WHAT!?
That's right. The Secret Teaching Manual.
Poll Christians today and virtually all will call the Book of Matthew a biography. It naturally appears as a "Life and Times" of Jesus of Nazareth. In the beginning we find a genealogy. At the end we find His death and resurrection. In the middle we're shown different happenings in His life. To an outsider who doesn't know it's internal structures and methods, it is no doubt a simple biography. But was that Matthew's purpose when he wrote it?
Church historian Eusebias (4th Century C.E.) reported this about the genesis of what we've come to know as Matthew: Matthew the Apostle had been teaching the Jews in Jerusalem. He then became compelled to go to the Gentiles. But as compensation for his absence to those who he'd been teaching, he wrote down, in the Hebrew way, his Gospel.
If we read this nonchalantly, we can easily ignore the reason for Matthew's writing. Matthew had been in a teaching relationship with a group of people (maybe as in obeying 28:19?). And this newly written gospel was to be used in his stead for continuing that process. THAT is why he wrote it. Not for biographical, but teaching purposes. He was commanded by his Lord to make disciples.
Another easily overlooked detail is that he wrote it in the Hebrew way. So what does that mean?
The Gospel of Matthew has a distinct Hebraic literary structure. It is complex, but symmetrical and meaningful and extraordinarily Hebrew. Matthew employed Hebrew literary techniques and methods of organization that had been in practice for centuries to compose the First Gospel. The Old Testament was written utilizing the very same organizational conventions that are found in Matthew. And unfortunately for the modern Christian, these uber important conventions have remained virtually unknown in the West (though some scholars are making great inroads in this area of research).
There is one other factor in Matthew that bears noting. A particular teaching technique of the ancient Hebrew rabbis has gone unnoticed for centuries. From the time of Nathan til the Kabbalistic era, this technique has been used by Jewish teachers. It's the two-part parable. I could easily list hundreds of examples. But for our purposes:
Understanding the beginning of Chapter 13 is key. Jesus spoke the Parable of the Sower to the multitude. Then the disciples immediately ran to Him and asked, "Why are you speaking to them in parables?" To which He replied, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but to them it has not been granted." The disciples obviously realized that the multitudes would not be able to understand what Jesus was saying. It's that realization that prompted the question in the first place. Then Jesus simply confirmed His intentions. He was indeed concealing the mysteries from the multitudes. You see, no one understood the parables, disciples included, with just the story part of the parable, the part that was given by Jesus. So then, how were the disciples granted to know the mysteries? They were given - by Jesus - the second part of the parable: the explanation (Matthew 13:18-23).
The Hebrews who heard those enigmatic parables that day weren't baffled. They knew they'd only been given half of the equation. Sure, some might've speculated as to the meaning of these enigmatic statements. But any Hebrew who was even semi-trained, knew that without the other half (the explanation), an exact understanding was virtually impossible.
Comprehending these two parts of the Matthean puzzle - the literary structure and the teaching technique of the rabbis - are integral to understanding the First Gospel in its original form - as the premier instruction manual, which embodies the seminal, hidden teachings of Jesus.
Now then, about what's troubling many of you: that secret part. It used to trouble me, too. But now I understand why it had to be secret. And it's not a clandestine or an elitist premise. It's simply a progressive teaching method that harnesses curiosity and utilizes caution for more weighty matters (my next post will cover this in some detail). The absolute genius of the method used by Jesus and His followers must not be underestimated.
In the next weeks and months, we'll discover a little more about the manual and how it worked as the original discipleship manual. We'll delve into why discipleship teaching was secretive and guarded (this also being the case in the early church for some centuries after Jesus' departure) . And we'll journey into the actual discipleship curriculum of Jesus. I do hope you'll subscribe to this blog, check out my other websites and tell your friends.
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