Jesus went out again by the sea. 29.9.4; 30.3.7; 30.13.2; 30.14.3) and Jerome (Epist. This makes it doubtful that Matthew 9:9 was intended as either the evangelists self-reference or as a pseudonymous literary device supplementing the ascription of this Gospel to Matthew. 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. How do we know that Matthew changed after Jesus called him? Ein Beitrag zur Lsung eines alten Problems ZNW59 (1968): 4056; Mark Kiley, Why Matthew in Matt 9:913Biblica65.3 (1984): 34751; Michael J. Kok, Re-naming the Toll Collector in Matthew 9:9: A Review of the Options JGAR (forthcoming). He was a man of moderate wealth, the only one of any means belonging to the apostolic corps. As Jesus was having a meal in Levi's home, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples . Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). DepartmentBldg Tucson, AZ 85721 TEL 520-621-6897 FAX 520-626-9014. The thesis that the first canonical Gospel was published under the name of a pseudonym is defended by George D. Kilpatrick. [2] B. [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. 2. Matthews relics were reputedly discovered in Salerno (Italy) in 1080. There were, however, at the time of Christ and the Apostles two languages spoken by JewsAramaic and Greek. Could Ancient Sparta Defeat Ancient Rome? ; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999), 56869. Clement, str. [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. 58 Matthew seems to have written his Gospel primarily to the: Jews 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). [13] Moreover, Matthew hardly features more as a character in the narrative than in the other two Synoptic Gospels to be the key source of the Matthean traditions. Beth: And it's in a chapel with two other paintings by Caravaggio all about Matthew. As most of us know, the tax collector named Levi became Saint Matthew. 1.31.124), see Joseph Barber Lightfoot, Essays on the Work Entitled Supernatural Religion: Reprinted from the Contemporary Review (London: Macmillan, 1893), 17077; Bacon, Studies in Matthew, 443-51; T. W. Manson, Studies in the Gospels and Epistles (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1962), 6975; Krzinger, Papias, 5051; France, Evangelist and Teacher, 58-60; Krtner, Papias, 15167; Gundry, Matthew, 617; Norelli, Papia, 5980; Gundry, Pre-Papian Tradition, 6467; Sim, R. [47] Luomanen, Jewish-Christian Sects, 103119; Kok, Gospel According to the Hebrews, 4143; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 1417; 4352. Matthias was chosen to be one of the Apostles after Judas of Iscariot had betrayed Jesus and died ( Acts 1:26 NIV). [7] Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, 2nd ed. [43] Further, the Gospel according to the Ebionites features a pun that only works in Greek (cf. Other than naming Matthew in the list of Apostles, usually pairing him with St. Thomas, the New Testament offers scant and uncertain information about him. 6:25 (300s AD). At the same time, opposition against Jesus was growing stronger, especially from the religious . 16:18) Mark and Luke were probably stunned by Jesus inclusion of a hated tax collector in His Twelve. As a result, those who reject the academic consensus on Markan priority are often the most open to Papiass claim. There is no evidence that any of the Patristic authorities made any inferences about Matthews proficiency in Greek or level of education in rhetorical composition based on Matthews former occupation alone. Per tradition, Matthew was killed by by a soldier on the order of the king of Ethiopia. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 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). There is no indication that Matthew wrote anything (contra John 21:24; Gos. The whole crowd came to him, and he taught them. Of course, their hippy-dippy ways are . 13:3; Pol. Among these repetitions are: variations of Mattathias (five times), Jesus (twice), Joseph (three times), Simeon (Semein), Levi (twice), and Melchi (twice). To follow Jesus requires renouncement. 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. [28] Baum, Ein aramischer Urmatthus, 26364. Calling of St. Matthew by Alexandre Bida, 1875. 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. 16.13). On the other hand, the oldest quotations from the Gospel according to the Hebrews were not attributed to a named author (e.g., Clement, str. Christ redeemed the priesthood of Levi back unto himself and redeemed Matthew the . News and Interpretations on the Bible and Ancient Near East History. 