Fresh Studies in Matthew, Matthew 1

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I decided in June to begin to study the New Testament with fresh eyes, without assuming. I have a series of posts that I am going to start updating now. 


Matthew 1:1-17
Some scholars say that the rejection by the Jews caused Messiah to go to the Gentiles.  I reject that idea. From Genesis 3 on the promise was of a savior for all people, and in Genesis 12 Abraham was told that all the world would be blessed by his seed.  The Gentiles were included from the beginning; they were not second string, and God didn’t change the plan.
 So, even if Jews had accepted Christ at the beginning, even though it was foreknown that they wouldn’t, he still would have had to die.  This is somewhat paradoxical on the surface, but I think because of certain presuppositions we have and erroneous teachings.  I was taught by premillenialists that the center of it all is Matthew 12-14, that the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit there by Jewish religious leaders mean that he now was “going to the Gentiles.”  But, would he have not gone to the Gentiles if they had accepted? 
No, Jesus came to die and rise again regardless of the Jewish response, and it must be remembered that it was Pharisees and Sadducees corporately that rejected, not Jewish people specifically.  Thousands of Jews converted at the beginning. 

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