MATTHEW, THE PUBLICAN SCRIBE – THE CHURCH GOSPEL OF PERFECTION
MATTHEW, THE PUBLICAN SCRIBE – THE CHURCH GOSPEL OF PERFECTION

Summary/Abstract: The Gospel according to Matthew is rightly called the “church Gospel”, being the Gospel most used in the Church’s catechesis. It has its own literary and theological identity, with its own prologue and an ample epilogue. Placing the Gospel according to Matthew in the first place reflects the importance it had and has in the life of the Church. A position superior to the two synoptics Mark and Luke, and in no way inferior to that of Saint John. This primacy acknowledged to the Gospel according to Matthew was primarily due to its apostolic character, being written, according to the oldest testimonies, by one of Jesus’ disciples (Matthew), but also for its didactic and catechetical character, the clarity of the exposition of the Saviour’s teachings, which Matthew systematized in the five discourses, and especially for life in Christ, for the spirituality of the Christian community present in the first Gospel. In addition to Mark and the loggia source of sentences, it contains exclusive traditions with Judeo-Christian characteristics originating especially from the context of Palestinian Judaism. The extensive material available to Matthew is organized in the final draft according to literary, systematic – didactic and theological criteria. Behind the Gospel according to Matthew there is the local Church of Antioch of Syria.

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