DENVER SEMINARY
Giving
Matthew (Osborne)
Grant R. Osborne
Jul 29, 2011
Series: Volume 14 - 2011
Grant R. Osborne. Matthew. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament.
Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010. 1154 pp. $49.99. ISBN 978-0-310-24357-1.
Of four commentaries now available in this exciting, new series, this is the first on a
narrative portion of the New Testament. It certainly lives up to the high quality standard
established by the three volumes on the epistles thus far to have emerged (or perhaps I
should say up to the high quality established by at least two and a half of those volumes,
since I co-authored one of them and shouldnt try to assess my contribution to it!).
Grant Osborne has taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School since 1977 and has
distinguished himself over his illustrious career with numerous publications, especially his
commentaries on Revelation, Romans, and John, a major hermeneutics textbook, a
redactional study of the resurrection narratives, and a handbook for Bible study. This new
commentary on Matthew is excellent, too, and will prove of special help to preachers and church teachers, theological
students and professors. I intend to use it as the main text this fall with my seminary elective on this Gospel.
As with all volumes in the ZECNT, introductions are kept brief and the focus throughout is on what the pastor needs
to know, either for background to preaching or for the actual sermon. Brief sections on literary context, a grammatical
layout of the passage in English (corresponding to the Greek syntax), structure and form, and an exegetical outline
precede the more detailed verse-by-verse and sometimes phrase-by-phrase or clause-by-clause commentary. At the
end of each section is a summary of what is labeled theology in application. One of the oddities of the chosen
format for the grammatical layouts is that the main clauses of the narrative are in bold face type, but the actual words
of characters (in the Gospels, usually Jesus) are in lighter italicized type. Instead of overly emphasizing Jesus words,
as in red-letter Bibles, now weve underemphasized them, making it look visually as if the three most important points
in, say, the beatitudes in 5:1-12, are he ascended a mountain, his disciples came to him, and he opened his mouth
and began to teach them, saying (p. 163)!
Osborne finds history, theology, and literary style all present in abundance, none necessarily in tension with any other.
He opts for Matthew the apostle as author and cautiously suggests a date of 65-67 for his writing. He adopts the
two-source hypothesis for Gospel relationships, outlines the book by means of its alternating sections of narrative and
discourse, highlights the typological uses of the Old Testament, and deftly sums us the key principles of each pericope
and their implications in each theology in application section. With respect to concrete applications to the twentyfirst-century world, he regularly and rightly highlights how shallow the Western churchs concept of discipleship and
lifelong commitment to Christ is and how enmeshed we are in a materialism that drains us of the energy that should be
directed elsewhere.
Other gems include the following: The task of the church is not just to be seeker-sensitive but far more to be
seeker-challenging, for until they obey and worship the Lord, they stand with Herod rather than the Magi (p. 93,
italics his); universalists do not understand the power of sin; the truth is that after a billion years Hitler and Stalin will
not repentthey will hate God more than they did the day they died! (p. 118); Christian organizations are so
desperate for funds that they actually encourage ostentatious giving by selling bricks with peoples names on them or
naming buildings or even whole seminaries after wealthy donors (p. 221); I tell my students regularly to read 2 Cor
11:16-33 every six months and ask, Am I better than Paul? Should I expect everything always to go well in my
ministry? Christian leaders today do not know how to handle adversity! (p. 395); and Gossip doesnt care enough
to worry who is hurt but turns slander into entertainment! (p. 481).
In the exegetical heart of the book, Osborne includes more references to representative scholars on the different sides
of key debates than the purposes of the series might otherwise dictate, explaining that, as pastors learn in seminary
about many of these individuals or the positions they represent, they can now see how they line up on a broader array
of issues and be helped in their evaluation of their positions thereby. As is his hallmark throughout his teaching and
writing, Osborne regularly looks for both-and solutions to exegetical debates, but that does not prevent him from
taking stands when necessary. As is typical with narrative, fewer grammatical points require comment, but Osborne
takes advantage of those that do appear, especially with Matthews proliferation of circumstantial participles (i.e., of
attendant circumstances), temporal genitive absolutes, and imperfective verbal aspect.
