The thoughts and note material given on these pages are only a possible suggestion of the meaning, they must not be taken as inspired, however they are prayerfully prepared and compared with other similar material. There are many ways in which God’s Word can be analyzed and none must be taken in place of the Word of God itself.

The Gospel of St. Matthew

WRITER. Historical text in the early church has The St. Matthew’s Gospel as written by Matthew or as called Levi by Mark and Luke.
The Bible does not give as much information about Matthew, he was a disciple and originally was a tax collector, a position hated by the Jews as he was working for the invaders, the Romans. However, this position gave him excellent qualifications for writing the Gospel, he probably had the ability to keep good records. In addition, the book often mentions money, e.g. Matt 18:24.

Date: There are numerous references to The Gospel in early church writings which suggest it was in widespread use. Because there is no reference to the actual destruction of Jerusalem, only prophetic passages, Matt 24:1ff, it must therefore have been written before 70 A.D. though there is some argument by Bible students pointing out the parable, Matt 22:7 may have been referring to Jerusalem.
There is also some possible references to church order, Matt 16:19; Matt 18:17ff, which does suggest a later date, after 70 A.D.
Tradition has it that it was written by Matthew in Hebrew (Aramaic) though some challenge this as it appears to use some material from St. Marks Gospel, whose author was not a disciple. However, many think that Mark’s Gospel was dictated by Peter and it would therefore have great authority for use by other Gospel writers.

Reason: Matthew was written for the Jewish converts, to prove that Jesus was the looked for Messiah. This helped the Jew’s accept that faith in Jesus was not against their Old Testament teachings.