The first book of the New Testament in the traditional canon, the Gospel of Matthew presents itself as a messianic narrative addressed to Jewish-Christian communities. It unfolds a christology of fulfilment (πληρόω, plēroō), arranges the teaching of Jesus into five great discourses, and entrusts to the Church (ἐκκλησία, ekklēsia) a universal mission sealed by trinitarian baptism. Its influence on the liturgy, canon law, and Christian spirituality surpasses that of any other gospel.
Overview
Author
Matthew (Levi), a tax collector who became an apostle according to Mt 9:9. Patristic tradition (Papias, c. 110-130) presents him as the author of a collection of logia in Hebrew or Aramaic, a possible source behind the Greek gospel.
Date of composition
AD 70-90. The reference to the destruction of Jerusalem (Mt 22:7) and the ecclesiological maturity suggest a composition after 70.
Addressees
Jewish-Christian communities in Syria or Galilee, confronted with the separation from synagogal Judaism after 70 and with the integration of converted Gentiles.
Place of composition
Antioch in Syria according to the majority hypothesis (Ignatius of Antioch cites Matthew as early as 110), or Galilee according to a minority.
Occasion / context
To provide mixed communities with a systematic presentation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, new Moses, founder of the Church, and eschatological judge.
Original language
Koine Greek, with numerous Semitisms and Old Testament quotations following varied formulas (MT, LXX, targumic).
Place in the canon
Universally received from the 2nd century. Placed at the head of the canon in all the ancient lists (Muratorian, Origen, Eusebius). The first gospel cited by Ignatius of Antioch, the Didache, and Justin Martyr.
Authenticity and authorship criticism
The attribution to the apostle Matthew is attested by Papias of Hierapolis (c. 110-130), cited by Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History, III, 39, 16): "Matthew compiled the logia [of the Lord] in the Hebrew language, and each one translated them as best he could." This testimony raises three critical problems.
First problem: the language. The Greek gospel of Matthew bears no trace of a translation from Hebrew or Aramaic. Its language is a literary Koine Greek, at times more polished than that of Mark. The Semitisms present are explained by the sources (LXX, Jewish-Christian oral traditions) rather than by a translation. Several hypotheses have been advanced: (1) Papias refers to a lost Aramaic proto-Matthew, distinct from the canonical Matthew; (2) Papias confuses the logia with the source Q; (3) Papias attests a legendary tradition aimed at conferring apostolic authority on the first gospel.
Second problem: dependence on Mark. The two-source theory, dominant since the 19th century, holds that Matthew uses Mark as his principal narrative source (about 600 of Mark's 661 verses recur in Matthew). Yet it would be surprising for an eyewitness apostle to depend on a non-apostle (Mark, companion of Peter). This dependence argues against direct apostolic attribution and points to an anonymous Jewish-Christian author of the last third of the 1st century, perhaps a disciple of the apostle or an heir of his tradition.
Third problem: the late ecclesiology. Matthew is the only gospel to use the word ἐκκλησία (Mt 16:18; 18:17), to present a communal disciplinary procedure (Mt 18:15-20), and to formulate the trinitarian great commission (Mt 28:19). These elements suggest an already structured community, with ministries, sacraments, and universal missionary awareness, hence a relatively late composition (75-90).
Majority critical position. The gospel was composed by an anonymous Greek-speaking Jewish-Christian, heir to an authentic Matthean tradition, in a Syrian or Galilean community between 75 and 90. The apostolic attribution is traditional but probably secondary; it reflects the authority of the Matthean tradition rather than a direct composition by the apostle. The question nonetheless remains disputed: Robert Gundry, Craig Blomberg, and several evangelical exegetes maintain apostolic authorship, arguing that Matthew may have used Mark to structure his own material.
Catholic confessional position. The decree of the Pontifical Biblical Commission of 1911 affirmed direct Matthean authorship. Since Vatican II and the encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943), the Catholic position acknowledges the legitimacy of historical-critical methods. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992, §126) admits the substantial authenticity of the gospels without requiring direct literary authorship.
