James son of Alphaeus is traditionally identified as James the Less and James the brother of Jesus. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthews house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 16:18) Mark and Luke were probably stunned by Jesus inclusion of a hated tax collector in His Twelve. Mark 3:18). CLICK HEREfor Taxes in the Ancient Roman World article. 20.5; Vir. They were considered traitors because they worked for the despised Roman rulers. (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. The best way to think about the Greek language during the time of Jesus is to think about modern-day English. 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). Soon, Jesus and His disciples are having dinner in . 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. Acts 7:38; Rom 3:2; Heb 5:12; 1 Pet 4:11;1 Clem. [44] As for Jerome, he boasted that he translated the Gospel according to the Hebrews (e.g., Vir. At worst, they were charlatans, sycophants, and brutes (cf. 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). 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. Pan. Facts about Matthew the Apostle give the readers a hint about Levi or 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. ill. 3; Tract. [47] Luomanen, Jewish-Christian Sects, 103119; Kok, Gospel According to the Hebrews, 4143; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 1417; 4352. 1. [45] Luomanen, Jewish-Christian Sects, 100101; Kok, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 41; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 47, 47n.28. 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. 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). [12] Neither Matthew 9:9 nor 10:3 advances an explicit authorial claim. [28] Baum, Ein aramischer Urmatthus, 26364. Levi - who the Bible tells us was also named Matthew - was a Jew and a tax collector. As most of us know, the tax collector named Levi became Saint Matthew. Jesus invited Matthew (Levi) to follow him (Lk 5:27-32). Updates? The Western reading attested in Codex Bezae that switched Thaddaeus with Lebbaeus, the Latinized form of Levi, in the list of the twelve apostles in Mark 3:18, influenced the textual transmission of Matthew 10:3. Excessive. T/F, 4. As a result, those who reject the academic consensus on Markan priority are often the most open to Papiass claim. "Follow me," he said to him. 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. Despite the pain and agony of the cross, Jesus chose to die for the sins of the world because He loves us. Key Verse: 6:13, "When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles". 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 [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). 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. He was included as one of the Evangelists according to the Christian tradition. haer. However, Jesus Christ is of the tribe of Judah. 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. Clement. Per tradition, Matthew was killed by by a soldier on the order of the king of Ethiopia. Jesus does not say "On you I will build my church" but "on this rock ." "This rock" is distinct from Peter, although connected to him. Band: Evangelien und Verwandtes. The account in the three Synoptics is identical, the vocation of Matthew-Levi being alluded to in the same terms. He was thirty-one years old and married and had four children. [45] The majority position among the experts is that the fragments Jerome inherited from the Nazarenes do not derive from the Gospel according to the Hebrews but from a distinct work that scholars have designated as the Gospel according to the Nazarenes. According to Luke 5:29, the aforementioned dinner was given by Levi in his house after his call. The fact of one man having two names is of frequent occurrence among the Jews. [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. 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. [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. 3.25.5; cf. Matthew (Levi) who wrote the first of the Gospels did write it in the Hebrew tongue which at that time was Aramaic. Matthew 9:9-13 begins with Jesus calling Matthew, a tax collector, to follow Him as His disciple. Tax collectors were hated by the Jews. 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. Luke 6:12-26. [37], 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. A minority view during the Patristic period was that Levi and Matthew were separate individuals. The story of Matthew's calling shows us the amazing power of God's grace and how it transforms people and become extraordinary servants of our Creator. 3.27.4; 3.39.17; 4.22.8). Gundry takes the referent to be the expositors who expounded on Matthews text. There is no indication that Matthew wrote anything (contra John 21:24; 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. 5.12), and the verb hermeneuein; Papias could have chosen different terminology to highlight Matthews rhetorical style. 3.2) that the Gospel according to the Hebrews was associated with Matthew. But let's hear Matthew's own account of his calling: C hristmas Day may be Dec. 25, but it's not the end of Christmas story. [Matthew 9:9-13, Luke 5:27-32] 13 Jesus went to the seashore again where large crowds came to him, . Jesus sent out 70 Disciples to preach His Good News. 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. Matthew's shocked facial expression shows that he understands this societal dynamic well, but his look and gesture may indicate even more than that. Some have also argued that he's the Apostle Matthew 's brother. 