The Gospel of Matthew and Jewish Law

The Gospel of Matthew demonstrates sizeable concern regarding the Jewish Law. Because Matthew’s target audience was learning how to incorporate Jesus’s teachings into settled community life, emphasis on the teachings of Jesus’s earthly ministry was essential. The clout with which Matthew regards Jewish Law is emphasized by the fact that “Old Law vs. New Law” comprises one fifth of the thematic elements addressed by Matthew in his Gospel. His hope was to provide his audience with a new law that would facilitate order in their developing faith communities.

            Matthew’s goal to engender social discipline explains his concern with Jewish Law, but what does his Gospel express about that Law? A major point of Matthew’s Gospel is the comparison between the Law of Moses (or the Old Law) and the New Law as established by Jesus. Essentially, Matthew attempts to convey that Jesus did not abolish the ethical laws that had been in effect from the time of Moses. Rather, He validated and expanded upon those laws. Jesus sought to emphasize that obedience to the law must be genuine, that adherence to the law involved more than “going through the motions” and demanded a true disposition towards righteousness. Jesus echoes this sentiment throughout the Gospel of Matthew, teaching that “whoever is angry will be liable to judgment”(Mt 5:22) and “whoever looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery in his heart” (Mt. 5:28) These teachings go a step further than the “You shall not kill” and “You shall not commit adultery” of the Ten Commandments, emphasizing the purity of intention Jesus demands of his followers.