1Jesus got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own town.
2Just then some men brought to Him a paralytic lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”
3On seeing this, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming!”
4But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Why do you harbor evil in your hearts?
5Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...” Then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”
7And the man got up and went home.
8When the crowds saw this, they were filled with awe and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
9As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him.
10Later, as Jesus was dining at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Him and His disciples.
11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
13But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
14Then John’s disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast so often, but Your disciples do not fast?”
15Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
16No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. For the patch will pull away from the garment, and a worse tear will result.
17Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
18While Jesus was saying these things, a synagogue leader came and knelt before Him. “My daughter has just died,” he said. “But come and place Your hand on her, and she will live.”
19So Jesus got up and went with him, along with His disciples.
20Suddenly a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak.
21She said to herself, “If only I touch His cloak, I will be healed.”
22Jesus turned and saw her. “Take courage, daughter,” He said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that very hour.
23When Jesus entered the house of the synagogue leader, He saw the flute players and the noisy crowd.
24“Go away,” He told them. “The girl is not dead, but asleep.” And they laughed at Him.
25After the crowd had been put outside, Jesus went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.
26And the news about this spread throughout that region.
27As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
28After Jesus had entered the house, the blind men came to Him. “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” He asked. “Yes, Lord,” they answered.
29Then He touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you.”
30And their eyes were opened. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one finds out about this!”
31But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout the land.
32As they were leaving, a demon-possessed man who was mute was brought to Jesus.
33And when the demon had been driven out, the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!”
34But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that He drives out demons.”
35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness.
36When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
37Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest.”
Matthew 9 Section and Chapter Commentary
Matt 9:9-13
Mark's Centrality in the Triple Tradition
Mark is central to the 'triple tradition' (material shared by Matthew, Mark, and Luke), as it consistently shows the most parallels with the other two gospels. When comparing passages like the calling of Levi/Matthew, Mark's text often forms the core, with Matthew and Luke either agreeing with Mark or adding unique details.
Summarized by AI · The New Testament: Exploring the Christian Bible · Lecture 8: Why Are the Gospels So Similar | Unearthing the First Gospel · watch the clip
Matt 9:18-26
Mark's detailed stories are abbreviated by Matthew and Luke
Mark's narratives, such as the Gerasene demoniac or the intertwined stories of Jairus's daughter and the woman with the flow of blood, are often much more detailed and longer than their parallels in Matthew and Luke. If Mark were writing third, it would mean he drastically expanded individual stories while omitting extensive material from Matthew and Luke, which seems less plausible than Matthew and Luke abbreviating Mark's accounts.
Summarized by AI · Did Q Exist? · Lecture 2: Was Mark the Earliest Gospel? · watch the clip
Jairus' Daughter: Dying or Already Dead?
The accounts of Jairus' daughter in Mark and Matthew contain a contradiction regarding her state when Jairus approaches Jesus. In Mark, Jairus' daughter is gravely ill, and messengers later inform him of her death. In Matthew, Jairus tells Jesus directly that his daughter has already died. This difference is a contradiction concerning a key detail of the event.
Summarized by AI · The Bible and the Quran: Comparing Their Historical Problems · Lecture 3: The New Testament | How Much History, How Much Story? · watch the clip
Contradictory Accounts of Jairus' Daughter
Matthew and Mark offer contradictory details regarding Jairus' request for his daughter. In Mark, Jairus asks Jesus to heal his daughter while she is still alive, but she dies before Jesus arrives. In Matthew, Jairus approaches Jesus asking him to raise his daughter, implying she is already dead. These accounts cannot both be historically accurate.
Summarized by AI · The Unknown Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John · Lecture 5: The Written Sources · watch the clip
Resurrection vs. Resuscitation in the Gospels
The speaker distinguishes between resuscitation, where someone is brought back to life but will die again (like Lazarus or Jairus's daughter), and resurrection, where someone is raised never to die again (like Jesus). While the Gospels contain several resuscitation stories performed by Jesus, true resurrections are rare and unique to Jesus's own experience.
