prol.) As a result, those who reject the academic consensus on Markan priority are often the most open to Papiass claim. Teilband 1, ed. 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. 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. Pelag. 40.9; Ezech. The Bible shares in the book of Acts, that the betrayal and arrest of Jesus were foretold long ago by the Holy Spirit. To follow Jesus requires renouncement. [16] This English translation of the Greek text is taken from Michael W. Holmes, editor, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations (rev. Christoph Markschies und Jens Schrter (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck 2012), 6089; Kok, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 5253; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 181. Matthew belonged to a family of tax gatherers, or publicans, but was himself a customs collector in Capernaum, where he lived. He called us when all we had was need. March 2020. Matthew was obviously a small mokhes because he himself was sitting in the tax office as Jesus passed through the outskirts of Capernaum. 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. [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). [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. 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 Ipuwer PapyrusWere The 10 Biblical Plagues Real? CHICAGO (RNS) The first time the Rev. [34] Friedrich Schleiermacher, ber die Zeugnisse des Papias von unsern beiden ersten Evangelien, TSK 5 (1832): 73568; Manson, Gospels and Epistles, 7787; Hill, Matthew, 2427; Davies and Allison, Matthew IIV, 1.17; Black, Rhetorical Terminology, 3235; Hagner, Matthew 113; xlvxlvi; Nolland, Matthew, 3; Carter, Storyteller, Interpreter, Evangelist, 1617; Sim, R. 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. Th. The Calling of St. Matthew, by Vittore Carpaccio, 1502. Jesus ate a meal at Levi's house and . Born in Palestine sometime in the 1st century, Saint Matthew was one of Jesus's 12 apostles and also one of the four Evangelists, according to the Bible. Pet. The fact of one man having two names is of frequent occurrence among the Jews. According to Luke 5:29, the aforementioned dinner was given by Levi in his house after his call. Beth: And it's in a chapel with two other paintings by Caravaggio all about Matthew. 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. At best, they were learned and prudent. Matthew was saying, Jesus IS the fulfillment of Old Testament predictions of our coming Messiah, Anontied One. He is called the Son of David nine times in the Gospel of Matthew. By Michael J. Kok 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 most of us know, the tax collector named Levi became Saint Matthew. Could Ancient Sparta Defeat Ancient Rome? [7] Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, 2nd ed. According to Matthew 9:9 and Mark 2:14, Matthew was sitting by the customs house in Capernaum (near modern Almagor, Israel, on the Sea of Galilee) when Jesus called him into his company. In spite of this, Jesus went to Levi and invited him to join Jesus' disciples. 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. Omissions? This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. Jesus could have walked up to Matthew and said sarcastically, "I bet your mother is really proud you!" Jesus was considered a rabbi. 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. 3.2).[48]. 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). Levi had to keep very accurate records. But let's hear Matthew's own account of his calling: A minority view during the Patristic period was that Levi and Matthew were separate individuals. Vose Seminary The other Eleven were ordinary men. Zavada, Jack. [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. Dan. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthews house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. Matthew (also known as Levi) doubtless was one of the tax collectors who responded to John the Baptist's call to repentance. [20], Krzinger and Gundry re-read the Papian fragment through the lens of rhetorical categories. Matthew was an accurate counter. 11.1-3; Pelag. Q. 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. Ward Powers, The Progressive Publication of Matthew: An Explanation of the Writing of the Synoptic Gospels (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2010), 2829. Band: Evangelien und Verwandtes. People had to pay taxes to the *Romans. (vv. DepartmentBldg Tucson, AZ 85721 TEL 520-621-6897 FAX 520-626-9014. [43] Further, the Gospel according to the Ebionites features a pun that only works in Greek (cf. [17] W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison (A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Gospel According to Saint Matthew. 3.1.1). 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.' ". 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. 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. [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). 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. Several theories have been offered to account for why the toll collector Levi was re-named Matthew in Matthew 9:9 (cf. [Matthew 9:9-13, Luke 5:27-32] 13 Jesus went to the seashore again where large crowds came to him, . Hence Levi was the original name of the man who was subsequently called Matthew; the Maththaios legomenos of Matthew 9:9, would indicate this. 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. Teilband 1, ed. Jonah was in the belly of the whale 4 days. They kept it for themselves and became very rich. Ps. Follow me, Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. [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. J.E. 29.7.4). [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. 