16.13). [15], The Original Language of Matthews Gospel, Unlike the modern deductions about Matthews level of literacy, Papias did not presuppose Matthews facility in Greek. Das Papiaszeugnis zur Entstehung des Matthusevangeliums ZNW 92 (2001): 257272; Nolland, Matthew, 3; Enrico Norelli, Papia di Hierapolis: Esposizione degli Oraculi del signore: I Frammenti (Milan: Figlie di San Paolo, 2005), 32829; David H. Sim, The Gospel of Matthew, John the Elder, and the Papias Tradition: A Response to R. H. Gundry HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 63.1 (2007): 290; Monte Shanks, Papias and the New Testament (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2013), 196; Michael J. Kok, Did Papias of Hierapolis Use the Gospel according to the Hebrews as a Source? JECS 25.1 (2017): 32; Bauckham, Eyewitnesses, 223; Jeannine K. Brown and Kyle Roberts, Matthew (Two Horizons; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018), 1516. Follow me, Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Why is Matthew called Levi? There is a lot of controversy in recent centuries about that subject. After his conversion, Matthew ardently preached Jesus as Messiah to his Jewish community. 29.9.4; 30.3.7; 30.13.2; 30.14.3) and Jerome (Epist. For criticism of their theory, see France, Matthew, 70. Teilband 1, ed. The next disciple that Jesus called was Levi (Matthew). Even if this guy gets over the fact that I'm a tax collector, how could he ever be interested in me? A beam of light illuminates the faces of the men at the table who are looking at Jesus Christ. You're right Zahid, the author of Matthew was a tax collector. [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. 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). [20], Krzinger and Gundry re-read the Papian fragment through the lens of rhetorical categories. 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. 13:4; 19:1; 53:1; 62:3; 2 Clem. ; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999), 56869. [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/. Calling of St. Matthew by Alexandre Bida, 1875. 3.39.16 with the Gospel according to the Hebrews in h.e. Jerome may have anticipated that he would track down the Gospel according to the Hebrews in Pamphilus library in Caesarea (cf. Perhaps most plain is the calling of the disciple Matthew, also known as Levi the tax collector. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Mark 2:13-17. 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. 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. I. We first meet Levi (aka Matthew) in Capernaum beside the Sea of Galilee: Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. 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. ill. 3). Both books are addressed to the same persona man named Theophilus. 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. Neither Matthew 9:9 nor 10:3 advances an explicit authorial claim. Levi meaning joined and the name Matthew meaning gift of Yahweh.. 4. 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). 3.39.16). 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). Other scholars suspect that the Nazarenes only supplied Jerome with their own translations and commentary on Matthews Gospel. Of course, their hippy-dippy ways are . He called us when all we had was need. [7] Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, 2nd ed. with Q or M may depend on a given scholars acceptance or not of the Four Source theory as classically formulated. Jesus sees value in all people. "John, James, Andrew and Peter were the disciples closest to Jesus," Traylor says. Jefferson himself believed that a person's religion was between them and their god. James E. Crouch; Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 32n.12; Ian Boxall, Matthew through the Centuries (Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell, 2019), 31, 172. Even so, most readers of the New Testament throughout history have taken the identification of Levi with Matthew for granted. News and Interpretations on the Bible and Ancient Near East History. 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. It's unclear why Matthew/Levi was called by both names. 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. [2] For some examples, see Robert Gundry, The Use of the Old Testament in St. Matthews Gospel: With Special Reference to the Messianic Hope(Leiden: Brill, 1975), 183; David Hill, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 1; R. T. France, Matthew: Evangelist and Teacher (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989), 6768; Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 14; Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 113 (Dallas: Word, 1993), lxxvi; D. A. Carson, Matthew: Chapters 1 through 12 (EBC; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 1819; Grant R. Osbourne, Matthew, ECNT (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 34; B. 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. This is a depiction of a moment of spiritual awakening and conversion, which was something many Baroque artists were interested in painting, especially Caravaggio. Impossible!"[3]. Wilhelm Schneemelcher, trans. [27] The most natural reading is that a language was meant by the combination of the noun dialektos, especially when modified with the name of an ethnic group (cf. 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. David: So, Matthew was one of Christ's disciples. A minority view during the Patristic period was that Levi and Matthew were separate individuals. [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. Mark 10:35) and swapped Salome for her in another (Matt 27:56; cf. [16] This English translation of the Greek text is taken from Michael W. Holmes, editor, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations (rev. Tax collectors were rich people. As Brent Cunningham expressed it the changing of the names represented Jesus' ownership of them. ill. 2), but several of his quotations were lifted from previous Greek texts penned by figures such as Ignatius (cf. Answer (1 of 3): In Mark, the first New Testament gospel written, Matthew and Levi are very definitely two different people. I. 58 Matthew seems to have written his Gospel primarily to the: Jews [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 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). [36] Dennis MacDonald, Two Shipwrecked Gospels: The Logoi of Jesus and Papiasss Exposition of Logia about the Lord (Atlanta: SBL, 2012), 15. 