Answers – To Difficult Questions (Gospel of Matthew)

Please Select A Study

Matthew 1:1-17 – Do Matthew and Luke’s genealogies contradict each other? (cf. Lk. 3:23-38)

Matthew 1:8—Is Joram the father of Uzziah or of Ahaziah?

Matthew 1:9—Did Matthew make a mistake concerning the father of Jotham?

Matthew 1:12 – How could Jesus be the Messiah, if God cursed the descendants of King Jehoiachin (Jer. 22:30)?

Matthew 1:12 – Who is Shealtiel’s father? Jeconiah or Neri? (cf. Lk. 3:27)

Matthew 1:17—How many generations were listed between the captivity and Christ, 14 or 13?

Matthew 1:17 – Why does Matthew emphasize 14 generations?

Matthew 1:20 – Did God commit adultery with Mary? Did God break his own commandment?

(Matthew 1:23 – Did Isaiah really predict a virgin birth?

Matthew 2:2—Why does the Bible commend the Magi for following the star, when it condemns astrology?

Matthew 2:6—How can we explain Matthew’s apparent misquotation of Micah 5:2?

Matthew 2:6 – Did Micah predict the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem or not?

Matthew 2:14-15 – How could Matthew quote Hosea as a “fulfillment” of Jesus, when Hosea was referring to the nation of Israel?

Matthew 2:16 – Did Herod really commit a mass genocide of babies?

Matthew 2:18 – Does Matthew quote Jeremiah 31:15 out of context?

Matthew 2:23—Didn’t Matthew make a mistake by claiming a prophecy that is not found in the OT?

Matthew 2:23 – Why does Matthew say this is from the Old Testament, when the Old Testament NEVER mentions “Nazareth” or “being a Nazarene?”

Matthew 3:11 – Does this passage support the concept of a second blessing?

Matthew 3:15 – Why was Jesus baptized?

Matthew 4:3-10 – Why do Luke and Matthew place Satan’s conversation out of order?

Matthew 4:4-10 – Why does Jesus cite these OT passages?

Matthew 4:5–10 – Is there a mistake in recording the wilderness temptation of Christ by Matthew or Luke?

Matthew 4:14–16—Why does Matthew incorrectly quote Isaiah?

Matthew 4:14-16 – Why does Matthew cite Isaiah 9:1-2?

Matthew 5:1 – How do we interpret the Sermon on the Mount?

Matthew 5:1 – Is this the same as Luke’s account in Luke 6:20-49?

Matthew 5:17–18 Did Jesus come to do away with the Law of Moses?

Matthew 5:29—Is hell the grave or a place of conscious torment?

Matthew 5:31-32 What does this passage tell us about divorce and remarriage?

Matthew 5:34 – Are we allowed to make oaths?

Matthew 5:42—Should believers literally give anything to anyone who asks?

Matthew 5:43—Why did the OT prescribe that one could hate his enemies?

Matthew 6:1 – Should we show our good works to others or not?

Matthew 6:6—If Jesus said prayer should be in private, why does the Bible commend public prayer?

Matthew 6:6 – Did Jesus abolish corporate prayer meetings?

Matthew 6:13—Why should we pray that God would not lead us into temptation when God cannot tempt anyone?

Matthew 6:15 – Is forgiveness conditional or unconditional?

Matthew 6:16-18 – Should believers fast?

Matthew 7:1 – Are we allowed to judge or not?

Matthew 7:6 – What does it mean to cast pearls before swine?

Matthew 7:13-14 – Does these verses teach that many people will go to hell and few will go to heaven?

Matthew 7:19 – Do believers have to bear fruit in order to be saved?

Matthew 7:21-23 – Does Jesus teach that those who call out to him in the sinner’s prayer will actually go to hell?

Matthew 8:3 – Jesus breaking the law in touching a leper?

Matthew 8:5–13 —Is there a mistake in the accounts concerning Jesus and the centurion?

Matthew 8:21-22 – Wasn’t this insensitive and cruel?

Matthew 8:22 – Wasn’t it absurd for Jesus to tell the dead to bury their own dead?

Matthew 8:28–34 —Where were the demoniacs healed?

Matthew 8:28–34 — How many demoniacs were healed?

Matthew 9:13 – Why does Jesus quote Hosea 6:6?

Matthew 10:1-15 – Does the commissioning of the Twelve contradict Mark and Luke’s account?

Matthew 10:5–6—Did Jesus come only for Jews or also for Gentiles?

Matthew 10:13-14 – Isn’t it cruel to not pursue unwilling people?

Matthew 10:22 – Does this passage deny eternal security?

Matthew 10:23—Did Jesus promise to return to earth during the lifetime of the disciples?

Matthew 10:23 – Does this passage support Preterism?