Summarized by AI · Bart D. Ehrman · YouTube · Night of the Living Dead: Matthew's Forgotten Resurrection · watch the clip
Purpose of Jesus' Resuscitation Miracles
Jesus's acts of raising people from the dead, such as Lazarus or Jairus's daughter, serve to demonstrate his extraordinary power over life and death. These miracles signify that he is not merely an average healer but possesses divine power, as raising the truly dead is an act requiring God's intervention.
Summarized by AI · Bart D. Ehrman · YouTube · Night of the Living Dead: Matthew's Forgotten Resurrection · watch the clip
Differences in Jairus' Daughter Narrative
In Mark's Gospel, Jairus approaches Jesus because his daughter is very ill, and she dies while Jesus is delayed. In Matthew's Gospel, Jairus tells Jesus his daughter has already died when he first approaches him. Matthew appears to have condensed Mark's account, creating a difference in the timing of the daughter's death.
Summarized by AI · Bart D. Ehrman · YouTube · Are the Gospels Filled with Fiction? · watch the clip
Contradiction in Jairus's daughter story
The accounts of Jairus's daughter in Mark and Matthew contradict each other. In Mark, Jairus approaches Jesus because his daughter is very ill, and she dies later. In Matthew, Jairus tells Jesus his daughter has already died. This difference in the timing of her death is a direct contradiction between the two gospel narratives.
Summarized by AI · Bart D. Ehrman · YouTube · Why the Doctrine of Inerrancy Contradicts the Gospels · watch the clip
Contradictory Healing Accounts
The Gospels contain contradictory accounts of the same event, such as Jairus's daughter. In Mark, Jairus approaches Jesus while his daughter is dying, but she dies before Jesus arrives. In Matthew, Jairus tells Jesus his daughter has already died. These discrepancies highlight that oral traditions were not preserved verbatim, challenging the notion that all Gospel accounts are historically accurate in every detail.
Summarized by AI · Bart D. Ehrman · YouTube · Stories about Jesus Before the Gospels: Oral Traditions in the Early Church · watch the clip
Matthew 9 Verse Notes
Matt 9:1
Literary Telescoping in Jairus's Daughter Narrative
In Matthew's account of Jairus's daughter (Matthew 9), the daughter is already dead when Jairus approaches Jesus, whereas in Mark's version (Mark 5), she is sick and dies during an interruption. Matthew's shorter, 'telescoped' narrative streamlines the story, focusing directly on Jesus' power to raise the dead, even if it creates a minor contradiction with Mark's sequence of events.
Summarized by AI · The Genius of the Gospel of Matthew: What Scholars Say About the First Gospel · Lecture 1: How Do You Study a Gospel? | Take Matthew, For Example · watch the clip
Matt 9:6
Unfinished Sentence in the Paralytic Story
A compelling example of literary dependence among the Synoptic Gospels is found in the story of the paralyzed man. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all share an identical, grammatically unfinished sentence: 'in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.' The fact that all three Gospels include this incomplete phrase, followed by Jesus addressing the paralytic, strongly suggests direct copying rather than independent oral tradition or coincidence.
Summarized by AI · Bart D. Ehrman · YouTube · What Are the Synoptic Gospels? · watch the clip
Matt 9:9-12
Matthew 9:9-12 does not indicate self-authorship
The passage in Matthew 9:9-12, which introduces Matthew the tax collector, is written in the third person. There is no internal indication that the author is referring to himself, similar to how other disciples are introduced in the Gospels.
Summarized by AI · Did Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John Actually Write Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? · Did Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John Actually Write Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? · watch the clip
Matt 9:9
Disagreements in the Call of Levi/Matthew
In the account of the call of Levi/Matthew, Mark and Luke agree on the name 'Levi,' while Matthew names him 'Matthew.' Additionally, Matthew inserts 'Jesus' where Mark and Luke simply state 'he went out.' These specific differences, alongside agreements, highlight patterns of borrowing and alteration among the Synoptics.
Summarized by AI · Did Q Exist? · Lecture 1: The Synoptic Problem · watch the clip
Matthew's call as a tax collector
The Gospel of Matthew uniquely identifies the tax collector called by Jesus as 'Matthew.' This passage describes Jesus calling Matthew from his tax office to follow him, and Matthew immediately complies. This is the specific biblical reference that forms the basis for the traditional attribution of the Gospel to Matthew the tax collector.
