Scene 1 (0s)
[Audio] Welcome. We're beginning a study of the Gospel of Matthew — the first book of the New Testament, and in many ways the hinge between everything God said in the Old Testament and everything he did in Jesus Christ. The inscription over Jesus' cross — "This is Jesus the King of the Jews" — is Matthew's key verse. It is simultaneously the moment of Israel's deepest rejection and the fullest public declaration of who Jesus is. The whole Gospel is the explanation of how we get to that cross, and what it means. Over this session we will walk through Matthew's purpose, its structure, its distinctive character, its portrait of Jesus, and its sustained theological argument. By the end you should be able to explain this Gospel — its shape, its argument, and its message — to someone who has never read it. Let's begin..