Christians as Members of a ‘Royal Family’ in the Gospel of Matthew

Abstract

"This essay seeks to contribute to Matthean scholarship by exploring the concept of Christians as members of God’s royal family in Matthew’s Gospel. It argues that the first Evangelist views Jesus’ followers of all times as members of a ‘royal family’. This is made clear through passages in the Gospel that use the royal family membership language, a fact to which no attention seems to have been paid so far in Matthean studies. Engaging in the study of such a topic would involve discussing aspects of theism and of Christology in the Gospel of Matthew. It is not my intention to engage in the debate about complex issues related to Christology in the first Gospel attempting to address, for example, the question of whether or not Jesus ‘imagined himself to be the Davidic Messiah, or envisaged himself as the eschatological Son of Man, or thought himself to be God’s Son in a singular sense.’1 Others have dealt with this quite thoroughly.2 In an attempt to make sense of how Matthew views the followers of Jesus, conceptual analysis will be used. It will be used to explain the concept of Christian royal family membership within Matthean texts related to the subject under scrutiny. "