Matthew 10:34 – Did Jesus come to bring peace or not?

Matthew 10:34–36—Did Jesus come to bring peace or war?

Matthew 11:2-3 – When did John find out Jesus was the Messiah?

Matthew 11:4-5 – Did Jesus fulfill Isaiah 35:4-6?

Matthew 11:12—How can God’s sovereign and peaceful kingdom be entered by force?

Matthew 11:13-14 – Was John the Baptist really Elijah?

Matthew 11:14—Didn’t Jesus say John the Baptist was Elijah reincarnated?

Matthew 11:14 – Could John the Baptist be a figurative Elijah?

Matthew – 11:14 Did Jesus believe in reincarnation?

Matthew 11:25 – Why would God hide his truth?

Matthew 11:27 – Does this support Calvinism?

Matthew 11:28–30—Is Jesus’ yoke easy or hard?

Matthew 12:1–5—Did Jesus’ disciples break the Jewish Sabbath law?

Matthew 12:2 – What is Jesus’ defense for his disciples breaking the Sabbath?

Matthew 12:31-32 – Can you be forgiven of all sins or not?

(Matthew 12:32 – Does this passage support the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory?

Matthew 12:40 — If Jesus was crucified on Friday, how could He have been in the grave three days and nights?

Matthew 12:40 – Was Jesus dead three days and three nights or a day and a half?

Matthew 12:40 – How long was Jesus dead in the tomb?

Matthew 13:12—Is God unfair in giving to those who have?

Matthew 13:31 – Is the mustard seed the smallest of all seeds?

Matthew 13:31–32—Did Jesus make a mistake when referring to the mustard seed as the smallest of all seeds?

Matthew 13:31-32 – Was Jesus wrong in saying that the mustard seed is the smallest seed?

Matthew 13:34—Did Jesus always speak in parables or not?

Matthew 13:44-46 – Do we need to sell everything in order to come to Christ?

Matthew 13:54-58 – How was Jesus rejected?

Matthew 13:55 – Did Jesus have brothers, or was Mary a perpetual virgin as Roman Catholicism claims?

Matthew 13:56 – Was Mary a perpetual virgin, or did she have other children after Jesus’ virgin birth?

Matthew 13:58 – Could Jesus not perform miracles?

Matthew 14:4 – Why was is “not lawful” for Herod to marry Herodias?

Matthew 15:22-28 – Was Jesus cruel to this Canaanite woman?

Matthew 16:16 – Why does Peter’s confession here differ from that recorded in Mark and Luke?

Matthew 16:18—Is Peter the rock on which the church is built?

Matthew 16:18 – Did Jesus give papal authority to Peter?

Matthew 16:19 – What does binding and loosing mean?

Matthew 16:20 – Why did Jesus instruct His disciples to tell no one He was the Christ?

Matthew 16:28 – Did Jesus make a false prediction about his second coming?

Matthew 17: 1 – After how many days did Jesus take the three men up the mountain?

Matthew 19:16-17 – Are we saved by grace or works?

Matthew 19:16-22 – keeping the commandments to be saved.

Matthew 19:16–30 – If Jesus was God, why did He seem to rebuke the rich young ruler for calling Him good?

(Matthew 19:17 – Is Jesus not God?

Matthew 19:26—Is anything impossible for God?

Matthew 20:1 – Are rewards the same for all, or do they differ in degree?

Matthew 20:20 – Who came to talk with Jesus, the mother of James and John or James and John?

Matthew 20:20-21 – Who made the request to sit beside Jesus in His kingdom?

Matthew 20:29-30 – How many blind men did Jesus encounter when leaving Jericho?

Matthew 21:2 – Were there two donkeys involved in the triumphal entry or just one?

Matthew 21:2-7 – Were one or two animals brought to Jesus?

Matthew 21:5 – Does this passage fulfill a prediction of Jesus coming on a colt into Jerusalem?

(Matthew 21:9 – Why did the crowds shout out Psalm 118:26?

Matthew 21:12 Did Jesus cleanse the Temple once or twice?

Matthew 21:12-13 – Why did Jesus get so angry? Was his anger justified?

Matthew 21:12–19 -When was the fig tree cursed by Jesus, before or after the temple was cleansed?

Matthew 21:18 – What is the significance of the fig tree?

Matthew 21:18-22 – Does this account of Jesus cursing the fig tree contradict Mark’s account? (Mk. 11:11-15, 19-25)

Matthew 12:19 – Did the tree that Jesus cursed wither immediately or overnight?

Matthew 21:43 – Is Jesus saying that the Jews are permanently out of God’s plan, because they rejected the Messiah?

Matthew 22:30 – Will we be like angels (spirits) in heaven, beings without physical bodies?

