The Gospel of Matthew
GA 123
The four Gospels, Steiner says, are meant to supplement one another to form a comprehensive picture of earthly and spiritual events. The Matthew Gospel describes Christ Jesus in his human aspects so that he is more near to us in a human sense. From an understanding of the Gospel of St. Matthew “can stream into us courage in life, strength and hope in our labors.”
These 12 lectures, from the lecture series, The Gospel of Matthew, were published in German as, Das Matthaeus-evangelium. They are presented here with the kind permission of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach, Switzerland.
| Lecture I | September 01, 1910 | |
| The post-Atlantean migrations. The Iranians and Turanians. Zarathustra | ||
| Lecture II | September 02, 1910 | |
| The secrets of space and time. The Moses and Hermes Wisdom. Comparison of the Turanians and the Hebrews | ||
| Lecture III | September 03, 1910 | |
| Interchanging activity of Thoth-Hermes and Moses, as reflection of a cosmic process. The secret of the Hebrew people. Human thought the reflection of divine vision. The power of ancient clairvoyance passes into the inner organization of man. The law of numbers in respect of heredity in the sequence of generations | ||
| Lecture IV | September 04, 1910 | |
| The ancient Hebrew consciousness of God. The secret of the development of a people, as image of cosmic development. Principal and subsidiary currents in the preparation for the Christ-event | ||
| Lecture V | September 05, 1910 | |
| Jesus ben Pandira and Initiation among the Essenes. The secret of numbers. Reflection of cosmic conditions in human evolution. The secret of the blood in the line of descent, and the secret of cosmic space | ||
| Lecture VI | September 06, 1910 | |
| Stages of downward penetration of divine nature into a human individuality, and the going forth of this individuality into the cosmos. The spiritual nature of man and the earthly Adam. The superpersonal memory in the blood of the generations. The Essene and Nazarene colonies. The pupils of Jesus ben Pandira: Matthai and Netzer. The two Jesus children | ||
| Lecture VII | September 07, 1910 | |
| The law concerning the stages of the perfecting of human qualities (the Eight-fold path). Nature of Initiation in pre-Christian Mysteries. Descent into the physical body and expansion into the Macrocosm. The dangers connected with this. The twelve helpers of the Hierophant. The Christ-event the beginning of freedom. Christ the model — the fulfilment — of the great Initiation | ||
| Lecture VIII | September 08, 1910 | |
| The bringing forth of the secrets of the Mysteries into the external world through the historic Christ-event. The Kingdom of Malchut and the Kingdoms of Heaven. The nature of the Ego in the Kingdom | ||
| Lecture IX | September 09, 1910 | |
| The Initiation of the Ego. The Gospels are the books of the Mysteries. The Life of Christ, a repetition of Initiation on the great plane of world history | ||
| Lecture X | September 10, 1910 | |
| The gradual endowment of the human ego-forces with the knowledge of the Mysteries. The Beatitudes. The Healings. The Heavenly Bread. The new Essene teaching | ||
| Lecture XI | September 11, 1910 | |
| The advent of instructing and life-giving powers from the cosmos through the Christ. Their transmission to the disciples. Their awakening. The avowal of Peter. The Son of Man — the Son of the living God. The founding of new communities on the basis of moral and spiritual relationships. Leading forth of the disciples into the Macrocosm by the Christ. The inpouring of the power of the Sun-Word through the mystery of Golgotha. The gradual growth upwards into the Kingdoms of Heaven | ||
| Lecture XII | September 12, 1910 | |
| The upward development of man, and the descent of divine beings into human souls and bodies. The four points of view of the Evangelists in accordance with the Initiation of each. The Baptism in Jordan and the life and death of Christ Jesus as two stages of Initiation. The Resurrection revealing Christ as the Spirit of earthly existence. The Sun-Aura in the Earthly-Aura. The divinity of Man. Human quality of the Gospel of Matthew | ||