欢迎来到留学生英语论文网

客服信息

我们支持 澳洲论文代写 Assignment代写、加拿大论文代写 Assignment代写、新西兰论文代写 Assignment代写、美国论文代写 Assignment代写、英国论文代写 Assignment代写、及其他国家的英语文书润色修改代写方案.论文写作指导服务

唯一联系方式Q微:7878393

当前位置:首页 > 论文范文 > Translation

Themes of Matthew 24.29-44

发布时间:2017-03-24
该论文是我们的学员投稿,并非我们专家级的写作水平!如果你有论文作业写作指导需求请联系我们的客服人员

Analyse the text and theology of Matthew 24.29-44, with reference to its literary, historical and cultic context. What key themes arising from this text would you want to communicate to a Christian group?

In this essay we will look at an eschatological section of Matthew’s gospel. We will consider where the gospel fits in the New Testament cannon, and why. We will consider its context and suggest applications from this passage for the church in the twenty-first century.

Traditionally the authorship of Mathew’s gospel has been ascribed to the disciple Mathew, the tax collector. The gospel is first attributed to this Mathew by Papias, the Bishop of Hierapolis, who collected his ‘Expositions of the Oracles of the Lord’ around the middle of the second century.[1] The patristic tradition seems to be in agreement with Papias, with Irenaeus, Pantaenus, Tertullian, Origen and Eusebius all making the same attribution.[2] However, caution is needed here, as none of these people could have known this fact from their own experience and it could be that they’re all quoting the same early source. Indeed, Francis Wright Beare makes this point when he says in his commentary, ‘such ‘traditions’ as we possess are nothing more than second century guesses’.[3]

If we cannot know exactly who wrote the gospel there is internal evidence that suggests we can know what sort of man wrote it. F.W.Beare suggests that the author of the gospel is someone trained as a professional Jewish ‘scribe’, experienced in interpreting the scriptures. He also points out that the writer is most familiar with the Greek language, rather than Hebrew and as evidence he points to the close similarities between his citations and the Greek ‘Septuagint’ translation of the scriptures.[4] The author is clearly not an eyewitness of events, as there is evidence that he depended on the use of documentary sources when composing his gospel.[5]

Dating the gospel is also difficult. Davies and Allison points out that twentieth century scholarship ‘shies away’ from dating Matthew after the end of the first century and the majority of scholars date it to the last quarter of this century. However, they point out that there is a small but significant group of scholars who feel able to date the gospel to before 60AD.[6] A number of scholars suggest that verse 7 of chapter 22 of the gospel describes the fall of Jerusalem, which happened in AD70. If this is the case then this supports the idea that the gospel was written in the last quarter of the first century. It had been written before the advent of the second century, when it is clearly in circulation as it is quoted by a number of writers.[7] However, if considering this time span it could be suggested that between these dates the gospel was written later rather than earlier, due to the sophisticated theological development that is evident.[8]

With reference to the gospel’s place in the New Testament cannon, Matthew being placed first of the four gospels has the support of the early Church fathers, according to Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Jerome. However, this does not mean it was written first. Many scholars consider that the author of the gospel of Matthew used the gospel of Mark as a source; therefore it must have been written after that gospel. There is ample evidence to support the view that the writer used the gospel of Mark as a source. Initially the author doesn’t follow the sequence of events as recorded in Mark but this changes from chapter 14 onwards. On a number of occasions it is clear that the writer of Matthew has used another source to amplify some of the stories related in the gospel.

Floyd Filson in the introduction to his commentary states that this first place position is very fitting, as the gospel ‘emphasises the deep dependence of the New Testament on the Old Testament’; he suggests the book acts as a link between the two testaments.[9]

There is certainly a significant understanding of Judaism, which has led to the belief that the author of the gospel was a Jewish Christian, writing for other Jewish Christians. Filson points out that the phrase ‘that the word might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet’ appears thirteen time in the gospels twenty-eight chapters.[10] The work is one that has been written by an intelligent man, however, the style is not exceptional in literary terms and there is not sufficient internal evidence to say for certain it was written for ‘Jewish Christians’.

In order to fully understand the verses we are looking at we now must turn to the text itself. We are looking at chapter 24, verses 29-44, however, in order to do that we need to look further back in order to place these verses in context. These sayings and parable of Jesus in these verses are recorded during the last week of his life, shortly after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He had recently visited the temple and spoken with the Pharisees and Sadducees. He leaves the Temple and moves to the Mount of Olives where he sits with his disciples and answer questions that have arisen during the recent Temple visit. They are most anxious to hear Jesus’ explanation of his words as he left the Temple when he said, ‘Truly, I say to you, there will not be left one stone upon another, that will not be thrown down’.[11] In the chapter that follows Jesus speaks of the future, both near and distant in what has become known as the ‘Eschatological discourses’. He begins by warning them of a period of tribulation that is about to fall upon Jerusalem. He then goes on to discuss the coming of the ‘Son of Man’.

However, it is at this point that the passage becomes difficult. On first reading the whole passage seems to be discussing the second coming of Jesus; however, it becomes clear that there were two separate events being discussed. This is indicated by verse 36, ‘but of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels’.[12] So what is this passage talking about? To answer this question it is necessary to look at the specific question asked by the disciples. When we do this we see that two questions were asked. The gospel writer runs one answer into the other when he records Jesus’ reply and it is necessary to separate out the two parts. The first question was when would the tribulations that Jesus spoke of as he came out of the temple happen; the second question was what will be the sign of the end of the ‘present age’. The first thing to notice is that Jesus says neither event will happen immediately. The first end – that of the existing temple – Jesus maintained ‘Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place’ but there is no hint that this will happen immediately.[13] Of the second event, he also insists no one knows when this will happen.

