Who Really Wrote the Gospel of Matthew?

Although the author did not record his name within the text itself (a common practice in the ancient world), the first book found in the New Testament (NT) has historically been attributed to the writing of Matthew, a tax collector and one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. Although some NT scholars doubt the authorship of Matthew, there are good reasons to believe that he was, indeed, the author of the first gospel.

There are at least two lines of evidence that can be rallied to the defense of Matthew: (1) the superscription of the ancient manuscripts and (2) the patristic witness.

A superscription is text added to an ancient manuscript by a scribe for purposes of identification; it acts as a title. According to NT scholar D. Edmond Hiebert, the first gospel’s “identifying superscription, ‘The Gospel According to Matthew,’ is the oldest known witness concerning its authorship.” Scholars believe the superscription was added as early as A.D. 125 and the “superscription is found on all known manuscripts of this gospel.” This fact is a powerful testimony to the uniformity of evidence with regard to the authorship of Matthew.

The second line of evidence is the patristic witness. The early church fathers were unanimous in crediting the gospel to Matthew. Hiebert claims, “The earliest is the testimony of Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, dating to the first half of the second century.”

Following Papias is Irenaeus “who wrote his famous Against Heresies around A.D. 185.”

The next church father to attribute authorship to Matthew is Origen, who wrote in the early third century. He is quoted by Eusebius, who wrote in the early fourth century.

Finally, Eusebius himself, in the early fourth century, documents that Matthew wrote the first gospel.

There is an unbroken witness to Matthew as the author of the first gospel going back to at least the middle of the second century, and there is no contradictory witness found in any of the church fathers.

Due to the fragmentary nature of documentary evidence in the ancient world, our ability to trace back authorship to within 100 years of the original writing of the first Gospel is exceptional. Surely this presents a persuasive case for Matthean authorship.  Who Wrote the Gospel of Matthew? –Bill Pratt  http://www.toughquestionsanswered.org/2010/12/27/who-wrote-the-gospel-of-matthew/

The Gospel of Matthew, according to Jerome and Eusebius, was written before the other Gospels. Matthew wrote it for the first generation of Christians, who lived in Judea and were mostly (former) Jews. He wrote it before he left for distant lands to preach the Gospel and before Peter left Jerusalem. Matthew’s Gospel was written first, before Mark, Luke, and John.

The Gospel of Matthew was written between three to six years after the Ascension of Christ, during the reign of the emperor Gaius [Caligula)

Matthew the evangelist was a tax collector (or “publican”) before his call to follow Jesus. As a tax collector, Matthew could read and write competently. Most people at that time in history were illiterate or could read and write only a little.

 Matthew was also called Levi (Mk 2:14), a Jewish name. Matthew was both a tax collector for the Romans and a Jew. For this reason, he was something of an outcast in devout Jewish society. The scribes and Pharisees treated Jewish tax collectors unkindly and would not even eat a meal with them (Mk 2:16). www.catholicplanet.com

The canonicity and Matthean authorship of this gospel were unchallenged in the early church. Eusebius (ca. a.d. 265–339) quotes Origen (ca. a.d. 185–254):

In 1994, a segment of the Greek text of Matthew’s Gospel appears to now have been dated before AD 66. Known as the Magdalen Papyrus, P64, it contains segments of Matthew 26:23, 31 on both sides of three fragments. Despite arguments to the contrary, there is rich evidence that Matthew’s Gospel was written prior to the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, and that Matthew actually took down Jesus’ words verbatim. Dating the Book of Matthew By Dr. Chuck Missler

Among the four Gospels, which are the only indisputable ones in the Church of God under heaven, I have learned by tradition that the first was written by Matthew, who was once a publican, but afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ, and it was prepared for the converts from Judaism (Ecclesiastical History, 6:25). MacArthur, John: MacArthur Study Bible NASB. Thomas Nelson Publishers; Nashville, TN, 2006; 2008, S.

We have before us the Gospel according to St. Matthew. The penman was by birth a Jew, by calling a publican, till Christ commanded his attendance, and then he left the receipt of custom, to follow him, and was one of those that accompanied him all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out, beginning from the baptism of John unto the day that he was taken up, Acts 1:21, 22. He was therefore a competent witness of what he has here recorded.  Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible

Well son of a gun, I guess Matthew wrote Matthew, who knew?

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