Summarized by AI · The Genius of the Gospel of Matthew: What Scholars Say About the First Gospel · Lecture 7: Matthew Who? Figuring Out the Author · watch the clip
Matthew's anonymous authorship and third-person narrative
The Gospel of Matthew is written anonymously, with the author never identifying himself. The entire narrative is presented in the third person, even when describing the calling of Matthew the tax collector. There is no use of first-person pronouns or any indication that the author was an eyewitness or a participant in the events described.
Summarized by AI · The Genius of the Gospel of Matthew: What Scholars Say About the First Gospel · Lecture 7: Matthew Who? Figuring Out the Author · watch the clip
Matthew's Unique Naming of Levi as Matthew
In the story of the call of the tax collector, Matthew's gospel uniquely identifies the tax collector as 'Matthew,' whereas Mark and Luke refer to him as 'Levi.' This seemingly minor difference has significant consequences, potentially influencing the naming of Matthew's gospel itself.
Summarized by AI · The Mysteries of the Synoptic Gospels: Discovering Matthew, Mark, and Luke · Lecture 4: Why Are the Synoptic Gospels So Different? · watch the clip
Matthew's call story and authorship inference
If Matthew's Gospel were anonymous, early readers might have inferred its author from the call of the disciples. Matthew 9:9 uniquely names Matthew as the tax collector called by Jesus, whereas Mark and Luke refer to him as Levi. This distinct detail could have led to the inference that Matthew was the author.
Summarized by AI · The Mysteries of the Synoptic Gospels: Discovering Matthew, Mark, and Luke · Lecture 11: Who Wrote the Synoptic Gospels? · watch the clip
Scholarly Doubt on Matthew's Authorship
The Gospel of Matthew is attributed to Matthew, a disciple and tax collector mentioned in Matthew 9:9. However, the text itself never identifies its author as Matthew. Furthermore, the author's heavy reliance on non-eyewitness accounts like Mark and a hypothetical Q source, along with the gospel being written in Greek rather than Aramaic, casts doubt on the traditional authorship by an eyewitness disciple.
Summarized by AI · The New Testament: Exploring the Christian Bible · Lecture 14: The Fourfold Gospel | Untangling Truth and Tradition · watch the clip
Matthew's Renaming of Levi as Matthew
In the story of Jesus calling a tax collector, Mark and Luke identify the man as Levi, son of Alphaeus. However, Matthew's account renames this character as Matthew. This unique change in Matthew's gospel could be a plausible origin for the gospel's later attribution to the disciple Matthew, as early Christians might have associated the text with the figure named within it.
Summarized by AI · The New Testament: Exploring the Christian Bible · Lecture 14: The Fourfold Gospel | Untangling Truth and Tradition · watch the clip
Matthew 9:9 does not indicate self-authorship
The passage in Matthew 9:9, where Jesus calls Matthew, is often cited as evidence of Matthew writing about himself. However, the text simply states, 'Jesus is walking along. He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax collecting station, and he said to him follow me and he got up and followed him.' This brief, third-person account does not suggest an eyewitness writing about his own experience.
Summarized by AI · The Unknown Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John · Lecture 4: Jesus Before the Gospels | Oral Traditions & The Problems of Memory · watch the clip
Matt 9:10-13
Jesus' Ministry Contrasted with Essene Purity
Jesus' ministry directly contradicted the Essenes' emphasis on ritual purity and separation from society. While Essenes isolated themselves to avoid contamination, Jesus actively associated with tax collectors, sinners, and prostitutes, aiming to call them to repentance. His teachings focused on moral behavior and helping those in need, rather than adherence to ritual purity for salvation.
Summarized by AI · Bart D. Ehrman · YouTube · Was Jesus an Essene? · watch the clip
Matt 9:10-12
Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners
Following Matthew's call, Jesus dines at Matthew's house with many tax collectors and sinners. When the Pharisees question this, Jesus responds that 'those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.' This interaction highlights Jesus' mission to those considered outcasts and sinners, including tax collectors who were viewed as collaborators with Rome.