The difficulty is that the events do not appear on the face of it to have taken place, despite many generations having passed away. The explanation given by many commentators is that the first prediction was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70 but the second is yet to come. This is a plausible explanation, however, the writer seems to be using language from the Old Testament prophets that was about the coming of the Messiah, suggesting that this whole section looks at the ‘second coming’. Verse 29 of this chapter mirrors verses in Isaiah and Ezekial, ‘behold the day of the Lord comes… for the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light’ and ‘when I blot you out, I will cover the heavens and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon shall not give its light’.[14] Both these verses speak of the end of evil times and the coming of the son of man. One explanation that could be suggested as a possible resolution to this apparent contradiction is that the first section of Jesus’ reply in these verses refers to the coming of the kingdom of the son of man, the church; whereas, in the second section he is speaking of the end of time and his final coming.

In his answer to the second question, Jesus warns the disciples that there is no way to know for sure when the final end will come. He likens it to the days before the flood in Noah’s time; people were going about their daily lives oblivious to the fact that the world as they knew it was about to disappear. These words clearly deeply affected the early church and can be seen mirrored in the letters from the apostles to the early churches. In Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonika, he reminds the church to be vigilant because ‘you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night’.[15] Peter, in the second of his letters, exhorts Christians to remain steadfast as ‘the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise’.[16]

Jesus makes it clear why he is telling his disciples the things he does in these verses; he believes that his disciples must be ready at all times to deal with the situations they are faced with. It could also be suggested that by prophesying events that were to come true helped fortify the faith of the church as they saw Christ as someone who knew the future and whose words could be relied upon. These are the lessons for the church today.

If the first section of the passage we are looking at the prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus clearly tells his disciples that they are shortly to suffer persecution. He tells them this in order to help them prepare for what is to come. It could be argued that he does this throughout the four gospels. He calls for people to draw out of the secular world and become part of his kingdom but he never suggests this will be an easy course. During many parts of Christian history, members of the church who profess their faith faced tribulations but to those Christians he promises God’s glory and a place with him in heaven. He declares that he will ‘send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds’.[17] This is a valuable lesson for the church. Serve Jesus faithfully and you will be rewarded – not with gold and earthly treasures but the promise of eternity in his presence.

The second lesson for the church of the twentieth century is to be prepared. Christians could be forgiven for becoming complacent because they have waited so long for the second coming. However, this passage in Matthew’s gospel reminds us that such complacency is misplaced. Nobody, not even Jesus himself, knows when the end of time and judgement will be but this verse reminds us to be prepared. Following on from this, a further lesson for the church would be to remind them that when the end comes and they are taken up into heaven, others might not be so lucky if the church has failed in its mission to spread the gospel. This makes it all the more imperative for Christians to share their faith and belief with others, in order that they to might be ready for the second coming, which could be just around the corner.

This passage is complex and dramatic. It is written relatively close in time to the period when Jesus lived and speaks of one or maybe two ‘end times’. The first could be either the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70 or it could refer to the coming of Christ’s kingdom in the form of the early church. The second refers to the final coming of Christ when judgement will take place. These verses remind us that the church has to prepared at all times, sometimes in order to deal with ‘tribulations’ in this life and ultimately be ready at the end of all time.

Bibliography:

Beare, F.W., The Gospel according to Matthew: a commentary, Basil Blackwell: Oxford, 1981

Davies, W.D. and Allison, D.C., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary of The Gospel According to Saint Mathew, Volume 1: Introduction and Commentary on Mathew I-VII, T&T Clark Ltd: Edinburgh, 1988

Davies, W.D. and Allison, D.C., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary of The Gospel According to Saint Mathew, Volume III: Commentary on Mathew XIX-XXVIII, T&T Clark Ltd: Edinburgh, 1997

Filson, F.V., A Commentary on the Gospel according to St Matthew, Adam and Charles Black: London, 2nd edition, 1971

Schweizer, E., The Good News according to Matthew, SPCK: London, 1975

1


Footnotes

[1] Davies, W.D. and Allison, D.C., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary of The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, Volume 1: Introduction and Commentary on Mathew I-VII, T&T Clark Ltd: Edinburgh, 1988, p8

[2] Filson, F.V., A Commentary on the Gospel according to St Matthew, Adam and Charles Black: London, 2nd edition, 1971, p16

[3] Beare, F.W., The Gospel according to Matthew: a commentary, Basil Blackwell: Oxford, 1981, p7

[4] Beare, The Gospel, p10

[5] Beare, The Gospel, p7

[6] Davies and Allison, Commentary of The Gospel, p128

[7] Beare, The Gospel, p7

[8] ibid, p132

[9] Filson, A Commentary, p7

[10] ibid, p10

[11] Matthew 24:2

[12] Mtt 24:36; my emphasis

[13] Mtt 24:34

[14] Isaiah 13:9-10; Ezekiel 32:7

[15] 1 Thessalonians 5:2

[16] 2 Peter 3:10

[17] Mtt 24:31

上一篇:Themes of Matthew 24.29-44 下一篇:Gods Role In The 17th Century Religion Essay