Digital Logos Edition
Though we find the Gospel of Matthew first in the New Testament, many scholars believe that the Gospel of Mark is older. Matthew then is often seen as an expansion of Mark, incorporating most of the content of Mark while also adding sections that contain the teachings of Jesus, such as the Sermon on the Mount, and stories about the birth and infancy of Jesus. The phrase "This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet" appears sixteen times in the Gospel of Matthew, suggesting an emphasis on fulfilling the Law and the Prophets and implying that a Jewish audience may have been the first hearers of this Gospel. For them then and for us today, the Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus as one who is "God with us" even until the end of time.
William Barclay (1907-1978) was a world-renowned New Testament interpreter and Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at Glasgow University in Scotland. Having written more than fifty books, he is probably best known as the author of The Daily Study Bible series.
“The one great principle was that in all things people must seek God’s will, and that, when they know it, they must dedicate their whole life to the obeying of it.” (Page 150)
“The poverty which is blessed is the poverty of spirit, when people realize their own utter lack of resources to meet life, and find their help and strength in God.” (Page 106)
“Now here is a great and uplifting truth. What we call temptation is not meant to make us sin; it is meant to enable us to conquer sin. It is not meant to make us bad, it is meant to make us good. It is not meant to weaken us, it is meant to make us emerge stronger and finer and purer from the ordeal. Temptation is not the penalty of being human, temptation is the glory of being human. It is the test which comes to those whom God wishes to use. So, we must think of this whole incident as being not so much the tempting as the testing of Jesus.” (Pages 72–73)
“1) A light is first and foremost something which is meant to be seen.” (Page 142)
“No doubt both these thoughts are in this beatitude, but its main thought undoubtedly is: blessed are those who are desperately sorry for their own sin and their own unworthiness.” (Page 109)