Varner, Hegg to release new commentary on Matthew

Bible professors Dr. William Varner and Dr. David Hegg have partnered together to write a new academic commentary on the book of Matthew, titled Matthew’s Messiah: His Jewish Life and Ministry, expected to be released near the end of this summer, 2025. The commentary focuses on helping the reader understand Matthew in light of its original Jewish audience, an area of study Varner knows well from his years spent in Israel and teaching classes on Matthew and the life of Christ for over 20 years.

What makes the commentary unique is Varner’s expertise in ancient Jewish culture.

“Dr. Will Varner is and always has been very, very interested in Israel… 40 times, I think he's gone,” Hegg said. “He brings in a lot of the cultural stuff that Matthew’s original audience would have understood. They’re hearing it or reading it through the lens of their Jewish cultural family ritual festivals, understanding the Old Testament.”

Varner’s publishers originally suggested that Matthew’s Messiah be written as a devotional commentary for any audience to read and understand. Varner and Hegg, however, wrote the book to fit somewhere between a critical commentary and a devotional commentary, accessible to a layman who wants to study God’s Word, but not meant to be read during morning devotions.

“The critical would be built on and use a lot of the original Hebrew or Greek,” Hegg explained. “We’re in the middle … taking it from a position of what would a Jew understand from Matthew's commentary during that day. So we’re bringing in more of the history, more of the culture.”

The goal, according to Varner, is that people would see the “Jewishness” of Jesus and how the Old Testament is essential in understanding the Messiah — the chosen seed of Israel — as presented by Matthew.

“He quotes the Old Testament more than any gospel,” Varner said. “Certainly, an understanding of the Jewishness of his life is essential for Matthew.

Varner asked Hegg to write the chapters on the five major discourses in Matthew, since Hegg was preaching through the book of Matthew at his church, Grace Baptist, where Varner is a member.

Hegg’s process of writing for Messiah’s Ministry followed his process of studying to preach.

“I scan the big parts, then I divide it up, but I want to show the flow all the way through,” he said.

Matthew is unique in that he writes in different sections that have a sequence, intentionally and meaningfully placed next to each other to make a point.

Varner also asked his fellow Bible professor and Grace Baptist church member, Dr. Todd Bolen, to contribute pictures from his collection (Bible Places), specifically his photo companion to the book of Matthew.

“Dr. Varner sent me the manuscript,” Bolen said, “and I identified, based on what he wrote, photos that would be most beneficial in communicating content relevant to his, or Dr. Hegg’s, information.”

The pictures contribute to the nature of the book as both academic and accessible for lay people to study.

Bolen also pointed out that pictures, worth a thousand words, give a real understanding of something that, if only described, might not be fully captured.

“In C. S. Lewis, we want to use our imagination,” Bolen explained. “But with the Bible, we don’t want to be making up our own facts. We want to, as much as we can, have our understanding historically grounded, geographically grounded. Pictures can help to bridge that gap.”

If there is one thing readers walk away with, according to Varner, it would be that they see how Jesus’ life and ministry are a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. The authors agree that the ultimate purpose of the book is that Christ would be seen as Matthew uniquely portrayed him and that readers would grow in love and obedience to Him as a result.

“This book is going to help readers to see Jesus as Matthew wanted his readers to understand him, in the fullness of his Jewish context and presented as the king of Israel,” Bolen said. “So there’s the technical commentaries that are going to probably hit a lot of those same things, but if you’re looking at resources that are for the average people in the church, Dr. Varner is bringing in his understanding of that Old Testament background, the Jewish history that really makes Matthew stand out.”