sion of many Jewish converts when the hostility became inten- sified shortly before and during the siege of Jerusalem—this may well explain one side of Matthew’s gospel; and the other side (the condemnation of ‘ lawlessness ’) might find an explana- tion in a reference to Hellenizing Jews, who (like some of the Corinthians) considered that the new law set them free from all restraint, and who, in casting aside every vestige of nationality, wished to cast aside morality as well. Viewed in the light of the approaching fall of Jerusalem, and the retrogression of great masses of the nation, the introduction into the Lord’s Prayer of the words ‘ Deliver us from the evil,’ and the predic- tion that ‘by reason of the multiplying of lawlessness the love of many shall wax cold,’ will seem not only appropriate, but typical of the character of the whole of the First Gospel.”
As related to the other synoptical gospels, Matthew’s contains fourteen entire sections which are peculiar to him alone. These include ten parables: The Tares; the Hid Treasure; the Pearl; the Draw-net; the Unmerciful Servant; the Laborers in the Vineyard; the Two Sons; the Marriage of the King’s Son; the Ten Virgins, and the Talents. Two miracles: The Cure of Two Blind Men, and the Coin in the Fish’s Mouth. Four events of the infancy: The Visit of the Magi; the Mas- sacre of the Infants; the Flight into Egypt, and the Return to Nazareth. Seven incidents connected with the Passion and the Resurrection: the Bargain and Suicide of Judas; the Dream of Pilate’s Wife; the Resurrection of the Departed Saints ; the Watch at the Sepulchre; the Story of the Sanhedrim, and the Earthquake on the Resurrection Morning. Ten great pas- sages of our Lord’s discourses: Parts of Sermon on the Mount (v.-vii.); the Revelation to Babes ; the Invitations to the Weary (xi. 25-80) ; Idle Words (xii. 36, 37) ; the Prophecy to Peter (xvi. 17-19); Humility and Forgiveness (xviii. 15-85) ; Tejec- tion of the Jews (xxi. 43); the Great Denunciation (sexi. ys the Discourse about Last Things (xxv. 31-46); the Great Com- mission and Promise (xxviii. 18-20).
Hence Matthew’s is pre-eminently the d7dactic Gospel, one- quarter of the whole being occupied with the actual words and discourses of the Lord.