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. 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 . The Testimonium Flavianum Question (My Two Cents), The Bible is Accurate Manuscript Evidence, Sayings From the Bible in the 21st Century, Colors & Dyes For Clothing in Ancient Rome, Thanksgiving: First Foods, First Friends1620, Ancient Ossuaries Uncover Biblical Truths. Beth: And it's in a chapel with two other paintings by Caravaggio all about Matthew. A beam of light illuminates the faces of the men at the table who are looking at Jesus Christ. People had to pay taxes to the *Romans. Jefferson himself believed that a person's religion was between them and their god. Matthew did follow Jesus for the rest of his life. [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, who is also Levi, and who from a publican came to be an apostle, first of all composed a Gospel of Christ in Judaea in the Hebrew language and characters for the benefit of those of the circumcision who had believed. Jesus casually says to Levi the tax collector,follow me and Levi got up and followed him. Just like that. Matthew belonged to a family of tax gatherers, or publicans, but was himself a customs collector in Capernaum, where he lived. T/F, 3. Matthew, or Levi, son of Alpheus, was one of the seven who received a call to follow Christ before the ordination of the Twelve. The Ipuwer PapyrusWere The 10 Biblical Plagues Real? 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. Dr. Beth Harris: In the Contarelli Chapel. 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. March 2020. James son of Alphaeus is traditionally identified as James the Less and James the brother of Jesus. [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. All the names for our week days come from Roman and Norse/Anglo-Saxon gods. with Q or M may depend on a given scholars acceptance or not of the Four Source theory as classically formulated. Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27), but some commentators factor this verse in as evidence for the Matthean authorship of the first canonical Gospel or, at a minimum, for one of its major sources. Harris J. Rendel, The Logia and the Gospels, For lexical discussion and debate about the term. 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. h.e. R. McL. Other scholars suspect that the Nazarenes only supplied Jerome with their own translations and commentary on Matthews Gospel. For two reasons *Jews did not like the men who did that work. 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. 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. This is very possible, as scholars point to Simon (Peter) and Saul. DepartmentBldg Tucson, AZ 85721 TEL 520-621-6897 FAX 520-626-9014. Who translated it after that in Greek is not sufficiently ascertained. Legend differs as to the scene of his missions and as to whether he died a natural death or a martyrs. 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. [36] Dennis MacDonald, Two Shipwrecked Gospels: The Logoi of Jesus and Papiasss Exposition of Logia about the Lord (Atlanta: SBL, 2012), 15. [36] Ultimately, the identification of Matthews oracles with Q or M may depend on a given scholars acceptance or not of the Four Source theory as classically formulated. Tax collectors at that time were known as dishonest and corrupt people. Clement, str. [16] This English translation of the Greek text is taken from Michael W. Holmes, editor, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations (rev. They contend that the conjunction. Thom. Supported by: 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. ill. 3; Tract. In Matthew, because of the use of Q and Matthew's theological organization, there is stress on Jesus as teacher, his sharpening or radicalizing of the Law in an eschatological context; and Jesus is presented not in secret but as an openly proclaimed Messiah, King, and Judge. It's unclear why Matthew/Levi was called by both names. The thesis that the first canonical Gospel was published under the name of a pseudonym is defended by George D. Kilpatrick. Ps. [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. Matthew (also known as Levi in the Gospels of Luke and Mark) was a Jewish tax collector, or publican, living in Capernaum. 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. 47:13-15), yet God . Vielhauer and Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, 167; Klijn. B. [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. In Matthew 4:18-21, he tells them he will make them "fishers of men.". 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. As he went along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth. For example, the Valentinian theologian Heracleon differentiated Levi from Matthew (cf. The Bible shares in the book of Acts, that the betrayal and arrest of Jesus were foretold long ago by the Holy Spirit. This is a painting of the Calling of Saint Matthew in San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. There were, however, at the time of Christ and the Apostles two languages spoken by JewsAramaic and Greek. How Did Jesus Spend the Last Week of His Life? [20], Krzinger and Gundry re-read the Papian fragment through the lens of rhetorical categories. 6.25.4; Epiphanius, Pan. 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 (. 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. Several theories have been offered to account for why the toll collector Levi was re-named Matthew in Matthew 9:9 (cf. Curiously, Origen answered the philosopher Celsus's 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 Mark's Gospel (Cels. 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. Hence, Mark listened to Peters, That is, they surmise that Matthew applied Jewish exegetical techniques and forms of argumentation to the material at his disposal to shape it into a cogent presentation about how Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures. Zavada, Jack. Matthew was a Levite from the priestly tribe of Levi, making his role that of writing on Christ's priesthood. [46] Other scholars suspect that the Nazarenes only supplied Jerome with their own translations and commentary on Matthews Gospel. 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. 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. 2:1-10; Acts 8:9-24). Jesus went out again by the sea. These Jewish tax collectors were disdained by the Jews. [33] For lexical discussion and debate about the term logion in Papiass vocabulary (cf. Facts about Matthew the Apostle give the readers a hint about Levi or Saint Matthew. This quote from Powerss monograph on the Synoptic Problem may presume too much about the literary skills, and psychological motivations, of a relatively low-level functionary operating a toll booth on the outskirts of the Galilean village of Capernaum (Matt 9:1, 9; cf. 3.1.1). 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. 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 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). At the same time, opposition against Jesus was growing stronger, especially from the religious . [6] Tal Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity: Part I: Palestine 330 BCE 200 CE, TSAJ 91 (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002). [35] 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. 58 Matthew seems to have written his Gospel primarily to the: Jews 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. 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. The task of the present article is to explain these two variations in . Jesus invited Matthew (Levi) to follow him (Lk 5:27-32). 11.1-3; Pelag. Matthews relics were reputedly discovered in Salerno (Italy) in 1080. [4] See Manlio Simonetti, Matthew 113, ACCS New Testament 1a (Downers Grove: IVP, 2001), 177; Ulrich Luz, Matthew 820, trans.
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