Matthew, Disciple and Scribe

by Patrick Schreiner

  ISAAC-LIKE DEATH

  We have seen how the form of Matthew’s opening (a genealogy) directs our gaze to family themes, and the names themselves also point toward a universal family through a particular family. Yet the genealogy also leaves some questions unanswered. The genealogy traces the decline of the people of Israel.19 A key juncture in the genealogy is the exile (1:11), the only event named in the whole list of people. The family of Abraham is in disarray as Jesus steps onto the scene. While Matthew opens his Gospel by indicating that the return from exile is taking place, he doesn’t explicitly identify how. But he does so implicitly.

  Jesus is the son of Abraham in the ultimate sense, but Isaac is also the son of promise. Leroy Huizenga’s work reveals a rich tradition in Jewish literature of viewing Isaac as a willing sacrifice.20 He argues that “son of Abraham” is as significant christologically as the title “son of David” (Matt. 1:1). If son of David points to the kingdom the wise king will establish, then “son of Abraham” points to Jesus as an Isaac-type figure. Matthew therefore indicates that Abraham’s family derives from a willing sacrifice. The establishment of the family of Abraham, the return from exile, and the new exodus will come only through blood.

  Huizenga notes that Isaac’s near death develops along several lines in early Judaism, including as an etiology of Passover (Jub. 18.18–19) and depicting Isaac as a willing sacrifice (4Q225). Philo also depicts Isaac as being perfectly virtuous and the “son of God.” Philo asserts that many traditions have stories in which persons offer themselves or their child for a cause they believe in, yet Abraham’s sacrifice is unprecedented in that he is governed not by custom, honor, or fear but solely by the love of God (Abr. 177–99). Pseudo-Philo’s Liber antiquitatum biblicarum depicts Isaac as a willing sacrifice. In rabbinic literature, the binding of Isaac is spoken of as the prototype of readiness for martyrdom.

  The tradition on which all of these stories are based is in Gen. 22. Abraham is tested and told to sacrifice his son Isaac (22:1). Isaac is confused about where the lamb for the burnt offering is to be found (22:7). Abraham says, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (22:8). When they come to the place, Abraham places Isaac on the altar and takes out his knife to slaughter his son, but the Lord intervenes and provides a ram. Because Abraham does this, God swears to him, “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of the heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore, . . . and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (22:17–18). This text explicitly links Abraham’s willingness, and implicitly Isaac’s willingness, to the promise of a multitude of offspring.21 We can draw a line from this text to the sacrificial willingness of the son of Abraham (in continuity with both Abraham and Isaac) as the means of salvation for a multitude of nations.

  Huizenga cites two further possible points of evidence indicating that Matthew may be drawing on this tradition. First, in Jubilees, Isaac is sacrificed in the forty-second jubilee year. Not surprisingly, there are forty-two generations between Abraham and Jesus (14 × 3). This may point to the forty-two jubilees completed with the binding of Isaac. Second, Huizenga notes that the “beloved son” term in Jewish tradition constitutes an allusion to Isaac. In Jesus’s baptism, a voice declares from heaven, “This is my beloved Son” (Matt. 3:17; cf. Gen. 22:2), and both the Isaac story and the baptism of Jesus have a divine intervention from heaven (cf. Gen. 22:11, 15). As Daniel Kirk says, “In light of the active place that Isaac played in the imagination of early Jewish idealized martyr figures, the allusive force of the voice from heaven seems to disclose, to the attentive reader, that the Christological title secretly bestowed upon Jesus [in the baptism] entails . . . a particular task of submitting to death.”22

  There seems to be enough evidence in the Jewish tradition and in the Gospel of Matthew to view “the son of Abraham” in the new-Isaac tradition. Jesus is the king and messiah, but he is also the father of a multitude of nations. Yet both of these come only through a sacrificial death. The offspring of Abraham is accomplished only by a willing death, as in the Isaac story.

