Have you ever been in a discussion with someone who claims the New Testament manuscripts were copied from one another and were probably written late in the 1st century CE—after the destruction of Jerusalem, or even early in the 2nd century CE? Well, recently I had a discussion with a Jewish acquaintance. I would like to say he is my friend, but I’m afraid he might think I am being presumptuous. Anyway, we were discussing the Synoptic Gospel narratives. He mentioned a number of nuances in Matthew, having to do with different parts of the Hebrew Scriptures, and I told him I never heard of anyone arguing that Matthew intended to make subtle references to those Scriptures he mentioned.
