Apocalyptic: Greek apoclypsis, "an uncovering"

Eschatology : Gk eschatos, "furthest" + logos,: "teaching about the end of things"

1. Kingdom: "a new state of affairs, a definitive outpouring and sending of powers of deliverance and salvation, a restitution of mankind, a fulfillment of the world, or the beginning of the fulfillment"(Aalen); "a realm or a community."(Malina, 147)
2. Justin Martyr (d. 165 CE) was the first to refer to "gospels" in the plural, meaning literary texts rather than oral proclamation (I Apology 66, written c. 155 CE). After the middle of the second century the singular noun evangelion often refers to a written gospel … Christian authors through the fifth century pinned the "gospel" label to nearly fifty compositions….To ancient Christians "gospels" were Jesus literature; that is, compositions which contained accounts of the words and/or actions of Jesus… [in contrast to] acts of apostles, apocalypses, acts of martyrs, letters, and sermons or homilies. (Aune, 18).
3. The gospel of Matthew …is very much a "church book," written specifically to meet the needs of the church as a developing organization…. The evangelist "Matthew" reveals himself to be a man who stands in the tradition of the Hellenistic Jewish Christian mission. He has a deep concern for the mission of the church to the world at large. The climax of his gospel is the scene of the Great Commission, where the risen Jesus commands his disciples to "make disciples of all nations" (28:19). Nevertheless, there is no doubt that his concern tends to focus on the mission of the church to the Jews. Moreover, in developing his own understanding of the Christian faith, he is in constant dialogue with what is going on in Judaism at the same time. (Perrin, 169)
4. To say that Matthew, because he accords Jesus such a high status, is not Jewish, but Christian, in his teaching about Jesus, anachronistically imposes on the late first century the clear identity that most Christians created for themselves during the second century, often in contrast to Judaism. To say that Matthew’s emphasis on Jesus as Son of God is incompatible with Judaism is to ignore the varieties of Judaism current in the first century. Granted the apocalyptic, mystical, political, sectarian, revivalist, and reformist movements within Palestinian and diaspora Judaism in the first century, Matthew’s Christology makes claims that fit within the broad parameters of Judaism as it actually existed. Matthew did not claim for Jesus divinity in the way that Greek Christian theologians two centuries later did. …Jesus is understood in his relationship with the God of Israel, known in the Bible, and in the experience of the community. Though Matthew’s narrative would later be used to support ontological theories of the Son’s relationship to the Father, Matthew remains firmly in the orbit of Judaism. (Saldarini, 193)
5. Both scholars [Saldarini and J.A. Overman] …cannot fail to perceive already within the Gospel of Matthew itself signs indicating that the process of separation has already begun: the gentiels/nations (ethne) are already in view. Yet precisely here lies the problem: What role do non-Jews play in the Mathean community? And there is probably a good reason why we can recognize at the end of the Gospel something like a separation of the author from Judaism (Matt 28:15: the rumor of the theft of Jesus’ body by his disciples "has spread to this day [!] among Jews" [without the article] {Stegeman’s insertions}). (Stegeman, 225).
6. The focus of the final version of the Pentateuch woven together by editors is the presentation and explication of the Torah, to which the career of Moses is essentially tangential" (Aune, 39).
7. In fact he carefully defends his interpretation of Jewish law and custom by carefully establishing Jesus as the authoritative teacher of the law and by providing arguments to support his view. Matthew’s treatment of law fits comfortably within the context of first-century Judaism in Israel. The topics discussed, the positions affirmed and rejected, the sectarian apologetic and polemical stances, the competition for power and recognition, the maintenance of boundaries, and the creation of a world view and group identity are all similar to the agendas of numerous Jewish works found among the dead Sea Scrolls, the apocalyptic writings, the pseudepigrapha, Josephus, and early layers of the Mishnah. (Saldarini, 124)