Saints' Discussion Forums

It was, surprisingly, the devil in Matthew 4:3
And the tempter coming said to him: If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

The second is by two demonaics
Matthew 8:28,29
28And when he was come on the other side of the water, into the country of the Gerasens, there met him two that were possessed with devils, coming out of the sepulchres, exceeding fierce, so that none could pass by that way. 29And behold they cried out, saying: What have we to do with thee, Jesus Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

And third in Matthew, but the first time for non demons to acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God is when Jesus walks on water and calms the raging sees
Matthew 14
22And forthwith Jesus obliged his disciples to go up into the boat, and to go before him over the water, till he dismissed the people. 23And having dismissed the multitude, he went into a mountain alone to pray. And when it was evening, he was there alone. 24But the boat in the midst of the sea was tossed with the waves: for the wind was contrary. 25And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking upon the sea. 26And they seeing him walk upon the sea, were troubled, saying: It is an apparition. And they cried out for fear. 27And immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying: Be of good heart: it is I, fear ye not.

28And Peter making answer, said: Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee upon the waters. 29And he said: Come. And Peter going down out of the boat, walked upon the water to come to Jesus. 30But seeing the wind strong, he was afraid: and when he began to sink, he cried out, saying: Lord, save me. 31And immediately Jesus stretching forth his hand took hold of him, and said to him: O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt? 32And when they were come up into the boat, the wind ceased. 33And they that were in the boat came and adored him, saying: Indeed thou art the Son of God.

Great thread, thanks.  In NAB, Nathaniel is the second, just before Cana wedding (Jn 1: 49) ...Rabbi, You are the Son of God...

If we count the Evangelist himself then it is
Matthew 1:1
THE book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Otherwise it seems like Peter
Matthew 16:16
Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.

Despite the traditional view that the Gospel of Matthew was written before Mark, NAB and other sources now seem mostly to concur that Mark was written about 10 years sooner.  Mark was quite direct in his opening line that Jesus was Son of God, in contrast to Matthew's opening cited in the previous post by Benedict.  Matthew seems to seek favor with a primarily Jewish readership.

Saint Irenaeus says that Matthew wrote the his gospel first.
Against Herest Book 3 chapter 1 excerpt
"For, after our Lord rose from the dead, [the apostles] were invested with power from on high when the Holy Spirit came down [upon them], were filled from all [His gifts], and had perfect knowledge: they departed to the ends of the earth, preaching the glad tidings of the good things [sent] from God to us, and proclaiming the peace of heaven to men, who indeed do all equally and individually possess the Gospel of God. Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews(3) in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of Paul, recorded in a book the Gospel preached by him. Afterwards, John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia."

I think it is a fascinating question which Gospel was probably written first, and why the Evangelists apparently waited to write until most of the Apostles were dead, or perhaps out of touch with each other.  My Foley Saint of the Day book says Mark wrote before Matthew, but does not provide a basis for his belief.  My belief is based mainly on the probability that Matthew seems much more likely to have added teachings to Mark, rather than Mark having deleted teachings by Matthew.   Foley makes the interesting comment that only four passages in Mark are not included in at least one other Gospel.

I think it is safer to say that Matthew is was the first Gospel written because Matthew was the only literate man among the Apostles. Mark is the preaching of Peter dictated to Mark. Luke committed to writing the gospel revealed to Paul which he preached. John is the testimony of John written after the others to supplement the testimony of the other three gospels. Saint Bonaventure said that if John had wanted he could have written a gospel that contained every part of all the other three gospels but that he chose to commit only what was missing to writing as not to be redundant.