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The People of God In Matthew

The people of God is a huge theme in Matthew’s Gospel. This includes a number of interconnected topics:

  • The winnowing of the old Israel—wheat vs. chaff
  • The formation of the new Israel, including Jews and Gentiles
  • The 12 as the nucleus of the new Israel
  • The church of the Messiah
  • The kingdom of God in its corporate dimension
  • The community of those who confess Jesus as the Messiah
  • The “little ones” who believe in the Messiah
  • The family of God
  • Relationships within the community of the Messiah

The theme of the new people of God comes up in every single chapter!

1:21 He will save his people from their sins

1:23 Immanuel, which means, God with us

2:2 King of the Jews (cp. 27:11, 29, 37, 42)

2:6 who will shepherd my people Israel

2:15 “Out of Egypt I called my son”

2:18 Rachel weeping for her children

3:9 God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham

3:10 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (cp. 7:19)

3:12 Gathering the wheat into the barn (cp. 13:30)

3:12 Winnowing of old Israel—burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire (cp. Mal 4:1)

4:16 The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light

4:23-25 Teaching, proclaiming gospel, healing—great crowds (cp. 9:35)

5:3--11 Beatitudes are all plural and corporate

5:14 A city set on a hill

5:24 Be reconciled to your brother

5:45 Be sons of your Father

6:10 Our (plural) Father

6:14-15 Be forgiving

7:12 The golden rule (a version of “love your neighbor as yourself”)

7:15 Beware of false prophets (in the church)

7:19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire

8:11 Many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (cp. 22:2; 25:10, the messianic wedding feast, full of people)

9:10 Tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples

9:35 Teaching, proclaiming gospel, healing—great crowds

9:36 Like sheep without a shepherd

9:37 The Lord of the harvest

10:2 The 12 apostles

10:6 The lost sheep of the house of Israel (cp. 15:24)

11:12 The kingdom suffers violence and the violent take it by force (see chs. 8–9)

11:26-27 The hidden things revealed to little children

12:39 An evil and adulterous generation (cp. 16:4)

12:49-50 The true mother and brothers of Jesus

13:15 This people’s heart

13:30 Gathering the wheat into the barn

13:36-43 The parable of the weeds (gather out the good, throw the rest into the fire)

13:47-50 The parable of the net (gather out the good, throw the rest into the fire)

14:13-21 Feeding the multitudes, like manna in the wilderness (cp. 15:32-39)

15:8 This people honors me with their lips

15:24 The lost sheep of the house of Israel

15:31 They glorified the God of Israel

15:32-39 Feeding the multitudes, like manna in the wilderness

16:4 An evil and adulterous generation (cp. 12:39)

16:18 I will build my church

17:3 OT saints, Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus

17:17 Faithless and twisted generation

17:25-26 The sons (of the King) are free

18:5 These little ones who believe in me

18:17 Tell it to the church

18:20 Where two or three are gathered in my name

18:21-35 Forgiving your brother

19:28 Sitting on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel

20:1-16 The parable of the laborers in the vineyard

20:26-28 Not exercising authority but service

21:5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you’”

21:13 “My house shall be called a house of prayer”

21:16 “Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise”

21:19 The cursing of the fig tree

21:33-41 The parable of the wicked tenants

21:42 “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”

21:43 The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits

22:1-14 The parable of the wedding feast

23:37 As a hen gathers her brood under her wings

24:1-2 There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down

24:31 He will gather his elect from the four winds

24:45-51 The servant set over the household by the master

25:10 The parable of the virgins—only the wise virgins go in to the marriage feast

25:31-46 As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me

26:26-29 The Messiah’s passover meal with his 12 disciples, but one is the betrayer

26:61 Rebuilding the temple of God (cp. 27:40)

27:9 The price set by some of the sons of Israel

27:11, 29, 37, 42 The King of the Jews (cp. 2:2)

27:25 His blood be on us and on our children!

27:40 Rebuilding the temple of God

27:51 Curtain of the temple torn in two—old temple judged; new one emerging

27:52-53 Resurrected OT saints went into the holy city

28:7, 10 Tell his disciples ... Tell my brothers to go to Galilee

28:18-20 The church’s commission and Christ’s presence to the end of the age