Another rather striking characteristic of the Gospel of Matthew is its high regard for the teachings of the Old Testament. There are approximately fifteen instances in which Matthew interprets some event in the life of Jesus as a fulfillment of a prophecy in the Old Testament. Evidently the author of Matthew did not think of Christianity as something that involved a definite break with the Jewish religion. Instead, he considered Christianity as a continuation and fulfillment of that which had been set forth in the literature of the Old Testament. Not for a moment did he think that Jesus changed or set aside the requirements of the Mosaic Law. Rather, Matthew supplements and interprets the requirements in a manner that accords with their original purpose. In his zeal to show a close relationship between Jesus and the Old Testament, Matthew appears at times to make references to incidents in the life of Jesus for no other reason than to document them as fulfilling Old Testament prophecy.
A third characteristic of the Gospel of Matthew is its interest in ecclesiastical affairs. As the only gospel that makes a direct mention of the church, much of the instruction recorded in Matthew is especially appropriate for particular situations that arose in the Christian churches of the first century.
Matthew begins with a genealogy of Jesus that traces his ancestry as far back as Abraham. The ancestry is traced on the side of Joseph, although the author later definitively states that Joseph was not Jesus' father. Following the genealogy is an account of the wise men's visit to Jesus' birth site, Herod's attempt to destroy the newborn child, and the flight into Egypt for the child's protection. After the death of Herod, the family returned and settled in the Galilee town of Nazareth, which, according to Matthew, fulfilled another Old Testament prophecy.
