Supported by: As Jesus was having a meal in Levi's home, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples . Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. After Jesus grants Peter the keys to the kingdom (see below), Jesus explains . h.e. [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. 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. Levi's work was to take the money. Jesus Calls Levi (Matthew). ill. 3). Matthew authored the first Gospel of the . [27] For instance, see Ulrich Krtner, Papias von Hierapolis: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des frhen Christentums, Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments 133 (Gttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1983), 203206; Davies and Allison, Matthew IVII, 16; Black, Rhetorical Terminology, 3334, 38; France, Evangelist and Teacher, 57; Hagner, Matthew 113, xlv; Morris, Matthew, 1314; William R. Schoedel, Papias ANRW 2.27.1 (1993): 257, 263; Carson, Matthew, 13; Armin Baum, Ein aramischer Urmatthus im kleinasiatischen Gottesdienst. He was thirty-one years old and married and had four children. Hence, Eusebius corrected Irenaeus by substituting the Gospel according to the Hebrews as the Ebionitess preferred Gospel (h.e. [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. They contend that the conjunction oun (therefore) in Papiass statement about Matthew (3.39.16) was connected to his prior statement about Mark (3.39.15), entailing that Matthew published his narrative of Jesuss life in response to the perceived shortcomings of Marks account. Key Verse: 6:13, "When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles". Biblical Evidence : Read Mark 2:13-14. [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. 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). Ultimately, the identification of Matthews oracles. [28] Baum, Ein aramischer Urmatthus, 26364. Rather, he plainly states, So Matthew composed the oracles in the Hebrew language and each person interpreted them as best he could (in Eusebius, h.e. 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. Omissions? F. C. Burkitt, Levi Son of Alphaeus. Q. Based on Papiass title. CLICK HERE for Jesus and the Constant Crowds article. , TSAJ 91 (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002). 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. 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. Sextus Julius AfricanusWhy Did The Magi Come ? He was a tax collector who was sitting at his booth. The Bible says that Matthew left everything to follow Jesus. [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. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. Updates? 6:25 (300s AD). 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.' ". [10] Even so, most readers of the New Testament throughout history have taken the identification of Levi with Matthew for granted. 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. In many Western Christian traditions, there are 12 days of Christmas, culminating around . though this example differs slightly from Matthew 9:9 inasmuch as the woman is left unnamed. Answer (1 of 3): In Mark, the first New Testament gospel written, Matthew and Levi are very definitely two different people. Follow me, he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. It is touching that Matthew, gift of Yahweh loved his new name, probably given to him by Jesus. (Matt. 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. [29] Baum, Ein aramischer Urmatthus, 262. "Meet Nathanael in the Bible, the 'True Israelite'." Learn Religions, Dec. 6, 2021, learnreligions.com/nathanael-the-true-israelite-701068. 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. Mich. 7.6; Is. All the names for our week days come from Roman and Norse/Anglo-Saxon gods. [46] Vielhauer and Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, 15465; Klijn, Jewish Christian Gospel Tradition, 29-30, 3132; Klauck, Apocryphal Gospels, 4351; Frey, Die Fragmente des Nazorerevangeliums, in Antike christliche Apokryphen in deutscher bersetzung. 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. Jesus could have walked up to Matthew and said sarcastically, "I bet your mother is really proud you!" Jesus was considered a rabbi. [43] Further, the Gospel according to the Ebionites features a pun that only works in Greek (cf. There are sayings (Matt 13:3643) and stories (e.g., Matt 12) in Matthews special material, too. Unlike the modern deductions about Matthews level of literacy, Papias did not presuppose Matthews facility in Greek. [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. Jesus was becoming popular. Acts 1:19; 2:6, 8; 21:40; 22:2; 26:14);[22] 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 dialektos (cf. 29.9.4; 30.3.7; 30.13.2; 30.14.3) and Jerome (Epist. At the same time, opposition against Jesus was growing stronger, especially from the religious . 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. 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. This is very possible, as scholars point to Simon (Peter) and Saul. 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. Corrections? There are sayings (Matt 13:3643) and stories. I. Josef Krzinger and Robert Gundry have tried to line up Papiass testimony with the academic consensus. It would be psychologically impossible that such a man as Matthew, trained and experienced in writing records and reports he was a Roman official and such work was requisite for him since it went with the job would not have recorded things Jesus said. 3.2).[48]. The Identification of the Toll Collector as Matthew. "John, James, Andrew and Peter were the disciples closest to Jesus," Traylor says. Tax collectors were hated by the Jews. However, Bacons hypothesis depends on his suppositions that the source of Matthew 10:24 was not simply Mark 3:1619 and that the author of Matthews Gospel did not just alter Marks order by moving Thomas before Matthew. 135; Matt. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 13:4; 19:1; 53:1; 62:3; 2 Clem. 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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Christoph Markschies und Jens Schrter (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck 2012), 62354. 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). They kept it for themselves and became very rich. Many people were surprised when Jesus sat down to eat with Levi, but they learned that Jesus' message of salvation is for everyone. 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. Matthew (also known as Levi in the Gospels of Luke and Mark) was a Jewish tax collector, or publican, living in Capernaum. There were 12 men chosen to be disciples of Jesus Christ. What created confusion was that Irenaeus reported that Jewish Christ followers who were called Ebionites or poor ones had a special affinity for Matthews Gospel, just as Marcion was inclined toward Lukes Gospel and Valentinus toward Johns Gospel (haer. There were, however, at the time of Christ and the Apostles two languages spoken by JewsAramaic and Greek. (1) Repetition of names in the list after David, some of which appear to be anachronisms, possibly suggesting that this list had its own history. This English translation of the Greek text is taken from Michael W. Holmes, editor, Matthew Black, The Use of Rhetorical Terminology in Papias on Matthew and Mark. It is the contracted name of Mattathias. This could be a good possibility for the changing of the names. Mark 16:1). ill. 16; Is. I.2.26; Eusebius, h.e. Because of that, Levi later threw a party at his house and invited his sinner friends to meet Jesus. Jesus Calls Levi | Reformed Bible Studies & Devotionals at Ligonier.org | Reformed Bible Studies & Devotionals at Ligonier.org One of the themes of Jesus' ministry is that He is not bound to choose the most obvious candidates for ministry according to social convention. 