The Pharisees asked them, Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners? On hearing this, Jesus said to them, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Because Matthews original purpose was to prove to his Jewish brethren that Jesus is their Mashiach/Messiah, he included in his Gospel nine proof texts from the Old Testament which Jesus fulfilledMatthew 1:22,23; 2:15; 2:17,18; 2:23; 4:14-16; 8:17; 12:17-21; 13:35; 27:9,10. 16:18) Mark and Luke were probably stunned by Jesus inclusion of a hated tax collector in His Twelve. Follow me, he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. Band: Evangelien und Verwandtes. In Matthew's parabolic aside, the wisest advice Pilate got that day -- our Good Friday -- was from his wife: "Have nothing to do with that innocent man" (27:19). praef. ill. 3). [20], Krzinger and Gundry re-read the Papian fragment through the lens of rhetorical categories. Calling of St. Matthew by Alexandre Bida, 1875. [31] Warren Carter, Matthew: Storyteller, Interpreter, Evangelist (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2004), 17. Jesus believed that he had the same right to reassign a person's nameand therefore a person's life calling and destiny" (Cunningham). Excessive. Pet. Baum, Ein aramischer Urmatthus, 26364. Luke 6:12-26. The account of the sinful woman at the well in John 4 is a good example as is the woman caught in adultery in John 8 or even Jesus calling Levi (Matthew) to join His entourage and dining with sinners and tax collectors in Matthew 9. T/F, 4. Many think that just as Simon was named Peter (the rock) by the Lord, Levi was likewise renamed Matthew (the gift of God) by Jesus. R. McL. Christoph Markschies und Jens Schrter (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck 2012), 62354. Therefore, commentators often appeal to Matthew 9:9 and 10:3 as evidence that the Apostle Matthew was capable of composing either the Greek text of the first canonical Gospel or one of the literary sources incorporated into it. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners., CLICK HERE for Jesus and the Pharisees article. Both Eusebius and Epiphanius missed Irenaeuss point that schismatics rejected the fourfold Gospel canon and selected one of the four Gospels, but their doctrines were refuted by the very Gospels that they privileged. though this example differs slightly from Matthew 9:9 inasmuch as the woman is left unnamed. But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Matthew 9:9-13, Matthew is the ONLY one of the Gospel writers who uses his changed name from Levi to Matthew. In the Christian Bible, he was cited as one of the Jesus' apostles. nor any utilization of the first-person voice to present Matthews perspective on the unfolding events (contra Acts 16:1017; 20:515; 21:118; 27:137; 28:116; Gos. John P. Meier even entertains the option that the evangelist wanted to replace Levi with any of the apostles and Matthew was chosen at random for this aim. This writer will explore what the ancient writers who were closer in time to Matthew had to say about the language in which Matthew was originally written: Matthew also issued a written gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3:1 c.175-185 A.D. The first (Gospel) is written according to Matthew, the same that was once a tax collector, but afterwards an emissary of Yeshua the Messiah, who having published it for the Jewish believers, wrote it in Hebrew. Origen circa 210 CE, quoted by Eusebius, Eccl. Impossible!"[3]. Rather, he plainly states, So Matthew composed the oracles in the Hebrew language and each person interpreted them as best he could (in Eusebius, At first sight, this description seems like a poor match for the extant text entitled the. Indeed, Levi is Israel's priestly tribe, as stated in the Bible: "The priests the Levites the priests the Levites the priests the Levites" (Deuteronomy 17:9, 17:18, 18:1). Perhaps they did so because Levis call narrative closely resembled the summons of the first four apostles to discipleship in Mark 1:1620 and Alpheus was already remembered as the father of one of the apostles in Mark 3:18. Mark 16:1),[11] though this example differs slightly from Matthew 9:9 inasmuch as the woman is left unnamed. There were what the Jews called publicans aka tax collectors like Matthew who collected taxes for customs or tolls on imports, exports, and merchants who came to buy or sell in Israel. Zavada, Jack. [28] On the contrary, there are cases when dialektos is translated as a language even when it is not preceded by an article (e.g., Philo, Mos. [13] The thesis that the first canonical Gospel was published under the name of a pseudonym is defended by George D. Kilpatrick, The Origins of the Gospel according to St. Matthew (Oxford: Clarendon, 1946), 13839. The Romans were their enemies. In both instances, certain copyists of Marks Gospel were unaware of the conflation of Levi with Matthew in Matthew 9:9 and 10:3, yet still turned the character in Mark 2:14 into an apostle. 29-30) Krzinger and Gundry insist that, Krzinger enlists Irenaeus in support of his reading of Papias, despite the fact that Irenaeus used the article when affirming that Matthew wrote to the Hebrews in their, Hence, Krzinger identifies the each one (. