SERMON 169: THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW
Germaine Charles Lockwood

Doctor Carsten Peter Thiede visited the Magdalen College Old Library in Oxford, England. He examined three papyrus fragments of The Gospel According to Matthew in a display case. Dr.Carsten Peter Thiede is a leading authority on ancient manuscripts, a papyrologist. He dated the fragments of The Gospel According to Matthew at about A.D. 60. This was reported by The Times of London, December 24, 1994. A book tittled EYEWITNESS TO JESUS, Amazing New Manuscript Evidence About the Origin of the Gospels has been written by Dr. Carsten Peter Thiede and Matthew D' Ancona. This book was published by Doubleday of New York in 1996.

Charles B. Huleatt had acquired the three papyrus fragments of the Gospel of Matthew in Luxor, Egypt in 1901, and donated them to Magdalen College in Oxford, England. These papyrus fragments prove that The Gospel According to Matthew was written before A.D. 60. This writing from about A.D. 60 is in capital Greek letters on papyrus, of Matthew chapter 26. The first writing of The Gospel According to Matthew was earlier.

Early church historian Eusebius Pamphilus quoted Papias as an authority. Of Matthew he has stated as follows: "Matthew composed his history in the Hebrew dialect, and every one translated it as he was able." (Ecclesiastical History III.xxxix.16.) Papias wrote about A.D. 98-117. He had known John the apostle. Papias was a bishop in Hierapolis, Phrygia. (Robert Yarbrough, "The Date of Papias: A Reassessment," in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 26.2(1983):181-91.) from Eta Linnemann, Is there a Synoptic Problem? p. 168. (Grand Rapids, Baker Books, 1992.) 

Clement of Alexandria was a scholar who lived about A.D. 150- 215. He stated: 

Matthew also having first proclaimed the gospel in Hebrew, when on the point of going also to other nations, committed it to writing in his native tongue, and thus supplied the want of his presence to them, by his writing. (Ecclesiastical Hisory III.xxiv.)	
	
A manuscript of The Gospel According to Matthew in Hebrew has not yet been found. Possibly one will be found. Hebrew was the language used in synagogues and schools in the first century A.D. Hebrew was the native language of the Jews. Paul spoke in Hebrew to the Jews:

Acts 22:2: And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept all the more silent. . . . Acts 22:2.

Irenaeus lived about A.D. 130-202. He was alive with people who remembered the apostles. Eusebius quoted Irenaeus (Ecclesiastical History V.viii.4):

"Matthew, indeed," says he, "produced his gospel written among the Hebrews in their own dialect, whilst Peter and Paul proclaimed the gospel and founded the church in Rome. After the departure of these, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, also transmitted to us in writing what had been preached by Peter. And Luke, the companion of Paul, committed to writing the gospel preached by him, i. e. Paul. Afterwards John the disciple of our Lord, the same that lay upon his bosom, also published the gospel whilst he was yet at Ephesus in Asia. (See also Against Heresies III.i.1.) 

 Eusebius recorded what the scholar Clement of Alexandria had said, . . . that those which contain the genealogies were written first; . . . (Ecclesiastical History VI. xiv.5.) (Titus Flavius Clement, cir. A.D. 150-215.) Clement of Alexandria was in a better position historically to know than any modern critical scholar. So then, history tells us that The Gospel According to Matthew and The Gospel According to Luke were written before The Gospel According to Mark and The Gospel According to John. 
 We read in The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, V. 3, p. 2012:

	Clement of Alexandria is reponsible for the statement that the presbyters who
	succeeded each other from the beginning declared that "the gospels 
	containing the genealogies (Mt and Lk) were written first." (Euseb., EH,VI,14).
	This is, of course fatal to the current theory of dependence on Mk, and is in
	consequence rejected.

