Is there no continuous chain of authority for the Gospel according to Matthew?

In his epistle of AD 107, Ignatius quoted from this Gospel account seven times. He mentioned Christ's conception in the Virgin Mary and the appearance of the natal star that guided the wiseman to Bethlehem. This same Ignatius was a contemporary of the apostles, outliving the Apostle John by seven years.

Polycarp, a disciple of John the Apostle, quotes this Gospel account five times in his epistles. Also, many renowned Christian scholars of the first century testified that the Gospel of Christ according to Matthew indeed came from Matthew.

In the second century, Tatian wrote The Diatesseron or "The Harmony of the Four Gospels." This work was quoted by Hegesippus, a scholar who wrote profusely. He authored a Church history in which we find an account of Herod similar to what appears in Matthew's account of the Gospel. Justin Martyr (AD 140) often quotes from the Gospel according to Matthew and in his works he mentions verses from the prophecies of Isaiah, Micah and Jeremiah, just as Matthew does. Ireanues, Athenagoras, Theophilus of Antioch, Clement of Alexandria and others also quote from this Gospel account.

In the third century, the Gospel according to Matthew was mentioned by Tertullian, Julius, Origen and Amonius, author of The Harmony of the Two Gospels.

In the fourth century, Festus questioned the authorship of the Gospel according to Matthew, owing to chapter nine, verse nine: "Then as Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, 'Fool Me.' And he arose and followed Him." Festus believed that if Matthew had really written the Gospel account attributed to him, he would have written of himself in the first person, saying "I," and not in the third person, say "he." However, writing about oneself in the third person was a custom among ancient authors. Julius Caesar, Josephus, Moses and Xenophon all referred to themselves in this way in their writings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNQ-Byu8klI

Muslims needs to believe in Jonah 94.

John 1:2, He was with God in the beginning.

When some contemporary Muslim interpreters heard that Christ is the Word of God, they objected saying: "Christ is a word among other words of God." They said, "here means a command: ie., Christ was born 'by God's command." This interpretation is a gross and intentional misleading and is clearly wrong in form and in essence, which is something that confirms the wisdom of the Qur'an verse that urges their prophet, saying: "If thou art in doubt... ask those who recited the Book before you (I.E., the Christians)." (Jonah 94). Oh, that the Muslims follow the Qur'an's advice, instead of attacking the Bible and the people of the Bible and they should learn from them the real meaning of the spiritual issues. When you read (The Women 171), you will find that Jesus is "His Word", and you will understand that the statement in House of Imran 45 did not come to contradict the principles of the verse in Women 171. Moreover, the statement in that verse did not focus on a process of "commanding the birth" but rather, it focused on the very identity of the person of Christ. The Qur'an must have expressed it in that fashion in order to stress the fact that Christ is God's Word. Christ is distinguished in the Qur'an above all the prophets, not only by His great and mighty works, which no other man could even come close to accomplishing, but also by the sublime distinctives that were given exclusively to Him. Some of those attributes were, "The Word of God" and "the Spirit of God" (Women 171, House of Imran 45). If Christ is The Word of God and His spirit, therefore, He is divine and eternal, for the Spirit of God and His Word are integral parts of God  and cannot be separated from Him. The Spirit of God and His Word are of His very Self; therefore, Christ is by necessity of the Godhead, from the beginning.

Great YouTube Video, Click here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEmJfuTAvFo&t=907s

False charges against the Gospel of Christ, my Muslim friend

According to Matthew

Objection:
The Gospel of Christ According to Matthew was written in Hebrew; but it was lost,owing to corruption at the hands of Christian sectarians. The present copy is a translation and the name of the translator is unknown.

Response:
This gospel record was originally written in Greek, the predominant language during the time of Christ. Since it was God's intention to proclaim His will and purpose to mankind, it is unreasonable that the Bible would have been written in an uncommon language, lest its intended usefulness should be diminished.

Matthew was a tax collector before he was called to apostleship. Being employed in this profession, it was necessary for him to know Greek, the most common language of the day. All the apostles and disciples of Christ wrote their letters in Greek for their readers, regardless of whether they were of Jewish or Gentile background.

Many of the expressions found in this Gospel account are harmonious with those found in the other three Gospel records. The idea that Matthew wrote this Gospel account in Hebrew most likely stemmed from a statement in a letter which Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, wrote to Eusebius in AD 116: "Matthew wrote his gospel in the Hebrew tongue."