1/27/2013 09:47:39 pm. At worst, they were charlatans, sycophants, and brutes (cf. Follow me, he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. [16] At first sight, this description seems like a poor match for the extant text entitled the Gospel according to Matthew, for it does not look like a translation of an Aramaic precursor. Marys Perpetual Virginity & Jesus Brothers, Why Pollen on the Shroud of Turin Proves it is Real, Christian Inscriptions in Roman Catacombs, Eruption Of Mt. Frey, Die Fragmente des Nazorerevangeliums, 626; Gregory, Media, Video and Lectures From The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies of the University of Arizona, Teaching the Bible in Public Schools and Higher Ed, Scholars, Frauds, the Media and the Public, Essays on Minimalism from Bible and Interpretation, Final Reports on the Yehoash Inscription and James Ossuary from the Israeli Antiquities Authority, Essays on the James Ossuary and the Temple Tablet from Bible and Interpretation, University of Arizona, Center for Judaic Studies, Department of Archaeology and Art History, University of Evansville. There must have been at least 15-20 people eating in Levis spacious home. 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. [29] Thus, some scholars who otherwise defend the traditional authorship of Matthews Gospel admit that Papias erred in his belief about the original language in which it was written. The Calling of Matthew is an episode in the life of Jesus which appears in all three synoptic gospels, Matthew 9:9-13, Mark 2:13-17 and Luke 5:27-28, and relates the initial encounter between Jesus and Matthew, the tax collector who . David: So, Matthew was one of Christ's disciples. From the place where he collected taxes near the Sea of Galilee (probably on the outskirts of Capernaum), Matthew may often have heard Jesus speak and must have known about his many miracles. This could be a good possibility for the changing of the names. Luke, also, describes his calling: After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. 2. Answer (1 of 3): In Mark, the first New Testament gospel written, Matthew and Levi are very definitely two different people. See Barnabas Lindars, Matthew, Levi, Lebbaeus and the Value of the Western Text, https://brentnongbri.com/2018/05/21/matthew-and-levi-and-james/, Lindars, Western Text,222; cf. Or Levi was having a lot of friends over for dinner that night and asked Jesus if He would come, too. Impossible!"[3]. Mark 3:18). This is very possible, as scholars point to Simon (Peter) and Saul. [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. Corrections? [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. 40.9; Ezech. 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). The tax collector had already counted the cost.Sandra Sweeny Silver, Slaves Were Lifeless Tools in Ancient Rome, The Exotic Animal Business in Ancient Rome. 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. [46] Other scholars suspect that the Nazarenes only supplied Jerome with their own translations and commentary on Matthews Gospel. There are sayings (Matt 13:3643) and stories. Both books are addressed to the same persona man named Theophilus. Another option is that Papias was referring to a lost source. [26] Gundry, Matthew, 619; idem, Pre-Papian Tradition, 67. 12.13; Is. Jesus sees value in all people. 3.39.17. [42] Luomanen, Jewish-Christian Sects, 21, 123; Frey, Die Fragmente des Ebionerevangeliums in Antike christliche Apokryphen in deutscher bersetzung. 3.39.1, 15), which subtly contrasts with an exclusive interest in the Lords logoi or sayings (3.39.14). Gundry, Matthew, xxii. (Matt. Matthew authored the first Gospel of the . Supported by: 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. I. Acts 1:1-2 appears to tie the two books to the same author. Based on Papiass title. Neither Matthew 9:9 nor 10:3 advances an explicit authorial claim. 3. Levi: Luke 5:27, "And after that He went out, and noticed a tax-gatherer named Levi, sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, 'Follow Me.' ". 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 (. [34] The double tradition is mostly comprised of sayings, but there are a couple of narratives (e.g., Matt 4:111/Luke 4:113; Matt 8:513/Luke 7:110). He offered something infinitely better. For two reasons *Jews did not like the men who did that work. Teilband 1, ed. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [8] Alternatively, the textual variant that has James instead of Levi as the son of Alphaeus in Mark 2:14 in a handful of manuscripts was plausibly motivated by a desire for uniformity by having a single son of Alphaeus (cf. His symbol is an angel, and he is a patron saint of tax collectors and accountants. Consequently, the evangelist wrote Matthew into the Markan story of the toll collector in Matthew 9:9. Meier, The Vision of Matthew, 24; Luz, Matthew 820, 32, 32n.14. 1) The name of the collector whom Jesus summons is not "Levi, son of Alphaeus", but "Matthew" (9,9). had his name changed from Levi to Matthew likely by Jesus Himself who changed Simon's name to Peter. 