Matthew Anslow - Fulfilling the Law and the Prophets: The Prophetic Vocation of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew

Th e Prophetic Vocation of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew

Matthew Anslow

foreword by David J. Neville

W ere one to compare Matthean studies to a gathering of specialists engaged in discussion and debate around a large seminar table, someone new to that conversation would need to have something worthwhile to say to gain a hearing. With this monograph, Matthew Anslow has earned a place at the Matthean seminar table. Thematically and methodologically, his study brings to light fresh perspectives on Matthews Gospel.

Fulfilling the Law and the Prophets is an intrinsically important and distinctive study of a relatively neglected feature of Matthews christology, namely, prophetic dimensions of Matthews narrative portrait of Jesus. Indeed, the prophetic vocation of Jesus is a central christological theme for Matthew, according to Anslow, which he demonstrates by means of detailed discussion of four key passages in the Gospel. Perhaps readers may already be inclined to regard Jesus temple disruption in Matt : and his tirade against scribes and Pharisees in Matthew in broadly prophetic terms, but Anslows argument that the beatitudes in Matt : compose prophetic speech and that Matthews account of Jesus table fellowship with tax agents and sinners (:) may be perceived as a prophetic act casts light from different angles on Matthews complex and multi-faceted depiction of the identity and significance of Jesus. In this connection, it is perhaps worth pointing out that although Anslows study focuses on Jesus as prophet within the Gospel according to Matthew, he does not reduce Matthews christology to Jesus prophetic role. By analogy with Anslows argument that Matthews presentation of Jesus prophetic vocation is multi-faceted by association with a range of Israelite prophetic traditions, Matthews depiction of Jesus as Israels prophet par excellence is but one facet of a multi-faceted christological portrait.

In methodological terms, Anslows study artfully and judiciously combines narrative-critical and socio-historical approaches. Independently, both approaches continue to be used fruitfully by Matthean scholars. In scholarly study of Matthews Gospel, Anslow may not be the first to combine narrative and socio-historical analysis, but his careful integration of both approaches, alongside attention to intertextual resonances with a range of biblical texts and motifs, contributes to an illuminating appraisal of decisive Matthean features.

For Anslow, Matthews prophetic christology addresses three principal issues related to his audiences concerns. Against the backdrop of social and ideological conflict with competing formative or proto-rabbinic Jewish antagonists as well as with Roman imperial pressures, Matthews presentation of Jesus as a prophetic figure who interprets the Torah in an authoritative way served to reassure his audience of its identity as people of a renewed covenant with the God of Israel. Depicting Jesus in prophetic terms also enabled Matthew to reinforce his audiences understanding of the God of Israel as the merciful judge of the world. Together, this conception of the identity of Matthews audience and its governing vision of God, facilitated by Matthews prophetic portrait of Jesus, implied and perhaps even generated a corporate self-understanding of a community of disciples with a renewed imperative to fulfil Israels vocation in the wider world. Perhaps such a vision has the compelling vibrancy to continue to inform what it means to be a disciple of Jesus in a conflicted world.

As one who learned much from Matt Anslows research as it came to fruition, I am delighted by the publication of this book, which will make his contribution to Matthean studies more widely accessible. For anyone interested in Matthews portrait of Jesus, I commend this study.

David J. Neville

St Marks National Theological Centre, Charles Sturt University

August, 2021