The Gospel of St Matthew

The New Testament opens with these words: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Matthew 1:1). With that line St Matthew joins the two Testaments: Abraham received the promise, David the kingdom, and the Gospel shows both fulfilled in Christ. The Church places Matthew first among the four Gospels, and from its twenty-eight chapters come words every Catholic knows: the Beatitudes, the Our Father, "Thou art Peter", the words of the Last Supper and the command to baptize all nations. Below this guide you will find every chapter, St Jerome's Latin Vulgate beside the English of the Douay-Rheims.

Who wrote the Gospel of Matthew?

The Church has received the first Gospel as the work of St Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, one of the Twelve. He was a publican, a collector of customs at Capharnaum, and he tells his own calling without ornament: "he saw a man sitting in the custom house, named Matthew; and he saith to him: Follow me. And he rose up and followed him" (Matthew 9:9). St Mark and St Luke call the same man Levi; only this Gospel, in its list of the Apostles, names him "Matthew the publican" (10:3), as though the author would not let his readers forget what he had been.

The witness of the early Church is constant. Papias, bishop of Hierapolis early in the second century, quoted by Eusebius (Church History III.39), says that Matthew put together the oracles of the Lord in the Hebrew language, and each one translated them as best he could. St Irenaeus (Against Heresies III.1) writes that Matthew issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own tongue while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome. Origen, again in Eusebius (VI.25), had learned from tradition that the first Gospel was written by Matthew, once a publican and afterwards an Apostle, for the converts from Judaism. St Jerome (On Illustrious Men 3) says the same, adding that no one knows for certain who translated it into Greek.

The Pontifical Biblical Commission, answering on 19 June 1911 under St Pius X, taught that by the constant agreement of the Church, Matthew the Apostle "is really the author of the Gospel that goes by his name", and that the Greek Gospel the Church has always used is identical in substance with the one he wrote in his native tongue. Many modern scholars propose instead a later, anonymous author drawing on Mark; the teaching above is the one the Church has handed down.

Of his later life little is certain. He preached first to the Hebrews; ancient writers then send him to Ethiopia, Persia or the Parthians, and the Roman Martyrology says that he suffered martyrdom while preaching in Ethiopia. His prayers are gathered in our novena to St Matthew.

When was the Gospel of Matthew written?

Tradition holds that Matthew wrote first of the four Evangelists. St Augustine (On the Harmony of the Gospels I.2) gives the order received in the Church: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and last John. Eusebius says that Matthew, about to leave the Hebrews for other nations, left them his Gospel in their own language.

The ancient writers differ on the year. Eusebius in his Chronicle and several Greek commentators place it about eight years after the Ascension, that is, about AD 40 or a little later; the words of St Irenaeus have been read as pointing to the sixties. The Biblical Commission taught in 1911 that the Gospel was not written after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, so that its prophecies of that ruin are true prophecies, and that the opinion most in keeping with tradition places it even before St Paul came to Rome, about AD 61. On any traditional reckoning it was written within a generation of the Resurrection, by an eyewitness, most probably in Palestine.

The language of the Gospel and its first readers

Papias, Irenaeus, Origen, Eusebius and Jerome all say that Matthew wrote in "Hebrew", which in the New Testament usually means the Aramaic spoken by the Jews of Palestine. Jerome says a copy of this Hebrew Gospel was kept in the library of Pamphilus at Caesarea. That original is lost. What the Church received and read from the beginning is the Greek Gospel, which she holds to be Matthew's own work in substance and which Jerome rendered into the Latin of the Vulgate. The medieval Hebrew Matthew of the fourteenth-century Jewish writer Shem-Tob is a much later text, not the Apostle's original.

Matthew wrote for the Jews, above all those who had come to believe. He assumes his readers know the Law; he speaks of the "kingdom of heaven" where the other Evangelists say "kingdom of God", following the Jewish reverence for the divine name; and again and again he writes "that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet". The Biblical Commission summed up his purpose: to prove to the Jews that Jesus is the Messias foretold by the prophets and born of the house of David.

What is the Gospel of Matthew about? A summary

Matthew arranges the life of Christ around five great discourses, each closed by a like formula: "And it came to pass when Jesus had ended these words" (Matthew 19:1; compare 7:28, 11:1, 13:53 and 26:1). Between them come the deeds that prove the teaching, and the whole is framed by the Infancy and by the Passion and Resurrection.

