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In his ICC commentary on the Gospel of Matthew and an overlooked essay from 2005, Dale Allison argued that the opening phrase of Matthew’s Gospel should be translated as “the book of the genesis of Jesus Christ.” The present essay reinforces Allison’s prior arguments and also brings them to bear upon two recent issues in critical study of the Gospels: (1) the significance of manuscripts in the transmission of the early Jesus tradition; and (2) when early followers of Jesus first conceptualized “gospel” as a written document.