| Is the Bible God's Word? | Page 26 |
CHAPTER SIX
THE BOOK CHRISTENED
"THE NEW TESTAMENT"
WHY "ACCORDING TO?"
What about the so-called New Testament?* Why does every Gospel begin with the introduction - ACCORDING TO ... ACCORDING TO ... (See page 27). Why "according to?" Because not a single one of the vaunted four thousand copies extant carries its author's autograph! Hence the supposition "according to!" Even the internal evidence proves that Matthew was not the author of the first Gospel which bears his name.
| "And as Jesus passed forth thence, HE (JESUS) saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and HE (JESUS) saith unto HIM(MATTHEW), follow ME (JESUS) And HE(MATTHEW) arose, and follwed HIM (JESUS)." (Matthew 9:9) |
Without any stretch of the imagination, one can see that the "He's" and the "Him's" of the above narration do not refer to Jesus or Matthew as its author, but some third person writing what he saw and heard - a hearsay account. If we cannot even attribute this "book of dreams" (as the first Gospel is also described) to the disciple Matthew, how can we accept it as the Word of God? We are not alone in this discovery that Matthew did not write the "Gospel according to St. Matthew" and that it was written by some anonymous hand. J. B. Phillips concurs with us in our findings. He is the paid servant of the Anglican Church, a prebendary of the Chichester Cathedral, England. He would have no reason to lie or betray to the detriment of the official view of his Church! Refer to his introduction to the "Gospel of St. Matthew" (reproduced here on page 28). Phillips has this to say about its authorship.
"EARLY TRADITION ASCRIBED THIS GOSPEL TO THE APOSTLE MATTHEW, BUT SCHOLARS NOWADAYS ALMOST ALL REJECT THIS VIEW." In other words, St Matthew did not
(continued on page 29). |