Those who argue for an early date for Matthew’s Gospel must contend with Irenaeus’s claim that “Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church.” My approach for dealing with the…
Irenaeus’ Against Heresies 3.1.1 (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5.8.2–4) has long been a mixed blessing for those who want to leverage the church fathers to argue that Matthew was published early: For, after our Lord rose from the dead, [the apostles] were invested with power from on high when the Holy…