The tradition of Papias:
Reference to Matthew in Aramaic or Hebrew. The reference is not clear as to whether it refers to language or style.
Authorship:
a. The organizational skill shown in the writing would be appropriate for a toll collector.
b. This is the only gospel to mention the temple tax.
c. In the listing of the names of the disciples, Mark and Luke use the name Levi, whereas in the Gospel of Matthew the apostolic name of Matthew is used. Such details support the early church tradition of Matthean authorship.
Date:
If Mark dates from the period AD 45 – 60 then Matthew would be written after Mark. His reference to Jesus’s predictive prophecies regarding the destruction of Jerusalem would indicate a time prior to the destruction of Jerusalem. Matthew’s use of the idea of church and similar expressions by Paul would indicate the Gospel would have been written prior to the eighties and nineties of the first century.Here is an article by Danny Zachariah for an early date pre 70 A.D.
Structure:
a. The nativity of Jesus.
b. Then it picks up a narrative similar to Mark but inserts 5 discourses of Jesus. (Each discourse ends with the words “and it came to pass when Jesus had finished”.) This fivefold structure also suggests it is for the benefit of a Jewish reader. Five being the number of the Torah and Matthew clearly indicates that Jesus is a new and greater Moses.
c. Matthew’s penchant for the organization is seen in his use of grouping sections in numbers of three and seven.
Purpose:
a. Matthew emphasizes the ethical content of Jesus’s teaching to strengthen Jewish Christians and how Jesus is the true fulfillment of God’s prophesied Messiah.
– b. To announce that the Kingdom of God is at hand, to demonstrate the love of God to His people, that the promise of the Father to redeem mankind has come, and to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ to the world.
Universality:
The use of Gentile characters (e.g. the Magi) through to the Great Commission.
Location:
An early witness to the existence of the Gospel of Matthew is the first Bishop of Antioch, Ignatius.
