Abstract:
The greatest wish of the Baeda l people, or South Koreans, living in the Korean Peninsula is the
unification of Korea. However, even when it has been 70 years since the outbreak of the Korean War,
the two Koreas that used to be one nation are still in conflict. There have been many discourses on
unification over the past 70 years, but these discourses still fail to create clear rules and a framework
for unification. Discourses from the perspective of biblical theology offer insight regarding the
problems at stake as well as alternatives, but they do not offer perspectives on a definite solution.
This article, in line with its statement on biblical theology, does not pretend to contribute to a clearcut solution to meet the challenge of Korea’s unification. Rather, this article intends to contribute to
the formation of an emotional consensus that can contribute to the unification of Korea by looking
at the teachings about peace in the Gospel of Matthew. The article explores whether the notion of
embracement, forgiveness and love written during the conflict between the Matthean community
and Formative Judaism can be applied to help create an emotional bond between the two Koreas.
The terms embracement, forgiveness and love found in the Gospel of Matthew are upheld as
symbolising peace derived from opposition and conflict. Jesus taught us to overcome situations of
opposition and conflict through embracement, forgiveness and love.
CONTRIBUTION: The purpose and contribution of this article was to discuss if the notions of
embracement, forgiveness and love found in the Gospel of Matthew can be helpful for the
emotional preparation of the peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula by comparing the
situations reflected in the Gospel of Matthew and that of the Korean Peninsula.