Literary structure
Prologue: genealogy and infancy(Mt 1:1 – 2:23)
Genealogy of Jesus from David and Abraham (1:1-17), announcement to Joseph (1:18-25), visit of the magi (2:1-12), flight into Egypt and massacre of the innocents (2:13-23). Five formulas of scriptural fulfilment.
First discourse: Sermon on the Mount(Mt 5:1 – 7:29)
Beatitudes (5:3-12), salt and light (5:13-16), fulfilment of the Law (5:17-48), practices of piety (6:1-18), the Lord's Prayer (6:9-13), trust in God (6:19-34), judgement and closing exhortations (7:1-29). Ethical manifesto of the Kingdom.
Miracle narratives and calls(Mt 8:1 – 9:38)
Ten miracles grouped thematically, the call of Matthew (9:9), controversies over fasting (9:14-17), raising of Jairus's daughter (9:18-26).
Second discourse: the mission charge(Mt 10:1 – 11:1)
Choice of the Twelve (10:1-4), missionary instructions (10:5-15), coming persecutions (10:16-25), confession and division (10:26-42). Mission limited to Israel (10:5-6).
Controversies and revelation(Mt 11:2 – 12:50)
Question of John the Baptist (11:2-19), woes on the cities (11:20-24), praise of the Father and "come to me" (11:25-30), sabbath controversies (12:1-14), servant of God (12:15-21), blasphemy against the Spirit (12:22-37).
Third discourse: parables of the Kingdom(Mt 13:1-53)
Seven parables: the sower, the weeds, the mustard seed, the leaven, the hidden treasure, the pearl, the net. The Kingdom of heaven compared to everyday realities.
Ministry towards the passion(Mt 13:54 – 17:27)
Rejection at Nazareth (13:54-58), martyrdom of John the Baptist (14:1-12), feeding of the multitude (14:13-21), walking on the water (14:22-33), traditions and purity (15:1-20), the Canaanite woman (15:21-28), Peter's confession at Caesarea (16:13-20), passion predictions (16:21; 17:22-23), transfiguration (17:1-13).
Fourth discourse: ecclesial life(Mt 18:1-35)
Humility (18:1-5), stumbling blocks (18:6-9), the lost sheep (18:10-14), fraternal correction and ecclesial discipline (18:15-20), limitless forgiveness (18:21-22), parable of the unforgiving servant (18:23-35).
Ascent to Jerusalem(Mt 19:1 – 20:34)
Marriage and divorce (19:1-12), children (19:13-15), the rich young man (19:16-30), labourers of the eleventh hour (20:1-16), third passion prediction (20:17-19), sons of Zebedee (20:20-28), blind men of Jericho (20:29-34).
Ministry in Jerusalem(Mt 21:1 – 23:39)
Messianic entry (21:1-11), cleansing of the Temple (21:12-17), barren fig tree (21:18-22), controversies with the authorities (21:23 – 22:46), woes against the scribes and Pharisees (23:1-39).
Fifth discourse: eschatology(Mt 24:1 – 25:46)
Destruction of the Temple and signs of the end (24:1-35), exhortations to vigilance (24:36-51), the ten virgins (25:1-13), the talents (25:14-30), the last judgement (25:31-46).
Passion, death, resurrection(Mt 26:1 – 28:20)
The plot, anointing at Bethany (26:1-13), the Last Supper (26:17-30), Gethsemane (26:36-46), arrest (26:47-56), trial (26:57 – 27:26), crucifixion (27:32-56), burial (27:57-66), resurrection (28:1-10), guards at the tomb (28:11-15), the great commission (28:16-20).