Papias did not mention that he personally saw Matthew's  account of the Gospel in Hebrew but rather that the Greek version circulated among the people before his time. Thus, the statement that the Gospel of Christ according to Matthew was written in Hebrew is mere conjecture, as opposed to the proof that shows it was written in Greek. Moreover, the passage in this Gospel account, quoted from the Old Testament, were taken from the Greek Septuagint edition. Had the Gospel According to Matthew been written in Hebrew, as alleged by the objector, the quoted passages from the Old Testament would also have been taken from the Hebrew.

Though Matthew's account of the Gospel was written in Greek, we could allow the possibility of its being written in Hebrew as well.  The sacred, inspired books do not lose their meaning and beauty when translated into other languages. The historian Josephus wrote his Wars of the Jews both in Hebrew and Greek to widen its appeal. In any case, this Gospel record was in circulation among Christians not too long after Christ's ascension into heaven.

In AD 178, Irenaeus stated that Matthew also published a Gospel account in Hebrew, for the convenience of the Jews; thus, there was a Greek copy, too.

In AD 230, Origen said: "Regardless the four Gospels which the whole Church under heaven clings to vigorously, I have learned from reliable authority that the first one was given by inspiration to Matthew who was a tax collector before he became a follower of Jesus Christ. He published it for the believers in Judea in Hebrew. Those words indicate that his account of the Gospel of Christ was available in Greek for the benefit of all Christians. Then it was made available to the Jews in Hebrew.

https://www.answering-islam.org/

Christ is called "His Word" in The Women 171, my Muslim Friend

John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

My Muslim friend, I do not have to believe in the Qur'an but you have to believe in the Bible.

You may think that I am making up ideas but know this.

Surah 4:136 reads: O ye who believe? believe in Allah and His Messenger and the scripture which He hath sent to His Messenger and the scripture which He sent to those before (him). Any who denieth Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers and the Day of Judgement hath gone far, far astray."

Surah 2:136, "Say ye: 'We believe in Allah and the revelation given to us and to Abraham, Ishma'il, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes and that given to Moses and Jesus and that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord we make no difference between one and another of them; and we bow to Allah (in Islam)."

I will now talk about John 1:1. The Islamic philosophy came to confirm the eternality of the Word. El-Mu'tazila (The Muslim isolationists) denied the eternality of God's Word, on the ground that God alone existed from eternity before time and no other existence should share in the eternality of God.

In other words, they could not accept the fact that God's Word is eternal. On the other hand, the Asharite group, whose philosophy has been commonly accepted among Muslims, answered the Mu'tazila's charges, branding them as a loathsome cult and heresy, and insisting that the Word of God is eternal and that it is the expression of the very Self of God. Then the Asharities supported their case with a very convicting argument. 

They said that if the Word of God was created, it would mean that God is changeable; for in creating the Word, He would be considered going on for a while without the Word, and then He reached a point in eternity where He created the Word. Thus, He became a God with the Word. Such a case necessitates a change in the unchanging God. It is by necessity and definition that God does not change; consequently, His Word was with Him from the beginning.

According to John Chapter one, Christ is God's Word; also the Qur'an tell us in (Women 171) that Christ is "His Word". Because Christ is the Word of God; it is a must that Christ, the Word of God, should coexist with God, from the beginning, not as an independent being but as the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, in the One God.

Thus, we find that the main Islamic philosophy introduced the greatest intellectual proof for the eternality and divinity of Christ, who is the Word of God.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytyntyd2fTw

The Necessity of Inspiration for the Historical Books, my Muslim Friend

Objection:

The historical books, such as the Gospel of Christ according to Matthew and the Acts of the Apostles, could be written without inspiration. It would not harm Christianity if these were like any other literature.

Response:

The historical books of Scripture were written through divine inspiration. Reading from both the Old and New Testament is of spiritual merit. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,  so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
Jesus Himself quoted from these books; this shows us that He regarded them as divinely inspired and trustworthy.

The aim of the historical books is not only to show us a record of the experience of godly men and women but also to reveal the grace of God to us. The pages of Holy Writ reflect God's love and care for us, His kindness and greatness, His angels and the themes they long to understand, such as redemption.

God gave us the historical books to function as a double-edged sword, exposing the secrets of the human heart and soul. These annals contain the history of the world before it was populated and provide us with knowledge of the unseen world.

These writings indicate that angels take part in the lives of believers on earth and that they will do likewise in heaven. Writers, theologians, poets, philosophers and sages did not describe angels, but the Bible tells us that they are in heaven and on earth, worshiping God in His presence, serving men on earth and helping believers in hardships. The Bible describe the work of angels, as it relates to mercy and judgement and from them we know that angels will accompany Jesus Christ at His second coming from heaven on the Day of Judgement, gathering believers from all around the earth.

