The Gospel of Matthew , also known as the Gospel according to Matthew (Gk. Κατὰ Ματθαῖον εὐαγγέλιον , Kata Matthaion Euangelion or τὸ εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ματθαῖον , To Euangelion kata Matthaion ) is one of the four Canonical gospels and is the first book of the New Testament. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from his genealogy to his Great Commission.
Matthew is the canonical gospel most closely aligned with first-century Judaism, as it repeatedly stresses how Jesus fulfilled Jewish prophecies. Certain details of Jesus' life, of his infancy in particular, are only related by Matthew. Matthew is also the only Gospel to mention the Church or ecclesia . Matthew also emphasizes obedience to and preservation of biblical law. Since Matthew has rhythmical and often poetical prose, it is well suited for public reading, making it a popular liturgical choice.
The gospel was written in the later part of the first century by an anonymous Jewish Christian. Early Christian writings attribute authorship to Matthew the Apostle. The most common position among scholars today is that "canonical Matt was originally written in Greek by a noneyewitness whose name is unknown to us and who depended on sources like Mark and Q," although others disagree variously on those points. Some commentators organize the Gospel of Matthew into five passages of teachings: the Sermon on the Mount (ch 5-7), the Mission Instructions to the Twelve (ch 10), the Three Parables (ch 13), Instructions for the Community (ch 18), and the Olivet Discourse (ch 24-25). The individual passages may be groups of different messages given at different times or to different audiences.
Composition
The traditional view is that the Gospel of Matthew was composed by Matthew, a disciple of Jesus. However, 18th Century scholars increasingly questioned the traditional view of composition, and today most of modern critical scholarship hesitates to say that Matthew wrote this Gospel which bears his name, preferring instead to describe the author as an anonymous Jewish Christian, writing towards the end of the first century. They also believe that the Gospel was originally composed in Greek (see Greek primacy) rather than being a translation from an Aramaic Matthew or Hebrew.
Traditionally, see Augustinian hypothesis, Matthew was seen as the first Gospel written, that Luke then expanded on Matthew, and that Mark is the conflation of both Matthew and Luke. Modern critical scholarship today believes that Matthew used Mark's narrative of Jesus' life and death, and therefore came after Mark, plus the hypothetical Q document's record of Jesus' sayings.
Synoptic Gospels
The Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke (known as Synoptic Gospels) include many of the same episodes, often in the same sequence, and sometimes even in the same wording. The relationship of Matthew to the Gospels of Mark and Luke is an open question known as the synoptic problem.
Matthew contains around 612 verses of the 662 verses of Mark, and mostly in exactly the same order. Matthew however quite frequently removes or modifies from Mark redundant phrases or unusual words and modifies the passages in Mark that might put Jesus in a negative light (e.g. removing the highly critical comment that Jesus "was out of his mind" in Mark 3:21, removing "do you not care" from Mark 4:38 etc)
Although the author of Matthew wrote according to his own plans and aims and from his own point of view, the great amount of overlap in sentence structure and word choice indicates that Matthew copied from other Gospel writers, or they copied from each other, or they all copied from another common source. This synoptic problem increasingly caused 18th Century scholars to question the traditional view of composition.
One solution to the Synoptic problem is the Farrer hypothesis, which theorizes that Matthew borrowed material only from Mark, and that Luke wrote last, using both earlier Synoptics.
The most popular view in modern scholarship is the two-source hypothesis, which speculates that Matthew borrowed from both Mark and a hypothetical sayings collection, called Q (for the German Quelle , meaning "source"). For most scholars, the Q collection accounts for what Matthew and Luke share — sometimes in exactly the same words — but are not found in Mark. Examples of such material are the Devil's three temptations of Jesus, the Beatitudes, the Lord's Prayer and many individual sayings.
A minority of scholars continued to defend the tradition, which asserts Matthean priority, with Mark borrowing from Matthew (see: Augustinian hypothesis and Griesbach hypothesis). Then in 1911, the Pontifical Biblical Commission asserted that Matthew was the first gospel written, that it was written by the evangelist Matthew, and that it was written in Aramaic.
The Four Source Hypothesis
In The Four Gospels: A Study of Origins (1924), Burnett Hillman Streeter argued that a third source, referred to as M and also hypothetical, lies behind the material in Matthew that has no parallel in Mark or Luke. This Four Source Hypothesis posits that there were at least four sources to the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke : the Gospel of Mark , and three lost sources: Q, M, and L.
According to this view, the first Gospel is a combination of the traditions of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Rome, while the third Gospel represents Caesarea, Antioch, and Rome.
The fact that the Antiochene and Roman sources were reproduced by both Evangelists Matthew and Luke was due to the importance of the Churches. Streeter thought there is no evidence that the other sources are less authentic.
Throughout the remainder of the 20th century, there were various challenges and refinements of Streeter's hypothesis. For example, in his 1953 book The Gospel Before Mark , Pierson Parker posited an early version of Matthew (Aram. M or proto-Matthew) as the primary source.
Parker argued that it was not possible to separate Streeter's "M" material from the material in Matthew parallel to Mark.
The consensus view of the contemporary New Testament scholars is that the Gospel of Matthew was originally composed in Greek not Hebrew, and that the apostle Matthew did not write the Gospel that bears his name.
Church Fathers
Matthean authenticity has been seriously challenged by many post-modern Biblical scholars. It was also an issue for the Early Church. Jerome (c. 347-420) believed that the Gospel of the Hebrews was the true Gospel of Matthew (or Matthaei Authenticum ). Epiphanius (c.310-420) in his Panarion , in which he discusses the gospel used by the followers of Cerinthus, Merinthus and the Ebionites, writes: "They too accept Matthew's gospel and like the followers of Cerinthus and Merinthus, they use it alone. They call it the Gospel of the Hebrews , for in truth, Matthew alone of the New Covenant writers expounded and declared the gospel in Hebrew using Hebrew script."
The first reference to the Hebrew text written by the disciple Matthew comes from Papias (bishop of Hierapolis in Asia Minor fl. first half of the second century). Papias starts by discussing the origin of the Gospel of Mark , and then further remarks that "Matthew composed the logia in the Hebrew tongue and each one interpreted them as he was able". According to Ehrman this is not a reference to the canonical gospel, since the canonical Gospel of Matthew was originally written in Greek and not Hebrew. The interpretation of the above quote from Papias depends on the meaning of the term logia . The term literally means "oracles", but the intended meaning by Papias has been controversial.
Apart from Papias' comment, we do not hear about the author of the Gospel until Irenaeus around 185 who remarks that Matthew also issued a written Gospel of the Hebrews in their own language while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome and laying the foundations of the Church.
Pantaenus, Origen and other Early Church Fathers also believed Matthew wrote the Gospel of the Hebrews . Finally, not one of the Church Fathers asserted that Matthew wrote the Greek Gospel found in the Bible.
Contemporary scholarship
Modern scholars have made several suggestions as to the identity of the author: a converted rabbi or scribe, a Hellenised Jew, a Gentile convert who was deeply knowledgeable about the Jewish faith, or a member of a "school" of scribes within a Jewish-Christian community. Most scholars hold that the author was a Jewish-Christian, rather than a Gentile.
Of the four canonical gospels, Matthew is most closely aligned with first century Judaism. Matthew repeatedly stresses how Jesus fulfilled Jewish prophecies. The author arranged Jesus' teaching into five sermons: Sermon on the Mount (ch 5-7), the Mission discourse (ch 10), a collection of parables (ch 13), instructions for the community
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