The New Testament
THE NEW TESTAMENT is a collection of twenty-seven books centered on the figure of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, John, and Luke describe the life, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. The four books give a different account on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Virtually all Christians agree that these twenty-seven books constitute the "canon," a term that means "rule" and designates the list of writings that are regarded as authoritative for Christian faith and life (Doug, 2002).
Matthew
The position of the Gospel according to Matthew as the first of the four gospels in the New Testament reflects both the view that it was the first to be written, a view that goes back to the late second century A.D., and the esteem in which it was held by the church; no other was so frequently quoted in the noncanonical literature of earliest Christianity (Doug, 2002). Matthew became the most important of all Gospel texts for first- and second-century Christians because it contains all the elements important to the early church: the story about Jesus' miraculous conception; an explanation of the importance of liturgy, law, discipleship, and teaching; and an account of Jesus' life and death (Moore). The Gospel of Matthew has long been considered the most important of the four Gospels. Matthew concentrates on the relationship of Jesus to the Jewish faith. He shows how Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament, but at the same time to judge the Jews for their unfaithfulness to their religion (Alexander & Alexander, 1999).
Matthew traces Jesus ancestors to his birth in Bethlehem, the descendant from the royal line of David, as God had promised (Alexander & Alexander, 1999) ...