4. 135; Matt. 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. They contend that the conjunction. Matthew, of course. And he got up and followed him. [Matthew 9:9-13, Luke 5:27-32] 13 Jesus went to the seashore again where large crowds came to him, . 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.". [43] Daniel A. Bertrand, Lvangile des Ebionites: une harmonie vangelique antrieur au Diatessaron NTS 26 (1980): 54863; Vielhauer and Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, 16671; Klijn, Gospel Tradition, 28-30; Klauck, Apocryphal Gospels, 5154; Luomanen, Jewish-Christian Sects, 3738; 83, 25152; Frey, Die Fragmente des Ebioniterevangeliums, 60722; Kok, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 43; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 10, 171261. [17] W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison (A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Gospel According to Saint Matthew. At worst, they were charlatans, sycophants, and brutes (cf. James E. Crouch; Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 32n.12; Ian Boxall, Matthew through the Centuries (Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell, 2019), 31, 172. Saint Matthew | History, Facts, Feast Day, & Death | Britannica [33] For lexical discussion and debate about the term logion in Papiass vocabulary (cf. He invited his friends to a feast, where they could meet Jesus. 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. 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. Levi meets Jesus - easyenglish.bible Mich. 7.6; Is. There were 12 men chosen to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Jerome may have anticipated that he would track down the Gospel according to the Hebrews in Pamphilus library in Caesarea (cf. Or Levi was having a lot of friends over for dinner that night and asked Jesus if He would come, too. Another option is that Papias was referring to a lost source. 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. praef. As Jesus was having a meal in Levi's home, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples . Follow me, Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Ultimately, the identification of Matthews oracles. Luke 6:12-26. Among these repetitions are: variations of Mattathias (five times), Jesus (twice), Joseph (three times), Simeon (Semein), Levi (twice), and Melchi (twice). Mark 10:35) and swapped Salome for her in another (Matt 27:56; cf. 3. 3.25.5; cf. It was to that man, the most despised of the despicable, to whom Jesus said, "Follow Me!" 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. Pelag. Hence, Eusebius corrected Irenaeus by substituting the Gospel according to the Hebrews as the Ebionitess preferred Gospel (h.e. T/F, 5. 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. 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. 47:13-15), yet God . [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. Fellow citizens considered him a social outcast who was a traitor to their nation. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners., CLICK HERE for Jesus and the Pharisees article. Why Did Jesus Go To Jerusalem? A Holy Week Reflection To follow Jesus requires renouncement. But let's hear Matthew's own account of his calling: On the other hand, after scrutinizing the onomastic data compiled by Tal Ilan. How come only five disciples of Jesus Christ wrote books in the New Testament? [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. Follow me, Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. "Follow me," he said to him. [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. 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. 13:3; Pol. Jesus was becoming popular. Tax collectors were not very respected people in Jesus' time because many of them stole from the people. It is the contracted name of Mattathias. Krzinger and Gundry insist that dialektos would be preceded by an article if a language was intended (cf. [8] Alternatively, the textual variant that has James instead of Levi as the son of Alphaeus in Mark 2:14 in a handful of manuscripts was plausibly motivated by a desire for uniformity by having a single son of Alphaeus (cf. How do we know that Matthew changed after Jesus called him? 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. [38] For the latter view, see France, Evangelist and Teacher, 64-66; Bauckham, Eyewitnesses, 224. 3.27.4; 3.39.17; 4.22.8). 30.13.45), indicating that it was published in Greek at the outset. [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. Vir. Dr. Beth Harris: In the Contarelli Chapel. Perhaps most plain is the calling of the disciple Matthew, also known as Levi the tax collector. Some scholars believe that the tax-collector simply had two names, one in Greek (Matthew) and the other in Hebrew (Levi). Jesus came with some of His disciples. The Identification of the Toll Collector as Matthew. Lettie Moses Carr saw Jesus depicted as Black, she was in her 20s. Vielhauer and Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, 15465; Klijn. 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. 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). For criticism of their theory, see France, Matthew, 70. Consequently, the evangelist wrote Matthew into the Markan story of the toll collector in Matthew 9:9. 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 . 29.7.4). CLICK HERE for Jesus and the Constant Crowds article. [44] As for Jerome, he boasted that he translated the Gospel according to the Hebrews (e.g., Vir. Why Kelsey Grammer's Jesus Freak Movie Made Film History Luz, Matthew 17, 80. Gundry takes the referent to be the expositors who expounded on Matthews text. [30] For instance, see France, Evangelist and Teacher, 6466; Morris, Matthew, 14; Carson, Matthew, 13 Osborne, Matthew, 34; Brown and Roberts, Matthew, 16. 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. 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 3.39.16 with the Gospel according to the Hebrews in h.e. And many followed him ( Mark 2:15 ). though this example differs slightly from Matthew 9:9 inasmuch as the woman is left unnamed. h.e. Mark 2:15 While Jesus was dining at Levi's house, many tax collectors 3.24.6; Origen, in h.e. Jesus Chooses the Twelve Apostles (Lk 6:12-26) - UBF 40.9; Ezech. He was one of the earlier followers of Jesus Christ. 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.