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. Sometimes the men took too much money. prol.) It felt "weird," Carr said. 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. 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). 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. [17] W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison (A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Gospel According to Saint Matthew. Vir. 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. 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. In the Christian Bible, he was cited as one of the Jesus' apostles. 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. "Meet Nathanael in the Bible, the 'True Israelite'." Learn Religions, Dec. 6, 2021, learnreligions.com/nathanael-the-true-israelite-701068. Matthew had a lucrative, though dishonest, tax collecting business for the occupying Roman government. The reason for Papiass error may simply be that he made the natural assumption that a Galilean Apostle would be writing primarily in Aramaic. There were only 8 people in Noahs Ark. 11.1-3; Pelag. There must have been at least 15-20 people eating in Levis spacious home. 1.62), though these He had the ability, the means, the opportunity, the motivation, and he wouldnt have done it? 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. They contend that the conjunction. 18) or Origen (cf. Th. 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. There are many examples of irresistible grace in God's Word. These Jewish tax collectors were disdained by the Jews. He left Judea and carried the Gospel to Ethiopia where he was martyred while celebrating a mass at the altar of a small church he had started. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. After Jesus grants Peter the keys to the kingdom (see below), Jesus explains . 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 (. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. If Jesus proclaimed the 'Kingdom of God," sneered Pilate, let him die as "King of the Jews" (Mark 15:2,9,12,18,26). How Did Jesus Spend the Last Week of His Life? 5.10.3; Clement, in h.e. 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. Matthew is the Greek name and Levi was the Hebrew name. Religion is "a matter between every man and his maker, in which no other, & far less the public, [has] a . 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. Jesus asked him to be a *disciple (Matthew 9:9). Epiphanius added to the confusion when he imagined that the Gospel that he managed to get a hold of, which skips over the virgin birth and commences at Jesuss baptism (Pan. [48] Frey, Die Fragmente des Nazorerevangeliums, 626; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 50, 50n.35. Verse 15. For example, the Valentinian theologian Heracleon differentiated Levi from Matthew (cf. Slaves Were Lifeless Tools in the Ancient World, Meaning of Names, Places & Things in the Bible, Gardens and the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, The Roman Phalanx & Hannibals Pincer Movement. had his name changed from Levi to Matthew likely by Jesus Himself who changed Simons name to Peter.(Matt. [35] For the general consensus of Q scholars, see Nigel Turner, Q in Recent Thought ExpTim 80 (1968-69): 32428; John S. Kloppenborg, The Formation of Q: Trajectories in Ancient Wisdom (Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1987), 5164; Harry T. Fleddermann, Q: A Reconstruction and Commentary (Leuven: Peeters, 2005), 15557; Sarah E. Rollens, Framing Social Criticism in the Jesus Movement: The Ideological Project in the Sayings Gospel Q (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014), 9193. 1.7; Irenaeus, haer. 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.' ". Scripture both prohibits and mocks astrology (Jer. I. 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). You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. The Ipuwer PapyrusWere The 10 Biblical Plagues Real? Dan. Alternate titles: Levi, St. Matthew the Apostle, St. Matthew the Evangelist. Teilband 1, ed. Supported by: 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. While He was on the cross, He cried out, "Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani," which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?". December 29, 2020 7:00 AM EST. 184.9-10) and Eusebius regarded the text as disputed but not unorthodox (h.e. 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. As he went along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth. (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), 6089; Kok, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 5253; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 181. 1. [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. 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. There were only 8 people in Noahs Ark. H. Gundry, 291. [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. Baum, Ein aramischer Urmatthus, 26364. This creates space between Peter and the church's rock. Jonah was in the belly of the whale 4 days. Jesus sent out 70 Disciples to preach His Good News. 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. 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. Ps. 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. Pelag. 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. B. News of his preaching and healing ministry was spreading far and wide. Vielhauer and Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, 167; Klijn. 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. Jesus casually says to Levi the tax collector,follow me and Levi got up and followed him. Just like that. 6.14.2; Epiphanius, Pan. Or Levi was having a lot of friends over for dinner that night and asked Jesus if He would come, too.