Compare And Contrast Matthew And John

I chose to write about Matthew and John because they are the first and last of the Gospels. I am also the most interested in these two books since one is a synoptic Gospel and the other is not. Matthew and John are both Gospels. However, Matthew is a synoptic gospel and John is not. John is different than all the other Gospels and is not considered a synoptic Gospel because it does not contain the birth of Jesus. This is one of the main differences between Matthew and John. Despite that difference both Matthew and John are narratives of Jesus the Messiah’s life on earth. In order to be able to best understand who Jesus is we must first recognize and understand the many parallels between the old testament and the Gospels as well as between Matthew …show more content…
Matthew writes about an encounter between Satan and Jesus. This occurred when Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. Satan tried to tempt him and get him to make a mistake in an attempt to bring Jesus down to his level by making him no longer perfect and without sin. We find this account in Matthew chapter 4 “Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the LORD your God.’” (Matthew 4:5-7, New Living Translation). However, this passage is found in Deuteronomy, “ You must fear the LORD your God and serve him. When you take an oath, you must use only his name. “You must not worship any of the gods of neighboring nations, for the LORD your God, who lives among you, is a jealous God. His anger will flare up against you, and he will wipe you from the face of the earth. You must not test the LORD your God as you did when you complained at Massah” (Deuteronomy 6:13-16, New Living Translation). Deuteronomy is in the old testament so again, we see Matthew making this connection to the old testament and expecting the readers to already have knowledge of the old …show more content…
The Sermon on the Mount is one of the things that people base this assumption off, because he ascends up to the mountain and then descends off the mountain just as Moses did when he received the ten commandments. The Sermon on the Mount can be found in Matthew chapter five through seven. Also, in this chapter we find where Jesus is reinforcing the law of Moses, Jesus says “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So, if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:17-20, New Living Translation). We can additionally see this same parallel and enforcement of the law of Moses later in chapter twenty-three: “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you,