PMW 2024-042 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

In my last posting I noted that an important issue impacting the preterist interpretation of the Olivet Discourse in Matthew is: narrative flow. We will now briefly consider this matter.

GOSPEL GENRE

To properly recognize Matthew’s redemptive-historical flow, we must understand that the Gospels are not biographies per se. J. K. Brown declares Matthew to be “theological history or theological biography.” This is a helpful observation, though more needs to be said.

Gospel scholar John Wenham notes that “gospel” is a “newly invented genre.” Therefore, Warren Carter states that “because of their theological content and pastoral orientation,” the Gospels are “a unique genre in the ancient world.” Clark Pinnock explains that “these works constitute a new literary phenomenon. They are not biographies as such, for they omit much material normally found in such works.”

Thus, New Testament scholar Donald Guthrie can observe that “the marked difference between the gospels … and all other biographical works is crucial if we are to appreciate to the full the uniqueness of these works.” Though this newly created literary genre is a sub-class of a biography, “it has to be concluded that there are no adequate parallels to the genre of the gospels.”

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Christian principles applied to practical political issues, including the importance of borders, the biblical warrant for “lesser-of-evils” voting, and more. A manual to help establish a fundamentally biblical approach to politics. Impressively thorough yet concise.
See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com

GOSPEL FUNCTION

In light of this, we must recognize of these inspired documents that:

The Gospels (including Matthew) are highly-selective, theologically-oriented, redemptively-motivated, situationally-informed, and carefully-structured narrative presentations of the Lord’s ministry and message. Thus, their genre is best described as “theological history.”

Let’s consider these matters.

Highly-selective. The Gospels are obviously selective in that they focus almost wholly on the three-and-one-half-year ministry of Jesus at the end of his thirty-three-year long life (Luke 3:23; cp. 13:6–7). This leaves huge gaps in our understanding of his life that would not be tolerated in a biography. What is more, they even disproportionately concentrate on just one week of his three-and-one-half-year ministry leading up to and including his death, burial, and resurrection (Matt. 21–28; Mark 11–16; Luke 19:29–24 [cf. Luke 9:9:31, 51, 53; 13:33]; John 12–21).

In addition, we know from the brief record of many of Jesus’ teaching sessions, and from the differences between the wording of the parallel Gospel narratives, and the occasional appearance of unique material in each of the Gospels that each one is abbreviated by its own writer. In fact, “in all probability Jesus originally uttered one connected, coherent eschatological discourse from which the three Synoptists have chosen to reproduce different portions in different places” (Craig Blomberg). Differences also probably occur due to Jesus having most often spoken in Aramaic, which is translated into the Greek of the New Testament.

Theologically-oriented. The Gospels are theological in that they are designed to show that Jesus is the Son of God. They present him as being simultaneously, fully, and uniquely both God and man (e.g., Matt. 4:3, 6; 8:29; 27:40, 54). And as God’s Son, he was sent into the world in order to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies so that men might be saved from their sins through his redemptive work (Matt. 1:21; 18:11; 20:28; 26:28; cp. Luke 19:10).

Redemptively-motivated. The Gospel writers are motivated by the desire to encourage true faith in and a deep commitment to him as the Savior of sinners (Matt. 7:24–27; 13:18–23; 19:16–26; 28:18–20; cp. John 20:30–31; 21:25). They aim at persuading men of Jesus’ true identity for the purpose of convicting them of their sin and drawing them into a personal, spiritual relationship to him. This is so that their lives might be fundamentally changed by being oriented to serving the Son and the Father by the power of the Spirit.

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(by Ken Gentry)
A thoroughly biblical, extremely practical, and impressively clear presentation of
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Situationally-informed. The Gospels are situational in that they arise out of specific historical circumstances surrounding each individual writer and his audience. We may detect this in various rhetorical emphases in them. For instance, R. T. France argues that “the predominant use of Matthew in the early church is, therefore, not hard to understand. It met more directly than the other gospels some of the deep-seated needs of the church; as a teaching document it provided, both in form and in content, what the church and its leaders wanted” while Christianity was being established as a missionary faith in the world.

However, I would note that the Gospels are only moderately situational. They are not to be approached in terms of Redaction Criticism, in which the Evangelists are often assumed to be inventing Jesus’ history and teachings for the later church.

Carefully-structured The Gospels are carefully structured in their presenting Jesus’ ministry and message rather than being a random assortment of facts about his life. Each writer has his own unique structure leading to his own conclusions. As David Bauer notes: “almost all scholars agree that Matthew has carefully, even meticulously, structured his Gospel.” W. D. Davies argues that Matthew “reveals not only a meticulous concern, numerically and otherwise, in the arrangements of its details, but also an architectonic grandeur in its totality.” John P. Meier comments that “under the rubric of structure we are considering the structure consciously intended by the author” which is important in that “Matthew is a superb ‘verbal architect,’ building his literary basilica with many finely fitted, interlocking stones.”