Principal theology
Christology of fulfilment
Matthew unfolds a christology of fulfilment: Jesus fulfils (πληρόω, plēroō) the Scriptures of Israel. Eleven fulfilment formulas (Mt 1:22; 2:15,17,23; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 13:35; 21:4; 26:54,56; 27:9) punctuate the narrative. Jesus is presented as Son of David (royal messianic title), Son of Abraham (heir of the universal promise), Emmanuel (God with us, Mt 1:23), new Moses (five discourses recalling the Pentateuch), suffering servant (Mt 12:18-21 citing Is 42), apocalyptic Son of Man (Mt 24:30; 26:64), and Son of God (baptismal declaration in 3:17; transfiguration in 17:5).
This christology is cumulative: no single title suffices on its own. The Matthean Christ is more than a sage, more than a prophet, more than a Davidic king. His virginal conception (Mt 1:18-25), his divine sonship, his authority (ἐξουσία, exousia) over the Law, the demons, diseases, the sea, and finally death, mark a unique dignity. The great commission (Mt 28:18) presents him as holder of "all authority in heaven and on earth," a cosmic formula prefiguring Nicene christology.
Ecclesiology and discipline
Matthew is the only gospel to use ἐκκλησία (Mt 16:18; 18:17). At Caesarea Philippi, Jesus entrusts to Peter the keys of the Kingdom (Mt 16:19) with the power to bind and loose (δέω, λύω). This power is extended to the community in Mt 18:18, in the context of a structured disciplinary procedure: private warning, warning with witnesses, referral to the Church, exclusion as "a Gentile and a tax collector."
This ecclesiology reflects an already structured community: ministries, sacraments (baptism in Mt 28:19), eucharist (Mt 26:26-29), discipline, universal mission. Matthew presents the Church as the new people of God, heir but not substitute of Israel. The formula of Mt 21:43 ("the Kingdom will be taken from you and given to a people producing its fruits") has fed substitution theology, but a contextual reading sees in this "people" the messianic community enlarged to the Gentiles without revoking the promises made to Israel (cf. Rom 11).
Law, higher righteousness, and ethics of the Kingdom
The relationship to the Law (νόμος, nomos) is central. In Mt 5:17-20, Jesus declares that he has come not to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfil them. He demands a righteousness (δικαιοσύνη, dikaiosynē) greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees. The six antitheses (Mt 5:21-48) reformulate the Law by intensifying its demands: not only not to kill but not to be angry; not only not to commit adultery but not to lust; to love one's enemies.
This ethics of the Kingdom is not legalism but inner radicalisation. The commandment of love (Mt 22:37-40) sums up the Law and the Prophets. The works of mercy (Mt 25:31-46) constitute the criterion of the last judgement. The beatitude of the meek inheriting the earth (Mt 5:5), the promise to the merciful (Mt 5:7), the sentence on the goats (Mt 25:41-46) inscribe Christian ethics within an eschatology both realised and to come.
This tension between ethical rigour and grace is one of the major theological threads of Matthew, the source of all the later debates on faith and works, Law and Gospel, justification and sanctification.
Major theological disputes
The following disputes draw on the six great confessional voices (Catholic, Orthodox, Reformed, Lutheran, Anglican, Anabaptist), with interjections from Professor Tryphon Goldberg, the site's Jewish pedagogical persona.
Peter and the papacy: Mt 16:18-19
The Caesarea Philippi passage ("You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven") is one of the most disputed in the New Testament. The issue: does this text ground the Roman papal primacy, or does it designate a more general promise?
Catholic
Mt 16:18-19 grounds the Petrine ministry as a permanent office, transmitted to the bishops of Rome as Peter's successors. The "rock" designates Peter himself (Aramaic wordplay kepha identical for both the surname and the rock; Greek differentiating Πέτρος/πέτρα by gender). The keys and the power to bind and loose confer on Peter a doctrinal, sacramental, and disciplinary authority. Vatican I (Pastor Aeternus, 1870) dogmatically defines that the primacy of jurisdiction passes uninterrupted from Peter to the popes. Lumen Gentium (1964, §22) specifies that this primacy is exercised in collegial communion with the bishops.
