In his epistle of AD 107, Ignatius quoted from this Gospel account seven times. He mentioned Christ's conception in the Virgin Mary and the ...
Is there no continuous chain of authority for the Gospel according to Matthew?In his epistle of AD 107, Ignatius quoted from this Gospel account seven times. He mentioned Christ's conception in the Virgin Mary and the appearance of the natal star that guided the wiseman to Bethlehem. This same Ignatius was a contemporary of the apostles, outliving the Apostle John by seven years. Polycarp, a disciple of John the Apostle, quotes this Gospel account five times in his epistles. Also, many renowned Christian scholars of the first century testified that the Gospel of Christ according to Matthew indeed came from Matthew. In the second century, Tatian wrote The Diatesseron or "The Harmony of the Four Gospels." This work was quoted by Hegesippus, a scholar who wrote profusely. He authored a Church history in which we find an account of Herod similar to what appears in Matthew's account of the Gospel. Justin Martyr (AD 140) often quotes from the Gospel according to Matthew and in his works he mentions verses from the prophecies of Isaiah, Micah and Jeremiah, just as Matthew does. Ireanues, Athenagoras, Theophilus of Antioch, Clement of Alexandria and others also quote from this Gospel account. In the third century, the Gospel according to Matthew was mentioned by Tertullian, Julius, Origen and Amonius, author of The Harmony of the Two Gospels. In the fourth century, Festus questioned the authorship of the Gospel according to Matthew, owing to chapter nine, verse nine: "Then as Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, 'Fool Me.' And he arose and followed Him." Festus believed that if Matthew had really written the Gospel account attributed to him, he would have written of himself in the first person, saying "I," and not in the third person, say "he." However, writing about oneself in the third person was a custom among ancient authors. Julius Caesar, Josephus, Moses and Xenophon all referred to themselves in this way in their writings.