Bible Commentaries
Matthew

In the first century, the Gospel of Matthew was considered to be the first and oldest of the gospel accounts. In fact, the Bible specialists, Barker and Kohlenberger, state, "During the first three centuries of the church, Matthew was the most highly revered and frequently quoted canonical gospel…" ^(F1) Matthew enjoyed the distinction of having the greatest quantity of the Master's teaching. The book also had the greatest number of links with the Old Testament and with Judaism.^(F2)It was felt by many early Christians that Matthew was not only written by the disciple of that name, but that it was originally written in Hebrew.^(F3) In those early days Matthew was always listed first among the gospels.

So Matthew, the disciple of Jesus and tax collector, was always considered to be the author. Scholars have felt that his business knowledge of shorthand may have enabled him to record many of the discourses of Jesus.^(F4) The great Scottish commentator, William Barclay, says of him, "Matthew rose up and followed him and left everything behind him except one thing – his pen…" ^(F5)

Concerning the dating of Matthew, this has been much disputed in modern times. This dispute involves what is called the Synoptic Problem. The word "synoptic" is a Greek word which means "to see together." The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels because they closely parallel each other. Modern scholars now propose that Mark was first written since both Matthew and Luke draw heavily from Mark. The Anglican cleric and scholar, R. T. France says, "Roughly 45 percent of Matthews's Gospel consists of material found in similar (sometimes verbally identical) form in Mark, and in roughly the same order; a further 20 percent or so is similarly shared with Luke…" ^(F6)This is a problem so complex and so tangled that it is not likely to be solved even in our century.

The original Hebrew document of Matthew may have been written early, and Matthew himself may have put the document into Greek at some point. After all, Matthew in his profession had to be skilled in Greek and he also lived very near the Decapolis, a Greek-speaking area of the Galilee. While we cannot date the early Hebrew edition, many scholars are agreed that the Greek issue of Matthew occurred somewhere in the AD 60s.^(F7)

Scholars feel that Matthew was not only written by a Jew (Jewish Christian) but that it was written in an area where there were many Jews living. The general opinion today is that Matthew was written somewhere in Syria and most likely at Antioch. After all, Ignatius Bishop of Antioch, writing about 110-115, was the first to quote from the book.^(F8)Apparently the Greek Matthew was not sent out to some particular church but was happily used by the many Greek speakers of the area.

The Book of Matthew is arranged for teaching and memorization. Asbury professor, Craig Keener, sees the book arranged not chronologically but according to topic. These sections are, "the ethics of the kingdom in chapters 5-7, the mission of the kingdom in chapter 10, the presence of the kingdom in chapter 13, church discipline and forgiveness in chapter 18 and the future of the kingdom in chapters 23-25." ^(F9)Barclay says, "…Broadly speaking, to Mark we owe our knowledge of the events of Jesus' life; to Matthew we owe our knowledge of the substance of Jesus' teaching." ^(F10)

Matthew may be of utmost importance for Christians today. In fact, it is the only gospel that mentions the church (16:18; 18:17). It also places great emphasis upon the kingdom of God and things to come. We greatly need these teachings in our generation.