Matthew 1:1-16:20
An insightful commentary on the Gospel of Matthew that focuses on historical context and reception history

Building on decades of focused work on the first Gospel, Warren Carter brings the fruit of that research to bear in a tour de force of historical insight and methodological rigor. Within this remarkable two-volume commentary, Carter situates the Gospel of Matthew within the context of Jewish traditions and negotiations of Roman imperialism after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. He positions the Gospel as illuminating how a community of Jesus-followers constantly navigates Roman power. He pays particular attention to Jesus’s strategies for dealing with Roman rule, showing how Jesus alternately replicates it, accommodates it, resists it, and develops a way of life committed to the empire of God. In addition to examining the Gospel of Matthew in its historical and social context, Carter shines new light on instances of the book’s reception, illustrating how scholars have interpreted it from the era of the early church up to the present. This fascinating commentary is an essential and distinctive resource for New Testament scholars and students of theology.
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Matthew 1:1-16:20
An insightful commentary on the Gospel of Matthew that focuses on historical context and reception history

Building on decades of focused work on the first Gospel, Warren Carter brings the fruit of that research to bear in a tour de force of historical insight and methodological rigor. Within this remarkable two-volume commentary, Carter situates the Gospel of Matthew within the context of Jewish traditions and negotiations of Roman imperialism after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. He positions the Gospel as illuminating how a community of Jesus-followers constantly navigates Roman power. He pays particular attention to Jesus’s strategies for dealing with Roman rule, showing how Jesus alternately replicates it, accommodates it, resists it, and develops a way of life committed to the empire of God. In addition to examining the Gospel of Matthew in its historical and social context, Carter shines new light on instances of the book’s reception, illustrating how scholars have interpreted it from the era of the early church up to the present. This fascinating commentary is an essential and distinctive resource for New Testament scholars and students of theology.
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Matthew 1:1-16:20

Matthew 1:1-16:20

by Warren Carter
Matthew 1:1-16:20

Matthew 1:1-16:20

by Warren Carter

Hardcover

$94.99 
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Overview

An insightful commentary on the Gospel of Matthew that focuses on historical context and reception history

Building on decades of focused work on the first Gospel, Warren Carter brings the fruit of that research to bear in a tour de force of historical insight and methodological rigor. Within this remarkable two-volume commentary, Carter situates the Gospel of Matthew within the context of Jewish traditions and negotiations of Roman imperialism after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. He positions the Gospel as illuminating how a community of Jesus-followers constantly navigates Roman power. He pays particular attention to Jesus’s strategies for dealing with Roman rule, showing how Jesus alternately replicates it, accommodates it, resists it, and develops a way of life committed to the empire of God. In addition to examining the Gospel of Matthew in its historical and social context, Carter shines new light on instances of the book’s reception, illustrating how scholars have interpreted it from the era of the early church up to the present. This fascinating commentary is an essential and distinctive resource for New Testament scholars and students of theology.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780802870087
Publisher: Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date: 11/20/2025
Series: Illuminations (ILLUM)
Pages: 925
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Warren Carter is the Meinders Professor of New Testament at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is the author of more than twenty books, including Jesus and the Empire of God, God in the New Testament, The New Testament: Methods and Meanings (with Amy-Jill Levine), Seven Events That Shaped the New Testament World, and Matthew and the Margins.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
To the Reader
Preface
List of Abbreviations and Sigla
 
Introduction
1. Matthew’s Genre as an Ancient Biography
2. Telling the Story of Jesus
3. Written in the Late First Century in Syrian Antioch
4. Negotiating the Post–70 CE World of Syrian Antioch
5. Synagogue Conflict and Horizontal Verbal Violence under Roman Occupation
6. The Socioeconomic Realities of Daily Life in the Roman Empire
7. Interpreting Matthew’s Gospel across Two Millennia
8. Bibliography
 
Commentary
First Narrative Block 1:1–4:16
The Origins and Commissioning of Jesus (1:1–25)
The Empire Strikes Back (2:1–23)
John the Baptist (3:1–17)
            Testing Jesus’s Identity as God’s Agent (4:1–16)
Second Narrative Block 4:17–11:1
            Jesus’s Public Activity Begins (4:17–25)
            The Sermon on the Mount: Part One (5:1–48)
            The Sermon on the Mount: Part Two (6:1–34)
            The Sermon on the Mount: Part Three (7:1–29)
            Expressions of God’s Empire (8:1–34)
            Expressions of God’s Empire, Continued (9:1–38)
            Sending the Disciples to Manifest God’s Empire (10:1–11:1)
Third Narrative Block 11:2–16:20
            Responses to Jesus’s Public Activity (11:2–30)
            Negative and Receptive Interactions with Jesus (12:1–50)
            Parables Explaining the Divisive Impact of Jesus’s Activity (13:1–58)
            The Death of John and Further Signs of God’s Empire (14:1–36)
            Attempts to Discern Jesus’s Identity (15:1–39)
            Various Perspectives on Jesus’s Identity (16:1–20)
 
Subject Index
Author Index
Scripture Index
Ancient Sources
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