Matthew 1: 1–7

The publication of this book marks the welcome completion of Ulrich Luz’s magisterial commentary on the Gospel of Matthew in English. It is a translation of the revised fifth German edition (2002) of the first volume of Luz’s original German commentary (Das Evangelium nach Matthäus). The second and third volumes of the English commentary, which were translations of volumes 2–4 of the German original, have already been published in the Hermeneia series (2001, 2005), and the appearance of this volume completes the process. The translator of the first two Hermeneia volumes, James E. Crouch, has also translated this one, which gives the three volumes the same measure of consistency as one finds when reading the four volumes of the original German commentary. The first German edition of volume 1 was published in 1985, and the English translation (by Willhelm C. Linss) of that edition appeared in the Continental Commentary series in 1989 (Fortress). The 2007 Hermeneia edition, based as it is on the fifth German edition, is a complete revision of the original and supersedes it in all respects. In the preface Luz comments that this is in many ways a new book by comparison with the first English edition. In the two decades since he wrote the first volume, there has been an explosion of new methods and the relentless publication of new Matthean studies, including his own, that needed to be engaged. It is a testament to Luz’s diligence and attention to detail that all of the important studies published on Matthew, in German, English and French, are taken into account in this revision. [Full Review]

Ulrich Luz is professor emeritus at the University of Bern in Switzerland. Although he has written on a wide variety of topics related to New Testament studies, he is best known for his contributions to Matthean studies, including Matthew in History: Interpretation, Influence and Effects (1994), The Theology of the Gospel of Matthew (1995), and the commentary on Matthew 1–7 in the Continental Commentary series (1989). The release of this volume marks the completion of Luz’s three-volume Hermeneia commentary on Matthew. Commentaries on Matt 8–20 and 21–28 appeared in 2001 and 2005, respectively. The Hermeneia volume is far more than a new translation of Luz’s earlier German work. It constitutes a significant revision and expansion of the earlier work. The new edition contains not only many clarifications of Luz’s positions but also a few corrections as well. Luz also consulted newer secondary literature. His treatment of Matt 3–7 incorporates secondary literature published as late as 1998. His treatment of Matt 1–2 and his introduction incorporate secondary literature published as late as the summer of 2000. Luz’s commentaries are distinct because of his emphasis on both the history of interpretation (Auslegungsgeschichte) and especially the history of the text’s influence (Wirkungsgeschichte). Luz sees this emphasis as a necessary corrective to the tendency of historical-critical exegesis to isolate a text to its own time and original situation, thus preventing it from having a message for the present. [Full Review]