Orthodox
Peter does indeed receive a primacy, but one of honour, not of universal jurisdiction. The "rock" is the Petrine confession of faith in Jesus as Messiah. The power of the keys is conferred on all the apostles in Mt 18:18 and Jn 20:23. The bishops of Rome historically held a primacy inter pares until the schism of 1054, but the medieval evolution towards universal jurisdiction and infallibility (Vatican I) constitutes an ecclesiological deviation. The synodal structure, in which each bishop is the successor of all the apostles in his see, is the apostolic norm.
Reformed
The "rock" designates Peter's confession of faith, not his person. Calvin (Institutes of the Christian Religion, IV, 6) argues that Christ is the sole foundation of the Church (1 Cor 3:11) and that Peter is but one witness among the apostles. The keys represent the preaching of the Gospel, which opens the Kingdom through faith and closes it through unbelief. Apostolic succession is doctrinal (fidelity to the Word) and not sacramental. The papacy is a post-apostolic development without scriptural basis and constitutes, in its Tridentine and Vatican form, a usurpation of Christ as the sole head of the Church.
Lutheran
Luther evolved: initially a reformer within the Church, he rejected the papacy after 1520 as a non-scriptural institution. The Augsburg Confession (1530, art. 28) limits episcopal authority to preaching and the administration of the sacraments. The Smalcald Articles (1537) declare the papacy antichristic insofar as it claims to be of divine right. Peter in Mt 16:18 receives a promise for the whole Church founded on his confession; ecclesial ministry exists for the preaching of the Gospel and has no hierarchical structure exclusive by divine right.
Anglican
Anglicanism acknowledges a historical primacy of honour of Rome, without accepting universal jurisdiction or infallibility. The Thirty-Nine Articles (1571, art. 37) reject all Roman jurisdiction in England. Mt 16:18-19 grounds the episcopate (the bishops are successors of the apostles), with Peter as prototype but without exclusive transfer to Rome. The ARCIC (Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission) has produced since 1976 several documents acknowledging a possible "universal primacy" of Peter's successor as a service to unity, without accepting the dogmatic definitions of Vatican I.
Anabaptist
The Anabaptists reject all ecclesiastical hierarchy beyond the local community. The Schleitheim Confession (1527) does not mention Peter as head. Mt 16:18 promises the indefectibility of the whole Church (the gates of hell will not prevail against it) without instituting any hierarchy. The keys represent the communal discipline of Mt 18, exercised by the local assembly, not by an episcopal or papal authority. Any claim to universal primacy contradicts Jesus's teaching on service (Mt 20:25-28) and the prophetic-charismatic character of ministry.
Synthesis
The text of Mt 16:18-19 admits several levels of reading. (1) Linguistically, the wordplay kepha/kepha in Aramaic and Πέτρος/πέτρα in Greek establishes an evident link between Peter and the foundational rock. (2) Contextually, it is the confession of faith that motivates Jesus's declaration; faith and person are linked without confusion. (3) Ecclesiologically, the power of the keys is entrusted to Peter in 16:19, then extended to the disciples in 18:18 and 20:23; Peter represents the apostolic college without being separated from it. (4) Historically, the Petrine ministry as a service of unity took concrete form in the Roman see from the 2nd century, but the evolution towards universal jurisdiction and infallibility is a medieval and modern development disputed among traditions. The Lutheran-Catholic Joint Declaration on Justification (1999), the ARCIC documents, and the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue (Ravenna 2007, Chieti 2016) have qualified the positions without resolving them.
Trinitarian baptism and the great commission: Mt 28:19
The baptismal great commission ("Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit") is the founding text of the Christian mission and of the baptismal formula. The issue: does this formula go back to Jesus, and what does it say about trinitarian doctrine and baptismal practice?
Catholic
Mt 28:19 is ipsissima verba Jesu (Jesus's own words) according to the traditional position. The trinitarian formula constitutes the essential matter of the sacrament of baptism (Council of Florence, Decretum pro Armenis, 1439). Baptism administered with this formula validly confers baptismal regeneration and incorporation into the Church, whoever the baptising minister (Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant), provided he intends to do what the Church does. The Catechism (§1240) confirms this formula as indispensable.