3.25.5; cf. On the other hand, after scrutinizing the onomastic data compiled by Tal Ilan. [18] B. C. Butler, The Originality of St Matthew: A Critique of the Two-Document Hypothesis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951), 16566; Albright and Mann, Matthew, XXXVIXLVIII; Powers, Progressive Publication, 4749. Jesus Christ and Saint Peter have entered the room, and Jesus is pointing at Matthew. This leads Dennis MacDonald to maintain that Papiass supposition about the multiple translations of Matthews oracles was an explanation for the dissimilar Greek texts of Q and Matthew. The Patristic Traditions about the Evangelist Matthew. [1] For the range of theories accounting for the redactional changes in Matthew 9:9 and 10:3, see the helpful summaries compiled by Joachim Gnilka, Das Matthusevangelium, HTKNT (Freiburg: Herder, 1986), 1.330-31; W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, The Gospel According to Matthew: Matthew VIIIXVIII, ICC (London and New York: T&T Clark, 2006), 2.9899; cf. 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). 29.9.4; 30.3.7; Jerome, Vir. Th. Magi, or "wise men," were royal counselors. ill. 3) and, after comparing it to the textual fragments that he received from Jewish Christ-followers living in Beroea known as the Nazarenes, would translate the entire work. Matthew's " original name, Levi, suggests that he was a man of the priestly tribe." Levi means " adhesion ." But Matthew was re-Christened " gift " or "given," a profound switch for a tax. He had the ability, the means, the opportunity, the motivation, and he wouldnt have done it? 18) or Origen (cf. Wilhelm Schneemelcher, trans. This creates space between Peter and the church's rock. [44] As for Jerome, he boasted that he translated the Gospel according to the Hebrews (e.g., Vir. December 29, 2020 7:00 AM EST. [32] Harris J. Rendel, The Logia and the Gospels Contemporary Review 72 (1897): 341348; F. C. Grant, The Gospels: Their Origins and Growth (New York: Harper, 1957), 65, 144. It is touching that Matthew, gift of Yahweh loved his new name, probably given to him by Jesus. 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. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017), 1089; cf. Despite the pain and agony of the cross, Jesus chose to die for the sins of the world because He loves us. This is a painting of the Calling of Saint Matthew in San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. 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. He is mentioned in Matthew 9:9. Ps. Levi was happy to accept! Levi - who the Bible tells us was also named Matthew - was a Jew and a tax collector. If Jesus proclaimed the 'Kingdom of God," sneered Pilate, let him die as "King of the Jews" (Mark 15:2,9,12,18,26). 5. [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/. Jesus Calls Levi (Matthew). [19] Yet our access to Papias is mediated through Eusebius, so it is uncertain whether Eusebius interrupted an interconnected statement about both evangelists or juxtaposed two separate excerpts from Papias together. Vielhauer and Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, 15465; Klijn. Jennie Ebeling --Department of Archaeology and Art History, University of Evansville, Copyright 2000-2023 The Bible and Interpretation| All Rights Reserved |The University of Arizona | Developed bySBS Tech Numerous textual indications point to an author who was a Jewish Christian writing for Christians of similar background. [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. The task of the present article is to explain these two variations in . For the theory that Matthew was either the founder of a putative Matthean community or the source of their traditions, see Pesch, Levi-Matthus, 56; Gundry. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Ultimately, the identification of Matthews oracles. "Follow me," he said to him. Ward Powers enthusiastically endorses this line of reasoning in the following bold claim: "To have this evidence about the apostle Matthew his background, training, and employment in the Roman administration; his response to the call to follow Jesus; his appointment to the role and responsibility of apostle and to believe that he wouldnotwrite down what Jesus was doing and teaching requires a far bigger leap of faith than believing that he did. 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. 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). 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. Jonah was in the belly of the whale 4 days. 5.10.3; Clement, in h.e. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 166; Hagner, Matthew 113, 238; Carson, Matthew, 224; Ben Witherington III, Matthew (Macon: Smyth & Helywys, 2006), 197; Osbourne, Matthew, 334; Powers, Progressive Publication, 2829. Christoph Markschies und Jens Schrter (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck 2012), 606; Kok, Papias of Hierapolis, 4752; Andrew Gregory, The Gospel according to the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Ebionites (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 34, 78.