Gday,
Jaywill - you were challenged to provide some information :
So who named the Gospel and what was the date when it was named?
Are you having trouble finding this basic information Jay?
Jawill writes:
Boy am I having trouble. I mean I have to go so far as to get up and walk across the room and look up some information on the Gospel of Matthew.
Then
you crack a joke about how easy it is to find the information.
But then you FAIL AGAIN to provide the information !?
Is this some sort of a joke ?
Jawill writes:
Who named it. I don't know.
So your walk across the room failed utterly?
So you ARE still having trouble answering this basic question.
The first to explicitly name G.Matthew was Irenaeus.
Jawill writes:
Irenaeus (c. 130 - 202 AD) sited it as authentic, meaning he regarded Matthew as the author.
Why do apologists misleadingly give the BIRTH DATE? Irenaeus wrote in the 180s. The very first writer to name the four Gospels - a century and a half after the alleged events.
You note that Irenaeus cited G.Matthew, but cannot seem to admit he was the first to do so by name. Your walk across the room failed in that too.
Jawill writes:
Our record of Matthew having been cited as apostolic liturature between 70 - 130 AD
There is no such record.
No Christian writer refers to G.Matthew by name in this period at all.
80s - Colossians, 1 John, James - NO mention of G.Matthew
90s - Ephesians, 2 Thess., 1 Peter, 1 Clement, Revelation
100s, 110s - Didakhe, Jude, Barnabas
120s - 2,3 John, Apoc.Peter, Secret James, Preach.Peter, Quadratus
130s - 2 Peter, Pastorals, G.Peter, Hermas
There is NOT ONE cite of G.Matthew by any of these writers in the period 70-130 (No, Clement does not cite G.Matthew.)
(Papias does refer to a writing by Matthew, but in Hebrew, not called a Gospel.)
In sum -
the first to cite Matthew as writing our G.Matthew was Irenaeus in the 180s.
Until then it was ANONYMOUS.
Kapyong