus fulfills many prophecies on which the Jews were waiting. Matthew makes is clear that Jesus is the one to fulfill all these prophecies.

I have included a graphic of the section. The title is from a commentary but for the life of me I cannot remember which one and as I look through the commentaries I have, I cannot find it. I am sure it is not original with me. The summaries of each section of the chapters are my titles. They are brief but descriptive enough for me to remember the story and perhaps see the theme throughout each section. (click the picture for a larger image)


So to get his audience ready for the message he was going to convey to them, Matthew shows Jesus fulfilling prophecy after prophecy even before He officially begins His ministry.

I would anticipate somewhere between seven and nine sermons out of this section. If I preached one sermon per section it would obviously be nine. However, it could be seven because I could see gathering the wise men, the move to Egypt, and Herod's massacre being one sermon. However, I would think this would mean a skimming over these important events.

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The Structure of Cain and Abel Story

Continuing on the examination of Genesis, I am looking back a few chapters to the story of Cain and Abel. I do not have much to say about the story but I did want to post a visual aid. Also, my wife said she was tired to looking at the Rhino Wipe. :-)

With this visual aid, one can see the artistry with which the Word of God was written. (click image to see a larger image):


The most striking thing about this story is obvious comparison between the two sons of the first humans. Sin had entered the world through Adam and now, in just one generation, we see how deeply sin can run and what it can do in a person's life.

I have had some trouble getting things going this year for the posts. It would take two or three posts to explain all that is going on but I will try to post a bit more regularly. In the mean time, if you have some thoughts about Cain and Abel which was prompted by this visual aid, let me know.

Also, let me know if the visual aids are of any value to you if you have a minute or two. As the map in the right column shows, there are several people who hit this blog from around the world somewhat regularly. If this is helping you, I would sure like to hear how. Just post a quick comment. thanks.

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The "Point" of the Tower of Babel Story

In the series of post concerning Genesis, I have introducing the topic of poetry and chiasm so that I could share about the tower of Babel story. To begin with, allow me to say that while the tower of Babel story is written in a poetic form, I do believe that it is a true story. Just because something was written with poetic style does not mean that the story is myth. It is just a creative way for the author to convey the story.

The Tower of Babel story, found in Genesis 11:1-9 is written as a chiasm (I wish this was my own thoughts but most of this thought is from Allen P. Ross' book Creation and Blessing, a great commentary for the book of Genesis). This is based on the word pairs identified throughout the story. The image below shows the phrases in which the words are located. It is my desire that the image clearly shows what I am referring to (click for larger image).


One can see from the visual aid that the point of the story is "the LORD came down to see." All the word was united in a ungodly purpose. Most scholars believe that the tower of Babel was a ziggurat on which the people worshipped false gods or intended to worship false gods. Whatever the case, they were building a very tall tower, something of great human accomplishment. I am sure everyone on earth thought it was an amazing feat of human strength and ingenuity. Nevertheless, God has to bend way, way down to see what these puny humans are up to.

Now we know, first, that God is spirit (John 4:24) and so He doesn't "bend" down. We also know that God is omniscient (Psalm 147:4-5) so He does not need to come down to find out what the humans are doing. The author is using this kind of images to show us how infinitly small man's doings are to the Creator and Sustainer of life. Yes, they made a big tower, but only big in man's eyes. God has to bend down and squint to get a good look at it.

You may say, "I see how each word pair relates in this passage. However, there is one set of words that I do not see how they relate. Specifically, 'Come let us make bricks' and 'Come let us confuse.' Why are these in parallel with each other?" This is what make the whole story interesting, creative, and frankly, almost funny.

In the Hebrew, the word for bricks is LBN and the word for confuse is "NBL." Thus, these words are parallel but only because they are the same word but read in the wrong direction. God is saying, you think that you are going to make bricks but I am going to turn that around on you and then you will be confused. Even the words of the story get turned around and make confusion - literally. (Click for larger image)


The story is not only an amazing story of God's power and sovereignty. It is also evidence that the word of God is not only revelation of God, but it is a work of art. God could have revealed Himself to us in a bland lists and plain stories. Instead, He uses the authors' gifts and style to produce an exciting and living revelation of Himself.

Here is the visual aid with both graphics attached (click for larger image):


If I am not beating a dead horse, I would like to share one more story in Genesis structured similarly to this story. I will share it the beginning of next week.

