A:
There are two principal reasons that Matthew's Gospel has traditionally been thought to have been written for Jews. The first is the traditional attribution of this originally anonymous gospel to the disciple Matthew and the second is its extensive use of references from the Old Testament .
Modern New Testament scholars now say that the Gospel could not have been written by an eyewitness to the events portrayed, which rules out Matthew as the real author. They also point to clear evidence that the Gospel was written in Greek, meaning that it was written for a Greek-speaking audience. Its Old Testament references were taken from the Septuagint and include errors that Palestinian Jews would hve quickly recognised. Matthew's Gospel may perhaps have been written for Jews of the Greek-speaking diaspora, but not for Palestinian Jews.
Matthew includes quite a number of Old Testament prophecies which would have been familiar to the Jews, to demonstrate Jesus as their Messiah. He also had Jesus' genealogy and showed Jesus' teaching as that of a Jewish rabbi. He also referred to a number of Jewish customs. None of these things he gave much explanation to since it seems since he assumed that the Jews would understand what he was referring to. If he had been writing to another audience he would either not have had such things or would have needed to provide more explanation.
The book of Matthew was written by one Jew, Matthew.
Matthew
Matthews Gospel was written by Matthew [also called Levi] for fellow Jews. His account highlights many of the Hebrew messianic prophecies that were fulfilled in connection with Jesus.
The gospels were written for early Christian communities in the first century to share the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They were intended to instruct, inspire, and strengthen the faith of believers and to provide a written record of Jesus's ministry for future generations.
John Shelby Spong says the author was a Jew familiar with midrash storytelling, but his primary language must have been Greek. Hershel Shanks believes Matthew was probably written for a Christian community in Antioch. This community could of course have consisted of former Jews.If indeed Matthew's Gospel was written for Jews, they could only have been Greek-speaking Jews of the diaspora, unfamiliar with the Hebrew scriptures, as Matthew only refers to the Septuagint Old Testament and even relies on translation errors in the Septuagint.
Matthew 27:37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Matthew 27:37 And <kai> set up <epitithemi> over <epano> his <autos> head <kephale> his <autos> accusation <aitia> written <grapho>, THIS <houtos> IS <esti> JESUS <Iesous> THE KING <basileus> OF THE JEWS <Ioudaios>. It won't let me put it in using Hebrew letters. Sorry!
the Jews No, they were NOT the Jews. They were the heathen, the pagan, the non-Israelites.
Matthew McCaslin has written: 'Matthew McCaslin'
Matthew Tickle has written: 'Matthew Tickle' 'Idyll'
"Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS."- Matthew 27:36-38
A:It is easy to believe that because the book is known as Matthew's Gospel, it must have been written by the disciple Matthew and therefore written by a Jew to his fellow Jews in Palestine. That has been th Christian consensus for centuries. However, although this disciple would have known Aramaic and, possibly Hebrew, Matthew was written in Greek, a strange choice if he wanted to communicate with Palestinian Jews for whom Greek was a foreign language that many would not even have understood, as well as being a symbol of foreign domination. In fact, the attribution to Matthew, and therefore the name 'Matthew's Gospel', comes from the second century. Before then, the gospel was unsigned and anonymous. So we do not know who the author was, nor to whom the author was writing.
Matthew Inglis has written: 'Field'
Matthew Weiss has written: 'Hesh'