Orthodox
The trinitarian formula is essential, but the East insists on immersion (βαπτίζω means to immerse) and on the inseparability of baptism, chrismation, and eucharist as a single initiation. Mt 28:19 manifests the complete trinitarian revelation after Pentecost. The "in the name of Jesus" baptisms of Acts represent abbreviated formulations, or ones theologically focused on identification with Christ, without contradiction with the normative trinitarian practice. Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration and of deification (θέωσις, theōsis).
Reformed
The trinitarian formula is normative for Christian baptism. Calvin (Institutes, IV, 15, 16) explains that Mt 28:19 prescribes the formula, and the "in the name of Jesus" baptisms of Acts designate Christian baptism as a whole without contradiction. Baptism is the sign and seal of the covenant of grace (Heidelberg Catechism, q. 69-74). It is administered to believers and their children (paedobaptism), incorporated into the covenant as Jewish children were by circumcision. Baptism does not regenerate ex opere operato but signifies and confirms the divine promise received by faith.
Lutheran
Mt 28:19 is the institutional mandate of baptism as a sacrament. Luther's Small Catechism affirms that baptism works the forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and grants eternal salvation to whoever believes. This efficacy is attached to the Word of God joined to the water (Wort und Wasser). Infant baptism is legitimate because faith can be awakened by the Holy Spirit even in the child. The Wittenberg Concord (1536) maintains a realist sacramental doctrine, distinct from Roman sacramentalism and from Zwinglian symbolism.
Anglican
The Book of Common Prayer (1662) prescribes baptism by affusion or immersion with the trinitarian formula according to Mt 28:19. Article 27 of the Thirty-Nine Articles defines baptism as a sign of regeneration and a mark of difference by which Christians are distinguished from the unbaptised. Anglicanism includes both a high-church understanding (sacramental, close to Catholicism) and an evangelical one (close to the Reformed position). Infant baptism is universally practised, regarded as an act of the Church welcoming the child into the covenant.
Anabaptist
Mt 28:19 teaches that baptism follows initiation into discipleship (μαθητεύσατε, mathēteusate, make disciples). Children cannot be disciples consciously; baptism must therefore be reserved for confessing believers (credobaptism). The Schleitheim Confession (1527, art. 1) affirms: "Baptism shall be given to all those who have learned repentance, who truly believe that their sins are taken away by Christ, and who wish to walk in his resurrection." Baptism is public confession, identification with Christ, and commitment within the disciple community. Paedobaptism reversed the apostolic order of disciple-then-baptised and produced the forced Christianisation of Constantinian Christendoms.
Synthesis
Mt 28:19 has been the subject of a textual debate: Eusebius of Caesarea sometimes cites this passage in an abbreviated form ("in my name") in early works, which has led some critics to suppose a late interpolation of the trinitarian formula. This hypothesis is today rejected by the majority of textual scholars (the formula is attested in all the Greek, Syriac, Latin, and Coptic manuscripts). The trinitarian formula is therefore indeed Matthean. (1) Its authenticity as a word of the historical Jesus remains disputed: it probably reflects the post-paschal ecclesial confession rather than a direct quotation. (2) Its function is performative: it institutes the universal mission and the trinitarian baptismal practice. (3) The "in the name of Jesus" baptisms of Acts are compatible, designating Christian baptism as a whole without denying the threefold invocation. (4) The paedobaptism/credobaptism debate remains: it depends less on Mt 28:19 than on the overall ecclesiology (continuous covenant vs Church of confessing disciples). The Lima Accords (1982, Faith and Order of the WCC) on baptism-eucharist-ministry laid ecumenical foundations without dissolving the positions.
Sermon on the Mount: ethics, eschatology, or impossibility?
The Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5-7) proposes a radical ethics: love your enemies, do not resist the evildoer, turn the other cheek, lend expecting nothing in return. The issue: is this sermon an applicable ethical programme, an unattainable eschatological ideal, or a mirror revealing the need for grace?