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Matthew, McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia - Biography of Matthew, Catholic Online - Biography of St. Matthew, Catholic Information Network - St. Matthew Apostle and Evangelist. Perhaps most plain is the calling of the disciple Matthew, also known as Levi the tax collector. T/F. Some scholars equate Matthews oracles with the hypothetical sources Q or M supposedly underlying the double tradition shared by Matthew and Luke and the singly attested traditions in Matthews Gospel respectively. 135). Indeed, Papias commented on a story about the Lords encounter with a condemned woman that Eusebius located in this Gospel (cf. [23] They render the verb hermeneuein as meaning to mediate or to interpret rather than to translate.[24] Hence, Krzinger identifies the each one (hekastos) who interpreted according to their ability as the evangelists conveying oral Jesus traditions in a new literary medium;[25] Gundry takes the referent to be the expositors who expounded on Matthews text. Hence, Eusebius corrected Irenaeus by substituting the Gospel according to the Hebrews as the Ebionitess preferred Gospel (h.e. Jesus was very popular in the Capernaum area where He and Levi lived and it is sure Levi had seen and heard the Nazarene. Teilband 1, ed. The other Eleven were ordinary men. Teilband 1, ed. Even Jesus acknowledges the hatred people had for tax collectors: " If they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector" (Matthew 18:17). (vv. Maybe Jesus had seen Levi often as he sat in his chair with his table, papyrus, quill and ink made from carbon (soot or lampblack), water and gum arabic, a natural gum from the acacia tree used to control the inks viscosity when applied to the papyrus. Caseys efforts have been critiqued by Peter M. Head and P. J. Williams, Q Review TB 54.1 (2003): 13144. He was thirty-one years old and married and had four children. Papiass notice that Matthew addressed a Palestinian Jewish audience in their own vernacular language (i.e., Aramaic) was repeated in subsequent Patristic literature (e.g., Irenaeus, As for Jerome, he boasted that he translated the, The majority position among the experts is that the fragments Jerome inherited from the Nazarenes do not derive from the. The most natural reading is that a language was meant by the combination of the noun. [38] For the latter view, see France, Evangelist and Teacher, 64-66; Bauckham, Eyewitnesses, 224. James son of Alphaeus is traditionally identified as James the Less and James the brother of Jesus. The meaning in Hebrew of the word day always means a 24 hour period of time. Gundry takes the referent to be the expositors who expounded on Matthews text. Of course, their hippy-dippy ways are . [45] Luomanen, Jewish-Christian Sects, 100101; Kok, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 41; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 47, 47n.28. People had to pay taxes to the *Romans. Th. Why is Matthew called Levi? [2] B. See W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann, Matthew, AB (Doubleday: New York, 1971), CLXXVIII. This is not a solitary occurrence within Matthews Gospel: the evangelist inserted the mother of the sons of Zebedee into one pericope (Matt 20:20; cf. [6] Tal Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity: Part I: Palestine 330 BCE 200 CE, TSAJ 91 (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002). Fellow citizens considered him a social outcast who was a traitor to their nation. Levi - who the Bible tells us was also named Matthew - was a Jew and a tax collector. 18) or Origen (cf. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. This could be a good possibility for the changing of the names. Watchthe video below. Unlike the modern deductions about Matthews level of literacy, Papias did not presuppose Matthews facility in Greek. Meier, The Vision of Matthew, 24; Luz, Matthew 820, 32, 32n.14. But Levis guests were of his social ilksinners and other tax collectors.The Pharisees (we get our word pharisaical meaning self-righteous; hypocritical from this sect in ancient Judaism) were always watching whatever Jesus did and said and they followed him to Levis house and were appalled to see Him eating and talking with tax collectors and sinners.Several of Jesus other disciples were near. The Gospel According to Matthew consequently emphasizes Christ's fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies (5:17) and his role as a new lawgiver whose divine mission was confirmed by repeated miracles. He was a tax collector who was sitting at his booth. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?, On hearing this, Jesus said to them, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. When Jesus called Levi, Jesus never told him, "Repent, and follow Me." Jesus only said, "Follow Me." Jesus sought out someone like Levi, who was in need of God's mercy and helped him to make a decision to follow Jesus; that is to turn to God. He followed Jesus to his death. 