It was (3) by an apostle who had personal acquaintance with Jesus; whereas our first evangelist is to the last degree dependent upon the confessedly defective story of Mark. Still if we take our Matthew as the last link in the long chain of development, covering perhaps half a century, and including such by-products as the _Gospel according to the Hebrews_ and the _Gospel of the Nazarenes_, we may obtain a welcome light upon the environment out of which has come down the work which an able scholar justly declared, "the most important book ever written, the Gospel according to Matthew." The language in which it was written was alone sufficient to place the Greek Matthew beyond all possible competition in the larger world from Aramaic rivals. But its comprehensiveness and catholicity still further helped it to the position which it soon attained as the most widely used of all the gospels. Matthew is not only in its whole structure a composite gospel, but shows in high degree the catholicizing tendency of the times. Just as it frankly adopts the Roman-Petrine narrative of Mark with slightest possible modification, so also it places in Peter's hand with equal frankness the primacy in apostolic succession. Almost the only additions it makes to Mark's account of the public ministry are the story of Peter's walking on the sea (xiv. 28-33), and his payment of the temple tribute for Christ and himself with the coin from the fish's mouth (xvii. 24-27). The latter story introduces the chapter on the exercise of rulership in "the church" (ch. xviii.), beginning with the disciples' question: "Who _then_ is greatest in the kingdom?" Peter is again in it the one salient figure (xviii. 21). An equally important addition, connected with xviii. 17 f. is the famous committal to Peter of the power of the keys, with the declaration making him for his confession the 'Rock' foundation of "the church." This addition to Mark's story of the rebuke of Peter at Cæsarea Philippi, is one which decidedly alters its bearing, and seems even to borrow the very language of Gal. i. 16 f. in order to exalt the apostleship of Peter. In fact, the Roman gospel and the Palestinian almost reverse the rôles we should expect Peter to play in each. Matthew alone makes Peter "the first" (x. 2), while Mark seems to take special pains to record rebukes of the twelve and the brethren of the Lord, and especially the rebukes called down upon themselves by Peter, or Peter and John.