3.1.1; Pantaenus, in Eusebius, h.e. 2) Jesus explains his action in having a meal with tax collectors and sin-ners by saying "Go and learn what it means 'I desire mercy and not sacri-fice'" (Matt 9,13; Hos 6,6). Other scholars suspect that the Nazarenes only supplied Jerome with their own translations and commentary on Matthews Gospel. [45] Luomanen, Jewish-Christian Sects, 100101; Kok, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 41; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 47, 47n.28. 30.1; Jerome, Matt. [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. [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. Gundry takes the referent to be the expositors who expounded on Matthews text. Phil. They were considered traitors because they worked for the despised Roman rulers. [41] Contra Edwards, Hebrew Gospel, 8 and Petri Luomanen, Recovering Jewish-Christian Sects and Gospels (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 12326. [14] 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, Old Testament, 184; Hill, Matthew, 5354, 173; Gnilka, Matthusevangelium, 1.331; Davies and Allison, Matthew VIIIXVIII, 2.99; Hagner, Matthew 113, xlvi; John Nolland, The Gospel of Matthew, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 3-4; Witherington III, Matthew, 5, 29; Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), 40; Bauckham, Eyewitnesses, 111. CLICK HEREfor Taxes in the Ancient Roman World article. Hist. 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). [14] Nevertheless, it is conceivable that the two verses in Matthew 9:9 and 10:3 were the basis for why this Gospel was later ascribed to Matthew. 4 Macc 12:7; 16:15; Acts 21:40; 22:2; 26:14; Josephus, A.J. I also was allowed by the Nazarenes who use this volume in the Syrian city of Beroea to copy it. Jerome: De viris inlustribus (On Illustrious Men), chapter III. Hence, Mark listened to Peters chreiai or anecdotes about the Lords sayings and deeds (cf. CHICAGO (RNS) The first time the Rev. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. Jesus came with some of His disciples. [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. A minority view during the Patristic period was that Levi and Matthew were separate individuals. Third, Matthew Wanted to Tell Others about Christ. [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. 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. 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. The Calling of Saint Matthew depicts the moment from Matthew 9:9 when Jesus passes by Matthew, a tax collector, and says 'Follow me.' Matthew (also called Levi) did so and became one of Jesus . As a result, those who reject the academic consensus on Markan priority are often the most open to Papiass claim. T/F, 5. Acts 1:1-2 appears to tie the two books to the same author. Following Jesus Meant Matthew Lost His Lucrative Tax Collector Career. The most natural reading is that a language was meant by the combination of the noun. [9] 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. As a result, those who reject the academic consensus on Markan priority are often the most open to Papiass claim. Several theories have been offered to account for why the toll collector Levi was re-named Matthew in Matthew 9:9 (cf. My theory is that for one thing John and Peter were closer to Jesus. 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 . However, Jesus Christ is of the tribe of Judah. Legend differs as to the scene of his missions and as to whether he died a natural death or a martyrs. Francis Watson, Gospel Writing: A Canonical Perspective (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013), 126. Dan. Alternate titles: Levi, St. Matthew the Apostle, St. Matthew the Evangelist. 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. The fishermen who followed Jesus, and some became His Apostles, had to pay taxes on fishing licenses and perhaps on their daily catch. [Matthew 9:9-13, Luke 5:27-32] 13 Jesus went to the seashore again where large crowds came to him, . Jerome may have anticipated that he would track down the Gospel according to the Hebrews in Pamphilus library in Caesarea (cf. It is beyond the scope of this paper to determine why Matthew was substituted for Levi. The First Disciples [Matthew 4:18-22, Luke 5:1-11, John 1:35-51] . with Q or M may depend on a given scholars acceptance or not of the Four Source theory as classically formulated. T/F. High priest Aaron and his sons were descendants of Levi (Exodus 4:14), Levi being a son of Jacob (Genesis 29:34). 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. 5. 1.62), though these observations contradict Origens argument in his commentary above. 1. [17] W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison (A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Gospel According to Saint Matthew. 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. 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. Wilhelm Schneemelcher, trans. 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. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Mark 2:13-17. Because Levi's occupation was one that earned distrust and contempt everywhere, the scribes of the Pharisees criticized Jesus on seeing him eat with tax collectors and sinners, whereupon Jesus answered, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mark 2:15-17). The assumption is that this order of the Gospels is a chronological one, when in fact it is a theological one. 16:18) Mark and Luke were probably stunned by Jesus inclusion of a hated tax collector in His Twelve. Matthew (also known as Levi) doubtless was one of the tax collectors who responded to John the Baptist's call to repentance. Teilband 1, ed. While Jesus was having dinner at Levis house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017), 1089; cf. People had to pay taxes to the *Romans. Th. [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 meaning in Hebrew of the word day always means a 24 hour period of time. He followed Jesus to his death. But let's hear Matthew's own account of his calling: [36] Dennis MacDonald, Two Shipwrecked Gospels: The Logoi of Jesus and Papiasss Exposition of Logia about the Lord (Atlanta: SBL, 2012), 15. [15], The Original Language of Matthews Gospel, Unlike the modern deductions about Matthews level of literacy, Papias did not presuppose Matthews facility in Greek. 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.
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