ABSTRACT

This project/dissertation describes and identifies false prophets referred to in the three occurrences in the Gospel of Matthew. As an act of ministry, the candidate conducted three seminar sessions with twenty-two individuals—leaders and lay members—to determine if the studies had any effect upon their thinking concerning who false prophets are in Matthew.

The idea for this project/dissertation came about in reaction to the many Church of Christ periodicals that cite Matthew 7:15 against anyone who dares to differ with the interpretative church of which it is affiliated. The phrase “false prophets” is used so loosely by many well-meaning Christians that it seemed that a study of the context of the three occurrences of this phrase might assist Christians in interpreting these verses in light of its context.

This project/dissertation analyzed a number of journal articles and books by various Christian writers that relied upon Matthew 7:15 to uphold their actions of separation from other Christians that do not concur with their particular interpretation of certain Scriptures. Also, this project/dissertation looked at the in-fighting that is currently going on within the Churches of Christ nation-wide.

The objective of this project/dissertation was to identify who the false prophets were to whom Jesus referred when He employed this phrase. In order to accomplish this objective, it was necessary to analyze the complete Gospel of Matthew from a narrative perspective in order to get a wide overview of the entire book. One of the things discovered in this project/dissertation is that one of the central themes of the book centered on the “identity” of Jesus Christ. Also, ethics played a major role in determining the identity of the false prophets.

Ultimately, an analysis of Matthew 24 revealed that the false prophets were the religious leaders of Israel. In the course of the project, twenty-two people participated in a four-hour study on False Prophets in the Gospel of Matthew, Who Are They? The objective was to determine if there would be any change in their thinking by analyzing the three occurrences of this phrase in Matthew by observing context. Thus, a pre-test and a post-test were administered to derive the statistical data to see if the seminar made any difference in their concepts.

The project results are: Both leaders and lay members developed their methodologies in applying Biblical interpretation to their understanding of the written Word. Preachers and elders are better equipped to interpret Scripture according to context. This intense study about false prophets in the Gospel of Matthew enabled the participants, as a whole, to interpret the phrase “false prophets” in light of its context.