The Bible reveal the role of Christ in the Old Testament sacrifices, the exodus from Egypt, the pillar of fire, the manna, and the rock from which Moses provided water for the children of Israel (1 Corinthians 10:4).

Thus we can see that secular historical books bear no resemblance to the historical holy books. The Bible necessitate divine inspiration in matters that are beyond the ability of human beings to explain, such as the creation of the world and all it contains, the Final Judgement and the shrouded mysteries of the human heart. Divine inspiration is also essential in describing Christ-His characteristics, merits, love sacrifice, death, resurrection and grace.

It is indispensable that the historical books of the Bible be inspired, for human beings are fallible and often fall into error.

https://www.answering-islam.org/
     

My Muslim friend, the coming of the Righteous Judge

The Lord Jesus told us, in Chapter 14 of the book of John that He will come back again, to reward everyone according to his work: the believer will inherit heaven and the sinner will be in the fire of hell. Then the prophet of Islam came to confirm that fact when he said: "As soon as the last hour comes, the Son of Mary will come back as the Righteous Judge (of the living and the dead)."

Who is really the final Judge of the living and the dead? Who is the Righteous Judge? Mohammad told us, that Christ will come again to judge the world, but he did not tell us how He will be coming back; simply because the Bible told us how. The Bible tells us that the coming of the Judge:

Jude 1:14 says, "Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones"

Then, the Lord gave a frightening description of that day in Matthew 24:29-31.
Matthew 24:29-31 says, "Immediately after the distress of those day“‘the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

The statement quoted above goes hand in hand with the statement made by Christ, to His disciples, as He declared to them that He is the Judge of the world in John 5:22. 

John 5:22 says, "Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son."

Then, the Judge tells us, on what basis He will use to judge the world in John 12:48.

John 12:48 says, "There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day."

In other words, every person that has accepted Christ as personal Savior and obeyed His Word becomes one of Christ's saints; and all those who have rejected Him, and refused to accept His call, to become His followers, they will confront a frightening judgement, ending in the fire of hell. 

Matthew 13:40-42 says: "As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

The most important question, at this time, is: Where do you think, you will spend your eternity? But please remember, without that Righteous Judge on your side, your fate will be miserable. But He who paid your debt to redeem you with the grand Sacrifice, of Himself, He is ready to give you the privilege of becoming a child of God.

John 1:12 says, "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."

Now then, if you want to guarantee your eternity, you should believe on Christ, today.

The Self-Incriminating Contents of the Apocryphal Books part three

Some events mentioned in the forged books did not actually occur until after the days of their alleged authors; thus, the men to whom they are attributed could not have written them. In the Gospel of Nicodemus, the Jew greet Pilate with the expression, "your excellency," even though they were were not familiar with form of address, for it was not vogue at the time. We also read about Christ making the sign of the cross on Adam and all the saints before He rescued them from hell, despite the fact that the sign of the cross was not widespread until the fourth century.

The style of the forged writings is the strongest proof of their unreliability. For instance, names cited in the Gospel of Nicodemus, purporting to be Jewish, are in fact Greek or Roman; and the overall language is Latin, not Greek which is the language of inspiration. Also, the letters attributed to Paul lack the anointing of divine apostolic, words. At the beginning of The Letter to Seneca, for instance, we read: "I commit you to God's keeping, O splendid master."  Such phraseology is foreign to the style of the apostles and was not even used until long after their time.

There are certain matters attributed to the apostles and disciples that conflict with history. In the alleged correspondence between the Apostle Paul and Seneca, it is mentioned that Paul was in Rome. Then it goes on to say he was at a place he never visited, and then there is a complaint of his absence. In the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth letters, the names of the Roman consuls are misquoted. In one incident, Paul warns Seneca not to mention the Christian religion in front of Nero, and this of course contradicts his religious zeal. In the Gospel of Nicodemus, we read that Pilate mentioned the history of the children of Israel; yet in another he is said to have been ignorant of it.

The accuracy of the names of people and places in the New Testament is confirmed by contemporary historians, be they Christian or pagan. This makes the soundness of the Gospel record evident. The contents of the spurious gospels, on the contrary, are at variance with the writing of contemporary authors and these errors prove the falsity of their claims.

The Christian religion exhorts its adherents to cling to sound doctrine. As was quoted earlier, the Apostle Paul and John said: "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed....For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book" (Galatians 1:8, Revelation 22:18-19). Indeed, the presence of such strict commands in the Bible makes it unthinkable that anyone would dare to add or subtract anything from its pages. Christians were even forbidden to accept oral teachings unless these were documented in writing and substantiated by remarkable signs.

https://www.answering-islam.org/