Catholic
The Sermon is a real Christian ethical programme, achievable through sacramental grace and moral effort. The Thomist tradition distinguishes precepts (binding on all) and evangelical counsels (poverty, chastity, obedience, more perfect, followed in the religious life). Augustine (De sermone Domini in monte) sees in it the perfectio vitae christianae. The Catechism (§1965-1986) presents the new or evangelical Law as "the perfection here below of the divine law, natural and revealed." The beatitudes are at the heart of Jesus's preaching and open onto eschatological blessedness.
Orthodox
The Sermon is a path of deification (θέωσις). It reveals the beatitudes as ascetic stages of the transformation of the human being into the restored divine image. The Philocalic tradition (Desert Fathers, Symeon the New Theologian, Gregory Palamas) reads the Sermon as an ascetic programme for all the baptised, intensified in the monastic life but offered to all. Praxis (practice) precedes theōria (contemplation). The ethics of the Sermon is inseparable from prayer, the sacraments, the struggle against the passions, and ecclesial communion.
Reformed
The Sermon is threefold: (1) a mirror of divine righteousness revealing the depth of human sin (pedagogical use of the Law); (2) a rule of life for the regenerate believer in sanctification (third use of the Law, against the antinomians); (3) an announcement of the eschatological Kingdom. Calvin (Institutes, II, 8; III, 6-10) refuses the Catholic interpretation as evangelical counsels for an elite: the Sermon is binding on all believers. Justification is by faith alone, but sanctification involves the serious effort to obey the Sermon, in dependence on the Spirit.
Lutheran
Luther distinguishes the two governments (Zwei Reiche): the Sermon governs the conduct of the Christian as a Christian (spiritual government); the Christian as magistrate, judge, soldier, or parent may use the sword in the temporal government without contradiction. The Augsburg Confession (art. 16) affirms the legitimacy of the magistracy, of just wars, and of oaths. The Sermon is also a mirror revealing the total human incapacity to keep it, leading to grace (first and second uses of the Law). For the regenerate Christian, it is a rule of life while remaining an accusation against the old self.
Anglican
Anglicanism distributes the positions according to its currents: the high church joins Catholicism in the ethico-ascetic reading; the evangelical low church joins the Reformed position; the liberal broad church reads the Sermon as the expression of Jesus's ethical genius, capable of inspiring social transformation. Frederick Maurice and the Christian Socialist movement (1848) read the Sermon as a programme of social reform. William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (1942-1944), articulated an Anglican social theology founded on the Sermon.
Anabaptist
The Sermon is the heart of Christian discipleship and must be taken literally. The Anabaptists reject war, the oath, the bearing of arms, and any magistracy involving a legal use of violence. The Schleitheim Confession (1527, art. 6) forbids the sword to the Christian. Active pacifism and non-violence are constitutive of fidelity to Jesus. This position has been costly: persecutions by Catholics and Protestants in the 16th century, refusal of military service to this day among Mennonites, Amish, and the Church of the Brethren. Menno Simons, John Howard Yoder (The Politics of Jesus, 1972), and Stanley Hauerwas have theorised this ethics of the Kingdom.
Synthesis
The Sermon on the Mount admits several levels of interpretation, not mutually exclusive. (1) Eschatological: it describes the ethics of the coming Kingdom, already inaugurated and not yet completed. (2) Existential: it reveals the depth of sin and human incapacity, leading to grace. (3) Ethical: it orients the actual conduct of the disciples, though not perfectly achievable before the eschaton. (4) Communal: it addresses the disciple community as a witnessing counter-culture. The debate over pacifism remains irreducible between the traditions acknowledging the legitimacy of the temporal sword (Catholic, Orthodox, Reformed, Lutheran, Anglican) and the Anabaptist pacifist tradition. The Latin American liberation theologies (Gustavo Gutiérrez, Leonardo Boff) and the civil rights movement (Martin Luther King, drawing on Gandhi, drawing on Tolstoy, himself drawing on the Sermon) revived a sociopolitical reading of the Sermon. The Christian Peace Conference, the Pax Christi movement, and the ecumenical positions on active non-violence bear witness to a partial convergence between historically opposed traditions.
