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50 free Gospel of Matthew trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Gospel of Matthew trivia quiz walks through the first book of the New Testament in order. It opens with the things only Matthew tells: the genealogy that starts with Abraham, the Magi and their star, Herod's massacre, the flight into Egypt and the dream that sent Joseph to Nazareth. Then it covers the Sermon on the Mount with its Beatitudes, Lord's Prayer and Golden Rule, the parables of the weeds, the pearl, the talents, the ten virgins and the sheep and the goats, and the road to the Passion: Peter's confession, Judas's thirty pieces of silver, Pilate's wife and the Great Commission on a mountain in Galilee. The easy questions ask what gifts the Magi brought and how many loaves fed the five thousand. The harder ones ask which chapters hold the Sermon on the Mount, why Matthew writes 'Kingdom of Heaven' instead of 'Kingdom of God', how many discourses the book is built around, who first attributed the gospel to Matthew, and what the Field of Blood was bought with. If you want the rest of the Bible, our Bible, New Testament and Bible stories quizzes carry on from here. Every answer was checked against the encyclopaedia entry for the passage, parable or person before publishing, and the sentence that supports it is stored with each question.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Where does the Gospel of Matthew sit in the New Testament?
It is the first book
It is one of the four canonical Gospels and one of the three synoptics, alongside Mark and Luke.
Q 02Which three gospels are known as the synoptic Gospels?
Matthew, Mark and Luke
They share many of the same stories in a similar order and often in near-identical wording; the word means 'seen together'.
Q 03With which figure does Matthew's genealogy of Jesus begin?
Abraham
Luke works backwards all the way to Adam; Matthew, writing for Jews, starts with the father of the Jewish people.
Q 04According to Matthew, who was Joseph's father?
Jacob
Luke names Heli instead, one of many places where the two genealogies part company after King David.
Q 05Which two gospels contain accounts of the birth of Jesus?
Matthew and Luke
Both agree on Bethlehem and Herod's reign, but the wise men, the star and the flight into Egypt appear only in Matthew.
Q 06In which gospel alone do the Magi appear?
Matthew
The text never numbers or names them; tradition settled on three because of the three gifts.
Q 07What three gifts did the Magi offer the infant Jesus?
Gold, frankincense and myrrh
They opened treasure chests to present them, and Matthew says the visit took place in a house, not a stable.
Q 08In Syriac Christianity, how many Magi are traditionally said to have visited Jesus?
Twelve
Western and Orthodox tradition settled on three to match the gifts; the gospel itself gives no number.
Q 09On which feast day are the Magi commemorated in Western Christianity?
Epiphany
It is sometimes called Three Kings Day; Eastern Christians remember them on Christmas Day itself.
Q 10Which king orders the Massacre of the Innocents in Matthew chapter 2?
Herod the Great
The story is told in no other gospel, and neither Josephus nor Herod's friend Nicolaus of Damascus mentions it.
Q 11How was Joseph warned to flee to Egypt with Mary and Jesus?
By an angel in a dream
Matthew's Joseph receives guidance by dream again and again, echoing the Old Testament Joseph, son of Jacob, the dreamer.
Q 12After returning from Egypt, where did Joseph settle the family?
Nazareth in Galilee
An angel told him to avoid Herod's son, so he bypassed Judea; Matthew implies Joseph's original home had been Bethlehem.
Q 13In Matthew 9:9, Matthew is described as what when Jesus calls him?
A tax collector
He was sitting at the 'receipt of custom' in Capernaum; Mark and Luke tell the same story about a man named Levi.
Q 21The Beatitudes in Matthew 5 are usually counted as how many blessings?
Eight
Luke's Sermon on the Plain has just four, followed by four woes; Latin beatitudo was a word coined by Cicero.
Q 22The Lord's Prayer is also known by which Latin name?
Pater Noster
That is simply 'Our Father', its first two words; the closing 'For thine is the kingdom' is a later addition in some manuscripts of Matthew.
Q 23How is the Golden Rule of Matthew 7:12 commonly phrased in English?
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
Q 14By what other name do Luke and Mark call the apostle Matthew?
Levi
Both call him Levi, son of Alphaeus, which led Eastern Orthodox tradition to make him the brother of James son of Alphaeus.
Q 15Which early bishop provides the first attribution of the gospel to Matthew?
Papias of Hierapolis
He lived around 60 to 130 AD and had met the daughters of Philip the Evangelist; most scholars now treat the gospel as anonymous.
Q 16Which city in Roman Syria is often proposed as the place where Matthew's gospel was written?
Antioch
It was the third largest city in the empire, with a community of Greek-speaking Jewish Christians that fits the gospel's outlook.
Q 17Which earlier gospel do most scholars believe Matthew used as a source?
Mark
Matthew shares about 600 verses with Mark, a book of only 661 verses, plus roughly 220 with Luke that Mark lacks.
Q 18How many blocks of discourse does Matthew alternate with blocks of narrative?
Five
Each ends with the phrase 'When Jesus had finished'; some see a deliberate echo of the five books of Moses.
Q 19Matthew's usual term for God's reign is 'Kingdom of' what?
Heaven
It reflects the Jewish practice of not speaking the name of God directly.
Q 20Where in Matthew is the Sermon on the Mount found?
Chapters 5 to 7
It is the first of the five discourses and one of the most quoted passages in the New Testament.
Luke 6:31 has the same saying, and the early Christian Didache gives it in its negative form.
Q 24In the parable that closes the Sermon on the Mount, the wise man builds his house on what?
Rock
Rain, floods and wind beat on it and it did not fall; the foolish man's house on sand collapsed.
Q 25For how many days did Jesus fast in the wilderness before being tempted?
Forty
Matthew and Luke list three temptations: stones into bread, a leap from the Temple pinnacle, and the kingdoms of the world.
Q 26In the Parable of the Tares, what did the enemy sow among the wheat?
Weeds
The servants are told to let both grow until the harvest; Jesus later explains the harvest is 'the end of the age'.
Q 27In Matthew 13, which precious object does a merchant sell everything to buy?
A pearl
The Parable of the Pearl comes just before the Parable of the Dragnet at the end of the chapter.
Q 28Which miracle is the only one, apart from the resurrection, recorded in all four gospels?
The feeding of the 5,000
Matthew places it at 14:13–21 and is one of only two gospels to add a second feeding, of 4,000, with seven loaves.
Q 29How many loaves were used for the 4,000, in the second multiplication miracle?
Seven
The more famous feeding of the 5,000 used five loaves and two fish; Luke and John skip the second miracle.
Q 30Which disciple, in Matthew's account alone, asks to walk out to Jesus on the water?
Peter
He begins to sink when he takes fright, and Jesus catches him; the episode follows the feeding of the 5,000.