5.10.3; Clement, in h.e. All of the harsh and disapproving things He could have or should have said to Matthew would have been justified as far as the culture around them was concerned. Vir. Based on Papiass title. Mark 3:18). The debate over the authorship of Matthews Gospel usually focuses on the replacement of Levi, the son of Alphaeus, with Matthew (Matt 9:9; contra Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27) and the addition of the descriptor the toll collector after Matthews name (Matt 10:3; contra Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13). 30.3.7; 30.13.214.4), was the Gospel according to the Hebrews, though Epiphanius derided it as the Ebionites mutilation of Matthews Gospel. There must have been at least 15-20 people eating in Levis spacious home. Matthew, the Apostle of Yahshua (Popularly known as Jesus Christ) is best known as the publican or tax collector. [24] Krzinger, Papias, 1516; Gundry, Matthew, 619; idem, Pre-Papian Tradition, 6162, 67. Christoph Markschies und Jens Schrter (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck 2012), 6089; Kok, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 5253; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 181. Therefore, commentators often appeal to Matthew 9:9 and 10:3 as evidence that the Apostle Matthew was capable of composing either the Greek text of the first canonical Gospel or one of the literary sources incorporated into it. Updates? [19] Josef Krzinger, Papias von Hierapolis und die Evangelien die Neuen Testaments (Regensberg: Pustet, 1983), 10-11, 4445; Gundry, Matthew, 614; idem, The Apostolically Johannine Pre-Papian Tradition Concerning the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, in The Old is Better: New Testament Essays in Support of Traditional Interpretations, WUNT 178 (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005), 56; cf. [1] Regardless of how this name change is explained, this toll collector may have been trained in accounting and documenting records and may have been functionally bilingual or trilingual in order to converse with travellers moving between the territories of Philip and Antipas. Levi had to keep very accurate records. Levi was happy to accept! In the late '60s, he runs a musty SoCal church turned upside-down by an unexpected deluge of flower children seeking peace and love of the Christly variety. [9] Lindars, Western Text,222; cf. "And Peter was the chief . [26], Krzingers and Gundrys proposals have varying degrees of persuasiveness, but most scholars have not been swayed by their contention that Papiass words on Matthew have been misread through the centuries. [10] For the debate over whether Mark 2:14 and 3:18 refer to the same individual or to two different individuals named Alphaeus, see Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 87n.17. This is very possible, as scholars point to Simon (Peter) and Saul. 3.27.4). 29.9.4; 30.3.7; Jerome, Vir. A minority view during the Patristic period was that Levi and Matthew were separate individuals. T/F, 3. Christian missionaries have taught people in Papua, New Guinea who had many gods before their conversion to recite the Hebrew Shema announcing only ONE GOD. For example, the Valentinian theologian Heracleon differentiated Levi from Matthew (cf. [47] Whatever the case, Jerome slowly distanced himself from his earlier confident declarations that the Nazarenes had the original Matthean Gospel in their possession (cf. [5] Mounce, Matthew, 83; France, Evangelist and Teacher, 69, 69n.54; Morris, Matthew, 219; Robert H. Gundry, Matthew: A Commentary on his Handbook for a Mixed Church Under Persecution, 2nd ed. They were dishonest and were also seen as. I. Jesus was becoming popular. As a tax collector, Matthew . [30] For instance, see France, Evangelist and Teacher, 6466; Morris, Matthew, 14; Carson, Matthew, 13 Osborne, Matthew, 34; Brown and Roberts, Matthew, 16. However, Didymus the Blind spotted a similar story in certain Gospels in his Commentary on Ecclesiastes (223.613) and one of those Gospels could have been the Gospel according to the Hebrews that he cited elsewhere in his Commentary on the Psalms (184.910). Dan. For objections against this view, see Meier, The Vision of Matthew, 25n.26; Luz, Matthew 820, 32. haer. Gundry, Matthew, xxii. Logion could be translated as an oracle or divine utterance. 3.24.6; Origen, in h.e. Contrary to Epiphaniuss assertions, he may have not had access to the Gospel according to the Hebrews at all, and scholars generally label his source, which frequently harmonizes passages in the Synoptic Gospels, as the Gospel according to the Ebionites to distinguish it from the former text. Scripture both prohibits and mocks astrology (Jer. Matthews Gospel has more quotations from and allusions to the Old Testament than any other New Testament author. You're right Zahid, the author of Matthew was a tax collector. For a recent effort to argue that plural Aramaic and Greek sources underlie the double tradition, see Maurice Casey, An Aramaic Approach to Q: Sources for the Gospels of Matthew and Luke (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002). [30] Warren Carter underscores how Papiass erroneous supposition served to underline the antiquity of this gospel and link it to the apostles.