By the year 85 A.D., Christians were unwelcome in Jewish synagogues – called their synagogue by Matthew to distinguish Jewish from Christian worship.” (The New American Bible, 1971).

There is an ambivalence between Matthew’s earlier Jewishness, reflected in the elements of the gospel as they were in the process of formation, and his alienation from Jewish tradition, even before these elements were incorporated into the finished gospel.

“Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, in his letters to certain churches of Asia Minor uses several sayings of Jesus found only in this gospel (Matthew’s). Papias, bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia, wrote that Matthew had compiled a collection of sayings of the Lord ‘in the Hebrew tongue’ most likely Aramaic.” (The New American Bible, 1971).

Besides the sayings of the Lord, it is certain that the author of Matthew had access to the present Gospel of Mark, because of some Marcan verses he used. Matthew is obviously an expanded version of Mark, considered the first gospel form to have been written.

Beginning with a series of reflections relating to Jesus and his parentage to the Messianism of the Old Testament, the gospel places his birth in the hostile political environment of the time. Like the other gospels, Matthew introduces the public ministry of Jesus with a summary of John the Baptist’s mission. After the temptation of Jesus, the gospel reports his teaching and miracles, locating all these in Galilee and its vicinity, excluding Jerusalem. It concludes with the final events and teaching of Jesus in Jerusalem and centering them around his passion and resurrection.

The Gospel of Matthew is distinctive for its practice of citing the Old Testament in connection with the activity and teachings of Jesus and for a structured presentation of his doctrine in the form of sermons or discourses.