Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify characteristic phrases of the Gospel of Matthew and to provide a data base for determining which phrases are characteristic of the final redactor. The results of this study can be used by redaction critics working with the Gospel of Matthew, text critics, and those scholars engaged in the study of the synoptic problem. By taking a neutral position on the question of the synoptic problem, this study is able to identify a larger number of characteristic phrases than has been identified in other studies. ;This study begins with the assumption that a writer has a preference for certain words, phrases, and grammatical constructions and that careful analysis of what he has written will reveal his characteristic ways of expressing himself. However, only those characteristic phrases that are distinctive with respect to their use by other New Testament writers have been included in this study. Each phrase which has been determined to be sufficiently distinctive that it seems likely that all the occurrences of that phrase in the Gospel of Matthew come from the same writer is then listed in one of five categories, each of which is important for determining which phrases are characteristic of the final redactor. These include: words and phrases which occur in passages that have been identified as functioning redactionally; words and phrases which occur in the same immediate context as words and phrases which occur in passages that function redactionally; words and phrases which are at least fairly well distributed and occur in different kinds of material ; words and phrases that occur in only one kind of material; and words and phrases that are not well distributed