For my wife, Nancy

Her faithful love and patience with me

are a treasure beyond compare.

ZONDERVAN

Matthew

Copyright © 2010 by Grant R. Osborne

This title is also available as a Zondervan ebook.

Visit www.zondervan.com/ebooks.

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Osborne, Grant R.

Matthew / Grant R. Osborne; Clinton E. Arnold, general editor.

p. cm.—(Zondervan exegetical commentary series on the New Testament; v. 1)

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN 978-0-310-24357-1 (hardcover, printed)

1. Bible. N.T. Matthew—Commentaries. I. Arnold, Clinton E. II. Title.

BS2575.53.O83 2009

226.2′07—dc22 2009043783

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, Today’s New International Version™, TNIV®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers printed in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Contents

Series Introduction

Author’s Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

Select Bibliography

Commentary

Theology of Matthew

Scripture Index

Subject Index

Author Index

Series Introduction

This generation has been blessed with an abundance of excellent commentaries. Some are technical and do a good job of addressing issues that the critics have raised; other commentaries are long and provide extensive information about word usage and catalog nearly every opinion expressed on the various interpretive issues; still other commentaries focus on providing cultural and historical background information; and then there are those commentaries that endeavor to draw out many applicational insights.

The key question to ask is: What are you looking for in a commentary? This commentary series might be for you if

• you have taken Greek and would like a commentary that helps you apply what you have learned without assuming you are a well-trained scholar.

• you would find it useful to see a concise, one- or two-sentence statement of what the commentator thinks the main point of each passage is.

• you would like help interpreting the words of Scripture without getting bogged down in scholarly issues that seem irrelevant to the life of the church.

• you would like to see a visual representation (a graphical display) of the flow of thought ...