Summarized by AI · The Genius of the Gospel of Matthew: What Scholars Say About the First Gospel · Lecture 7: Matthew Who? Figuring Out the Author · watch the clip
Matt 9:12
Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 1224 parallels Synoptic sayings
The Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 1224, a fragment of a lost gospel, contains sayings that closely parallel those in the canonical gospels. For example, Jesus' statement, 'The ones who are healthy have no need for a doctor,' is very familiar from the Synoptics, indicating a literary connection rather than mere oral tradition.
Summarized by AI · Bart D. Ehrman · YouTube · Think the synoptic problem is 3 gospels? Think again · watch the clip
Matt 9:13
Why Holy People, Not Sinners, Were Raised
Despite Jesus's statement in Matthew 9:13 that he came to call sinners to repentance, the mass resurrection in Matthew 27 involves 'holy people' or 'saints.' This is reconciled by the understanding that those who repent, even if they were sinners, are considered God's holy people. The term 'saint' in the New Testament refers to those set apart by God, regardless of their past moral failings.
Summarized by AI · Bart D. Ehrman · YouTube · Night of the Living Dead: Matthew's Forgotten Resurrection · watch the clip
Matt 9:20-22
The hemorrhaging woman's actions support the idea of ritual impurity
Dionysius of Alexandria references the woman with an issue of blood for 12 years, noting that she only touched the hem of Jesus' garment, not Jesus himself. This is presented as an example of someone who, being ritually impure, would not dare to directly approach the holy.
Summarized by AI · Bart D. Ehrman · YouTube · Menstruating Women Were Banned From Communion · watch the clip
Matt 9:20
Positive Biblical Portrayals of Jews
Despite anti-Jewish rhetoric, the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, contained positive representations of Judaism and Jews. Old Testament stories praised Jewish fidelity to the law, and New Testament gospels depicted Jesus attending synagogues on the Sabbath, celebrating Jewish holidays, and wearing prayer fringes. This biblical foundation created a 'safety zone' for Jews, offering them a measure of security and respect not extended to pagans or heretical Christians.
Summarized by AI · Against the Jews: How Christianity Became Anti-Jewish · Against the Jews: How Christianity Became Anti-Jewish · watch the clip
The Woman with the Hemorrhage and the Garment's Fringe
In Matthew 9:20, the woman with the hemorrhage touches the 'fringe' (kraspedon) of Jesus' garment, a detail also found in Luke but not Mark. This specific term for the ritual fringes worn by Jewish men, as mentioned in Matthew 23:5 regarding the Pharisees, suggests Matthew's familiarity with Jewish cultural and legal traditions, indicating a Jewish author or audience.
Summarized by AI · The Mysteries of the Synoptic Gospels: Discovering Matthew, Mark, and Luke · Lecture 14: Did Matthew Try to "Re-Judaize" Jesus? · watch the clip
Matt 9:32-34
Demonic Cause of Blindness and Muteness
Matthew's Gospel presents instances where individuals who are blind and mute are brought to Jesus, and their conditions are attributed to demonic possession. Jesus' healing involves casting out the demon, restoring their sight and speech, which amazes the crowds but draws accusations from the Pharisees.
Summarized by AI · Demons and Ghosts in the Bible · Lecture 18: Demons and Disease · watch the clip
Matt 9:32
Mute demons and epilepsy in PGM exorcism
A Greek Magical Papyrus spell aims to protect against 'mute demons' and 'every epileptic fit and from all epilepsy.' This highlights the ancient connection between demonic possession and conditions like muteness and seizures, a connection also observed in the New Testament.
Summarized by AI · Demons and Ghosts in the Bible · Lecture 20: Demons and Magic in the Bible (II) · watch the clip
Matt 9:35
Matthew's Distance from the Synagogue
Matthew's repeated use of the phrase "their synagogues" (e.g., Matthew 4:23, 9:35, 10:17, 12:9, 13:54) suggests a growing distance between Matthew's community and the synagogue. This linguistic choice indicates a separation that aligns with the late first-century period when tensions between Christian Jews and non-Christian Jews increased, possibly leading to expulsions from synagogues.
Summarized by AI · The Mysteries of the Synoptic Gospels: Discovering Matthew, Mark, and Luke · Lecture 12: When Were the Synoptic Gospels Written? · watch the clip