  SUMMARY

  The genealogy is a storehouse of riches from which Matthew draws out treasures both new and old. Matthew begins his Gospel by signaling the nature and composition of the new people of God and pointing to Jesus as the true son of Abraham. He does this by both explicitly naming Jesus “the son of Abraham” and through the form of his opening, a Jewish family tree. For Matthew, the particular Jewish nature of Jesus is the means for blessings going out to the whole world. Jesus is the son of Abraham and the father of a multitude of nations. Matthew includes four gentile women to let readers know that the line of the messiah includes all nations. The family from which Jesus comes reveals the family for which he comes. Yet the path to this expansion can be traced only by reading the rest of the Gospel. Jesus ends up going to his death, a willing death, like the willing death of Isaac, the son of Abraham.

  Other Indications of Universal Salvation in the Introduction

  The rest of Matthew’s introduction also includes other indications of the particularity and universality of Abraham’s family. Richard Erickson has pointed out that the birth narrative in Matt. 1:18–25 reflects the story of Abraham in Gen. 12–17, and so we should read this text in an Abrahamic way.23 An Abrahamic reading of the birth narrative points again to both particularity and universalism, for the “son of Abraham” is to save “his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:1, 21). Although there is much debate about who “his people” are, it seems that, reading this in the context of the whole Gospel, “his people” are those who do the will of his father, and this is not limited to the nation of Israel. The term “his people” thus includes Israel but is also broader than Israel.24 Jesus is also to be “Immanuel, . . . God with” all those receiving salvation, all who follow Jesus and seek God (1:23); those receiving judgment are all who turn away from Jesus.

  The particular and universal nature of salvation for the family of God is also highlighted in chapter 2, where pagan astrologers seek the newborn king of the Jews to worship him. King Herod and all Jerusalem are troubled that another “king of the Jews” is on the scene, but the wise men follow the star and fall down and worship Jesus (Matt. 2:2, 11). For our purposes, it is important to see that the first “worshipers” of Jesus come from outside Israel.25 Yet this must be paired with the reality that they are worshiping Jesus as “the king of the Jews.” Outsiders recognize that the Jewish king is to be worshiped by more than only Jews. As in the genealogy, readers are presented with a particular king (Jewish) who is worshiped by non-Jews. The particularity is not erased, but it fuels the inclusion of all nations.

  Also, in chapter 2 Matthew tells his readers that, to protect the child, Joseph takes Jesus and flees from Judea to Egypt. This move is similar to Israel/Jacob and his family going to Egypt to be saved from the famine. But what is different is that Jesus is fleeing from Herod, the king of the Jews. The escape into Egypt allows for the christological fulfillment of Hosea 11:1, “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Matt. 2:15). This scene plays not only into Moses and Israel typology, but also into Abrahamic intertextuality. As the sons of Abraham had to flee into Egypt to preserve their family, so too Jesus must flee to Egypt to preserve his life so that he can become the father of a multitude of nations.

  Matthew’s introduction is rich with Abrahamic hues. More specifically, it opens the door on a major theme of the First Gospel: the new family of God. In one sense, all of what Matthew presents is “old”: Abraham was promised that he would become the father of a multitude of nations and that through him the whole world would be blessed. Yet, in another sense, this is new. The apocalyptic arrival of Jesus brings to the forefront the “new” nature of this family. It is not that Jesus rejects Israel (as I will show later in this chapter), but rather that the new family emerges from Israel itself. The new family is not one of replacement but of growth and extension. Universality is birth
ed from particularity. Abraham’s significance as Israel’s founder and the universality of salvation are not at odds. “Matthean universalism is grounded in Israel.”26 Though the climactic change has not yet occurred, there is enough in the introduction to assert that the shift has commenced.

