Page "Gospel of Matthew" Paragraph 4

Papias does not identify his Matthew, but by the end of the 2nd century the tradition of Matthew the tax-collector had become widely accepted, and the line " The Gospel According to Matthew " began to be added to manuscripts.

For many reasons scholars today believe otherwise — for example, the gospel is based on Mark, and " it seems unlikely that an eyewitness of Jesus's ministry, such as Matthew, would need to rely on others for information about it "— and believe instead that it was written between about 80 – 90 AD by a highly educated Jew ( an " Israelite ", in the language of the gospel itself ), intimately familiar with the technical aspects of Jewish law, standing on the boundary between traditional and non-traditional Jewish values.

The disciple Matthew was probably honoured within the author's circle, as the name Matthew is more prominent in this gospel than any other.