3.24.6; Origen, in h.e. 7.2627; 14.5960). Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. So it is more than probable that Matthew or someone else translated Matthews biography of Christ into Greek in order to spread the Good News beyond the Jews. Jonah was in the belly of the whale 4 days. [9] Lindars, Western Text,222; cf. Alternate titles: Levi, St. Matthew the Apostle, St. Matthew the Evangelist. haer. 1.8.1; Clement, str. It is not surprising he watched Jesus carefully and wrote down the first of the four Gospels, the biographies of Jesus of Nazareth. He may call peop He was included as one of the Evangelists according to the Christian tradition. The meaning in Hebrew of the word day always means a 24 hour period of time. Say, Jesus saw Levi and knew that Levi and the other tax collectors needed to know the good news. [47] Luomanen, Jewish-Christian Sects, 103119; Kok, Gospel According to the Hebrews, 4143; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 1417; 4352. Of course, their hippy-dippy ways are . 30.13.45), indicating that it was published in Greek at the outset. Follow me, Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. This could be a good possibility for the changing of the names. One did not give up collecting taxes for the Romans on a whim and expect to ever return. 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 Gospel according to Matthew. At the same time, opposition against Jesus was growing stronger, especially from the religious . 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). 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. 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. 2.12.87; Didymus, Comm. Mark 16:1),[11] though this example differs slightly from Matthew 9:9 inasmuch as the woman is left unnamed. In this post, let us take a deeper . Jesus could have walked up to Matthew and said sarcastically, "I bet your mother is really proud you!" Jesus was considered a rabbi. 13:4; 19:1; 53:1; 62:3; 2 Clem. [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. There were, however, at the time of Christ and the Apostles two languages spoken by JewsAramaic and Greek. ill. 3; Tract. [44] Vielhauer and Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, 167; Klijn, Gospel Tradition, 67-68; Klauck, Apocryphal Gospels, 51; Jrg Frey, Die Fragmente des Ebioniterevangeliums, 612; Kok, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 39; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 183, 222. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthews house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. It's unclear why Matthew/Levi was called by both names. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners., CLICK HERE for Jesus and the Pharisees article. 4. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017), 1089; cf. He was honored that His Lord considered him such a gift, But as Levi he had immediately joined his life to Jesus and His Mission. Krzinger and Gundry re-read the Papian fragment through the lens of rhetorical categories. After all, a toll collector may have at least needed functional literacy to perform certain tasks. 3.27.4; 3.39.17; 4.22.8). 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. News and Interpretations on the Bible and Ancient Near East History. This is a depiction of a moment of spiritual awakening and conversion, which was something many Baroque artists were interested in painting, especially Caravaggio. Christ redeemed the priesthood of Levi back unto himself and redeemed Matthew the . This is a quite different case from that of an individual having both a Semitic and a Greek or Latin name, as well as from that of an individual having a Semitic name and also a nickname or family name."[7]. 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. [46] Other scholars suspect that the Nazarenes only supplied Jerome with their own translations and commentary on Matthews Gospel. [33] For lexical discussion and debate about the term logion in Papiass vocabulary (cf. Wilhelm Schneemelcher, trans. Vir. 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. 3.2).[48]. When Jesus said He would be there, Levi was so excited he invited lots of his friends. The reason for Papiass error may simply be that he made the natural assumption that a Galilean Apostle would be writing primarily in Aramaic. 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. But lets hear Matthews own account of his calling: As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collectors booth. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Jesus answered them, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Luke 5:27-32. See Krtner, Papias, 2045; Bart D. Ehrman, Jesus and the Adulteress NTS 34 (1988): 2444, 29; Philipp Vielhauer and Georg Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, in New Testament Apocrypha I: Gospels and Related Writings, ed. [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). Matthew was an accurate counter. 2. March 2020. The Ipuwer PapyrusWere The 10 Biblical Plagues Real? 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. Impossible!"