[31], Another option is that Papias was referring to a lost source. Curiously, Origen answered the philosopher Celsuss criticism that Jesus assembled a motley crew of toll collectors and sailors by stressing that Matthew was the sole toll collector within the apostolic circle and that Levi was not numbered among the twelve apostles except for in select manuscripts of Marks Gospel (Cels. 1.62), though these observations contradict Origens argument in his commentary above. There are sayings (Matt 13:3643) and stories. Band: Evangelien und Verwandtes. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? On hearing this, Jesus said,It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. The important take-away from this detour through the Patristic testimonies was that the oldest tradition was that the evangelist Matthew published a text in Aramaic and left it to more qualified translators to translate it into the form that we have today as the Greek. He had the ability, the means, the opportunity, the motivation, and he wouldnt have done it? prol.) Brian McNeil (London: T&T Clark, 2003), 40; Jennifer Wright Knust, Early Christian Re-writing and the History of the Pericope Adulterae, JECS 14 (2006): 495n34; Norelli, Papia, 33132, 335; MacDonald, Two Shipwrecked Gospels, 14, 1922, 24653; Jrg Frey, Die Fragmente des Hebrerevangeliums, in Antike christliche Apokryphen in deutscher bersetzung. 1.62), though these How come only five disciples of Jesus Christ wrote books in the New Testament? [39] Edwards (Hebrew Gospel, 210) identifies Matthews oracles in h.e. As a result, those who reject the academic consensus on Markan priority are often the most open to Papiass claim. Sextus Julius AfricanusWhy Did The Magi Come ? Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. ; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999), 56869. Both books are addressed to the same persona man named Theophilus. Some Patristic interpreters guessed that the evangelists Mark and Luke called Matthew by his less popular name Levi out of deference for his apostolic status, while Matthew himself had the humility to confess that he was once employed in a disreputable profession under his better-known name (e.g., John Chrysostom, hom. Q. For an alternative approach, W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann speculate that an Aramaic source identified the toll collector as a Levite and that this was mistranslated as the personal name Levi in the Greek texts of Mark and Luke. St. Matthew, also called St. Matthew the Evangelist, St. Matthew the Apostle, or Levi, (flourished 1st century ce, Palestine; Western feast day September 21, Eastern feast day November 16), one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ and the traditional author of the first Synoptic Gospel (the Gospel According to Matthew). As most of us know, the tax collector named Levi became Saint Matthew. with Q or M may depend on a given scholars acceptance or not of the Four Source theory as classically formulated. Third, Matthew Wanted to Tell Others about Christ. Assuming that the identification of Matthew with Levi is correct, Matthew (probably meaning "Yahweh's Gift") would appear to be the Christian name of Levi (called by Mark "Levi the son of Alphaeus"), who had been employed as a tax collector in the service of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee. Christian Soldiers in the Ancient Roman Army, Destruction of Jerusalem, c. 586 BCEyewitness Account, Assassination of Julius CaesarAncient Accounts, Claudia ActeNeros Mistress, Secret Christian, Emperor Tiberius & The Resurrection Of Jesus, Plinys Letter To Trajan About Christians, Ancient TechnologyThe Antikythera Mechanism, The Lycurgus CupNanotechnology in Ancient Rome, Monte TestaccioAncient Romes Garbage Dump, Metal Detector FindRoman Coins & Lost Emperor of Britain, Stirring of Water in the Pool of Bethesda. One did not give up collecting taxes for the Romans on a whim and expect to ever return. ed. 58 Matthew seems to have written his Gospel primarily to the: Jews Who translated it after that in Greek is not sufficiently ascertained. Clement. Vose Seminary Saint Matthew made a very small decision at the time that ended up not only affecting his life, and the people of his time, but he made a choice that affected all of mankind in the future as well. [8] See Barnabas Lindars, Matthew, Levi, Lebbaeus and the Value of the Western TextNTS 4 (1957-58): 220-22; Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 3rd ed., (London: New York, 1975), 26, 81; Brent Nongbri, Matthew and Levi (and James), Variant Readings (blog), May 21, 2018, https://brentnongbri.com/2018/05/21/matthew-and-levi-and-james/. The diversity of text-forms evident in Matthews biblical citations and allusions, however, disproves the notion that the evangelist was reliant on one testimonium source. "John, James, Andrew and Peter were the disciples closest to Jesus," Traylor says. Mark 3:18). Jesus speaking or understanding Greek is the least controversial of the three. Early Christian CommunionWine or Mingled Wine? [43] Further, the Gospel according to the Ebionites features a pun that only works in Greek (cf. [42], It was not until Epiphanius (Pan. And many followed him ( Mark 2:15 ). [32] The diversity of text-forms