According to general tradition in the early church, the annotations
of Matthew were written in the vernacular tongue of Palestine,
Syro-Chaldaic, a tradition very probable indeed. {373} But as Greek at
this time was the literary language, the original was soon translated
into this tongue, under the supervision of Matthew himself, about
thirty years after the crucifixion. It may be safely assumed that our
"Gospel According to St. Matthew" is in the main identical with this
original document of the Apostle.
The aim of this gospel is dearly to prove to the Jews that Jesus is the
promised Messiah. It frequently refers to the prophets, refutes the
various Jewish sects, and tries to prepare the Jewish nation for the
acceptance of the Gentiles into the Kingdom of God.