Matthew

Commentary on St Matthew by M.F. Sadler

Michael Ferrebee Sadler [1819-1895], The Gospel to St Matthew with Notes Critical and Practical, 2nd edn.

Rev Michael Ferrebee Sadler [1819-1895] provides a fairly detailed commentary on the English text of Matthew’s Gospel.

My thanks to Book Aid for making available a copy of this public domain title for digitisation.

Michael Ferrebee Sadler [1819-1895], The Gospel to St Matthew with Notes Critical and Practical, 2nd edn. London: George Bell & Sons, 1901. Hbk. pp.494. [Click to visit the download page for this title]

Table of Contents

  1. Preface to Second Edition
  2. Introduction
  3. Commentary
  4. Excursus I. The Genealogies
  5. Excursus II. The Star of the Magi
  6. Excursus III. The Primacy of St. Peter

Introduction. 1. The Origin and Sources of the Four Gospels

The account of the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which has come down to us in the Four Gospels, was not at the first given to the Church in a. written form, but was taught orally by the preaching of the Apostles. Thus in the notice of the first Church-that which was founded in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost-it is said of those who belonged to it, that they “continued stedfastly in the Apostles’ teaching,” or “doctrine,” though no Gospel was written till many years afterwards.

Throughout the history of the planting of the Christian Church in various cities and countries, which we have in the Acts of the Holy Apostles-an account covering at least thirty years-we have no mention of any book from which the first Christians were taught respecting the Son of God.

That book of the New Testament which almost all agree in considering the first put into writing is the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, and throughout that Epistle it is taken for granted that the members of the local Church, for whose sake it was written, had been instructed in all needful truth, and only required to be reminded of what they had learnt.

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Commentary on Matthew by Frank Marshall

Rev. Frank Marshall (left) portrayed in a satirical cartoon
 Rev. Frank Marshall (left) portrayed in a satirical cartoon. Source: Wikipedia

The Reverend Frank Marshall, the British schoolmaster, cleric and rugby administrator, wrote a whole series of commentaries for students preparing for their University entrance examinations (see here for a list). I am planning to make them all available as and when I gain access to printed copies.

My thanks to Book Aid for providing access to this public domain title.

Frank Marshall [1848-1906], The School and College St. Matthew. London: George Gill & Sons, Ltd., [1920]. Hbk. pp.165. [Click to visit the download page]

Table of Contents

Preface

I. Introduction to the Gospel

  • Title
  • Origin of the Gospels
  • The Author
  • Life of St. Matthew
  • For What Readers
  • Date, Place, and Language
  • Characteristics of the Gospel
  • Peculiarities of St. Matthew’s Gospel
  • Miracles Recorded by St. Matthew
  • Parables Recorded by St. Matthew
  • Kings and Governors
  • Apostles
  • Biographical Notices
  • Geographical Notes
  • The Synagogue
  • The Sanhedrin
  • The Temple
  • Jewish Festivals
  • Sects and Orders of Men
  • The Nazarite Vow
  • The Kingdom of Heaven
  • Teaching of Our Lord
  • Use Of The Old Testament In St. Matthew
  • Demoniacal Possession
  • Titles of Our Lord
  • Testimony Borne to Our Lord
  • Ministry of Our Lord
  • Siege of Jerusalem

The Gospel According To St. Matthew, With Marginal And Foot Notes

Important Changes in the Revised Version, with Comments

Glossary of Words and Phrases Maps. Palestine in the Time of Our Lord

  • The Temple
  • Galilee
  • The Sea of Galilee
  • Jerusalem
  • Environs of Jerusalem
  • Sketch Map of Palestine (for reproduction)

 

 

Alfred Plummer on the Gospel of Matthew

The following public domain commentary on the Gospel of Matthew is now available for free download in PDF.

Alfred Plummer [1841-1926], An Exegetical on the Gospel of S. Matthew, 2nd edn., 1920. London: Robert Scott, 1909. Hbk. pp.451. [This material is in the Public Domain]

Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew

Introduction

The Author

 

In no case is the title to a book of the New Testament part of the original document. It was in all cases added by a copyist, and perhaps not by the first copyist. Moreover, in all cases it varies considerably in form, the simplest forms being the earliest. The “according to” neither affirms nor denies authorship; it implies conformity to a type, and need not mean more than “drawn up according to the teaching of.” But it is certain that the Christians of the first four centuries who gave these titles to the Gospels meant more than this: they believed, and meant to express, that each Gospel was written by the person whose name it bears. They used this mode of expression, rather than the genitive case used of the Epistles, to intimate that the same subject had been treated of by others; and they often emphasized the oneness of the subject by speaking of “the Gospel” rather than “the Gospels.” This mode of expression is accurate; there is only one Gospel, ‘the Gospel of God’ (Rom. i. 1) concerning His Son. But it has been given us in four shapes (Iren. III. xi. 8), and “according to “indicates the shape given to it by the writer named.

Was the belief of the first Christians who adopted these titles correct? Were the Gospels written by the persons whose names they bear? With the trifling exception of a few passages, we may believe this with regard to the Second, Third, and Fourth .Gospels: but it is very difficult to believe this with regard to the First, the authorship of which is a complicated problem not yet adequately solved. But the following results may be accepted as probable, and some of them as very probable.

Ancient testimony in favour of Matthew being the author is very strong. It begins with Papias and Irenaeus in the second•century, and is confirmed by Origen in the third and Eusebius in the fourth, not to mention a number of other early writers, whose evidence repeats, or is in harmony with, these four. Papias speaks of “the oracles” or “utterances” which Matthew composed; the other three speak of his “Gospel”. Assuming that the two expressions are equivalent, the testimony is uniform that the First Gospel was written in Hebrew by Matthew, the tax-collector and Apostle. In that case the Greek Gospel which has come down to us must be a translation from this “Hebrew” original.

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