[3]. Matthew is spoken of five times in the New Testament; first in Matt., ix, 9, when called by Jesus to follow Him, and then four times in the list of the Apostles, where he is mentioned in the seventh (Luke, vi, 15, and Mark, iii, 18), and again in the eighth place (Matt., x, 3, and Acts, i, 13). He being a Hebrew wrote in Hebrew, that is, his own tongue and most fluently; while things which were eloquently written in Hebrew were more eloquently turned into Greek. Jerome, 382 AD On Illustrious Men, Book V. This writer will go with the early church writers who were within a few hundred years from Matthew and the other people who knew Jesus rather than with unproven theories several thousands of years away from sources. [4] When Origen of Alexandria searched for a parallel for why Saul was surnamed Paul in the preface of his Commentary on Romans, he pointed out that the same individual appears under different names in Matthew 9:9 and Luke 5:27 (PG 14.836). (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. Or Levi was having a lot of friends over for dinner that night and asked Jesus if He would come, too. Beth: And it's in a chapel with two other paintings by Caravaggio all about Matthew. R. McL. 5.10.3; Clement, in h.e. 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. James son of Alphaeus is traditionally identified as James the Less and James the brother of Jesus. Aelius Theon, Prog. Matthew, of course. Friedrich Schleiermacher, ber die Zeugnisse des Papias von unsern beiden ersten Evangelien, TSK 5 (1832): 73568; Manson, For the general consensus of Q scholars, see Nigel Turner, Q in Recent Thought, Daniel A. Bertrand, Lvangile des Ebionites: une harmonie vangelique antrieur au. Wright --University of Arizona, Center for Judaic Studies In Mark 2:14, Jesus calls Levi, a tax collector and son of Alphaeus, to follow him, much as Jesus calls other disciples, and at first Levi does follow Jesus. 1.62), though these observations contradict Origens argument in his commentary above. [15], The Original Language of Matthews Gospel, Unlike the modern deductions about Matthews level of literacy, Papias did not presuppose Matthews facility in Greek. The Greek language became the international language through the conquests of Alexander the Great in 330 BCE. Mich. 7.6; Is. 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. Jesus did not call us because of our righteousness or gifting. Even so, most readers of the New Testament throughout history have taken the identification of Levi with Matthew for granted. Levi was happy to accept! [37] See B. H. Streeter, The Four Gospels: A Study of Origins (London: MacMillan, 1924). Based on Papiass title. James E. Crouch; Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 32n.12; Ian Boxall, Matthew through the Centuries (Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell, 2019), 31, 172. Tax collectors were not very respected people in Jesus' time because many of them stole from the people. Matthew's Gospel was written in approximately A.D.___, before the destruction of Jerusalem. A minority view during the Patristic period was that Levi and Matthew were separate individuals. Jesus casually says to Levi the tax collector,follow me and Levi got up and followed him. Just like that. Levi's work was to take the money. The best way to think about the Greek language during the time of Jesus is to think about modern-day English. Matthew was a Levite from the priestly tribe of Levi, making his role that of writing on Christ's priesthood. Jonah was in the belly of the whale 4 days. [2] B. Ward Powers, The Progressive Publication of Matthew: An Explanation of the Writing of the Synoptic Gospels (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2010), 2829. Following Jesus Meant Matthew Lost His Lucrative Tax Collector Career. 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. Even if this guy gets over the fact that I'm a tax collector, how could he ever be interested in me? Matthews Gospel has more quotations from and allusions to the Old Testament than any other New Testament author. Sometimes the men took too much money. [24] Krzinger, Papias, 1516; Gundry, Matthew, 619; idem, Pre-Papian Tradition, 6162, 67. If these are all references to the same James, that would make James son of Alphaeus the author of the Book of James and one of the three men Paul called "pillars" of the church. VesuviusAugust 24, 79 AD. [7] Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, 2nd ed. http://www.brentcunningham.org/?p=316 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. 5.12), and the verb hermeneuein; Papias could have chosen different terminology to highlight Matthews rhetorical style. The text of Matthew in its final form, on the other hand, may be a better point of contrast for Marks narrative, and Q would not have an advantage over it if Q originated in Greek as well. 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. "John, James, Andrew and Peter were the disciples closest to Jesus," Traylor says. Warren Carter underscores how Papiass erroneous supposition served to underline the antiquity of this gospel and link it to the apostles.. ill. 3). 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. The assumption is that this order of the Gospels is a chronological one, when in fact it is a theological one. Legend differs as to the scene of his missions and as to whether he died a natural death or a martyrs. The final option is that a non-extant Jewish Gospel stands behind Papiass reference to Matthews oracles or, at least, the New Testament Gospel that bears the name Matthew was mixed up with a Jewish Gospel circulating in Papiass milieu. He offered something infinitely better. Ps. The task of the present article is to explain these two variations in . 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. 16:18) Mark and Luke were probably stunned by Jesus inclusion of a hated tax collector in His Twelve. 3.2) that the Gospel according to the Hebrews was associated with Matthew.