The Authorship of the Gospel According to St. Matthew

Did Matthew, the Apostle of Jesus Christ our Lord write the Gospel according to St. Matthew? Resounding YES! However, most Christians today only think so because of the bold title in the first page of their New Testament Bible. If you were to read the Gospels, any one of the four, you may have a hard time identifying the authorship simply from the writings within the Gospels because there isn’t any verse that clearly specifies it. In fact, some of your Bible versions may have an introductory page that states, “All four Gospels are anonymous, but the early church fathers were unanimous in holding that Matthew was the author of this Gospel”. Therefore, I would like to share some of the early church father writings that lead us to the conclusion on the authorship of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, and more importantly to strengthen your faith that the word of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is indeed preserved through the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Authorship of Matthew through the Church Fathers

The first 2 quotations are from Clement of Alexandria.

And in the Gospel according to Matthew, the genealogy which begins with Abraham is continued down to Mary the mother of the Lord. “For,” it is said, “from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon till Christ are likewise other fourteen generations,”

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata Book 1, Chapter 21

In the same way spiritual poverty is blessed. Wherefore also Matthew added, “Blessed are the poor.” How? “In spirit.” And again, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after the righteousness of God.”

Clement of Alexandria, Who is the Rich Man that Shall Be Saved?

Now let’s look at a quotation from Irenaeus.

Then again Matthew, when speaking of the angel, says, “The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in sleep.”

Irenaeus, Against Heresies Book 3, Chapter 9

Take note that in these 3 quotations, we find early church fathers attributing the quoted verses to the Gospel according to Matthew; also, not forgetting that church fathers quoted Matthew far more than any other book. The church fathers were very well informed of the authorship of these verses and had no issue attributing them to Matthew. There are more writings such as these we can look at but now let’s also focus on the writings that teaches us the sequence by which the Gospels were written.

which gospel was first written?

There are several theories today that are propagated by fellow modern scholars in regard to the sequence of the Gospel books. However, the 2 most widely held view are the Matthean priority and the Markan priority. Matthean priority simply means that Matthew wrote his Gospel first before Mark and Luke and they may have possibly used Matthew as a source for their Gospel. Whereas Markan priority is simply a case for Mark being the first Gospel and being used as a source for the other Gospels. Before I share my stand on this issue and the reasons behind it, I would just like to share 3 quotations from the Church Fathers that seem to clearly indicate the sequence of the Gospels.

Let’s start with St. Irenaeus in his book, Against Heresies.

Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of Paul, recorded in a book the Gospel preached by him. Afterwards, John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies Book 3, Chapter 1

Interestingly Irenaeus writes that Matthew issued a written Gospel in the dialect of the Hebrew people rather than in Greek; which in itself raises questions, but we will come back to it later. Also take note that he wrote the Gospel while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, it is only after that Mark writes his Gospel, then Luke, and finally John.

Next, let’s look at a fragment from Papias.

…but with regard to Matthew he has made the following statements]: Matthew put together the oracles [of the Lord] in the Hebrew language, and each one interpreted them as best he could.

Introductory Note to the Fragments of Papias, a.d. 70-155

Writings of Papias states that Matthew wrote down the teachings of Jesus our Lord in the Hebrew language, and then others used the material by interpreting them to the best of their abilities. As I mentioned earlier, this raises some questions, such as (1) if Papias was ever referring to the same Gospel according to St. Matthew that we have today? (2) if this was indeed referring to the same Gospel, where are the Hebrew manuscripts (since the oldest manuscripts are in Greek)? and (3) how then can we ever be sure that Matthew was indeed the one who wrote the first Gospel of the New Testament?

Though these are valid questions, we may be disregarding the context surrounding these documents and our tendency to study them through a modern lens. Documents such as these from Papias are in fragments and often found through quotations by early church fathers such as Eusebius. This does not mean that we ought to not take Papias seriously, rather we got to understand that these were times that oral traditions were an important part of transmitting knowledge (and still is today). In fact, we also know that Papias in one of his fragments said, “For I imagined that what was to be got from books was not so profitable to me as what came from the living and abiding voice”; which simply goes to support the notion that oral tradition was a crucial medium for passing on knowledge. Therefore, based on writings from Eusebius, Irenaeus and Papias, we can be sure that Matthew was the author and that he wrote the Gospel first in Hebrew was simply common knowledge in the early church tradition.

Though we may not know what happened to the Hebrew manuscripts, there may be plausible scenarios that explains this; (1) Matthew or someone else may have translated the Hebrew copy into Greek before sending it to other churches which then became the primary source or (2) the Hebrew version was only present within the Hebrew community whereas the Greek copy reached out further to all the nations and thus became the more common work among churches. These are just some of many possible scenarios, so do take them with a grain of salt; till we find more evidence or manuscripts to support them.

Finally, let’s looks at the words of Eusebius.

But in the first of his [Commentaries] on the Gospel According to Matthew, defending the canon of the Church, he gives his testimony that he knows only four Gospels, writing somewhat as follows: “. . . as having learnt by tradition concerning the four Gospels, which alone are unquestionable in the Church of God under heaven, that first was written that according to Matthew, who was once a tax-collector but afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ, who published it for those who from Judaism came to believe, composed as it was in the Hebrew language. Secondly, that according to Mark, who wrote it in accordance with Peter’s instructions, whom also Peter acknowledged as his son in the catholic epistle. . . . And thirdly, that according to Luke, who wrote, for those who from the Gentiles [came to believe], the Gospel that was the praise of Paul. After them all, that according to John.

Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book 6 Chapter 25, 3-6

It is evidently clear that the early church fathers always regarded that (1) Matthew is the author (2) The Gospel according to St. Matthew was written first among the four Gospels (3) Matthew composed the Gospel in Hebrew language and (4) the knowledge regarding the Gospel manuscripts were part of the church tradition.

Matthean or Markan Priority?

It must be clear by now that if we were to take the church traditions through the early church fathers’ writings seriously, the only conclusion is that Matthew was written first among the four canonical Gospels. Nevertheless, the idea of Matthean or Markan priority stems on the assumption that the Gospels were interdependent on one another. Instead, what we see through the early church father writings is that Matthew wrote the first Gospel, Mark wrote the second according to Peter, Luke wrote the third based on Paul and John wrote the final Gospel. Also, does it even make sense that Matthew a disciple and eyewitness of our Lord Jesus Christ depended on Mark’s material? There are many more issues regarding modern scholar views on the Bible but I will save that for next time.

Final verdict

In conclusion, based on the knowledge through the early church father writings, we can affirm that Matthew did indeed write the Gospel according to St. Matthew. There was really no doubt through the history of the church, it is only our modern skeptical mindset that resulted in this non-orthodox view of scripture among many other things. There are other good arguments to support the authorship of the Gospels as well, for a start do check out the ascription or titles in the Gospel manuscripts. Hope this was helpful, more articles to come on the Gospel of Matthew.

Till then,

May the Grace of Jesus Christ our Lord be with you. Amen.

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