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…
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To the chorus of those who assert that Matthew was written within a decade of the resurrection and ascension, I have added four more voices: Samuel Ellwood (1709), Samuel Humphreys (1746), Thomas Horne (1825), and Arthur Carr (1898). An extended excerpt from Horne has been included, which provides a nice…
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In chapter 2, on the “Intent to Have a Written Gospel,” Upham begins with a quick allusion to Milton’s Paradise Lost: Surely it was not the “Archangel ruined” who deluded men into saying that the Witnesses [of Christ] never thought of putting their witness into writing! … The ancient genealogies…
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Sitting atop one of my bookshelves is a collection of older works—some were treasures discovered at used bookstores and others were sought out. One of my favorites is a small hardback by Francis W. Upham, published in New York in 1881. This was almost 150 years ago! To put this…
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In my search for historical authors who have speculated concerning the early date of Matthew’s Gospel, it is tempting to latch onto every author who might be “on my team.” However, there is need for circumspection. This morning, I found this interesting book from James Sheridan Knowles, Irish actor and…
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Another type of publication which targeted the Christian public and likewise conveyed an early date for Matthew were Bible Knowledge and Bible History Handbooks. This first one was a Catholic publication, written in 1927 by the archbishop in Milwaukee, which largely drew from a work in German. B. IN PARTICULAR.…
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Previous blog posts have profiled Protestant and Catholic family Bibles which identified early publication dates for the Gospels, including a publication date for Matthew within a decade of the resurrection and ascension. My goal has been to demonstrate that at one time there was a general awareness, within the English…
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Excerpts from the writings of two additional authors, Robert Cockburne (1755) and Thomas Townson (1778), relating to the origins of Matthew’s Gospel, have now been posted. As with the other excerpts, I have modified the spellings and punctuation, to make the material more accessible to the modern reader. An extended…
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I was excited today to find several older Catholic Bibles which also list an early date for Matthew’s Gospel. The date was integrated into a chronological index for the New Testament. Of course, finding dates in old Bibles doesn’t prove when the Gospels were published. However, what I am trying…
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Excerpts from the writings of Richard Ward (1646), William Cave (1676), and John Edwards (1695), relating to the origins of Matthew’s Gospel, have now been posted. Credit belongs to Google and to the Early English Books Online project for digitizing and making these works available. I have modified the spellings…