According to Christ himself, the Christian’s priority must be to seek the kingdom of God. The aim of Matthew’s Gospel, and therefore of this commentary is to be both Christ-centred and practical. Its focus is the King and his kingdom.

The structure of this commentary is based on the five lengthy discourses each of which deals with an aspect of Christ’s kingdom: its nature, its work, its coming, its community and its culmination in grace and judgement. After the prologue, which deals with the King’s birth, the Gospel follows the outline of Jesus’ life, interspersing this with various themes, especially the revelation of the person of Christ, the training and development of the disciples, the place of the Gentiles in the expanding kingdom, and the spiritual character of Christ’s reign.

The last three chapters, describing the the final days of Christ’s earthly life and ministry, do not exactly follow this pattern, but, far from being an anti-climax, look forward to the kingdom’s final consummation.