  The Conclusion to Matthew’s Gospel

  We have seen how the introduction to the First Gospel prepares readers for the nature of Abraham’s new family. Now I turn to the conclusion of the Gospel (chaps. 26–28) and more specifically the Great Commission (28:16–20) to examine how this theme is resolved. What readers find is that the hints of a universal family found in the introduction are confirmed as the mission to the nations is formally launched. The “to all nations” theme comes to a culmination in the Great Commission. Although we find gentile inclusion in the introduction, Jesus’s mission in the Gospel is still to Israel (Matt. 10:6; 15:24). Yet after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the mission expands in a more official sense.

  The Great Commission

  The Great Commission confirms the universal nature of Abraham’s family, which was foreshadowed in the introduction.27 Although this theme has been implicit from the first verse of the Gospel, not until the last verses of the Gospel is the theme cemented. There is a reason for this; only after the death and resurrection of Jesus does the new mission begin in full. All authority is Jesus’s in a unique sense after his atoning sacrifice. This section will walk slowly through the Great Commission, noting the universal and particular aspects of Jesus’s command and tying it to Jesus’s fulfillment of the promises to Abraham. Although Abraham is not mentioned in the Great Commission, it would be a mistake to overlook this text in our analysis of the Abrahamic family theme. Just because the name is missing does not mean the theme is absent. I will examine the location of the command, recipients of the command, basis of the command, and the command itself.

  LOCATION OF THE COMMAND (28:16)

  Jesus gives the command to “make disciples of all nations” on a mountain in Galilee. Both the mountain imagery and the Galilee location are significant for Matthew.28 First, there are six important mountain passages in Matthew (4:8; 5:1; 15:29; 17:1; 24:3; 28:16). In Jewish literature mountains are common for their theological significance; therefore, it is unlikely that Matthew’s mountain references are merely geographical markers. The final mountain scene in the First Gospel is the climax of the mountain imagery and therefore probably encompasses a variety of fulfillments.29 The Great Commission mountain is revelatory: on it Jesus announces who the new people of God are: all nations can become his disciples. It is also a covenantal mountain: it fulfills the promise to Abraham in a unique sense. Likewise it is also a cosmic mountain: Jesus tells his disciples to go to all nations. Finally, the mountain is eschatological: it is a decisive turning point of the ages. The Jewish particularism and gentile inclusion that have been running under the surface for all of Matthew’s Gospel come to a head here.30

  This mountain is also in Galilee.31 In Matt. 4:15 the First Gospel writer indicates that Jesus performs most of his ministry in Galilee. Matthew calls it “Galilee of the Gentiles” (4:15), and therefore the place where light shone now becomes the point of departure for ministry to the nations. In Acts, the mission to the world goes through Galilee. In Matthew, Jesus commissions his disciples not in Jerusalem but from a “northern” mountain, thus bringing unity to the north and the south again. As Abraham was called from a foreign land, so too Jesus sends out his disciples into foreign lands from a mountain in northern Israel, launching them into the world.

  RECIPIENTS OF THE COMMAND (28:17)

  Jesus gives the command (to make disciples of all nations) not to the crowd or the religious leaders but to the eleven disciples (28:17). Jesus called twelve disciples in order to mirror the twelve tribes of Israel, but Judas has fallen away.32 The command is given to the eleven disciples not just because they are Jesus’s followers, but because they represent Israel. In other words, the messengers taking the gospel to all nations are Israel. Israelites are to share the message that Jesus is the king. The particular dimension we noted in the introduction is still at play here. Salvation comes through Abraham’s seed, and they are the ones to spread the message, but the universal aspect also arises in this passage because it is to all nations.

  This might point to the nations becoming the “twelfth” disciple in Matthew’s narrative.33 While some might object because of the account in Acts of Matthias being chosen to replace Judas as the twelfth disciple (Acts 1:21–26), we need to remember that Luke provides a part 2 of his narrative, where another disciple is chosen, but Matthew does not have this luxury. He explicitly notes that there are “eleven disciples,” and he tells them to go out and “make disciples,” thereby implying that the nations now constitute the new people of God, the new Israel of God. This again means not that the nations replace Israel but rather that they are enfolded into Israel. Or to use Paul’s analogy, they are grafted into the tree that already stands (Rom. 11:17–18).