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The Emphasis of the Image of God

In the previous post, I was discussing poetry, chiasms, and interpreting in Genesis. Continuing on the same topic, I want to post another example of a chiasm to show what a chiasm is and the significance of the structure when interpreting Scripture.

This example is found in Genesis 1:27, which says,

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

In the English versions, one can sense there is probably some structure issue present here. It flows like poetry. But, that is not proof. When one looks at the Hebrew, notes the word pairs in the passage, and diagrams the passage, it looks something like this:

(note the "X" in the background, which shows how this poetical form received its name)

While this is a little more intricate than Genesis 9:6, it is still a chiasm and still is worth considering. Several things are noted when the structure of this passage is analyzed. First, the issue man being created sandwiches this whole passage. While not the emphasis of the passage, there is no doubt that the author knew the origins of humans was a creative act of God.

Second, there is something that looks out of place in this whole passage. The third and fourth words in this passage stand out as not parallel to anything. This is indicated in the visual aid as "SDO man." "SDO" is short for "Sign of the Direct Object" which means that man was the direct object, or receiptiant, of God's creative act. Whenever something seems out of place or stands out in a parallel structure, that is also a clue to an important part of the passage.

Third, this is really two chiasms working as one, but they have the same emphasis or point. Specifically, the issue of the image of God is the focus of this passage. Yes, God created humans but He made them special. He made them in His own image. The second, bottom, chiasm shows something interesting about that image of God. God made humans with a plurality to them. This is like God, who has a plurality to Him in the Trinity. In His image He created humans and He created them male and female.

This, again, shows the impact structure has in interpreting a scripture passage. The past two previous posts were introductory material to discuss a larger passage in Genesis where the structure is critical for the proper exegesis of the passage. My next post will address this story, its structure, and the structural impact on interpreting that story.

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Narrative and Poetry in Genesis

It is interesting to note that when one is reading through Genesis there are "tags" which indicate something important just happened. These tags are poetry. In English, the basis of poetry is rhyme. In the Japanese form of poetry called Haiku, the basis of poetry is syllables. In Hebrew poetry, the basis for poetry is word pairs. Thus, various forms of parallelism make up poetry throughout the Old Testament (a great source with which to gain a better understanding of Hebrew parallelism is the introduction section of Expositor's Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, by Wilem VanGemeren). Most of the time, in English bibles, poetry is formatted differently and can be identified simply by noticing the change in format.

Throughout the book of Genesis, after most of the narrative sections there is a short (usually short - sometimes long) section of poetry. This indicates to us something to the reader. When a poetic section is encountered, the reader is to experience it as poetry. They are to allow the images to infiltrate their emotions and imagination. These sections of poetry may have also been used as mnemonic devises. As the Old Testament was relayed to generations upon generations, the stories were told and then essentially finished with a poem (or perhaps a song?). Thus, perhaps these poetic pericopes helped in the remembering of the story and the order of the stories.

Do not misunderstand what I am saying. I am not saying that Genesis 1-11 is poetry, as some Christian leaders teach. I am saying that Genesis is mostly historical narrative with some poetry interlaced throughout the entire book at integral points. Identifing these poetic sections provides a two-fold interpretive result. First, it shows that the narrative sections are in fact to be understood as historical narrative (or they would be written as poetry). Second, it should force us to take note of these important poetic sections.

See the visual aid below (click the picture to enlarge):


This brief investigation of the poetic sections of Genesis should teach us a few lessons:

1) The bible is an amazing work of art. God could have inspired the writers to write the accounts of the Old Testaments in saints in bland, journal-like entries. Instead, the stories are filled with action, emotion, and intrigue written in such a way as to evoke an emotional response from the reader.

2) When we read the stories of the Old Testament, it is critical we read them as the original audience read them. If we read over the poetic sections like it was just another part of the story, we are missing not only the beauty of the passage, but we are missing something of its meaning, as well.

3) The poetic sections should slow down our reading through Genesis. They are "pit stop" on the interpretive road; places for us to stop, lean back, and let our minds dwell on the preceding story. We should allow the poetry do what it was intended to do: stir our imaginations and emotions.

The mix of narrative and poetry throughout Genesis brings us to a deeper apprecation of artistry and understandability, while also bringing us to humble realization that we serve a great and good God, the same God who brought all things into existence as described in Genesis.

