Jesus the Messiah of Israel : a study of Matthew's messianic interpretation of scripture as a contribution to narrative study of his Christology

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to study Matthew's messianic interpretation of Scripture as a contribution to narrative study of his Christo logy. While narrative approach to the Gospels has been appreciated in Gospel studies, it has often failed to take seriously into account the distinctive nature of the Gospel text, that is, its relation with the Old Testament. Thus, in order to remedy this deficiency of the narrative approach, this thesis attempts to study Matthew's messianic interpretation of the Old Testament and integrate the results of it into understanding of Matthew's narrative presentation of Jesus. The study of Matthew's messianic interpretation of the Old Testament, furthermore, helps us to understand Matthew's Christology in its historical context from which early narrative criticism has tended to distance itself. This thesis attempts to explore early Jewish messianic interpretation of the Scripture so as to understand the significance or effect of Matthew's messianic interpretation of the Old Testament upon the implied reader of Matthew.