  BASIS OF THE COMMAND (28:18)

  The main command of Matt. 28:16–20 is “make disciples of all nations.” However, this is grounded (οὖν, “therefore,” v. 19) in the authority given to Jesus: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Universal lordship means universal mission. A few things should be noted about this authority. First, it is given to Jesus. The emphasis here is on Jesus receiving the authority from the Father because of his unique relationship to God. Jesus is not only the son of Abraham or the son of David but also the Son of God. These titles actually go together, for David and Abraham are uniquely sons of God. Therefore, the authority given to Jesus is in some sense related to the authority that Adam and Eve were to have in the garden as son and daughter of God (Gen. 2). Yet an aspect of this authority was forfeited by them (Gen. 3), and Abraham’s seed is to regain this authority.34 Jesus was offered authority during the temptation (4:8–10), but he refused, leading to his receiving far more authority than Satan could offer.

  Second, Matthew’s Gospel associates this authority with teaching and healing. Matthew 7:29 says Jesus “was teaching . . . as one who had authority.” In Matt. 10:1 Jesus calls his twelve disciples and gives them authority over unclean spirits. Both teaching and healing are tied to the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom in Matthew (as in 4:23). So the authority Jesus has received is kingdom authority. This kingdom authority proclaims and invites people into the kingdom; this “authority” is the basis of the command “Make disciples of all nations.” The authority is a proclaiming authority, and Jesus has authority that is universal: all authority in heaven and on earth. Because of Jesus’s death and resurrection, he is now the universal Lord, exalted to the right hand of God, so he possesses all authority to send his disciples into all nations. This authority is not new, as if he did not have it before; rather, this is the confirmation of that authority.

  Third, the command to all nations relates to “all authority in heaven and on earth.” The other Synoptic Gospels use ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ, while Matthew regularly uses ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν. N. T. Wright and most modern textbooks argue that the phrase ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν has long been misunderstood by Christians to mean a place. He asserts that for Jesus it is “a Jewish way of talking about Israel’s god becoming king.”35 But Wright and others have not sufficiently reflected on Matthew’s use of οὐρανός. Jonathan Pennington has done the most extensive work on this theme in Matthew.36 As Pennington argues, “To deny a spatial sense of ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν would require interpreting οὐρανός in this phrase as bearing no relation to the rest of the spatial uses of οὐρανός throughout Matthew.”37 He maintains that this phrase should be interpreted in light of the tension between heaven and earth. In the Great Commission, Jesus has united these spaces in his death. Jesus is the king of heaven, and by occupying the space of the earth, is in the process of overhauling i
t for his own purposes.38 This is interconnected to the command concerning “all nations.” Jesus, the son of Abraham, can send his disciples into all nations because he has received authority over all spaces. The mission to all spaces is built upon Jesus’s authority in all spaces. The theological link is confirmed when one considers the reference to Dan. 7:13–14. Matthew 28:18b, “All authority is given to me” (ἐδόθη μοι πᾶσα ἐξουσία) is most likely inspired by “He gave him authority” (ἐδόθη αὐτῷ ἐξουσία) in Dan. 7:14. In Dan. 7 the purpose of this authority is explicitly so that “all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him” (7:14). The universal Lord is the basis of the universal command.

  THE COMMAND (28:19–20)

  The location, recipients, and basis anchor the command “Make disciples of all nations.” The main imperative (μαθητεύσατε, make disciples) is the same root as the word used in Matthew’s description of the “discipled scribe” (γραμματεὺς μαθητευθείς, 13:52). Three participles revolve around this: go, baptize, and teach.39 The command itself “Make disciples” means make followers or pupils of someone. In this case, the charge is to make disciples of Jesus, the son of Abraham. According to BDAG, this word is regularly connected to teaching and instruction. The disciples’ task is to teach about Jesus, the universal Lord, and grow his family.40