One reason that scholars tend to discount the testimony of the earliest church fathers concerning Matthean priority is due to the apparent claim that Matthew’s Gospel was written in Hebrew (or Aramaic). For example, Irenaeus is commonly translated as stating that “Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews…
Dr. Kirk MacGregor of McPherson College has published a review of my book in the Fall 2024 issue of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary journal. Please take a look: https://www.nobts.edu/baptist-center-theology/journals/journals/jbtm21b.pdf After surveying the arguments expressed in each chapter of the book, the review critically engages with my novel approach…
In 1961, S. Vernon McCasland published an article entitled “Matthew Twists the Scriptures,” in which he charges the author of Matthew with distorting not only his Old Testament sources, but also his contemporary sources. Brazenly, McCasland begins his accusation by redirecting the expressed concern of 2 Peter 3:16 at the…
9He dead, they sealed the stone upon his grave,But, the third-day he rose, made death his slave; Betimes, good Mary to his grave made speed,To whom her Saviour spake, from fear, her freed;And, ten times he appear'd in forty daysThen, calls the twelve, and thus to them, he says.…15Th' Apostles…
A frequent refrain from scholars is that either none of the Gospels offer a fully chronologically-oriented account of the life of Christ or that it is Mark which is most likely to be chronological. In some cases, the determination appears to be tied to a favored theory of Gospel origins—that…
My thanks to Wipf & Stock for their promotional activities, as they had a booth at this year’s Evangelical Theological Society annual meeting, and displayed my book along with many others. I do enjoy these annual ETS gatherings. This was my fifth. Thousands of attendees. Get to chat with interesting…
In this “new insights into Acts” series, we are re-examining the text of Acts under the premise that Matthew was published coincident with the events of Acts 10–11, and that Mark was published shortly thereafter. Further, that these Gospels were immediately accepted as authoritative Scripture, as having been published by…
In this “Synoptic Sequences” series, we are working through some of the sequential differences which one finds when comparing Matthew’s Gospel to Mark’s Gospel, with the hope that the differences can be explained in a way that is consistent with my early Matthew proposition. Therefore, we’re approaching these sequential differences…
In this “Synoptic Sequences” series, we are working through some of the sequential differences which one finds when comparing Matthew’s Gospel to Mark’s Gospel, with the hope that the differences can be explained in a way that is consistent with my early Matthew proposition. Therefore, we’re approaching these sequential differences…
How do the Gospels compare with other contemporary biographies, relative to size? Plutarch was the most prolific biographer of the era, writing in Greek around the end of the first century. The following chart compares the word count of the four Gospels with fifty biographies written by Plutarch. Although Matthew’s…