GOSPEL ARTISTRY

Thus, France can write: “all who have studied Matthew’s Gospel in detail have been impressed by the care and literary artistry involved in its composition,” including its “overall structure … with its dramatic development.” Gundry has even titled his 1982 commentary: Matthew: A Commentary on His Literary and Theological Art. Similarly, consider Paul Gaechter’s earlier 1965 German commentary, which was translated into English in 2013 as: Literary Art in the Gospel of Matthew. Kennedy K. Ekeocha observes that “Matthew is widely recognized as one of the most artistic and structurally organized books of the New Testament.”

Because of this we can easily discern in Matthew (my special focus in this book) the enormous redemptive-historical significance of Israel’s judgment in AD 70. This judgment will permanently close down the old covenant economy focusing on Israel and open up God’s direct dealings with the Gentiles under the new covenant. This will quickly result in changing Israel’s religion from biblical Judaism to Rabbinic Judaism. Anthony Saldarini notes: “the Romans destroyed the temple in 70 CE, with the resulting transformations in Jewish society.”

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France comments:

The temple is the visible symbol of the old regime; its fall is not just the loss of a building but the end of an era. The kingdom of the Son of Man will be established in its place, and the great discourse will reach its climax in the vision of the Son of Man ultimately enthroned in power and pronouncing judgment over all the nations.

We may one again helpfully cite France who notes that:

we hear repeatedly Jesus’ condemnation of “this generation” for its failure to recognize God’s messengers and to respond to his call (11:16–24; 12:38–45; 16:4; 17:17), culminating in the clear warning that now the rebellion of Israel has gone too far, and that the time for judgment has come (23:29–36), which leads on in its turn to the prediction of the destruction of the temple (23:37–39; 24:2ff., leading up to 24:34, ‘this generation’).

In addition, France even observes that one of the four “Central Theological Emphases of Matthew” is “the people of God,” which includes a focus on “the failure of Israel.” Israel’s failure is so pronounced that we may discern “a note of finality this time which is particularly pronounced in Matthew’s account.” In the end, Matthew shows how Jesus’ ministry “has broken out of the confines of Judaism and in so doing has brought to an end the exclusive privilege of the Jews as the people of God” (cf. Matt. 9:16–17).

Leon Morris agrees: “There can be no doubt that these [kingdom statements] point to a Jewish way of thinking, but no doubt either that this Evangelist looks for them to be fulfilled in the followers of Jesus, not the Jewish nation.” As John Nolland puts it: “There is a huge paradox involved in Jesus, who comes to announce to Israel the restoration of the kingdom, ending his ministry with an alliance of all the Jerusalem leaders and all the Jewish people baying for his blood.”

GENRE PLOT

The major plot in all four Gospels is to present the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. “In the case of the Gospels, the climactic point comes at the death of Jesus on the cross, as all plotlines lead to this moment in the story” (J. K. Brown). However, each Gospel also employs various sub-plots to fill out the story of his ministry, its meaning, and impact. In Matthew, one of the sub-plots is the Jewish rejection of Jesus and the Gentile’s reception. The Olivet Discourse is a key climax to this sub-plot’s theme, which emphasizes God’s judgment on Israel (Matt. 24:4–35), showing that it is a foreshadowing of the Final Judgment on all men (Matt. 24:36–46). This sub-plot reaches its resolution in the Great Commission to all the nations, for “from the very beginning of his Gospel, Matthew gives prominence to the theme of gentile inclusion.”

So it is necessary to survey Matthew’s record. This is necessary for showing that not only does Christ himself frequently allude to and occasionally directly prophesy the approaching AD 70 catastrophe, but that Matthew intentionally structures his Gospel so as to strongly emphasize it. As France puts it: “Jesus’ predictions of the destruction of Jerusalem, while they occupy a significant place in each of the Synoptic Gospels, are more strikingly emphasized in Matthew.”

Matthew does this in two basic ways. He does so explicitly through his record of Jesus’ direct and pointed teaching material. And he does this implicitly by highlighting the Lord’s various symbolic actions and subtle images that develop the Gospel’s sub-plot, which fills out the over-arching storyline. Thus, Matthew employs the literary device known as “foreshadowing.” As Blomberg notes “well-crafted stories often leave clues for readers to help them anticipate what will come later.”

Tongues-speaking: Meaning, Purpose, and Cessation

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The position presented within is that tongues-speaking allowed the gift person to speak in a known human language without previously knowing it; tongues brought inspired revelation from God; the gift was a sign confirming the apostolic witness and warning of the coming destruction of Jerusalem; and therefore the gift ceased in the first century.

See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com