Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-14T16:42:00.170Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Church as The Body of Christ in The Gospel of Matthew1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2009

Extract

Although it is evident to every student of the New Testament that Matthew has a special interest in the Church, the use of the term ‘body of Christ’ to describe the Church has been peculiarly associated with Paul. For this reason it seems well to begin by discussing briefly what Paul meant by the concept of body in order to have a working definition of it. We will then endeavour to ascertain whether this idea is also present in Matthew.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1958

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

page 271 note 2 Bultmann, Rudolf (translated by Grobel, Kendrick), Theology of the New Testament, New York, 1951, I, 194ffGoogle Scholar. Best, Ernest, One Body in Christ, London, 1955, P. 75Google Scholar. John, Robinson A. T., The Body, Chicago, 1952, p. 28Google Scholar. Craig, Clarence T., Soma Christou, The Joy of Study, New York, 1951, pp. 7475.Google Scholar

page 271 note 3 Dodd, C. H., The Apostolic Preaching and its Development, New York and London, 1951, p. 62.Google Scholar

page 271 note 4 Taylor, Vincent, The Names of Jesus, New York, 1953, p. 101.Google Scholar

page 271 note 5 Scott, E. F.,The Epistles of Paul to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, London, 1952, pp. 24, 205.Google Scholar

page 271 note 6 Andrews, Elias, The Meaning of Christ for Paul, New York and Nashville, 1949, p. 108.Google Scholar

page 272 note 1 Ernest Best, op. cit., pp. 98–101.

page 272 note 2 ibid., pp. 78, 110–.11, 157.

page 272 note 3 ibid., pp. 81–2, 113.

page 272 note 4 Best is not unmindful of this paradox. See op. cit., pp. 111, 157.

page 273 note 1 Pedersen, Johs, Israel, London, 1954,111, 109–10,178, 171ffGoogle Scholar. Knight, G. A. F.. A Biblical Approach to the Doctrine of the Trinity, Edinburgh, 1953, p. 11.Google Scholar

page 273 note 2 Knight, op. cit., pp. 14–16, 22.

page 273 note 3 Knight, op. cit., pp. 22, 21. Pedersen, op. cit., 130, 165, 179.

page 273 note 4 See Johnson, Aubrey R., The One and the Many in the Israelite Conception of God, Cardiff, 1942, pp. 89. See below the discussion of Shaliach.Google Scholar

page 273 note 5 Knight, op. cit., pp. 25–26. Johs. Pedersen, Israel, London, 1953, III–IV, 496–97.

page 273 note 6 Knight, op. cit., pp. 22–3, 26–7.

page 274 note 1 Jones, G. V., Christology and Myth in the New Testament, London, 1956, p. 247.Google Scholar

page 274 note 2 For bibliographical references to works that take a different point of view on the sources of Paul's thought here see J. A. T. Robinson, op. cit., p. 55. G. T. Craig, op. cit.; p. 83.

page 274 note 3 Schweitzer, Albert (translated by Montgomery, W.), The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle, London, 1931, pp. 101105. See also Dodd, op. cit., p. 62Google Scholar. Johnston, George, The Doctrine of the Church in the New Testament, Cambridge, 1943, p. 88.Google Scholar

page 275 note 1 Davies, W. D., Paul and Rabbinic Judaism, London, 1948, pp. 41, 45, 53–5, 56–7.Google Scholar

page 275 note 2 For a defence of the position that this was, in fact, Jesus' intention see Flew, R. Newton, Jesus and his Church, London, 1951, pp. 3638, 53–7Google Scholar. Cullmann, Oscar (translated by Filson, Floyd V.), Peter, Disciple—Apostle—Martyr, London, 1953, p. 189Google Scholar. Taylor, Vincent, The Life and Ministry of Jesus, London, 1954, p. 90Google Scholar. Duncan, George S., Jesus, Son of Man, London, 1948, pp. 209211, 222Google Scholar. Bowman, John W., The Intention of Jesus, Philadelphia, 1943, 210212Google Scholar. Linton, Olof, Das Problem der Urkirche in der Neueren Forschung, Uppsala, 1932, pp. 166167, 177Google Scholar. Schniewind, Julius, Das Evangelium nach Matthäus, Göttingen, 1954, p. 190.Google Scholar

page 275 note 3 Sec Robinson, op. cit., pp. 56–8. One cannot always assume that the words attributed to Paul in Acts reflect Paul's own thought, but the references cited here do seem to be generally consistent with Paul's ideas.

page 275 note 4 Robinson (op. cit., p. 9) holds that only Paul gives soma doctrinal significance while Kilpatrick, G. D. (The Origins of the Gospel According to St. Matthew,Oxford, 1950, p. 130) says explicitly—but it would seem wrongly—that the idea of the Church as the Body is not mentioned in Matthew.Google Scholar

page 275 note 5 Manson has pointed out that the essential thing for the Body of Christ idea is that the Messiah uses the Church, His Body, to continue His own ministry. See Manson, T. W., The Church's Ministry, London, 1948, pp. 2021Google Scholar. This has also been emphasised by Schweizer, E.: ‘Alles Handeln der Gemeinde kann nur die Antwort des Glaubens an dieses, sein Handeln sein … Wenn die Gemeinde an der Gekreuzigten glaubt, dann weiss sie nicht nur, dass ihr Tun demütiges Dienen sein muss und der Gnade bedarf; sondern dass es letztlich überhaupt nur ein fruchtbares Tun ist, soweit der Herr selber darin wirksam ist.’—E. Schweizer, Das Leben des Herrn in der Gemeinde und Ihren Diensten, Zürich, 1946, pp. 21,31–2.Google Scholar

page 276 note 1 For the relevance of this term for discussions on the Christian ministry see Manson, op. cit.; Kirk, K. E., The Apostolic Ministry, New York, 1946.Google Scholar

page 276 note 2 Manson, op. cit., pp. 35–42.

