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Christianity · Formative text
Gospel of Matthew
by The Gospel According to Matthew
Featuring Jesus
A complete Gospel of fulfillment, kingdom teaching, parables, conflict, passion, resurrection, and commission.
- Intermediate
- c. 80 CE
- ~1 hr 45 min read
- 9 chapter guides
- Public domain
Start reading · Read the Matthew 2 guide free
Before the text
Editor's Prelude
Promise Becomes a Way of Life
The Gospel according to Matthew begins by naming ancestors. Abraham, David, and the exile to Babylon mark the long road to Jesus; Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Uriah's wife, and Mary keep that road from becoming a polished line of kings. Traditionally associated with Matthew and commonly dated to the late first century, the Gospel tells a new story while insisting that it belongs inside Israel's older one. Repeated language of fulfillment is not ornamental proof-texting. It is Matthew's way of asking what faithfulness to the whole inherited story now requires.
Matthew gives teaching unusual architectural weight. The Sermon on the Mount, the sending of the Twelve, the kingdom parables, instruction about community, and the final teaching in Jerusalem unfold in great gathered movements. The recurring phrase “the kingdom of heaven” joins authority to mercy, hidden integrity, forgiveness, care for the little ones, and judgment on religious performance. The question is never only what Jesus claims, but what kind of people his teaching is making.
Recognition carries a cost in Matthew. Crowds marvel, disciples misunderstand, and familiar neighbors can take offense at the wisdom before them. The call to follow Jesus reaches into possessions, family loyalties, public courage, and the care people give one another. Promise becomes a way of life when hearing is joined to action.
The opening pages
Matthew 1
1:1This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
1:2Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
1:3Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.
1:4Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon.
1:5Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,
1:6and Jesse the father of David the king. Next: David was the father of Solomon by Uriah’s wife,
1:7Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa.
1:8Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah.
1:9Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.
1:10Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah,
1:11and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
1:12After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
1:13Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor.
1:14Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud.
1:15Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,
1:16and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
1:17In all, then, there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
1:18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged in marriage to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
1:19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and was unwilling to disgrace her publicly, he resolved to divorce her quietly.
1:20But after he had pondered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to embrace Mary as your wife, for the One conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
Read it in a Quest
A passage into mercy, commandment, sacrifice, hope, and the shape of Christian life.
Chapter guides · 9
Matthew 2
Promise Enters a Dangerous World
Foreign visitors, royal fear, dreams, flight, and return place Jesus inside Israel’s story and political danger.
Recognition and royal fear
After the opening genealogy, Matthew brings visitors from the east to worship the child. Herod consults the chief priests and scribes about the Messiah’s birthplace and asks the Magi to report back, claiming that he too wishes to worship. The visitors find Jesus, offer gifts, and return by another route after a warning in a dream. Recognition of the king immediately meets fear from the ruler already in power.
Recognition and resistance arrive together
Joseph repeatedly receives guidance in dreams, carrying the child into Egypt before Herod orders the killing of young children in Bethlehem and its surroundings. After Herod’s death, Joseph returns to Israel but fears Archelaus in Judea. Another warning sends the family to Galilee. The chapter ends in Nazareth, with Matthew’s declaration that the prophets’ words about a Nazarene have been fulfilled.
Matthew 7
Righteousness Goes to the Root
Judgment, prayer, discernment, and the two builders bring the Sermon on the Mount to its demand for action.
Judgment begins with oneself
The Sermon’s final chapter warns against judging others while ignoring one’s own faults. The beam in the eye must be removed before the speck in a brother’s eye can be seen clearly. Jesus then encourages asking, seeking, and knocking by appealing to the Father’s generosity, and joins the Law and the Prophets to doing for others what one would want them to do.
Words are tested by fruit
The narrow gate leads toward life, while false prophets can hide behind a harmless appearance. Their fruit reveals them. Even calling Jesus Lord and claiming mighty works in his name do not replace doing the Father’s will. The chapter makes discernment depend on the life produced by a claim, rather than the force with which it is asserted.
The ending demands practice
The two builders make hearing and practice inseparable: one house stands because its builder acts on Jesus’s words, while the other collapses. Matthew then records the crowds’ astonishment. The chapter ends with the crowds astonished, because Jesus teaches with authority, unlike the scribes.
Matthew 10
Compassion Becomes a Mission
Jesus entrusts authority to the Twelve and joins their mission to dependence, opposition, loyalty, and welcome.
Matthew 13
The Kingdom Is Heard in Parables
The kingdom’s parables test hearing and understanding, while the hometown response exposes the difficulty of recognition.
Matthew 18
A Community Shaped by the Cross
Humility, care for the little ones, correction, and forgiveness define the community’s measure of greatness.
Matthew 23
Authority Is Tested in Jerusalem
Jesus condemns leadership that seeks honor while neglecting the law’s weightier demands, then laments Jerusalem.
Matthew 25
Watchfulness Takes Concrete Form
Unknown timing does not produce speculation; it produces readiness, faithful stewardship, and mercy toward the vulnerable.
Matthew 27
The King Is Judged and Crucified
Judas’s remorse, Pilate’s judgment, mockery, death, burial, and the guarded tomb bring the kingship conflict to its crisis.
Matthew 28
The Final Mountain Opens the World
Resurrection, worship, lingering doubt, universal authority, and a promise of presence bring Matthew's architecture together.
Questions readers ask
- How long does it take to read Gospel of Matthew?
- About 1 hr 45 min in total.
- How difficult is Gospel of Matthew?
- Intermediate. A mid-length text; about 2 hours of reading.
- Which translation is this?
- The Berean Bible Translation Committee (default); King James Version translators (alternate) translation from the Koine Greek. The text follows Berean Standard Bible, with King James Version alternate (2023).
- Can I read Gospel of Matthew for free?
- Gospel of Matthew is part of Nexus Premium, so reading it needs an account and a Premium subscription. The opening above and two chapter guides on this page are free to read.
- How many chapter guides are there?
- 9 chapter guides, written by the Nexus editors. Two open in full here; the rest show their opening line.
About Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth was a Jewish teacher from Galilee whose life, teaching, crucifixion, and resurrection witness became the foundation of Christianity. Nexus treats him through ancient Gospel sources rather than authored works, preserving the public-domain source text while framing the historical and spiritual stakes.
“What kind of life could answer the kingdom he announces?”
Jesus is one of the central figures in world history. The Gospel sources shaped worship, ethics, art, law, literature, charity, politics, and the inner language of forgiveness, judgment, hope, and love.
Source text: public domain. Chapter guides: original Nexus writing. Gospel of Matthew is part of The Nexus Archive, guided Quests through the great works.