Five Discourses of Matthew

The five discourses are listed as the following: the Sermon on the Mount, the Mission Discourse, the Parabolic Discourse, the Discourse on the Church, and the Discourse on End Times.


Each of the discourses has a shorter parallel in the Gospel of Mark or the Gospel of Luke.^[3]

Structure[edit]

Biblical scholars generally agree on the existence of the five separate discourses, although discussions and differences of opinion exist about specific details.^[4][5] There are occurrences of the closing formula "when Jesus had finished speaking": 7:28, 11:1, 13:53, 19:1, and 26:1. Most scholars consider chapters 23 to 25 to be the final discourse, but some take it to be merely 24 and 25.^[4]


Beginning with B. W. Bacon in the early 20th century, some scholars have argued that there are five corresponding narratives (plus a prologue and an epilogue) in Matthew that pair with the discourses, but others (e.g. Jack Kingsbury or Craig Blomberg) see three major segments in Matthew in which the 5 discourses take place.^[1][2]


Blomberg showed how the five-discourse structure can be used to relate the top-level structure of Matthew with Mark, Luke and John.^[2] In his mapping Chapter 13 of Matthew is its centre, as is Mark 8:30 and the beginning of Chapter 12 of John. He then separates Luke into three parts by 9:51 and 18:14.^[2]


Each of the discourses has shorter parallel passages in the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Luke. The first discourse relates to Luke 6:20-49. The second discourse relates to Mark 6:7-13 as well as Luke 9:1-6 and Luke 10:1-12. The corresponding unit for the third discourse is Mark 4:3-34. The fourth discourse relates to Mark 9:35-48 and the final discourse to Luke 21:5-36 and Mark 13:5-37.^[3]


A number of scholars have compared the five discourses to the five books of the Pentateuch, but most contemporary scholars reject the idea of an intentional parallel.^[4]