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The Key to the Structure of Genesis - Toledot

As I indicated in a previous post, I am teaching through Genesis for our Sunday School class. As I have been studying I have become more and more awestruck with how intracately the book has been written. This becomes evident when noticing the main structure of Genesis.

Most Old Testament scholars hold that the key to Genesis structure is a Hebrew world toledot (pronounced toll-uh-dote). This is the word translated "the account of" or "generations" which appears periodically throughout the book. For example, Genesis 2:4 begins with "This is the account of the heavens and the earth..." or, in Hebrew, "the toledot. of the heavens and the earth..." Then the biblical record details the life of the first humans. The word shows up at the beginning of a section of text and this heading,

thus summarize[s] the ensuing discussion, which traces the development of the subject from a starting point to an end. (Allen P. Ross, Creation and Blessing, pg. 71).

Toledot, then, is almost like a title or summary of the story which is about to take place. However,

contrary to what one might expect, the accounts are not essentially about the titular ancestor but about his descendants. For instance, the accounts of the lines of Terah, of Isaac, and of Jacob are primarily about their offspring: Abraham, Jacob and the twelve sons of Israel, respectively. (Bruce Waltke, Genesis, p. 18)

There are ten actual appearances of the word through Genesis. Some think Genesis 1:1 serves as a "toledot" without the use of the word. Here is another visual aid to show where these division occur throughout Genesis. It created it using Ross' and Waltke's commentaries. Hope it helps.

(click on picture for a larger image)

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Filling the Spaces of Creation

This Sunday, I will be leading our Sunday School in a discussion of Genesis. This study will last for two quarters. I am excited about delving into this important book.

The first lesson will be covering the first two chapters of Genesis. Granted, that is way too much ground to cover in one session but Lifeway's material always moves a bit faster than I care to go. Nevertheless, there is still good meat to chew on in the verses we do cover.

The outline of the message is as follows:

Value the Good Environment (1:1, 31)
Appreciate Humanity's Uniqueness (1:26-28, 2:15-17)
Respect God's Plan for Marriage (2:18, 21-25)

In looking at the first 25 verses of chapter 1 and taking a closer examination of the six days of creation, one sees not only God's awesome power in creation, but God's goodness and artistry in the act of creation. One simple example of this is the order in which God created everything and the way in which Scripture records His activity. In verses 4, 7, and 9 the author of Genesis records that God separated areas to make spaces: light and dark, water above and below creating sea and sky, and then separating land from the sea creating dry land. Only after God created all these spaces did He begin to fill them in the order in which He created. In verses 16, 20 and 24 the Bible records God filling up the spaces He just created: Sun and moon and stars to fill the light and dark, birds and fish to fill the sky and seas, and animals and plants to fill the land.

Here is a graphical representation:

Click for larger picture

It is this type of observation which manifests the design of God's creation and how masterfully Scripture captures God's work. God could not create fish with no place to put them. God could not place a cow in the sea without dry land. First spaces, and then filling them.

This is not necessarily a life changing observation from the first chapter of Genesis. But it does shows that God has a purpose for His creation and His purpose is organized, at times symmetrical, and always good for His creation.

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Visual Eschatology

I have been teaching a class for Pikes Peak Bible Institute called Christian Doctrines. It is a systematic theology class. The class follows the following outline:

Revelation
Theology - The study of God
Anthropology - The study of humans
Harmatology - The study of sin
Christology - The study of Christ
Pneumatology - The study of the Spirit
Soteriology - The study of salvation
Ecclesiology - The study of the Church
Eschatology - The study of end things

I just finished the final lesson plan and found some nice graphics that summarize the different views of the Millennium and the Tribulation. I found them in Van Kampen's book, The Sign. While I do not think I hold to Van Kampen's view (I am still in the process of studying Scripture and the various views regarding end times), he does have some nice graphics which sum up these issues.

I wanted to use these in my PowerPoint slides for the class and scanning the graphs into a document would not have produced a nice looking graph. So I recreated them in Word. And I including them below.

Click on each picture to view the full size image:

Different Views of the Millennium

Different Views of the Tribulation

I will reiterate these are not original in content but I wanted to make this available to others. I hope they are helpful. You can download these graphs by clicking on the pictures above, right clicking on the image which appears in the new window, and then choosing "Save Picture As..." from the menu option.

I do not know exactly where I stand on the different views represented but at least I can share what I know about the various views.

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