"THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW"

Its Author. — St. Matthew's Gospel. has been described by one who can scarcely be accused of partiality (M. Renan) as "the most important book of Christendom — the most important book that has ever been written." Its importance is derived, not from the genius of the writer, but from the grandeur of the subject. According to the unanimoxis tradition of the ancient Church, as preserved in the title which this Gospel. has borne ever since the second century and confirmed by the testimony of the early Church Fathers beginning with Papias in the first half of the second century, the writer of the book was Matthew, one of the twelve apostles. But for his authorship of this book, Matthew would have been one of the least-known of the apostles, as neither Scripture nor tradition gives us much information regarding him. Not a single word or act of his after he became a disciple of our Lord is recorded in the Gospels; and in the Book of Acts his name is never mentioned after the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. He is evidently to be identified with Levi the publican (Mark ii. 14, 15; Luke v. 27-29; cf. Matt. ix. 9, 10), although it is only in his own Gospel. (x. 3) that the despised term "publican" is associated with his apostolic name of Matthew ("the gift of God"), which was probably given to him when he was called to the apostleship, as Simon's name was changed to Peter. He seems to have been a man of worldly means and of a generous disposition, judging from the fact that on the occasion of his apostolic call, when "he forsook all, and rose up and followed" Jesus, he made "a great feast" to which he invited a number of his old associates. It is noteworthy that he leaves it to the other evangelists to mention him as the giver of this feast and to record his sacrifice of property in following Christ; while we have a further token of his modesty in the fact that he puts the name of Thomas before his own in the list of apostles, reversing the order followed in the other Gospels. Traces of the writer's profession as a tax-gatherer have been found in his use of the term "tribute money" (xxii. 19), where the other evangelists employ the more common word "penny" (Mark xii. 15; Luke xx. 24); and in his repeated use of the word " publicans " (v. 46, 47), where Luke employs the word "sinners" (Luke vi. 32, 33). But perhaps the latter instance is an indication rather of his nationality.

According to an ancient tradition derived from Papias, Matthew wrote his Gospel. in Hebrew, — to which Irenaeus adds that he published it among the Jews " while Peter and Paul. were preaching in Rome and founding the Church there." Eusebius in the beginning of the fourth century tells us that Matthew wrote it when he was about to leave the Jews and preach also to other nations, in order to " fill. up the void about to be made in his absence." If this tradition be correct, the Hebrew original. must have been very soon superseded by the Greek Gospel. which we now possess. This was only to be expected, considering the growing disuse of Hebrew, and the gradual. lapse of the Jewish Christians into a heresy which alienated them from the rest of the Church.¹ Whether the Gospel. was written over again by Matthew in Greek, or translated, perhaps under his supervision, by some other writer, is a question which we cannot well. answer The former supposition seems the more probable, as there are some things in the Gospel. in its Greek form which we should not expect to find in a translation. That Matthew may have written the Gospel. in both languages is in itself not unlikely, as we know that Josephus wrote his history both in Hebrew and in Greek — these two languages being both current in Palestine at that time, as English and Gaelic are now in the Highlands of Scotland.

Its Date. — From evidence afforded by a study of the book itself (taken in connection with the tradition above mentioned) e.g. from the use of the expressions "holy city," " the holy place," "the city of the great King" (iv. 5; V. 35; xxiv. 15; xxvii. 53), and from the nature of the language used by our Saviour in his predictions of the city's coming doom — in particular from the caution given by the writer in xxiv. 15 ("whoso readeth, let him understand "), which would have had no force or meaning after the predicted calamity had occurred, it has been reasonably inferred that the Gospel. in its present form probably appeared before 66 A.D., when the war which was to issue in the destruction of the Jewish capital. was on the eve of breaking out

Its Character and Contents. — The leading characteristic of St. Matthew's Gospel, as might be expected in a work intended for the Hebrews, consists in the representation of Jesus as the Messiah, in whom was fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. In this respect it is fitly placed immediately after the Old Testament, as the uniting link between the old and the new covenants.

