In an article published in NTS 44, 45-58 (1998), Mark Goodacre argues in favor of the writer of Matthew having exhibited "editorial fatigue" while forming his gospel out of the framework of the Gospel of Mark. The idea of "editorial fatigue" is actually not far-fetched, since, as defined, it represents one of many different ways in which an editor's (or redactor's) alterations to the text he is working from leaves clues behind that he had made one or more changes. Goodacre's definition is made clear in his statement, "Editorial fatigue is a phenomenon that will inevitably occur when a writer is heavily dependent on another's work. In telling the same story as his predecessor, a writer makes changes in the early stages which he is unable to sustain throughout." The lack of sustaining the change, which is considered to be a change characteristic of the redactor, then shows up later as an inconsistency or lack of logic after the redactor has continued utilizing his source without making a further change that would eliminate the inconsistency.

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