3.1.1; Pantaenus, in Eusebius, h.e. 13:3; Pol. Mark 10:35) and swapped Salome for her in another (Matt 27:56; cf. 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. 47:13-15), yet God . Follow me, he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. As Jesus was having a meal in Levi's home, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples . Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 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. [47] Luomanen, Jewish-Christian Sects, 103119; Kok, Gospel According to the Hebrews, 4143; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 1417; 4352. 2:1-10; Acts 8:9-24). Likewise, Jerome prematurely announced that he had finished his translations of the Old and New Testaments when he just started the task (Vir. Soon, Jesus and His disciples are having dinner in . Jesus Christ and Saint Peter have entered the room, and Jesus is pointing at Matthew. 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]. 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. had his name changed from Levi to Matthew likely by Jesus Himself who changed Simon's name to Peter. He was one of the earlier followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus speaking or understanding Greek is the least controversial of the three. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017), 1089; cf. Jerome may have anticipated that he would track down the Gospel according to the Hebrews in Pamphilus library in Caesarea (cf. See W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann, Matthew, AB (Doubleday: New York, 1971), CLXXVIII. Acts 1:1-2 appears to tie the two books to the same author. 30.1; Jerome, Matt. 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. I.2.26; Eusebius, h.e. Marys Perpetual Virginity & Jesus Brothers, Why Pollen on the Shroud of Turin Proves it is Real, Christian Inscriptions in Roman Catacombs, Eruption Of Mt. 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. Assuming that the identification of Matthew with Levi is correct, Matthew (probably meaning Yahwehs 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. Jesus invited Matthew (Levi) to follow him (Lk 5:27-32). Modern Persecution of Christians in China, Patriarch Jacobs Well & St. Philoumenous, Slaughter of the Theban Legion C. 286 AD, LapsiChristians Who Lapse/Abandon Their Faith, Evodias Named Followers of Christ Christians. Matthias was chosen to be one of the Apostles after Judas of Iscariot had betrayed Jesus and died ( Acts 1:26 NIV). He was included as one of the Evangelists according to the Christian tradition. Among these repetitions are: variations of Mattathias (five times), Jesus (twice), Joseph (three times), Simeon (Semein), Levi (twice), and Melchi (twice). Phil. 135). Levi's work was to take the money. It is beyond the scope of this paper to determine why Matthew was substituted for Levi. Saint Matthew's decision lives on into eternity and benefited not millions . Jesus asked him to be a *disciple (Matthew 9:9). Matthew did follow Jesus for the rest of his life. Jesus came to give us the same choice he gave . The fishermen who followed Jesus, and some became His Apostles, had to pay taxes on fishing licenses and perhaps on their daily catch. [3] Powers, Progressive Publication, 29 (emphasis original). R. McL. Jesus went out again by the sea. Who translated it after that in Greek is not sufficiently ascertained. Vielhauer and Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, 15465; Klijn. Band: Evangelien und Verwandtes. [30] For instance, see France, Evangelist and Teacher, 6466; Morris, Matthew, 14; Carson, Matthew, 13 Osborne, Matthew, 34; Brown and Roberts, Matthew, 16. Ancient and modern scholars have been perplexed by the fact that the name of the toll collector in Matthew 9:9 differs from its synoptic counterparts. Updates? Another option is that Papias was referring to a lost source. 30.13.45), indicating that it was published in Greek at the outset. For example, the Valentinian theologian Heracleon differentiated Levi from Matthew (cf. The whole crowd came to him, and he taught them. Sextus Julius AfricanusWhy Did The Magi Come ? 3. Matthew had a lucrative, though dishonest, tax collecting business for the occupying Roman government. [44] As for Jerome, he boasted that he translated the Gospel according to the Hebrews (e.g., Vir. [48] Frey, Die Fragmente des Nazorerevangeliums, 626; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 50, 50n.35. Klijn (Gospel Tradition, 11, 119) and Frey (Die Fragmente des Hebrerevangeliums, 606) treat Eusebiuss attribution of this tale to the Gospel According to the Hebrews as spurious since Eusebius may have had no firsthand knowledge of the text. 20.5; Vir. 1.62), though these observations contradict Origens argument in his commentary above. David: That's right, in the larger church. "Meet Nathanael in the Bible, the 'True Israelite'." Learn Religions, Dec. 6, 2021, learnreligions.com/nathanael-the-true-israelite-701068. Mark 16:1). 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). Consequently, the evangelist wrote Matthew into the Markan story of the toll collector in Matthew 9:9. 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. Mark 10:35) and swapped Salome for her in another (Matt 27:56; cf. Other scholars suspect that the Nazarenes only supplied Jerome with their own translations and commentary on Matthews Gospel. Answer (1 of 3): In Mark, the first New Testament gospel written, Matthew and Levi are very definitely two different people. Religion is "a matter between every man and his maker, in which no other, & far less the public, [has] a . Jesus sent out 70 Disciples to preach His Good News. 3.24.6; Origen, in h.e. 6:25 (300s AD). 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. [37] See B. H. Streeter, The Four Gospels: A Study of Origins (London: MacMillan, 1924). Fellow citizens considered him a social outcast who was a traitor to their nation. Teilband 1, ed. Impossible!"