The Message of Matthew: The Kingdom of Heaven (Bible Speaks Today) [Paperback]

Michael Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 2001 | Series: Bible Speaks Today

Matthew's Gospel is the first--and perhaps the most important--single document of the New Testament. In it you will find the fullest and most systematic account of the birth, life, teaching, death and resurrection of the founder of Christianity, Jesus the Messiah. In this Bible Speaks Today volume, Michael Green shows how this very Jewish Gospel portrays the power and purpose of Jesus' life and work, which was to bring light to all nations. Matthew records Jesus as Messiah, Son of God, Son of David, Son of Man and supremely as God returning to Jerusalem as judge and redeemer. The consequences of this steady focus are as relevant now as then. Now more than ever we need to hear Matthew's emphasis on the unity of God's revelation old and new, its teaching on the life of discipleship, its exploration of the meaning of the kingdom of heaven, and its insights into the people of the Messiah, the end of the world and the universality of the Good News. Green offers introductory material on the author of Matthew, the readers to whom the Gospel was originally written, the popularity of the Gospel, its structure and themes, and recent scholarship focused on Matthew. He then provides a passage-by-passage exposition of Matthew, paying attention to the application of the text as well as its interpretation. A study guide follows the exposition and will help you to further ponder and practice what this Gospel teaches you about Jesus and your place in the kingdom of Heaven.

Product Details

• Paperback: 343 pages
• Publisher: IVP Academic (January 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830812431
• ISBN-13: 978-0830812431
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #532,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening and Spiritually Edifying, September 30, 2006

By 

Leslie Richford (Selsingen, Lower Saxony) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Message of Matthew: The Kingdom of Heaven (Bible Speaks Today) (Paperback)

Michael Green: The Message of Matthew. The Kingdom of Heaven. With Study Guide by David Stone. Downers Grove, Illinois and Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2000 (revised and re-worked edition of "Matthew for Today", 1988), 343 pages. Part of the IVP exegetical series, "The Bible Speaks Today". The editor of the New Testament volumes is John Stott.

When commenting on Michael Green's autobiographical look at today's church, "Adventure of Faith" (ISBN: 0007105428), I chose the title "Sane Wisdom, Deep Spirituality". I could do a lot worse than use the same words for his exposition of Matthew's Gospel. Michael Green has been both an evangelist and a pastor as well as a leading Anglican theologian, and his book reflects all these strands of his life. As a theologian he is aware of all the issues debated on in scholarly circles, and he provides a good deal of literature information for the knowledgeable both in his footnotes and in the text. As an evangelist he underscores those parts of the Gospel text which provide arguments for the uniqueness and deity of Christ as well as those which demand a personal response from the reader. And as a pastor he is careful not to ignore those passages of Matthew which challenge both the believer and the church. I have found that reading Matthew's Gospel section by section (first in the Greek, then attempting my own translation before reading the New International Version, on which this book is based), then slowly reading Green's thoughts and finally turning to the Study Guide at the end of the book to face the questions posed there has been an enlightening and spiritually edifying experience. Green's book is, in line with the purpose of the series, not a verse-by-verse commentary but a practical exposition, and I found much food for thought here. Green's interpretation of Matthew chapter 24 (Jesus's prophetical speech on the signs of the end and of his coming) I found to be particularly inspiring, just because of its sobriety and sanity. Evangelical Christians of every persuasion should find plenty of food for thought here, and that on practically every page!

So, are there no criticisms? Well, not many. I found the Introduction rather heavy going, and in the end I felt I could quite happily have done without it. Green explains the niceties of the relationship between the Gospels (as far as that is possible) and comes to the conclusion that the Apostle Matthew probably only wrote the Aramaic text that our Matthew's Gospel, which he tentatively dates around 80 A. D., is based on. All that is not particularly inspiring, and in the actual text of the exposition it never comes up again: Green constantly refers to the author of our Gospel as Matthew, which is, in my opinion, much more satisfying.

Also, Green's view of the resurrection of the saints at the time of the death of Christ (p. 302 f.) seems to me a little odd. And occasionally, Green produces sentences which you need to read several times in order to understand. But those are minor quibbles in a book which deals so marvellously with some of the most basic truths of Christianity in a way which keeps the reader's interest throughout.

Of course, Green's treatment of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 to 7) is sketchy, but he points out quite rightly that these chapters have already been dealt with expertly by John Stott in his classic volume from the same series, "The Message of the Sermon on the Mount: Christian Counter-Culture" (ISBN: 0877842965), so he does not need to deal with these chapters in so much detail.

For those looking for further material on Matthew's Gospel, I can also recommend William Hendriksen's massive verse-by-verse commentary (Banner of Truth Trust; ISBN: 0851511929) and D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones's exposition of the Sermon on the Mount (IVP; ISBN: 080280036X).