Gospel According to Matthew, or Matthew is the first book of the New Testament and one of the three synoptic gospels. It tell how the Messiah, Jesus, rejected by Israel, finally sends the disciples to preach the gospel to the whole world. Most scholars believe it was composed between AD 80-90 AD. The anonymous author was probably a male Jew, standing on the margin between traditional and non-traditional Jewish values, and familiar with technical legal aspects of scripture being debated in his time.