Bishop's Epistle: The Gospel of Matthew (Greek or Hebrew?)

Papyrus fragment of a flyleaf with the title of the Gospel of Matthew, ευαγγελιον κ̣ατ̣α μαθ᾽θαιον (euangelion kata Maththaion). It is the earliest manuscript title for Matthew

There has long been an in-house debate concerning whe-ther or not the Gospel of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew or Greek. It has been argued that since Matthew wrote to a Jewish audience, and since Hebrew idioms and style appear in the manuscript, that the author wrote the autograph in Hebrew. This may or may not be evidence in favor of a Hebrew original. I say, that it may not be proper evidence because Matthew was a Jew and it would be a natural thing for a Jew to employ familiar idioms and colloquialisms even though writing in the Greek language. There is that to consider; also, the Greek of the New Testament is Koinê Greek. Koinê Greek, is different from Classical Greek in that it takes on a the local character of whatever region it is spoken or written.

Adding to our evidence of a Greek autograph is the lack of any archaeological evidence of a Hebrew manuscript of the First Gospel. The only Hebrew texts of Matthew in existence are those that have been back translated from Greek.

The earliest extant fragment of Matthew's Gospel is in Greek and dates from late first century. Early in 1995 Dr. Carsten Thiede published a reassessment of three papyrus fragments from the library at Magdalen College in Oxford, England. His article appeared in German in the scholarly journal Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik 105 (1995) and was subsequently reprinted in English in the Tyndale Bulletin 46.1 (1995). Thiede, a papyrologist and practicing Anglican, has marshalled some impressive arguments which are challenging long-held scholarly and theological beliefs.

'His conclusions are summarized as follows:

The three papyrus fragments from the Magdalen College library (P-64) are from the same manuscript as two other fragments at the Fundacion San Lucas in Barcelona, Spain (P-67). All are from the Gospel of Matthew.
All five scraps of papyrus, based on comparative epigraphy, should be dated to the SECOND HALF OF THE FIRST CENTURY AD. That suggests a copy of the Gospel of Matthew was in circulation in Egypt roughly one generation after the crucifixion. Accordingly, this is the earliest date for any known New Testament text and is much earlier than the majority of scholars had previously believed. The standard scholarly date for the original Gospel of Matthew's composition has been AD 80.
All five fragments are written on both sides, indicating they were sheets in a book and not sections of a scroll. That manuscript would also be the earliest known bound Christian book. Thiede suggests it may even signify a change in strategy among Christians. Changing from scroll to book might indicate a changed focus of missionary activity away from Jews.
The use of abbreviations for divine names (nomen sacrum), like the tetragrammaton (YHWH) for the name of God, had previously been the privilege of Jewish scribes. According to Thiede, such a palaeographic decision was clearly designed to put Jesus on par with YHWH.

'A final note from Thiede's article. He noted a number of errors by scholars in identification and labeling of these fragments. In addition, his examination of the scraps, which had not been done for 40 years, also led to further points of interest previously overlooked.

'This demonstrates the fallibility of even the most careful and respected of scholars. While these mistakes would be described as minutia, it should be remembered that many scholarly decisions are often dogmatically made on the slimmest information. The need for Thiede to correct scholar's mistakes is a reminder of the fallibility of scholarly research. Their decisions are not absolute, although they often think they are. We who read their conclusions must constantly keep that in mind.

Papyrus of Matthew 26

The information presented in this essay militates against he Hebrew Roots Movement whose aim it to promote a complete Hebrew New Testament as being the autograph.

Amen

Apostolically Speaking,

☩☩ Jerry L Hayes