evident in Matthews biblical citations and allusions, however, disproves the notion that the evangelist was reliant on one testimonium source. Because of that, Levi later threw a party at his house and invited his sinner friends to meet Jesus. Jonah was in the belly of the whale 4 days. When Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Based on Papiass title Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord and his summary of Marks account of the oracles of the Lord, Papiass usage of the term logion encompassed both teachings and short narrative episodes (cf. Additionally, specialists on the Synoptic Problem generally hold that Matthews Gospel reproduced over 90 percent of Marks content, improved Marks grammar and style, and edited out Marks transliterated Aramaic terms. Vielhauer and Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, 15465; Klijn. [42] Luomanen, Jewish-Christian Sects, 21, 123; Frey, Die Fragmente des Ebionerevangeliums in Antike christliche Apokryphen in deutscher bersetzung. The assumption is that this order of the Gospels is a chronological one, when in fact it is a theological one. His symbol is an angel, and he is a patron saint of tax collectors and accountants. 13:3; Pol. The meaning in Hebrew of the word day always means a 24 hour period of time. All the names for our week days come from Roman and Norse/Anglo-Saxon gods. H. Gundry, 287291; James R. Edwards, The Hebrew Gospel and the Development of the Synoptic Tradition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), 35; Shanks, Papias, 12529, 195; Bauckham, Eyewitnesses, 214. Hence Levi was the original name of the man who was subsequently called Matthew; the Maththaios legomenos of Matthew 9:9, would indicate this. Richard Bauckham makes it clear why these examples may be irrelevant to this case: "[I]f Matthew and Levi were the same person, we should be confronted with the virtually unparalleled phenomenon of a Palestinian Jew bearing two common Semitic personal names (Matthew: ninth most popular, 62 occurrences; Levi: seventeenth most popular, 25 occurrences). Matthew, of course. Teilband 1, ed. [40] Conversely, Papias may not have known the Gospel according to the Hebrews at all, instead learning about the woman who was accused of many sins before the Lord from his oral informants in Asia Minor, and Eusebius may have been the one who discovered that this tale was included in the version of the Gospel according to the Hebrews that circulated in his own day. 4. He is mentioned in Matthew 9:9. Matthew belonged to a family of tax gatherers, or publicans, but was himself a customs collector in Capernaum, where he lived. Acts 7:38; Rom 3:2; Heb 5:12; 1 Pet 4:11;1 Clem. Even so, most readers of the New Testament throughout history have taken the identification of Levi with Matthew for granted. It is not surprising he watched Jesus carefully and wrote down the first of the four Gospels, the biographies of Jesus of Nazareth. The Calling of St. Matthew, by Vittore Carpaccio, 1502. However, none of the ancient Christian literati surmised that the Apostle was fluent in Greek, for they handed down the tradition that Matthew composed his Gospel in Aramaic before it was translated into Greek. We soon discover the difference between the man and the rock. There are sayings (Matt 13:3643) and stories (e.g., Matt 12) in Matthews special material, too. [23] Krzinger, Papias, 24, 3342; cf. Follow me, Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. Another option is that Papias was referring to a lost source. Thom. Following Jesus Meant Matthew Lost His Lucrative Tax Collector Career. Most general Bible readers have the mistaken impression that Matthew, the opening book of the New Testament, must be our first and earliest Gospel, with Mark, Luke and John following. VesuviusAugust 24, 79 AD. [5] On the other hand, after scrutinizing the onomastic data compiled by Tal Ilan,[6] Richard Bauckham makes it clear why these examples may be irrelevant to this case: "[I]f Matthew and Levi were the same person, we should be confronted with the virtually unparalleled phenomenon of a Palestinian Jew bearing two common Semitic personal names (Matthew: ninth most popular, 62 occurrences; Levi: seventeenth most popular, 25 occurrences). Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). There were only 8 people in Noahs Ark. Jesus Christ and Saint Peter have entered the room, and Jesus is pointing at Matthew. [17] Additionally, specialists on the Synoptic Problem generally hold that Matthews Gospel reproduced over 90 percent of Marks content, improved Marks grammar and style, and edited out Marks transliterated Aramaic terms. J.E. CLICK HERE for Jesus and the Constant Crowds article. He offered something infinitely better. A few scholars have likened Papiass oracles to a testimonium source or collection of prophetic proof-texts from the Hebrew Bible that were translated and integrated into the Gospel of Matthew. 4 Macc 12:7; 16:15; Acts 21:40; 22:2; 26:14; Josephus, A.J. On the other hand, after scrutinizing the onomastic data compiled by Tal Ilan. [20] Matthew Black, The Use of Rhetorical Terminology in Papias on Matthew and Mark JSNT 37 (1989): 32; Bauckham, Eyewitnesses, 222.