Why do some people say Matthew didn't write Matthew?
This article is from Bible Gateway. The author of the Gospel has traditionally been identified with “Matthew,” who according to this Gospel is one of Jesus ’ twelve disciples (see Matthew 9:9 ; he is called “Levi” in Luke 5:27 ). The main source of this tradition is Irenaeus (a second-century bishop) who writes: “Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect” (Against Heresies 3.1.1). It is also possible that Papias (another second-century bishop) refers to this tradition: “Matthew put together the oracles [of the Lord] in the Hebrew language ” (quoted by Eusebius, in his Church History, 3.39.16). It is extremely unlikely, however, that this tradition is accurate. The main argument against it is that Matthew is widely agreed to be dependent for much of his information on Mark’s Gospel , and if Matthew were an eye-witness (as on the traditional view) it is unclear why this would be the case. The high level of verbal agreement between Matthew and Mark als