Community, law and mission in Matthew's gospel

Paul Foster contributes to Matthean scholarship by examining the social location of the community, the role of law, and its stance on the gentile mission. He challenges the prevailing view of the community as a primarily Jewish separatist group centered on the belief that Jesus was the Messiah. Instead, he argues that while the Matthean group originated in Judaism, by the time the gospel was composed, it had moved beyond its original framework. A significant rift had developed between the Matthean communities and the synagogues from which the initial believers in Jesus had emerged. As a result, the community shifted its focus to recruiting gentiles, leading to tensions with long-standing, traditionally Torah-observant members. Thus, the themes of community, law, and mission in Matthew's gospel are interconnected rather than isolated. The gospel serves both pastoral and pedagogical purposes: it aims to reassure group members about their decision to distance themselves from synagogue-based Judaism and to instruct them that the risen Jesus calls them to actively engage in the gentile mission.