Will the real Author of Matthew's Gospel step forward

Will the real Author of Matthew’s Gospel step forward

A statement that will no doubt create controversy and open a can of worms to the reading public.  Almost everyone who reads the bible believes that a work according to so and so is gospel truth and there cannot be any divergence from that.  

Take the Gospel of John where most scholars believe that this work was written in segments with some parts composed by John himself and others by his followers.  Some areas have the Greek style while others are in the style or language of John.  There are some that believe chapter 21 was added at a later date therefore making a statement that John was not the author of all of the gospel.  

This brings us to the question regarding Matthew, the tax collector, as being the author of this gospel.  If you take both Matthew and Luke you will find the two have similar teachings that are almost identical to Mark’s Gospel and since neither knew each other it proves these similarities had to come from a common source.  Now we know that the author of Mark was a companion of Paul who also did not know Jesus directly, but fell on the way to Damascus by an encounter with the Risen Lord himself.  Mark also accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey.  He also was called the interpreter of Peter where much of his gospel information arose from.  Mark’s Gospel was written approximately shortly before 70 AD in Rome.

Back to Matthew’s Gospel and the author of this work.  Both he and Luke have areas that are exclusive to each but not similar to each other.  The Gospel of Luke was written around 80 - 90 AD after the destruction of Jerusalem.  He was also a close companion of Paul wherein much of his information could have originated from.  Mathew’s Gospel was written around 80 - 90 AD or a little later.  However his two sources of information came from Mark’s Gospel, and a letter Q which was a German word for source.  Again since Mark’s Gospel was written at least 10 years earlier and probably was widespread and he like Luke was able to discern much about Jesus and the writings from notes attributed to Matthew the tax collector made up his glossary of information.

More about Matthew that creates suspicion as to who the author was.  If the tax collector was the author he would have used the first person tense when speaking about the call of Matthew from his post.  Instead the writer refers to Matthew in the second person tense.  Also, If the writer was an eyewitness he would not have needed Mark’s narrative when describing the many signs Jesus performed.  From the Gospel of Matthew we read;  “As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.  He said to him, follow me.  And he got up and followed him.”  (Mt. 9: 9). 

As it is, both Matthew and Luke (authors) copied much from Mark and can be seen in books such as Gospel Parallels.  Here are some of the scripture readings Matthew and Luke copied from Mark.  The healing of the Paralytic:  Mark 2: 1-12;  Matthew 9: 1-8; Luke 5: 17-26.

The call of Levi:  Mark 2: 13-17; Matthew 9: 9-13; Luke 5: 27-32.  From Mark, we read “He went out again beside the sea; and all the crowd gathered about him, and he taught them.  And as he passed on, he saw Levi the son of Alpheus sitting at the tax office, and he said to him (2nd person tense) Follow me.  '' And he rose and followed him.”

One definition needed here is the word Alpheus which from the Greek form of a Hebrew name meant “Changing” and not to be confused as the father of both James and Levi.  

There are many sections where there are similarities between Matthew and Luke without any connection to Mark.  These came from another source perhaps Peter or Paul as information handed down from those who knew Peter.  Then we find narratives from Matthew and Luke with no similarity at all.  For instance, Luke only wrote his special section 9: 51-56 through 18: 1-8.  Matthew on the other hand wrote beginning with the Sermon on the mount 5: 1-2 through 7: 28-29.  

Here there was no copying from anyone else but their own special narratives.  

It may not appear to be a critical issue but when examining writers and from where or how they composed their narratives it makes sense to get a feel for who they were and to whom their writings were written to.  

As you and I write the depth of our narratives have some indication as to who or why we pen the words of our past, or for current indications of current happenings.

Ralph B. Hathawa