“Matthew compiled (or ‘arranged,’ or ‘composed’) the logia (‘oracles,’ ‘sayings’ or perhaps ‘gospel’) in the Hebrew (or, ‘Aramaic’) language (or, ‘style’?), and everyone interpreted (or, ‘translated’) them as best they could.”
The quote is ambiguous, and scholars can’t definitively say what it means, but according to Eusebius, Papias said this about Matthew:
The earliest external evidence that Matthew wrote the gospel comes from a fourth-century historian Eusebius quoting Papias, a second-century church father. Papias mentioned Matthew wrote about Jesus. Arguments in favor of Matthew as the authorġ. While tradition claims the Gospel of Matthew was written by Matthew the tax collector, there’s plenty of evidence for and against this claim. Some scholars argue that these are two separate men, but most believe Matthew was known by two names, possibly called Levi because he belonged to the tribe of Levi. It’s worth noting, however, that all four lists of the apostles include Matthew, and none of them include someone named Levi. All three synoptic gospels and the book of Acts list Matthew among the twelve disciples, but only the book of Matthew explicitly says he’s a tax collector.Īll three synoptic gospels record an account of Jesus calling a tax collector to discipleship, but interestingly, while the book of Matthew calls him Matthew, Mark and Luke both identify this man as Levi. Who wrote the Gospel of Matthew?įor more than a millennium, the church has attributed this gospel to Matthew, the tax collector turned disciple. Let’s start answering these questions by looking at the first canonical gospel, Matthew. Mark Strauss’ course, “Four Portraits, One Jesus,” which this article comes from. The closest we get to a claim of authorship is at the very end of the Book of John, where the author implies that the book was written by “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:24 NIV).Īre there other context clues we can use to determine the authors? Can we trust tradition’s assumptions about who wrote the gospels? Did the early church fathers know more about the gospels’ authorship than we know now? None of the gospels came with an “about the author” section. The gospels are anonymous-so how do we know who wrote them? Tradition considers these men the authors, but there’s one problem: not one of these books names its author. All four gospels are named after men who lived during or shortly after Christ’s early ministry. Each records a unique perspective of the most significant event in history-the crucifixion and resurrection.
The Bible gives us four accounts of Christ’s life.