The first verse strikes the keynote, "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham " — son of David as the heir of the promised kingdom, son of Abraham as the child of promise in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed. The whole book may be regarded as depicting the gradual. realisation of these claims in a spiritual. sense; the culminating point being reached in the glorious declaration by the risen Lord, " All. authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore and make disciples of all. the nations... and lo, I am with you alway even unto the end of the world " (Matt. xxviii. 18-20). In the course of the Gospel. there are no less than sixty- citations of Old Testament prophecy as fulfilled in Jesus. Equally significant is the frequency of the expression "kingdom of heaven" (literally "kingdom of the heavens," reflecting the Hebrew idiom), which occurs thirty-two times, and the designation " son of David," which occurs seven times as applied to Jesus. The whole plan of the book is in harmony with its Messianic character. First we have the nativity of Him who was " born King of the Jews " and was at the same time to "save his people from their sins" (chaps, i., ii.), — with the strange mingling of light and shadow, of glory and suffering, which was to be typical. of the whole life. Then comes the Prelude to the Ministry (iii.-iv. 11), when the approach of the kingdom of heaven is announced by the predicted Forerunner; and the Baptism of Jesus, as the fulfilment of all. righteousness and the consecration to His public ministry, becomes the signal. for a manifestation of the divine favour in the voice from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well. pleased," — followed by the Temptation, in which the decisive choice is made between the "kingdoms of this world" and the unseen kingdom of the Spirit. The way is thus cleared for successive representations of the Saviour as Lawgiver, Prophet, and King. In the Sermon on the Mount (v.-vii.), He proclaims the Law as from a second Sinai with new meaning and power, — a little later He charges the twelve apostles whom He commissions to preach the Gospel. in His name (x.), — at another time He delivers the long series of parables in which the origin, progress, and final. destiny of the kingdom are shown forth (xiii.), — anon He lays down the principles that are to guide the members of the Church in their relations to one another, especially to their erring brethren (xviii.) Then as the conflict with hatred and unbelief grows ever fiercer, there break forth His prophetic denunciations against the Jewish priests and rulers, while He becomes more and more outspoken in the assertion of His Messianic claims (xxiii.-xxv.); till. at last there comes the awful. tragedy upon the Cross, giving place in turn to the triumph of the Resurrection (xxvi.-xxviii.) Interspersed throughout the whole are mighty works and gracious words, spoken and wrought for the suffering and the sinful, which bespeak Him as the Sent of God.

There is a wonderful. symmetry in the whole narrative, and many subtle contrasts. In xvi. 21, "From that time began Jesus to shew unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer... and be killed," there is a striking contrast to iv. 17, "From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say. Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand " — the one marking the commencement of His Passion, as the other of His active Ministry. There is a correspondence also between the voice from heaven at His Baptism (iii. 17), and that heard at His Transfiguration (xvii. 5), when His ministry reached its climax and was sealed by the divine testimony in the presence of the two greatest prophets of the old covenant, Moses and Elias, as it had just before been attested by the great confession of Peter (xvi. 16). That confession was a token that the ministry of power and love had done its work upon the hearts of the disciples, and it is fitly followed by the announcement of His appointed sufferings, the disciples being now ready to follow their Master through the valley of His humiliation, which was to conduct them at last from the blackness and darkness of death to the glories of divine life and immortality.

A distinguishing feature of this Gospel is the large place assigned in it to the words of Jesus, arranged in a systematic form, not broken up into fragments as they, are in the other Gospels. For this reason Godet compares Luke to " a botanist who prefers to contemplate a flower in the very place of its birth and in the midst of its natural. surroundings, while Matthew is like the gardener who for some special. object puts together large and magnificent bouquets."

1) The Ebionite heresy, so named from a Hebrew word meaning poor, the early Jewish Christians being noted for their poverty. Their heresy consisted for the most part in holding the continued obligation of the Jewish Law, and denying the Divinity of the Saviour while admitting His Messiahship.