Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew

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Matthew is probably the same as Levi and worked as a tax-booth collector on the road in Capernaum which ran North of the Sea of Galilee, from Damascus and stations East, all the way to the Mediterranean cost in Phoenicia. He was a Hebrew speaking Jew and it is thought the Gospel was first written in Hebrew. It contains many interesting features not mentioned in other gospels such as the sojourn of Jesus and his family in Egypt, while Herod was looking to kill the children of Bethlehem. This Commentary also includes a full reading and commentary of the Protoevangelium of James, which gives the story of the family and background of the Virgin Mary and how she came to marry Joseph and bear the Christ child. This text was recognised as orthodox by many early church scholars, and was for many of them accepted as being written by James, the brother of Jesus himself. The great French orientalist Guillaume Postel re-popularised it in Western Europe at the time of the renaissance. It is important reading for the back story which the Gospel of Matthew leaves out, but assumes the reader already knows. This commentary has been prepared both for Christians (of any denomination) and also for non-Christians, who wish to understand more deeply the historical basis for the evolution of Christianity. Matthew has been likened in iconogaphy to a winged person or an angel – which means, among other things, we should be enabled to use our human reason to work out our Divine Salvation, and that Christianity is not contrary to humanism. This commentary draws on Hebrew, Aramaic, Coptic, Greek, Latin and Egyptian studies, to try and track down the roots of Christ’s teachings in all their depth. It also explores the many levels of interpretation which the New Testament requires: historical, literal, figurative, mystical, and allegorical. It draws on the concepts of transpersonal history to enable a comprehensive overview of both the details of the text, but also their wider archetypal, symbolic, psychological, spiritual and historical meanings to unfold. It draws on Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Quaker, Protestant, Qabalistic, Hermetic, Gnostic, Platonic, Druidical and transpersonal ideas.