When Was the Gospel of Matthew Written?

Matthew’s gospel is dated by most scholars as coming from the late first century, partly on the assumption that it depends on Mark’s gospel for much of its contents, and therefore had to be written after Mark. It is possible that Matthew wrote after the fall of Jerusalem (Mt 22:7; 24:1). His references to the Church (16:18; 18:17), to the other nation that will possess the kingdom (21:43), and his refined Christology are sometimes invoked as support for a late date of Matthew. But there is a great deal of evidence in Matthew that supports a pre-70 date (on AD 70, see the comments introducing Matthew 24). He referred often to the Sadducees (3:7; 16:1-12; 22:23, 34), although they fade from significance after AD 70. Jerusalem was the center of Jewish opposition to the movement Jesus started, but after 70 that center shifted to Jamnia (western Israel).

The destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 did not come about in the manner presented in Mt 24, making it likely that it was written before that war. Matthew recorded Jesus as enjoining, “leave your offering there before the altar” (5:23-24), which he probably would not have done if no altar remained after AD 70. A similar point could be made related to swearing “by the gold of the temple” (23:16-22) and paying the temple tax (17:24-27) if the temple had been destroyed. These observations are not absolutely conclusive, but taken together support the likelihood that Matthew was written before AD 70, perhaps between the early 40s to mid 60s. For the evidence for a pre-70 composition of Matthew, see Robert H. Gundry, Matthew, 1982, 602–6.