The Infancy of Christ (chapters 1–2)

Chapters 1–2 give the genealogy of Christ from Abraham through David to "Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ" (1:16), then the virginal conception told from St Joseph's side: "thou shalt call his name JESUS. For he shall save his people from their sins" (1:21). In chapter 2 the wise men come from the east to adore the newborn King of the Jews, Herod slaughters the Innocents, and the Holy Family flees into Egypt before settling at Nazareth. The Church reads the coming of the Magi at the Epiphany.

The Kingdom proclaimed (chapters 3–7)

In chapter 3 St John the Baptist preaches, "Do penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (3:2), and baptizes Christ, while the Father declares, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (3:17). In chapter 4 Our Lord fasts forty days, overcomes the three temptations and calls His first disciples. Then comes the first discourse, the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5–7): the Beatitudes, the new law that fulfils the old, almsgiving, prayer and fasting done in secret, the Our Father, and the house built upon a rock.

Miracles and the mission of the Twelve (chapters 8–10)

Chapters 8–9 gather ten miracles, among them the leper, the centurion's servant, the calming of the storm and the daughter of Jairus, with Matthew's own calling set in their midst. In the second discourse (chapter 10) Christ names the twelve Apostles, "The first, Simon who is called Peter" (10:2), and sends them out.

The mystery of the Kingdom (chapters 11–13)

As opposition grows, John sends his disciples from prison and Christ calls the weary to Himself (chapter 11); the Pharisees say He casts out devils by Beelzebub (chapter 12). The third discourse (chapter 13) gives seven parables of the kingdom: the sower, the cockle, the mustard seed, the leaven, the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price and the net.

The Church founded on Peter (chapters 14–18)

Christ feeds the five thousand and walks upon the water, and the disciples adore Him: "Indeed thou art the Son of God" (Matthew 14:33). In chapter 15 He rebukes the traditions of the Pharisees, grants the faith of the woman of Chanaan and feeds four thousand. At Caesarea Philippi Peter confesses Him the Christ and receives the keys (chapter 16); six days later comes the Transfiguration (chapter 17). The fourth discourse (chapter 18) is on the life of the Church: humility like a little child, scandal, the lost sheep, correction of the sinner, the power to bind and loose, and forgiveness "till seventy times seven times" (18:22).

The road to Jerusalem (chapters 19–25)

In chapters 19–20 Christ declares marriage indissoluble and counsels poverty and chastity; in chapter 20 He tells the parable of the labourers in the vineyard, foretells His Passion a third time and opens the eyes of two blind men at Jericho. He enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and cleanses the Temple (chapter 21), silences His adversaries (chapter 22), and pronounces the woes upon the scribes and Pharisees (chapter 23). The fifth discourse, on the Mount of Olives (chapters 24–25), foretells the ruin of the Temple and the end of the world, and ends with the ten virgins, the talents and the Last Judgment.

The Passion and Resurrection (chapters 26–28)

Chapters 26–27 tell the betrayal of Judas, the institution of the Holy Eucharist, the agony in Gethsemani, Peter's denials, the trials before Caiphas and Pilate, and the crucifixion, death and burial of Christ. Chapter 28 gives the empty tomb, the appearance to the holy women, and the Great Commission on the mountain in Galilee.

Themes of the Gospel of Matthew and the Catholic reading

Jesus is the Christ of the prophets. No Evangelist quotes the Old Testament as often. The virgin birth fulfils Isaias 7:14; Bethlehem fulfils Micheas 5:2; the return from Egypt fulfils Osee 11:1, "Out of Egypt have I called my son" (2:15). On the Cross Christ prays the opening of Psalm 21 (22): "Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani? that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). Matthew teaches us to read the whole Old Testament as pointing to Christ.

The kingdom of heaven. It begins on earth in the Church, grows like the mustard seed, holds good and bad together like the net until the harvest, and is completed in heaven.

The Church and the primacy of Peter. Matthew alone records the promise, "That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (16:18), and he alone among the Evangelists uses the word "church" (16:18; 18:17). The Vatican Council of 1870 (Pastor Aeternus, ch. 1) grounds the primacy of Peter and his successors on this text, as we explain in Thou Art Peter.