Historical reception
Patristic reception (2nd-5th c.)
The Gospel of Matthew was the most cited and commented upon of all the gospels in patristic literature. Ignatius of Antioch (martyred c. 110) cites it abundantly, suggesting its early liturgical use in Syria. The Didache (c. 100) takes up Mt 6:9-13 (the Lord's Prayer) as a communal prayer three times a day.
Origen (185-254) composed a massive commentary on Matthew, partially preserved. In it he develops a threefold exegesis (literal, moral, spiritual) that would mark all of medieval exegesis. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407) delivered 90 homilies on Matthew at Antioch, a monument of Eastern moral exegesis; in them he insists on the divine philanthrōpia and on the ethics of the Sermon as a programme of practical deification.
Augustine (354-430) wrote De sermone Domini in monte (c. 393), a systematic commentary on the Sermon as a Christian ethical code. His Quaestiones evangeliorum and his De consensu evangelistarum (c. 400) discuss the synoptic questions. Jerome (c. 347-420) composed a Commentary on Matthew and translated the gospel for the Vulgate, fixing the Latin text for a thousand years.
Medieval reception
In the Western Middle Ages, Matthew dominates liturgical and catechetical life. The Pater Noster of Mt 6:9-13 and the beatitudes of Mt 5:3-12 are memorised by all the faithful. The seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer structure prayer. The Glossa ordinaria (12th century), compiled from the Fathers, provides the standard reading of Matthew.
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) comments on Matthew in the Catena Aurea, a chain of patristic extracts on the four gospels. His Summa Theologiae (IIa-IIae, q. 1-189) constantly integrates Matthew into moral theology. Bonaventure (1221-1274) composed a spiritual commentary.
The mendicant orders (Franciscans, Dominicans) draw on Mt 19:21 ("if you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, give to the poor, and follow me") to ground evangelical poverty. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) hears the reading of Mt 10:9-10 as a personal call to radical poverty.
Byzantine reception
The Orthodox Church favoured Matthew for the liturgy: the paschal gospel is drawn from Mt 28; the Sunday readings of the Triodion and the Pentecostarion derive massively from it. Chrysostom's homilies on Matthew remain in Byzantium the major catechetical reference.
Theophylact of Ohrid (c. 1055-1107) composed a commentary on the four gospels synthesising the Byzantine tradition, long read in the East and even in the West. Euthymios Zigabenos (12th century) produced a Panoplia Dogmatica that integrates Matthew extensively into anti-heretical polemic.
The Byzantine iconographic tradition fixed the types of Christ Pantocrator, of the evangelists (Matthew represented with his symbol, an angel or winged man, according to Ezek 1 and Rev 4), of the baptism of Christ (Mt 3:13-17), of the transfiguration (Mt 17:1-9), and of the resurrection. The Sermon on the Mount inspired little iconography compared with the passion and the resurrection.
Reformation reception
Luther preached and commented on Matthew abundantly, particularly the Sermon on the Mount (Wochenpredigten über Matthäus 5-7, 1530-1532). His reading of the antitheses of Mt 5 articulates the Sermon as a manifestation of the righteousness of the Kingdom against false rabbinic interpretations, while revealing human incapacity and leading to grace.
Calvin commented on Matthew in his Harmony of the Three Evangelists (1555), a commentary integrated across the three synoptics. His christological and ecclesiological reading shaped Presbyterianism and Congregationalism. Theodore Beza continued this exegetical tradition.
The radicals of the Reformation — Swiss Anabaptists, Mennonites, Hutterites — made the Sermon on the Mount the charter of their discipleship. Michael Sattler (martyred 1527) drafted the Schleitheim Confession, drawing centrally on Mt 5-7 and Mt 18. Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and Balthasar Hubmaier articulated a pacifist ecclesiology founded on these texts.
