MATTHEW, GOSPEL OF ST. The Church for which this book was originally written appears to have been composed for the most part of Greek-speaking Jews, who, though broken completely with orthodox Judaism, still retained the Jewish viewpoint. For these Christians as for the Pharisee the end of the religious life is the attainment of "righteousness" by obedience to the Law, though the Law which they recognize is not the Mosaic code but that code as interpreted and supplemented by the teaching of Christ, here collected for them into five great discourses (v.-vii. 28, x., xiii. 1-52, xviii., xxiv.-xxv.), the Chris tian parallel to the five books of Moses. The interpretation of the Law is no longer in the hands of the scribes and Pharisees, "hypocrites," but in those of the Christian teachers. It is the Christian community that is the true Israel, and Christ, not during His earthly life but after His Resurrection, ordained that this should include Gentile as well as Jew, the terms of admission being no longer circumcision and obedience to the Law of Moses but baptism and obedience to the teaching of Christ. One of the writer's aims is to insist on the necessity of this obedience, since the community has been troubled by the activities of anti nomian teachers (vii. 15 f., xiii. 41, xviii. 6, xxiv. II, 12).
The Gospel is meant to serve as a manual of Apologetics as well as a book of Church Law. The evidence for the Christian Creed that Jesus is the Christ is found in the Old Testament, and the author is at pains to point out the correspondence be tween the events of the Gospel history and Old Testament pre dictions (see xxi. 2, xxvi. 15, xxvii. 34). Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah of prophecy, and very soon those who have known Him only as the Son of Man (the writer seems to understand this title as properly applying to Jesus only under the conditions of His earthly life) will see Him as the Son of God coming in glory to judge the quick and the dead. The apocalyptic discourse in this gospel is more than double the length of the corresponding section in Mark; the immediacy of the Parousia is emphasized and predictions are more explicit (x. 23, xvi. 27, 28, xxiv. 29).
The gospel of St. Mark was the author's sole source of information for the main outlines of the life of Christ, and he has incorporated it almost entirely in his work. (2) About 200 verses of Matthew's non-Marcan material are also repre sented in Luke's gospel. In many instances the degree of re semblance between the two versions is so close that it is neces sary to suppose that both are drawn from the same Greek source.
The symbol Q (Quelle, source) is commonly used to designate the common source (or sources) for these non-Marcan parallels in Matthew and Luke, which consist for the most part of sayings and discourses of Christ. (3) About 400 verses are peculiar to this gospel, of which about roo represent narrative-matter. The author can only supplement Mark's account of the earthly life of Christ by the stories of the Birth and Infancy, two stories connected with St. Peter, the great teacher specially venerated by this Church (Peter walking on the water; the Temple tax), and by some details in regard to the Passion and Resurrection (the fate of Judas; the intervention of Pilate's wife; Pilate's exculpa tion of himself ; the earthquake and resurrection of the saints; the sealing of the tomb and its sequel; the appearances to the women and to the Eleven). This material appears to be very largely legendary in character; there are some indications con necting it with the Aramaic-speaking Christians of Jerusalem. The eleven Old Testament quotations peculiar to Matthew (i. 23, ii. 6, 15, 18, 23, 1V. 15, Viii. 17, Xii. 18, xiii. 35, xxi. 5, xxvii. 9) probably came from the same source, for while the evangelist himself appears to have used the Greek Old Testament and to have known no Hebrew these quotations are Christian transla tions from the Hebrew very little influenced by the LXX. version: it is moreover difficult to suppose that some of them (see ii. 15, 18) could ever have been in circulation as "proof texts" without the stories in which they are now found. Again, some of the sayings peculiar to this gospel suggest that they were ultimately derived from the Church of Jerusalem, which was so conserva tive in its attitude towards the Mosaic Law and so suspicious of Paul and the mission to the Gentiles, viz., sayings which appear to teach the eternal inviolability of the least commandment of the Law (v. 18, 19) and to restrict the Christian propaganda to the Jewish nation (vii. 6, x. 5, xv. 24). These however the evangelist accepts without misgiving and interprets in accordance with his own standpoint : in days of increasing lawlessness there is need to emphasize the sanctity of the Law, and the extension of the Gospel to the Gentiles was authorized by the Risen Christ.