The sacraments. "This is my body" and "this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins" (26:26–28) are among the texts on which the Council of Trent taught the Real Presence (Session XIII) and the sacrifice of the Mass instituted at the Last Supper (Session XXII); see the Holy Eucharist. The command to baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (28:19) gives the form of Baptism and names the Holy Trinity. "What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder" (Matthew 19:6) stands behind Trent's decree on Matrimony (Session XXIV).

Our Lady and St Joseph. Matthew tells the Incarnation through St Joseph, the just man who took Mary as his wife and guarded the Child. He quotes "Behold a virgin shall be with child" as fulfilled in her, and the Fathers read it as Scripture's witness to her virginal conception and birth of the Son of God.

The Last Things. Chapters 24–25 are the fullest teaching in the Gospels on the end of the world and the Judgment, closing on the sentence: "these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting" (Matthew 25:46). We set out this doctrine in The Four Last Things.

The symbol of St Matthew

St Matthew's symbol is a man, often drawn winged like an angel. It is one of the four living creatures of Ezechiel 1:10 and the Apocalypse 4:7, which St Jerome, in the preface to his commentary on Matthew, assigned to the Evangelists: the man to Matthew, because his Gospel begins with the human generation of Christ; the lion to Mark, the ox to Luke and the eagle to John. It is the figure that accompanies St Matthew in the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels.

Famous verses and chapters of Matthew

Matthew 1:23. "Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us" (Matthew 1). In chapter 2 the wise men "found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him" (2:11).

Matthew 5: the Beatitudes. "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land" (Matthew 5:3–4); all eight are explained in The Eight Beatitudes. The chapter ends: "Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect" (5:48).

Matthew 6:9–13: the Lord's Prayer. "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our supersubstantial bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. Amen" (Matthew 6). Its seven petitions are explained in The Our Father.

Matthew 7:7 and 7:12. "Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you", and the Golden Rule: "All things therefore whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them" (Matthew 7).

Matthew 11:28–30. "Come to me, all you that labour, and are burdened, and I will refresh you... For my yoke is sweet and my burden light" (Matthew 11).

Matthew 22:37–39. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matthew 22).

Matthew 26: the Last Supper and Gethsemani. "Take ye, and eat. This is my body" (26:26), and the prayer in the garden: "My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39). The whole Passion is meditated in The Passion of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 28:19–20: the Great Commission. "Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (Matthew 28).

Its place in the canon and the liturgy

Matthew is the first of the four Gospels and of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament in every Christian Bible, Catholic and Protestant alike. St Justin, St Irenaeus and Tatian's harmony all use it in the second century, and it heads the New Testament in the list of St Athanasius. The Council of Trent (Session IV, 1546) names it first: "the four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John". With Mark and Luke it forms the three synoptic Gospels, which follow the same general outline; the Gospel of St John stands apart, and the Acts of the Apostles carry the story on after the Ascension. On the translation these pages follow, see the Douay-Rheims Bible.

The 1962 Roman Missal draws a great many Gospels from Matthew: the Vigil of Christmas (1:18–21), the Epiphany (2:1–12), the Holy Innocents (2:13–18), the First Sunday of Lent (the temptation, 4:1–11), the Second Sunday of Lent (the Transfiguration, 17:1–9), Saints Peter and Paul (16:13–19), All Saints (the Beatitudes, 5:1–12), the Easter Vigil (28:1–7) and the Last Sunday after Pentecost (24:15–35). On Palm Sunday the Passion according to St Matthew is sung. St Matthew's feast is kept on 21 September, with the Gospel of his calling (9:9–13). The day's reading is on our Today's Gospel page, and the feasts on the liturgical calendar.

How to read the Gospel of Matthew

Read a chapter a day and you will finish in four weeks. Watch for the five discourses and the formula that closes each, and for the words "that it might be fulfilled", which send you back to the prophets. Read the Sermon on the Mount slowly and more than once, and keep the Passion for Lent and Holy Week. For commentary, the Fathers are the surest guides: St John Chrysostom's Homilies on Matthew, St Jerome's Commentary on Matthew, the Catena Aurea of St Thomas Aquinas, which gathers the Fathers verse by verse, and in English the notes of Challoner and Haydock. Then go on to the Gospel of St Mark and compare.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote the Gospel of Matthew?

