The Gospel According to Matthew
Christian discussions has not received any emails or posts relevant to #CANON worth discussing publicly, so I wanted to add a few notes. Let me start with the following:
It was well known to the early Christian community that there was a version of Matthew written in Hebrew or Aramaic, but it had been lost by the fourth century. Now it seems to have resurfaced in the late twentieth century. It had been transcribed several times by a fourteenth century Spanish physician named Shem Tov, for use in holding debate with the Catholic church during the early days of the Inquisition, Its original was apparently written in first century Hebrew.
Between Greek and Hebrew Matthew, one was evidently copied from the other, but with some differences. One thing is that Greek Matthew used mostly the Greek old testament for its scriptural citations, while Hebrew Matthew used the Hebrew directly. Also, Hebrew Matthew contains some additional material, mostly from Luke, but also from elsewhere.
Which do you think best represents the original Gospel According to Matthew? Do you believe there is any difference that would have an impact of any substance on Christian theology or doctrine?
A free Hebrew version is available here, and a basic presentation of academic research with parallel English, here. There is also a free literal English translation here.
