Literary Devices in Gospel of Matthew
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Matthew's Gospel is set mainly in the Roman province of Judea sometime between the years 28 and 33 CE (source xxviii). Who cares? Well, Jesus and his disciples lived and worked right smack in the m...
Genre
The Greek word for "gospel" is evangellion, which roughly means "good news." And that's what all four of the gospels claim to share: the good news that God has sent Jesus into the world. A gospel i...
What's Up With the Title?
This one's pretty easy to wrap our minds around. The title lets us know that the story we're about to read is a gospel (see "Genre") and that it was written by someone named Matthew. Ta-da!Christia...
What's Up With the Ending?
He came. He saw. He died and rose again. Now Jesus is planning on heading home to his Father in heaven, where we're guessing he'll get a pretty sweet welcome party. But before he bounces, Jesus has...
Trivia
Thanks to a prophecy (1:23), Matthew sometimes calls Jesus "Immanuel." In Hebrew, that means "God with us." And hey, remember how some of Jesus's final words to his disciples were "I am with you al...
Sex Drugs And Violence Rating
The Gospel of Matthew is pretty tame when it comes to sex. We mean, come on—Mary doesn't even have to do the deed to conceive Jesus. But there is a bit of violence with the massacre of innocents...
Allusions
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. LewisWith one of the most beloved Christ-figures in literature, C.S. Lewis's book gives us one lion of a metaphor depicting the ministry and passion of...