When was Matthew's Gospel written and what was happening at the time?

Answer 1

A:The majority of biblical scholars say that Matthew's Gospel was written in the 80s of the first century CE, although Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) says that an allowance of a few years should be allowed before or after this decade. The Gospel is traditionally considered to have been written to a Jewish audience but it is now felt that this was not the case. It was written in Greek, rather than Aramaic or Hebrew, and most Jews would recognise some of the erroneous Old Testament references and cultural errors.

The First Roman-Jewish War had finished catastrophically for the Jews in 70 CE, with the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. Left without a role as priests or religious leaders, the previously dominant Sadducee sect of Judaism was heading for oblivion. Even the Pharisees were uncertain of their future, although this sect would survive to evolve into modern rabbinacal Judaism. Meanwhile Christians still attended the Jewish synagogues, but the two religions were rapidly moving towards a irrevocable breakdown in relations such that Christians would soon be banned from the synagogues. This developing antagonism is evident in Matthew, which is more strident in its criticism of the Jews than was the earlier Mark's Gospel.

Although written in a Greek-speaking milieu, Matthew's Gospel could have been pitched not only to existing Christians but also to Jews of the diaspora and pagan 'God-fearers' who saw Christianity as the natural successor to a dying Judaism.