The First Gospel?

Question

Fact:
The first Gospel listed in Christian Bibles, Matthew, was written anonymously. The title "Matthew" was added by the Church long after the Gospel was written.

My question is...why did they name it Matthew and not Bob?

Answer 1

As you doubtless know (and most Bible believers doubtless do not know, having never encountered the phony letters and gospels that are classed as psuedipigrapha), it was common practice in the region to author writings and append the names of famous men to them to help popularize them, like the Apocryphal book, still in the Catholic Bible, "The Wisdom of Solomon" that was written by a Jew in Alexandria in the second century BC.

The majority of believers have no idea how the canon of scripture was determined or by whom, and are not aware that these books in their original form did not have the names of the authors attached, and that the authorship that has been associated with them is in serious doubt. For example, although traditionalists claim Paul wrote Hebrews, the language , content and style are all wrong. Apollos, Barnabas, Silas, Philip, or Aquila and Priscilla have been proposed as authors. I think it fits the style of the Alexandrian school well enough to vote for Apollos or some other Alexandrian Jew as the author. Of course Christians just say they are all the word of God without any reason for doing so other than tradition. Paul certainly calls the Old Testament books inspired, but He never read a gospel or any of the rest of the New Testament, so his pronouncement doesn't cover books called "scripture" by politically driven church councils convened 300 years after Paul had died.

Answer 2

Fact:

You've chosen to believe modern biblical "scholarship" which treats the Bible just like a cheap romance novel, and attempts to re-write history in the image of modern critics.

They have nothing but their own biased opinions to support their claims, while the church has always known, first hand, that St. Matthew was indeed, the writer of the holy book that was attributed to him.

The church actually experienced all the people and events in Matthew's Gospel, along with Matthew himself. The church didn't just read about it, 2000 years later.

It is the Catholic Church that accepted Matthew's sacred and God-inspired work, and made wide use of it, from shortly after the time of Christ.

That same church still confirms its' complete authenticity today.

Answer 3

The gospel of Matthew was attributed to matthew at its writing and it's reproduction to other church's. Irenaeus a church leader accepted it's authorship as Matthew and reconized it as a book of authority in the 160s AD

Answer 4

The authorship was not added "long after" it was written -- but shortly after. It's like any "accepted" accounting of history -- we have to take somebody's word for what happened, or who did something. So the question is, is there sufficient and reliable evidence in place from history for us to reasonably believe that the gospel was written by Matthew? I believe there is.

Answer 5

By TRADITION Matthew wrote the gospel. The first gospel was the book of Mark. Some of Pauls writings actually predate the gospels themselves!

Answer 6

The book of Matthew was written by Matthew the apostle. Your post is incorrect.

Answer 7

Matthew bought up the copyright.