Who Wrote the Gospel of Matthew?

Who wrote the Gospel of Matthew?

The Gospel of Matthew is anonymous: there is no internal, direct evidence for authorship. Sometime early in the second-century the Gospel of Matthew was designated as such. (This at least offers prima facie evidence that the apostle Matthew wrote this work.) As far as internal, indirect evidence is concerned, three data should be noted. It suggests that he was a Jew, because a gentile would tend not to be interested in such teaching tradition. It suggests that the author was a Jew, since a Jew would be concerned to understand Jesus as such. It is possible that this was an attempt at self-depreciating sort of self-identification on the part of the author.

For whom was the Gospel of Matthew written?

From the data covered when considering the question of the authorship of the Gospel of Matthew, who do you think the intended readers were?

Internal, indirect evidence for the intended readership of the Gospel of Matthew is the concern of the author to present the fulfillment nature of Jesus' ministry. This implies that the intended readers were Jews. In addition, much of the teaching material unique to the Gospel of Matthew is only fully understandable by and of interest to a Jewish readership:

That the author wrote for a Jewish readership is confirmed, if the external, direct evidence that Matthew wrote a gospel in Hebrew/Aramaic for Jews is correct and if this original text has some connection to the canonical Gospel of Matthew, written in Greek.

When was the Gospel of Matthew written?

There is no internal, direct evidence for the date of the composition of the Gospel of Matthew. There is, however, a piece of internal, indirect evidence to consider. The Gospel of Matthew transmits several sayings of Jesus that concern the role of the Temple in the life of the Jewish people (Matt 5:23-24; 12:5-7; 17:24-27; 23:16-22). On the assumption that the author would not include sayings of Jesus that were not longer relevant to his readers, it might be argued that the Gospel of Matthew was written before the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Do you find this convincing?

Where was the Gospel of Matthew written?

Based on what you know so far, what do you conclude about the place of the composition of the gospel of Matthew?

The Gospel of Matthew was probably written in or near Palestine, where there were many Jewish believers.

Why was the Gospel of Matthew written?

There is no internal, direct evidence concerning the purpose of the Gospel of Matthew. Neither is there any external, direct evidence. Thus, one must attempt to infer the author's purpose indirectly from the contents of the gospel. What do you conclude about the purpose of the Gospel of Matthew from its contents?

It is safe to say that the author of the Gospel of Matthew aimed to bring together material in order to write a more comprehensive gospel than that of the Gospel of Mark. His emphasis on the fact that Jesus' ministry fulfilled scripture and his inclusion of units of Jesus’ teaching that was only fully understandable by and of interest to Jews seems to indicate that he intended to write a gospel for a Jewish readership, rather than a gentile one.

MARK

Who wrote the Gospel of Mark?

The Gospel of Mark is anonymous; there is no internal, direct evidence for its authorship. Only sometime during the second century was the title “According to Mark” or “The Gospel According to Mark” affixed to the work, in order to distinguish it from the other gospels, which in itself counts as external evidence that Mark wrote it. There is, however, internal, indirect evidence to consider. This evidence consists of certain characteristics of the gospel from which one can infer something about the identity of its author.

For whom was the Gospel of Mark written?

There is no internal, direct evidence for the intended readership. There is, however, some internal, indirect evidence: It suggests that the intended readers were not Aramaic-speaking, It suggests that the intended readers were not Jews.

When was the Gospel of Mark written?

The date of the gospel is difficult to determine with precision. There is no internal, direct evidence nor any internal, indirect evidence, although traditionally scholars have tried to date it after the destruction of Jerusalem based on Mark 13: it is assumed that the reference to "the abomination that causes desolation" in Mark 13:14 is an allusion to Titus's