page 276 note 3 See Flew, op. cit., p. 79. Manson, op. cit., p. 36

page 277 note 1 Robinson, T. H., The Gospel of Matthew, New York and London, 1927, pp. 908909.Google Scholar

page 277 note 2 Preiss, Théo (translated by Knight, Harold), Life in Christ, London, 1954, pp. 5055.Google Scholar

page 277 note 3 Manson, William, Jesus the Messiah, London, 1952, p. 119Google Scholar. Jeremias, Joachim (translated by Hooke, S. H.), The Parables of Jesus, London, 1954, pp. 142144Google Scholar. Preiss, op. cit., p. 52. McNeile, A. H., The Gospel According to St. Matthew, London, 1952. P.370.Google Scholar

page 277 note 4 Manson, T. W., The Teaching of Jesus, Cambridge, 1948, p. 265.Google Scholar

page 277 note 5 ibid., pp. 227–9.

page 278 note 1 Manson, op. cit., pp. 231–2.

page 278 note 2 See Duncan, op. cit., pp. 197–8. Preiss, op. cit., pp. 47–8.

page 278 note 3 Flew, op. cit., p. 54.

page 278 note 4 Cullmann suggests that this verse has reference to the presence of Christ in the eucharist. See Cullmann, Oscar (translated by Todd, A. S. and Torrance, J. B.), Early Christian Worship, London, 1953, p. 14.Google Scholar

page 279 note 1 Sec Manson, T. W., The Servant-Messiah, Cambridge, 1953, pp. 8990, 96, 98Google Scholar. Cullmann also finds the Body of Christ here. See Cullmann, Oscar (translated by Filson, Floyd V.), Christ and Time, London, 1951, pp. 108109.Google Scholar

page 279 note 2 This is comparable to Paul's paradox that die Church is the Body of Christ; yet Christ is the Head and Saviour of the Body.

page 280 note 1 See McNeile, op. cit., p. 263. Bacon, Benjamin W., Studies in Matthew, New York, 1930, pp. 410411.Google Scholar

page 280 note 2 For further references to the Qumran judicial procedure see the Manual of Discipline, 6.24–25, 7.1–2,6.27; Zadokite Fragment, 14.5–6.

page 281 note 1 See Davies, W. D., ‘Knowledge in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Matthew 11.25–30’, Harvard Theological Review, XLVI (1953), 114Google Scholar. Dodd, C. H., ‘Matthew and Paul’, The Expository Times, LVIII (Oct. 1946–Sept. 1947), 294295.Google Scholar

page 281 note 2 Bacon, op. cit., p. 406. Davies, , ‘Knowledge’, p. 114Google Scholar. Robinson, T. H., Matt., P. 154.Google Scholar

page 281 note 3 Schlatter, A., Die Kirche des Matthäus, Gütersloh, 1929, p. 27Google Scholar. Lagrange, M. J., Évangile selon Saint Matthieu, Paris, 1948, p. 355.Google Scholar

page 281 note 4 McNeile, op. cit., p. 266. Lagrange, op. cit., p. 353. Jeremias, op. cit., pp. 28–9. Plummer, Alfred, An Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Matthew, London, 1911, pp. 252253.Google Scholar

page 281 note 5 According to Eberhard, D. and Nestle, D. Erwin, Novum Testamentum Graece, Stuttgart, 1952.Google Scholar

page 281 note 6 See Schniewind, op. cit., p. 200.

page 282 note 1 See Strack-Billerbeck, , Kommentar, München, 1922, I, 738739.Google Scholar

page 282 note 2 See Schniewind, op. cit., p. 191.

page 282 note 3 Dodd, ‘Matt, and Paul’, p. 295.

page 282 note 4 op. cit. p. 356.

page 282 note 5 Schniewind, op. cit., p. 201. Vischer, Wilhelm, Die Evangelische Cemeindeordnung, Zollikon—Zürich, 1946, pp. 7172.Google Scholar

page 283 note 1 Bacon, op. cit., p. 406.

page 283 note 2 The interpretation of the parable of the Tares (Matt. 13.36–43) is taken as a product of Matthew or his source, not as an utterance of Jesus. It seems that Matthew identifies the Church with the Kingdom of the Son of Man (13.41) but not with the Kingdom of Heaven. The Church has sinners (18.15–17), and the Kingdom of the Son of Man has stumbling-blocks (13.41), but the Kingdom of Heaven has only the righteous (13.43; 25–34, 4–6)- The Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew is future as well as present and has an eternal reference (25.46) while the Church (28.20) and the Kingdom of the Son of Man (13.41) will end with the parousia.

page 284 note 1 See Manson, T. W., Ministry, pp. 2426Google Scholar. Manson, T. W., "Servant, pp. 5960.Google Scholar

page 284 note 2 Schweitzer, Albert (translated by Montgomery, W.), The Quest of the Historical Jesus, New York, 1950, pp. 362363.Google Scholar

page 284 note 3 Streeter, B. H., The Primitive Church, London, 1930, pp. 3435.Google Scholar

page 284 note 4 Taylor, Vincent, The Life and Ministry of Jesus, London, 1954, p. 106.Google Scholar