From the introduction, "Matthew is quite plainly a Jew who has been convinced of Jesus' messianic claim... He attempts to convey a logical conviction that the new teaching was not only prophesied in the old but does in fact supersede it in the divine plan...

It is being written at that distance in time from the great event where sober reflection and sturdy conviction can perhaps give a better balanced portrait of God's unique revelation of himself than could be given by those who were so close to the light that they were partly dazzled by it".