The Gospel of Matthew was written by St Matthew, also called Levi, the publican of Capharnaum whom Christ called to be one of the twelve Apostles (Matthew 9:9). Papias, St Irenaeus, Origen, Eusebius and St Jerome all attest it, and the Pontifical Biblical Commission confirmed it in 1911. Many modern scholars hold that a later, anonymous author wrote it, but Matthew's authorship is the Church's tradition.

When was the Gospel of Matthew written?

Tradition holds that Matthew was the first Gospel written. Ancient writers place it between about AD 40 and the sixties, and the Pontifical Biblical Commission (1911) taught that it was written before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, and most probably before St Paul came to Rome about AD 61. It is the work of an eyewitness of Christ, written within a generation of the Resurrection.

What language was the Gospel of Matthew written in?

The Fathers say Matthew first wrote in "Hebrew", the language of the Jews of Palestine, which most take to be Aramaic. That original is lost. The Church has always used the Greek Gospel, which she holds to be identical in substance with Matthew's work, and St Jerome translated it into Latin for the Vulgate.

How many chapters are in the Gospel of Matthew?

The Gospel of Matthew has 28 chapters, numbered alike in the Douay-Rheims, the Vulgate and other Bibles. The Sermon on the Mount fills chapters 5 to 7, and the Passion chapters 26 and 27. You can read every chapter in Latin and English from the grid on this page, starting with Matthew 1.

Who was the Gospel of Matthew written for?

St Matthew wrote first for Jewish Christians in Palestine, as Origen and St Jerome say. That is why he cites the prophecies so often, speaks of the "kingdom of heaven", and opens with Christ's descent from Abraham and David. His purpose, in the words of the Biblical Commission, was to prove that Jesus is the Messias foretold by the prophets.

What is the main message of the Gospel of Matthew?

Jesus of Nazareth, Son of David and Son of God, is the Christ promised in the Old Testament, and He has founded on Peter the kingdom of heaven, His Church. He gives its law in the Sermon on the Mount and its sacraments in Baptism and the Eucharist, and sends the Apostles to teach all nations. His last words sum it up: "behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world".

What is the symbol of the Gospel of Matthew?

The symbol of St Matthew is a man, often shown with wings. St Jerome gave it to him because his Gospel begins with the human genealogy of Christ. It comes from the four living creatures of Ezechiel 1 and Apocalypse 4; the others are the lion of Mark, the ox of Luke and the eagle of John.

Is the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew part of the Bible?

No. The so-called Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, or Infancy Gospel of Matthew, is a Latin apocryphal work on the childhood of Mary and of Jesus, adapted from the earlier Protoevangelium of James and composed centuries after the Apostles. It was falsely ascribed to St Matthew and was never received into the canon. The only Gospel of Matthew in Scripture is the one in 28 chapters given here.

Read the whole Gospel of St Matthew verse by verse, in the Latin of the Vulgate and the English of the Douay-Rheims, in the Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app.

Sources. Holy Scripture, Douay-Rheims (Challoner) and Latin Vulgate: Matthew 1–28; Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27; Psalm 21; Isaias 7:14; Micheas 5:2; Osee 11:1; Ezechiel 1:10; Apocalypse 4:7. Papias, in Eusebius, Church History III.39. St Irenaeus, Against Heresies III.1. Origen, in Eusebius, Church History VI.25. Eusebius, Church History III.24. St Jerome, On Illustrious Men 3, and Preface to the Commentary on Matthew. St Athanasius, Festal Letter 39. St Augustine, On the Harmony of the Gospels I.2. St John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew. St Thomas Aquinas, Catena Aurea. Council of Trent, Session IV (1546), Decree on the Canonical Scriptures; Sessions XIII (1551), XXII (1562) and XXIV (1563). Vatican Council, Pastor Aeternus (1870), ch. 1. Pontifical Biblical Commission, response on the author, date and historical truth of the Gospel of St Matthew (19 June 1911). Roman Martyrology, 21 September. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913 edition), "Gospel of St. Matthew" and "St. Matthew". Challoner's notes to the Douay-Rheims. Roman Missal (1962) and Roman Breviary.