Matthew 22:37-39 – Does Jesus misquote Deuteronomy 6:5?

Matthew 22:39—Does Jesus want us to love ourself first or others?

Matthew 22:41-46 – Is Psalm 110 a prophecy of Jesus?

Matthew 23:3, 5 – Should or should we not let our good works be seen?

Matthew 23:9 – Can we call anyone “father” besides God, including our parents?

Matthew 23:9 –10 – Is it wrong to call others our father?

Matthew 23:17 – Why did Jesus call people fools and yet condemn others for doing the same thing?

Matthew 23:17 – can we call someone a fool or not?

Matthew 23:34–35 – Did Jesus make a mistake in referring to Zechariah the son of Jehoiada rather than to Zechariah the son of Berechiah?

Matthew 23:37-39 – Does this passage support Preterism?

Matthew 24:2 – Why doesn’t Matthew (or Mark) mention the destruction of the Temple in AD 70?

Matthew 24:13 – Does this verse threaten eternal security?

Matthew 24:14 – Does this predict the evangelization of the globe or the evangelization of the Roman Empire?

Matthew 24:15-16 – Does this refer to the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, as Preterist interpreters claim?

Matthew 24:22 – Is Jesus using hyperbole when he says “no life would have been saved” as Preterists claim?

Matthew 24:26-27 – Is the lightning symbolic of God’s judgment as Preterists claim?

Matthew 24:29 – Did Christ come to earth immediately following the Tribulation or sometime later?

Matthew 24:30 Are the clouds symbolic for God’s judgment or are they literal?

Matthew 24:31 – Is the gathering symbolic (as Preterists claim) or literal (as futurists claim)?

Matthew 24:34 – Did Jesus err by affirming that the signs of the end time would be fulfilled in His era?

Matthew 24:34 – Did Jesus make a false prediction about his second coming?

Matthew 24:36 – If Jesus is God, why did He not know the hour of His return?

Matthew 24:36 – If the Holy Spirit is God, why didn’t He know the time of Christ’s return?

Matthew 25:31-46 – Does this teach salvation by works?

Matthew 26:11 – Was Jesus always present with His disciples?

Matthew 26:26 – Does this statement support the Roman Catholic view of transubstantiation?

Matthew 26:34 – When Peter denied Christ, did the rooster crow once or twice?

Matthew 26:34-35 – Did the cock crow once or twice before Peter’s third denial?

Matthew 26:47 – Who arrested Jesus?

Matthew 26:52 – Is Jesus advocating pacifism and denouncing capital punishment in this passage?

Matthew 26:57 – Whom did Jesus see first upon His arrest, Annas or Caiaphas?

Matthew 27:3-8 – How did Judas die, by hanging or falling down?

Matthew 27:5 – How did Judas die?

Matthew 27:5 – Did Judas die by hanging or by falling on rocks?

Matthew 27:7 – Who bought the Potter’s Field, Judas or the Jews?

Matthew 27:9-10 – Did Matthew misattribute Zechariah 11:12-13 to Jeremiah?

Matthew 27:28 – Was Jesus’ robe “scarlet” or was it “purple”?

Matthew 27:28-31 – Was the robe of Jesus Scarlet or Purple?

Matthew 27:31-32 – Did Jesus or Simon of Cyrene carry the cross?

Matthew 27:34 – Was the vinegar given to Jesus on the cross mingled with gall or myrrh?

Matthew 27:37 – What was written on the sign on the cross?

Matthew 27:37 – Why are all the Gospel accounts of the inscription on the cross different?

Matthew 27:44 – Did both robbers revile Christ, or did only one do this?

Matthew 27:46 – What are the last words of Jesus?

Matthew 27:48—Did Jesus die on the cross or just swoon?

Matthew 27:51-53 – Is Matthew 27:51-53 historical?

Matthew 27:54 – What did the centurion really say about Christ on the cross?

Matthew 27:55 – Were the women close or far from the cross?

Matthew 28:1 – How long was Jesus dead in the tomb?

Matthew 28:1 – Do the Gospels disagree on who discovered the empty tomb?

Matthew 28:1-2 – Was the stone moved away before Mary arrived at Jesus’ tomb or not?

Matthew 28:2 – How many men or angels appeared at the tomb?

Matthew 28:5 – Why does Matthew say there was only one angel at the tomb when John says there were two?

Matthew 28:5 – Were there two angels or one?

Matthew 28:6-7 – What did the angels tell Mary?

Matthew 28:8 – Did or did not the women tell what happened?

Matthew 28:9 – To whom did Christ appear first, the women or His disciples?

Matthew 28:9 – Who saw Jesus first?

Matthew 28:18–20 – How can three persons be God when there is only one God?

Mark 9:48 – Why did Jesus say worms would not die in hell?