Frederick Dale Bruner's study of Matthew is now available as a greatly revised and expanded two-volume work, the result of seven years of careful refinement, enrichment, and updating. Bruner's work is at once broadly historical and deeply theological. It is historical in drawing extensively on great church teachers through the centuries and on the classical Christian creeds and confessions. It is theological in that it unpacks the doctrines in each passage, chapter, and section of the Gospel. Consciously attempting to bridge past and present, Bruner asks both what Matthew's Gospel said to its first hearers and what it says to readers today. As a result, his commentary is profoundly relevant to contemporary congregations and to those who guide them.
Bruner's commentary offers verse-by-verse discussion of Matthew's text and while each chapter expounds a specific topic or doctrine, the book's format consists of an original translation of the text followed by exegesis and critical analysis, a survey of historical commentary on the text, and current applications of the text or theme under study.
In this revision Bruner continues to draw on modern scholarship, including recent work by W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison Jr., by Ulrich Luz, and by many others, adding new voices to the reading of Matthew. At the same time he cites the classic commentaries of Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Bengel, and others.
Volume 1 of Bruner's commentary is called The Christbook because the first twelve chapters of Matthew are focused on the nature and work of Christ. As Bruner proceeds through these chapters, he shows how Matthew presents, step by step, central themes of Christology: Jesus' coming (chapters 14), his teaching (57), his miracles (89), his sermon on mission (10), and his person (1112). Throughout the book there are also thoughtful discussions of significant topics such as baptism, marriage, Jewish-Christian relations, and heaven and hell.
