Matthew, Gospel according to

The Gospel according to Matthew is the first book of the New Testament and the most quoted Gospel in the early church. Written with a strongly Jewish-Christian perspective, it presents Jesus above all as the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures, weaving more than sixty direct citations and allusions to the Old Testament through its narrative. Its five major teaching blocks — the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5–7), the Missionary Discourse (10), the Parables of the Kingdom (13), the Community Discourse (18), and the Olivet Discourse (24–25) — are commonly thought to mirror the five books of Moses, presenting Jesus as the new and greater Moses delivering the new law from a mountain.

Matthew's Gospel opens with a genealogy connecting Jesus to Abraham and David, and closes with the Great Commission sending the disciples to make disciples of all nations — a movement from Jewish roots to universal scope. Its distinctive material includes the visit of the Magi, Joseph's dreams, the Sermon on the Mount, the parable of the talents, and the final judgment scene of Matthew 25:31–46. The Gospel was almost certainly the primary catechetical text of the early church, reflecting its formative role in Christian worship, teaching, and mission.