Who was the author of the Gospel of Matthew?

Unfortunately, authorship of the Gospel of Matthew remains a mystery. Traditionally, it is believed to have been written by one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, by the name of Matthew (or Levi) of Capernaum.

There are some factors which complicate the traditional belief that Matthew of Capernaum authored the Gospel bearing his name. The Gospel of Matthew is heavily drawn from the Gospel of Mark.If Matthew were indeed the author and writing...

Unfortunately, authorship of the Gospel of Matthew remains a mystery. Traditionally, it is believed to have been written by one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, by the name of Matthew (or Levi) of Capernaum.

There are some factors which complicate the traditional belief that Matthew of Capernaum authored the Gospel bearing his name. The Gospel of Matthew is heavily drawn from the Gospel of Mark. If Matthew were indeed the author and writing down his eyewitness account, he would not need to reference Mark. It is also believed in tradition that Matthew was written in Hebrew so as to be accessible to the Jewish people. The high degree of consistency of the language between Mark and Matthew implies that both were written in Greek, and that Matthew was not originally written in Hebrew.

The best guess for the authorship of Matthew is a Jewish man who lived and wrote sometime between 80 and 90 AD. Scholars believe the author was Jewish based on several deferential terms used in Matthew that are common to Jewish texts--like the intentional avoidance of using the name of God.