Where do we get the name “Matthew” from?

• Reminder that the original gospels were anonymous. 
• The earliest attribution of a gospel written by Matthew is Papias (c. 120–140 CE), quoted by Eusebius (c. 311–324 CE).
  • “Matthew compiled the sayings (logia) of Jesus in the Hebrew dialect, and everyone interpreted them as he was able.”
    • Not certain whether he is referring to Aramaic or Hebrew
  • This tradition was never challenged. 
• Eventually, our current Gospel gets associated with Matthew, one of the twelve (cf. Irenaeus [c. 180 CE]; Origen [3rd century]).
  • Likely relied on Papias. 
  • Remember the importance of connecting a gospel with an apostle.
  • Popularity of the name Matthew, though Papias does not specify what Matthew. 

Are we talking about Matthew or Levi the tax collector?

• There is some confusion as to the identity of Matthew the tax collector, which, as we will discuss momentarily, has been evidence to some of Matthean authorship. 
• In Mark 2:13–17, Jesus calls a tax collector named “Levi” to follow him. There is a parallel account in Matthew 9:9–13, which relies on Mark’s account. In Matthew’s account though, the tax collector is named “Matthew.”
• In Mark 3:13–19, Jesus appoints the twelve, with one named “Matthew.” In Matthew 10:1–4 we get a parallel account, with one of the twelve called “Matthew the tax collector.” By identifying Matthew as “the tax collector,” the gospel is indicating that this is the same Matthew Jesus called in the previous chapter. 
• This discrepancy has been solved by some by saying that Matthew had both names, though the texts of the Synoptic Gospels don’t give us any reason to assume such.
  • Luke’s Gospel follows Mark’s

Do scholars believe Matthew the apostle wrote the Gospel? 

• No, the scholarly consensus is that Matthew the apostle did not write the Gospel. There are a few reasons for this. 
• Matthew copies sections of Mark word for word (we’ll talk more about this in a future episode), a strange thing to do if you were an eyewitness to the events.
  • This even includes his own conversion! 
  • 90% of Mark’s Gospel is used in Matthew
  • Eyewitness testimony was invaluable to people in the ancient world. So, ancient historians who were eyewitnesses always made this fact known. It is odd that nowhere in the Gospel of Matthew does the author state that he is an eyewitness. 
• The Gospel was written in Greek, not Aramaic.
  • There is no internal evidence to suggest that it was translated from Aramaic to Greek.
    • Polished Greek 
    • No awkward phrasing
      • “On the first day of the week”
    • When quoting from the OT, he follows the Septuagint. 
    • The syntax, wordplay, and literary conventions are Greek, most would not work in Aramaic. 
  • This, at minimum, means that it could not be the gospel Papias was speaking about. 
• Papias says that Matthew wrote the “logia” of Jesus, which refers to sayings rather than narrative stories, much like the Gospel of Thomas. This would be an odd word to use for a gospel that looks like Matthew’s. 

What are some arguments in favor of Matthean authorship?

• The degree of specificity used to refer to Roman and Judean coinage. 
• The reference to Matthew the “tax collector” in Matthew 10:3 rather than merely “Matthew” as in Mark 3:18. 
• Why would someone choose Matthew? He was a relatively unimportant apostle. 
• Matthew uses Mark, which was well known among churches, rather than reinventing that part of the wheel. His primary aim was not historiography but spiritual formation of church communities. 
• Another way around these problems is to suggest that Matthew did write down a list of Jesus’s sayings in Aramaic. These sayings were possessed by the communities he was involved with, led, and/or taught. Eventually, a disciple of Matthew took this list of sayings, the Gospel of Mark, and other sources such as Q and composed the Greek Gospel we have today that is more complete than any of these sources on their own.
  • Could this explain why the majority of unique Matthean material is located in the five major discourses? 

What do we know from internal evidence about the author of Matthew? 

• Educated
• Likely a Jewish Christian
  • Heavily uses the OT
  • Uses Jewish literary techniques, such as the three sets of 14 generations in Jesus’s genealogy. 
  • Knowledge about Jewish customs and laws.
    • Jesus 5 teaching sections reflecting the 5 books of Torah (or Law of Moses). 
• Likely a second generation Christian (not an eyewitness)
  • Use of Mark and Q. 

Who do you believe wrote the Gospel of Matthew?

• I don’t think we can know for sure who wrote the Gospel. However, I do believe that the internal evidence suggests a second generation Jewish Christian.

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