The Navarre Bible: Saint Matthew’s Gospel
Overview
In the early 1970s the theology faculty of the University of Navarre embarked on the project of making a new Spanish translation of the Bible—a volume accompanied by commentary designed for the general reader. This project was entrusted to the faculty by St. Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei and the university’s first chancellor. The first volume, St. Matthew, appeared in 1976; the project was completed February 2005. The Navarre Bible series is considered by many the best Catholic commentary on the Bible available today.
More comprehensive than the The Navarre Bible: New Testament, this volume features notes and introductions—rarely very technical—designed to illuminate the spiritual and theological message of the Bible. The Standard Edition is replete with quotations from commentaries by the Fathers, as well as excerpts from other spiritual writers—not least among them, St. Josemaría Escrivá—provided to show how they read Scripture and made it meaningful in their lives.
The Gospel of Matthew tells the story of Jesus: his life, ministry, death, and resurrection. Aimed toward a Jewish readership, the Gospel includes Jesus’ genealogy and reveals how Jesus fulfilled the Scripture; these are two factors essential in proving Jesus as Messiah foretold in Old Testament Scriptures. Matthew also lays out the foundation of the church, articulating in practical terms what it means to be Christ’s servant and disciple.
The Navarre Bible New Testament, Standard Edition is both scholarly and readable, presenting an intellectual, historical, and applicable survey of the riches of the New Testament. In the Logos edition of St. Matthew’s Gospel, each Scripture passage links to your favorite translation, and is easy to study side-by-side with your other commentaries. You can search by topic or Scripture with split-second results!
This commentary does not include the Bible texts. The print edition cites the RSVCE and the Nova Vulgata, each available separately, or in select Verbum packages.
- Provides an introduction to the Gospel of St. Matthew
- Draws on numerous Catholic resources
- Contains a table of sources cited, maps, and informative notes
- Map
- Preface and Preliminary Notes
- Abbreviations
- Introduction to the Gospel According to Matthew
- The Author
- Date of Composition
- Authenticity and Canonicity
- The Purpose of this Gospel
- Content
- Special Features
- Literary Style
- St. Matthew’s Gospel in the Life of the Church
- The Gospel According to Matthew: English Version, with Notes
- New Vulgate Text
- Explanatory Notes
- Headings Added to the Biblical Text
- Sources Quoted in the Commentary
Top Highlights
“This is the apex of Christian perfection—to love, and pray for, even those who persecute and calumniate us. It is the distinguishing mark of the children of God.” (Page 58)
“Our Lord goes so far as to say that a Christian has no personal enemies. His only enemy is evil as such—sin—but not the sinner.” (Page 58)
“Christian life inevitably involves nonconformity with anything that goes against faith and morals” (Page 86)
“What our Lord means here is that God’s own perfection should be the model that every faithful Christian tries to follow, even though he realizes that there is an infinite distance between himself and his Creator.” (Page 58)
“Clement of Alexandria puts it: ‘The Kingdom of heaven does not belong to those who sleep and who indulge all their desires, but to those who fight against themselves’ (Quis dives salvetur?, 21).” (Page 93)
[The Bible is] presented unambiguously as the inspired Word of God and, with the help of the commentaries, we are introduced to 2,000 years of contemplative Christian reading and living of the sacred Word.
—Osservatore Romano
. . . Superb volume for adult Bible Study . . . most helpful, enlightening, and fascinating.
—Catholic Transcript
- Title: The Navarre Bible: Saint Matthew’s Gospel
- Translator: Michael Adams
- Edition: Revised
- Publisher: Four Courts Press
- Publication Date: 2005
- Pages: 218
Michael Adams was a graduate of Queen’s University, Belfast, and the University of Navarre, Pamplona. Michael’s first significant involvement in publishing was with Irish University Press. He was also instrumental in setting up Irish Academic Press, where he served as managing director until 1995. Michael was the author of Censorship: the Irish experience (the subject of his PhD thesis), as well as two short books on religion. In recognition of his contribution to academic studies in Ireland, Trinity College, Dublin awarded him an honorary doctorate in Letters in 2005.
