Bible Quiz: Gospel of Matthew
A study-mode round on the first book of the New Testament — the genealogy, the wise men, the Sermon on the Mount, the parables of the kingdom, Peter on the water, and the Great Commission that closes it. Every answer shows the exact verse it came from. Seventy-three questions sit in the bank and you get fifteen at random, so no two rounds are the same.
That round ran the whole length of Matthew — a family tree, a star, a sermon on a hillside, a boat in a storm, thirty pieces of silver, a torn veil, and an empty tomb with an angel sitting on the stone.
Matthew wrote the words down. This walks you through them.
Matthew records more of what Jesus actually said than any other Gospel — five long blocks of teaching, starting with the Sermon on the Mount. This free 3-day sample takes His words and actions one short reading at a time. No experience assumed, and no reading plan to fall behind on.
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Common Questions About the Gospel of Matthew
What is the Gospel of Matthew actually about?
Matthew is the first book of the New Testament and the opening account of the life of Jesus. It was written for a readership that already knew the Hebrew scriptures well, which shapes everything about how it is put together. It starts with a genealogy rather than a birth scene, tracing Jesus back through David to Abraham, and it repeatedly stops to point out that something just happened “that it might be fulfilled” — quoting the older prophets more often than any other Gospel does. Structurally it alternates between narrative and five long blocks of teaching, beginning with the Sermon on the Mount in chapters five through seven. The book runs from the genealogy to the crucifixion and resurrection, and closes with the instruction usually called the Great Commission. If you have only ever read one Gospel, Matthew is the one most people have read.
What are the most-asked questions about the Gospel of Matthew?
They cluster in a handful of places. People want to know how many wise men there were, and Matthew never says — it names three gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh, and no number of men at all. They ask which disciple walked on the water, which is Peter, and only Matthew records it. They ask what the Beatitudes are and how the first one reads: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” They ask how many times Jesus said to forgive, which is seventy times seven, not seven. They ask what Jesus cried from the cross in this account, which is “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani” — the opening line of Psalm 22. And they ask how the book ends, which is not with an ascension but with a promise: “lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” The quiz above draws on every one of those.
What is found only in Matthew, and not in the other Gospels?
Quite a lot, and it is the reason a Matthew-specific quiz is different from a general New Testament one. The wise men and the star, the flight into Egypt and Herod’s killing of the children in Bethlehem appear here and nowhere else. So does Peter stepping out of the boat onto the water, the coin found in the mouth of a fish to pay the temple tribute, and the line “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.” Several of the best-known parables are unique to this book too — the ten virgins and their lamps, the labourers in the vineyard who all get paid the same penny, the unmerciful servant forgiven ten thousand talents, and the separation of the sheep from the goats. Matthew alone reports the dream of Pilate’s wife and the guard posted at the tomb. The Great Commission that closes the book is also Matthew’s own.
Is this quiz useful for a Bible Quiz team or a Sunday school class?
That is exactly who it was built for. It runs in study mode rather than casual mode, so every answer shows the exact chapter and verse it came from — a wrong answer sends you back to the text instead of just moving on. Matthew is one of the books assigned most often in Bible Quizzing programmes, which is part of why it got its own round here rather than being folded into a general New Testament quiz. The bank holds seventy-three questions and each round serves fifteen at random, so a team can run it several times in one session without drilling the same fifteen items. It covers all twenty-eight chapters, from the genealogy through the Sermon on the Mount, the kingdom parables, the passion narrative and the resurrection. It works on a phone, with no account, no download and nothing to sign up for.
How well do most people actually know Matthew?
Better than they expect on the famous scenes, and worse than they expect on the detail around them. Nearly everyone can name the Sermon on the Mount and the Lord’s Prayer. Fewer can say how many generations Matthew counts in each of his three sets — fourteen — or which women he names in the genealogy, which includes Rahab and Ruth. Fewer still remember what the chief priests bought with the silver Judas threw down, which was the potter’s field, to bury strangers in, or that Matthew says the angel at the tomb rolled the stone back and then sat on it. None of that is a test of anything that matters, and nothing here is recorded, scored against anyone else, or sent anywhere. The only way to find out where your own gaps are is to play the quiz above and watch which verses you end up looking up afterwards.