Origin of Alexandria (A.D. 185-254) was an early Bible scholar and commentator. He wrote:
	"As I have understood from tradition, respecting the four gospels, which
	are the only undisputed ones in the whole church of God throughout the 
	world. The first is written according to Matthew, the same that was once a 
	publican, but afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ, who having published it
	for the Jewish converts, wrote it in Hebrew. (Eccleasiastical History VI.xxv.) 
We have from history that Matthew the eyewitness was the first to write a gospel and wrote it first in Hebrew, before he wrote it in Greek. The first Christians were Jews. 
 In the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 10,c. 1911, p.59:
	. . . St. Jerome uses Matthew's Hebrew text several times to solve difficulties of 
	interpretation, which proves that he had it at hand.
 H.C.Thiessen dated the writting of Matthew at about A.D. 45, and in Greek at A. D. 50. Introduction to the New Testament, p. 137. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1943).
Rex A. Turner, Sr., Systematic Theology, p. 43. (Montgomery: Southern Christian U., 1989). 
 Matthew was called Levi by Mark and Luke, --Matthew Levi the son of Alphaeus.
The name Matthew means "Gift of Yehowah." He was a tax collector when Messiah Jesus said to him, "Follow me." And he arose and followed Him. Matthew 9:9. Matthew was one of the 12 Hebrew apostles of Messiah. Matthew was an eyewitness of the deeds and teaching of Messiah Jesus. He was there when it happened. He wrote as an eyewitness. Matthew probably recorded events as they happened. On the ancient manuscripts was written: "ACCORDING TO MATTHEW." The Gospel According to Matthew was written first for Jews in Hebrew, and later in Greek for all people. Gospel means good news. As a devout Jew, Matthew knew Hebrew. As a tax collector for the Romans, he knew Aramaic and Greek. Matthew's Source, "Q", was what he saw and heard Jesus do and say. He was an eyewitness of the history that he recorded. 

 We cannot believe what modern atheistic scholars say. They were not there when Jesus lived on earth. They begin with atheistic anti-supernatural presuppositions. Then they assume literary dependance. Their theories are built in the air and called "scientific historical critical theology." They do this contrary to ancient historical testimonies, which means that they are contrary to history, unhistorical. Since they were not in Israel when Jesus lived, and “the experiment is not repeatable,” they are not scientific. A multitude of evangelical New Testament scholars reject their atheistic presuppositions, assumptions and conjectures. 

Professor Eta Linnemann has calculated that 25.87 percent of Matthew is unique. That is, about 26 percent of the historical material recorded in The Gospel According to Matthew is found nowhere else. (Is There a Synoptic Problem, pp. 75-81.) Also, 44.54% of Matthew is not recorded in parallel by Mark. Matthew was an eyewitness. He wrote the first Gospel as an eyewitness, which is historical testimony. 26% of The Gospel According to Matthew is unique historical eyewitness testimony. 74% is historical eyewitness testimony, which is confirmed and supplimented by the other three gospels: Mark, Luke and John.

Professor Hugo McCord has written: "A count of the Greek words unique to each of the three Gospels shows Matthew with 13,590; Mark with 5,734; Luke with 16,211, thus showing the independent work of the three witnesses,' not only one." He quoted from SYNOPSIS OF THE FIRST THREE GOSPELS , revised by Hans Lietzmann (Oxford: B.H. Blackwell, Ltd., 1949). 

The Gospel According to Matthew is a most important book for you to read and to know. The royal lineage of Messiah Jesus, King of Israel is given from Abraham through King David. The Old Testament Bible prophecies about Messiah are shown to have been fulfilled by Messiah Jesus. James Burton Coffman wrote: 

Matthew quotes 65 passages from the Old Testament, 43 of them being direct quotations. 	(Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, p. viii. Houston: Firm Foundation Pub., 1968.) 

New Covenant teaching was given through Messiah Jesus, which is recorded in The Gospel According to Matthew. It is the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of Messiah, the Kingdom of God. The first Christians were all Jews, thousands of them, for about 7 years. The first gospel was aimed at the needs of the Jews, The Gospel According to Matthew. (T. C. Lawson, “The Dates and Origins of the Gosopels,” The Evangelical Quarterly, July 1938, pp. 276-291.) The other gospels were written later. 

 Jesus promised His apostles in: 
John 14:26: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” John 14:26.

The apostles wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who brought to their remembrance all things that Jesus had said to them. The four Gospels give us four independent historical witnesses to the deeds of Messiah, the teaching of Messiah and about Jesus the Messiah, so that we can come to know Him, to believe in Him, and to obey Him.
	
Deuteronomy 19:15: . . . by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. Deuteronomy 19:15.

The good news is that Jesus Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

Matthew 28:18-20: Then Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “all authority has Been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20.

Archaeologist William Foxwell Albright wrote:

In the same way, the form-critical school founded by M. Dibelius and R. Bultmann a generation before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has continued to flourish without the slightest regard for the Dead Sea Scrolls. In other words, all radical schools in New Testament criticism which have existed in the past or wich exist today are pre-archaeological, and are, therefore, since they were built in der luft (“in the air”), quite antiquated today. The Teacher’s Yoke, ed. E.J. Vardaman. p.29. (Waco, Baylor Press, 1964.)

Amen!