As for exegetical cruxes, Osborne aligns himself persuasively with those who see Matthews genealogy as
representing Josephs legal/regal lineage and Lukes his literal/biological one. The notorious eis in 3:11 means John
baptizes in water with reference to or in agreement with repentance (p. 115). The poor in spirit in 5:3 are the
economically destitute who are forced to rely entirely on God (p. 166). Salt in 5:13 means simply to make an
impact [presumably positively] on the world (p. 175). Because God never leads anyone into temptation (Jas. 1:13),
6:12 means, dont let us succumb to temptation (p. 230), and 10:23 refers to the perpetually incomplete Jewish
mission prior to the Parousia. Jesus apparently rude remarks in 15:24 are designed to draw out the womans faith
through further conversation (p. 599), Peter is the rock in 16:18 (p. 627), and the reason the disciples seem so obtuse
in 17:19 is because they think Jesus is asking them to work the miracle of feeding the multitudes (p. 657). The
binding and loosing in 18:18 parallel John 20:23 in terms of retaining or forgiving sins (p. 687), 21:43 does not justify
replacement theology but rejects only some of the Jewish people (p. 791), and 23:13 refers to travel to Diaspora
synagogues by Jewish sages to convince God-fearers. . .to become full-fledged proselytes (p. 848). Chapter 24
blends prophecies of the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 with a look to the eschatological future and the return of
Christ, the parable of the sheep and goats refers first of all to how people respond to the Christian needy, and Matthew
26 does not contradict Johns chronology of the Passover. When rightly understood, both the Synoptics and John
teach crucifixion on the afternoon after the first, main Passover meal (although Osborne seems to have forgotten this
was his view on p. 962 when on p. 993 he asserts that Jesus trial was held just eighteen hours before Passover
beganitalics mine).
Osborne generously interacts with my NAC commentary on Matthew more frequently than it probably deserves, the
vast majority of the time positively. In the few places where he disagrees, he has sometimes misunderstood me, no
doubt through my failure to be clear enough. For example, when I comment on 3:16 that Matthew doesnt describe
Jesus actual baptism but what happens immediately afterwards, I dont mean a separate, later event but simply that
we are not told what precisely John did to baptize Christ, merely that after he came out of the water he saw the heaven
opened and the Spirit descending (contra Osborne, p. 124, n. 19). Or when he rejects my view that parables always
make as many points as main characters (while accepting that this works most of the time), he represents my position
as one point per character (which doesnt work with the sower; p. 505) rather than per main character (in which case it
does). Nor does anything in the parable of the unjust steward about the welcome people receive in heaven contradict
my rejection of degrees of reward lasting for eternity (contra p. 734).
There is the occasional overstatement, as with the claim that the concepts of Messiah performing miracles and
suffering death were not found in Judaism prior to 70 (p. 62; rare though such beliefs may have been) or that demons
always torture the people they possess (p. 316; do we really know enough from 8:28-34 about those who can
elsewhere masquerade as angels of light to generalize that broadly?). There are also a handful of typos (perhaps the
most glaring is angelology instead of angelophany on p. 1069) and factual errors, as with attributing 32 as the
year for Harold Hoehners dating of the crucifixion rather than 33 (p. 106, n.1). Present kingdom on the top of the
second column on p. 183 should be future kingdom. A man divorcing his wife if he found one more attractive than
her came from Rabbi Akiba, not Hillel (p. 200). Beblmenn and puressousan in 8:14 cannot be circumstantial
participles because if they described how Jesus saw the woman, they would have to be masculine. As feminine,
they must be adjectival and attributive, modifying the mother-in-law (contra p. 298, n. 3). As I point out in my
Contagious Holiness, reclining at meals for Jews was not restricted to banquets or festive meals (contra p. 335). In
20:3, standing cant modify found, because found doesnt exist in the verse; Osborne was probably
remembering its later occurrence in v. 6. The reference on p. 740 back to the theology in application section on
11:20-24 on the issue of rewards in heaven is puzzling because there only degrees of punishment in hell were
discussed (p. 435). Finally, I am not one of those who holds to a harmonization of 20:29 with Luke 18:35 by
appealing to two Jerichos (contra p. 747).
It is not surprising, however, to find such minor mistakes in a book of this length, complexity, and detail. The vast
majority of its contents is so helpful and on target that these minor flaws can be readily overlooked. I have had worse
than this happen to me when I have thought I have proofread one of my own writings well, and I have had publishers
or editors themselves introduce errors even after my final opportunity to view the galleys! As I said at the outset, this
volume will now become my preferred commentary on Matthew for virtually every purpose other than perusing the
exhaustive kinds of discussions one finds only in three-volume works like Davies and Allisons revised ICC volumes
or Luzs Hermeneia offerings or for consulting the encyclopedic background citations available in Keeners sociorhetorical commentary. Thank you, Grant, for your labor of love in this work, like your many others, and for your
expressions of love and care for all your students over the years, including my wife and me when you were just
beginning your career!
Craig Blomberg, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of New Testament
Denver Seminary
July 2011
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