In a fragment, also, of Irenaeus, edited by Dr. Grabe, it is said that “the Gospel according to Matthew was written to the Jews, for they earnestly desired a Messiah [pg 120] of the posterity of David. Matthew, in order to satisfy them on this point, began his Gospel with the genealogy of Jesus”.[140]
Origen, in a passage preserved by Eusebius, has this statement: “I have learned by tradition concerning the four Gospels, which alone are received without dispute by the Church of God under heaven, that the first was written by St. Matthew, once a tax-gatherer, afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ, who published it for the benefit of the Jewish converts, composed in the Hebrew language.”[141] And again, in his Commentary on St. John, “We begin with Matthew, who, according to tradition, wrote first, publishing his Gospel to the believers who were of the circumcision.”
Eusebius, who had collected the foregoing testimonies on a subject which, in that day, seems to have been undisputed, thus records what he believed to be a well-authenticated historical fact: “Matthew, having first preached to the Hebrews, delivered to them, when he was preparing to depart to other countries, his Gospel composed in their native language.”[142]
St. Jerome follows Papias: “Matthew, who is also Levi, from a publican became an apostle, and he first composed his Gospel of Christ in Judaea, for those of the circumcision who believed, and wrote it in Hebrew words and characters; but who translated it afterwards into Greek is not very evident. Now this Hebrew Gospel is preserved to this day in the library at Caesarea which Pamphilus the martyr so diligently collected. I also obtained permission of the Nazarenes of Beraea in Syria, who use this volume, to make a copy of it. In which it is to be observed that, throughout, the Evangelist when [pg 121] quoting the witness of the Old Testament, either in his own person or in that of the Lord and Saviour, does not follow the authority of the Seventy translators, but the Hebrew Scriptures, from which he quotes these two passages, ‘Out of Egypt have I called my Son,’ and, ‘Since he shall be called a Nazarene.’ ”[143] And again: “That Gospel which is called the Gospel of the Hebrews, and which has lately been translated by me into Greek and Latin, and was used frequently by Origen, relates,” &c.[144] Again: “That Gospel which the Nazarenes and Ebionites make use of, and which I have lately translated into Greek from the Hebrew, and which by many is called the genuine Gospel of Matthew.”[145] And once more: “The Gospel of the Hebrews, which is written in the Syro-Chaldaic tongue, and in Hebrew characters, which the Nazarenes make use of at this day, is also called the Gospel of the Apostles, or, as many think, is that of Matthew, is in the library of Caesarea.”[146]
St. Epiphanius is even more explicit. He says that the Nazarenes possessed the most complete Gospel of St. Matthew,[147] as it was written at first in Hebrew;[148] and “they have it still in Hebrew characters; but I do not know if they have cut off the genealogies from Abraham to Christ.” “We may affirm as a certain fact, that Matthew alone among the writers of the New Testament wrote the history of the preaching of the Gospel in Hebrew, and in Hebrew characters.”[149] This Hebrew Gospel, he adds, was known to Cerinthus and Carpocrates.
The subscriptions of many MSS. and versions bear [pg 122] the same testimony. Several important Greek codices of St. Matthew close with the statement that he wrote in Hebrew; the Syriac and Arabic versions do the same. The subscription of the Peschito version is, “Finished is the holy Gospel of the preaching of Matthew, which he preached in Hebrew in the land of Palestine.” That of the Arabic version reads as follows: “Here ends the copy of the Gospel of the apostle Matthew. He wrote it in the land of Palestine, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in the Hebrew language, eight years after the bodily ascension of Jesus the Messiah into heaven, and in the first year of the Roman Emperor, Claudius Caesar.”
The title of Gospel of the Hebrews was only given to the version known to Jerome and Epiphanius, because it was in use among the Hebrews. But amongst the Nazarenes it was called “The Gospel of the Apostles,”[150] or “The Gospel of the Twelve.”[151] St. Jerome expressly says that “the Gospel used by the Nazarenes is also called the Gospel of the Apostles.”[152] That the same Gospel should bear two names, one according to its reputed authors, the other according to the community which used it, is not surprising.
Justin Martyr probably alludes to it under a slightly different name, “The Recollections of the Apostles.”[153] He says that these Recollections were a Gospel.[154] He adopted the word used by Xenophon for his recollections of Socrates. What the Memorabilia of Xenophon were [pg 123] concerning the martyred philosopher, that the Memorabilia of the Apostles were concerning the martyred Redeemer.
It is probable that this Hebrew Gospel of the Twelve was the only one with which Justin Martyr was acquainted.
Justin Martyr was a native of Samaria, and his acquaintance with Christianity was probably made in the communities of Nazarenes scattered over Syria. By family he was a Greek, and was therefore by blood inclined to sympathize with the Gentile rather than the Jewish Christians. This double tendency is manifest in his writings. He judges the Ebionites, even the narrowest of their sectarian rings, with great tenderness; but he proclaims that Gentiledom had yielded better Christians than Jewdom.[155] Justin distinguishes between the Ebionites. There were those who in their own practice observed the Mosaic Law, believing in Christ as the flower and end of the Law, but without exacting the same observance of believing Gentiles; and there were those, who not only observed the Law themselves, but imposed it on their Gentile converts. His sympathies were with the former, whom he regards as the true followers of the apostles, and not with the latter.