[3]. H. Gundry, 291. 135; 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. Hence, Eusebius corrected Irenaeus by substituting the Gospel according to the Hebrews as the Ebionitess preferred Gospel (h.e. 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. Tax collectors were rich people. The First Disciples [Matthew 4:18-22, Luke 5:1-11, John 1:35-51] . [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. 29.9.4; 30.3.7; 30.13.2; 30.14.3) and Jerome (Epist. [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. Many people were surprised when Jesus sat down to eat with Levi, but they learned that Jesus' message of salvation is for everyone. 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. 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). [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. 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. 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. There are many examples of irresistible grace in God's Word. [39] Edwards (Hebrew Gospel, 210) identifies Matthews oracles in h.e. While He was on the cross, He cried out, "Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani," which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?". http://www.brentcunningham.org/?p=316 When Jesus said He would be there, Levi was so excited he invited lots of his friends. This is a depiction of a moment of spiritual awakening and conversion, which was something many Baroque artists were interested in painting, especially Caravaggio. Josef Krzinger and Robert Gundry have tried to line up Papiass testimony with the academic consensus. 29.9.4; 30.3.7; Jerome, Vir. Moreover, the Hebrew itself is preserved to this day in the library at Caesarea, which the martyr Pamphilus so diligently collected. 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). Following Jesus Meant Matthew Lost His Lucrative Tax Collector Career. 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. 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. 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. CLICK HEREfor Taxes in the Ancient Roman World article. Third, Matthew Wanted to Tell Others about Christ. 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. 1. ill. 2), but several of his quotations were lifted from previous Greek texts penned by figures such as Ignatius (cf. The thesis that the first canonical Gospel was published under the name of a pseudonym is defended by George D. Kilpatrick. Krzingers and Gundrys proposals have varying degrees of persuasiveness, but most scholars have not been swayed by their contention that Papiass words on Matthew have been misread through the centuries. [5] Mounce, Matthew, 83; France, Evangelist and Teacher, 69, 69n.54; Morris, Matthew, 219; Robert H. Gundry, Matthew: A Commentary on his Handbook for a Mixed Church Under Persecution, 2nd ed. CLICK HERE for Jesus and the Constant Crowds article. The assumption is that this order of the Gospels is a chronological one, when in fact it is a theological one. [2] B. Because of that, Levi later threw a party at his house and invited his sinner friends to meet Jesus. But Levis guests were of his social ilksinners and other tax collectors.The Pharisees (we get our word pharisaical meaning self-righteous; hypocritical from this sect in ancient Judaism) were always watching whatever Jesus did and said and they followed him to Levis house and were appalled to see Him eating and talking with tax collectors and sinners.Several of Jesus other disciples were near. 3.2) that the Gospel according to the Hebrews was associated with Matthew. There were only 8 people in Noahs Ark. Legend differs as to the scene of his missions and as to whether he died a natural death or a martyrs. [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/. 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). 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. Mark 3:18). Numerous textual indications point to an author who was a Jewish Christian writing for Christians of similar background. And he got up and followed him. Contrary to Epiphaniuss assertions, he may have not had access to the Gospel according to the Hebrews at all, and scholars generally label his source, which frequently harmonizes passages in the Synoptic Gospels, as the Gospel according to the Ebionites to distinguish it from the former text. 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. [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. 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. It is beyond the scope of this paper to determine why Matthew was substituted for Levi. Early Christian CommunionWine or Mingled Wine? 4.9). Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The Romans were their enemies. However, Mark . [24] Krzinger, Papias, 1516; Gundry, Matthew, 619; idem, Pre-Papian Tradition, 6162, 67. F. C. Burkitt, Levi Son of Alphaeus JTS 28 (1927): 27374; Metzger, Textual Commentary, 78; Brent Nongbri, Matthew and Levi. Benjamin Bacon (Studies in Matthew [New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1930], 3940) conjectures that the textual variant in Mark 2:14 predated the composition of Matthews Gospel, leading a pre-Matthean scribe who was transmitting a list of the Twelve that was originally independent of Mark 3:1619 to preface the name James the son of Alphaeus with the title the toll collector. The author of Matthews Gospel, however, copied this list in Matthew 10:24 and wrongly took this scribal insertion in reference to Matthew since James was immediately preceded by Matthew in the list of names. Mark 3:18). Tax collectors were not very respected people in Jesus' time because many of them stole from the people.
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