The law and purity in Matthew; Jesus touching a bleeding woman and a dead girl (Mt 9:18-26)

Authors

  • Francois Viljoen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5952/55-1-2-535

Keywords:

Purity laws, Holy / Holy One, Gospel of Matthew, Torah, Healing, Sick / Ill, Pure / impure

Abstract

This article investigates the double story in Matthew of Jesus touching a woman with blood flow and a dead girl, with specific reference to purity regulations of the Hebrew Bible. According to Matthew it seems that Jesus did not perform any purity rituals after touching the impure woman and girl. Such negligence would have caused serious repercussions amongst the spectators. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus explicitly states that He did not come to abolish the Law, but in this double story Jesus apparently abrogates purity regulations. It is suggested that Matthew purposefully describes these events to demonstrate how these Laws found their fulfilment in Jesus. Jesus is depicted as Emmanuel and Saviour. Instead of Him being polluted by touching these persons, Jesus cleanses the impure woman and raises the dead girl to life. As Holy One purity flowed from Him to the defiled persons, so that they could be cleansed without Him being polluted. These acts of Jesus form part of the coming of the Kingdom of heaven. By accepting Jesus as their saviour, the Matthean community shares the benefits of his purifying power. Their purity is no longer dependent on external purity regulations, but on the cleansing power of Jesus, the Holy One.

Downloads

Published

2014-09-26

Issue

Vol. 55 No. 1&2 (2014)

Section

Articles | Artikels

License

Copyright of all NGTT material belongs to the Pieter de Waal Neethling Trust (PDWN Trust). The PDWN Trust is a trust fund established in 1932 with the aim of promoting quality theological research and publications.

The PDWN Trust pledges to maintain a legitimate scholarly record of the author's work and to defend the author's article against plagiarism and copyright infringement.

The PDWN Trust is committed to full Open Source publishing. This means that all articles published in NGTT will gradually be made freely available online. Authors maintain the right to:

  • Share and self-archive their work.
  • Make printed copies of their article for educational use.
  • Present their article at a meeting or conference and distribute printed copies of the article
  • Adapt and expand their published journal article to make it suitable for their thesis or dissertation.
  • Republish the article (ensuring that the original article is cited as published in NGTT).

For any questions or queries in this regard, please contact the Editor.