The English Puritan movement (17th century), particularly the Quakers (George Fox), revived a rigorist reading of the Sermon, refusing the oath and violence. The Westminster Standards (1646-1649) integrate the beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer into standard Reformed catechesis.
Modern reception (19th-21st c.)
Modern historical criticism made Matthew a laboratory of methods. The Formgeschichte (form criticism) of Martin Dibelius and Rudolf Bultmann analysed the literary genres (logia, parables, miracles, controversies). The Redaktionsgeschichte (redaction criticism) of Günther Bornkamm, Gerhard Barth, and Heinz Joachim Held (Tradition und Interpretation im Matthäusevangelium, 1960) brought to light the redactor's own theology.
The major modern commentaries: W. D. Davies and Dale Allison, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew (ICC, 3 vols., 1988-1997), monumental; Ulrich Luz, Das Evangelium nach Matthäus (EKK, 4 vols., 1985-2002, translated into English), a reference for Wirkungsgeschichte (history of effects); R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew (NICNT, 2007); Donald Hagner, Matthew (WBC, 2 vols., 1993-1995); Craig Keener, The Gospel of Matthew (2009).
In French: Pierre Bonnard, L'Évangile selon saint Matthieu (CNT, 1963, repr. 2002); Jean Radermakers, Au fil de l'Évangile selon saint Matthieu (2 vols., 1972); Daniel Marguerat, Le jugement dans l'Évangile de Matthieu (1981); Camille Focant, Marc, un évangile étonnant (2006), with a discussion of Markan priority.
The post-Shoah Jewish-Christian dialogue reread Matthew taking account of the problematic passages (Mt 27:25, "his blood be on us and on our children"). Nostra Aetate (Vatican II, 1965, §4) rejected the accusation of collective deicide. The document of the Pontifical Biblical Commission The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible (2001) reread Matthew from a non-supersessionist perspective.
Selected bibliography
References selected according to the conventions of the SBL Handbook of Style (2nd ed., 2014).
Allison, Dale C. Studies in Matthew: Interpretation Past and Present. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.
Bonnard, Pierre. L'Évangile selon saint Matthieu. Commentaire du Nouveau Testament 1. Genève: Labor et Fides, 2002.
Bornkamm, Günther, Gerhard Barth et Heinz Joachim Held. Tradition und Interpretation im Matthäusevangelium. Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament 1. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1960.
Davies, W. D., et Dale C. Allison. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. 3 vol. International Critical Commentary. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1988-1997.
Focant, Camille. L'évangile selon Matthieu. Collection Lire la Bible 195. Paris: Cerf, 2017.
France, R. T. The Gospel of Matthew. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007.
Hagner, Donald A. Matthew. 2 vol. Word Biblical Commentary 33A-B. Dallas: Word, 1993-1995.
Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009.
Luz, Ulrich. Das Evangelium nach Matthäus. 4 vol. Evangelisch-Katholischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament 1/1-4. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1985-2002.
Marguerat, Daniel. Le jugement dans l'Évangile de Matthieu. Le Monde de la Bible 6. Genève: Labor et Fides, 1981.
Nolland, John. The Gospel of Matthew: A Commentary on the Greek Text. New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005.
Radermakers, Jean. Au fil de l'Évangile selon saint Matthieu. 2 vol. Bruxelles: Institut d'études théologiques, 1972.
Stanton, Graham N. A Gospel for a New People: Studies in Matthew. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1992.
Stendahl, Krister. The School of St. Matthew and Its Use of the Old Testament. Acta Seminarii Neotestamentici Upsaliensis 20. Lund: Gleerup, 1954.
Talbert, Charles H. Reading the Sermon on the Mount: Character Formation and Decision Making in Matthew 5-7. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004.
Vledder, Evert-Jan. Conflict in the Miracle Stories: A Socio-Exegetical Study of Matthew 8 and 9. Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 152. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997.