# Matthew the Apostle One of the Twelve apostles called by Jesus from his post as a tax collector at Capernaum, and traditionally the author of the First Gospel. Originally named Levi, Matthew abandoned a lucrative but socially despised office to follow Jesus ([Matthew 9:9](/codex/matthew-9-9/); [Mark 2:14](/codex/mark-2-14/); [Luke 5:27-28](/codex/luke-5-27-28/)). The Gospel that bears his name is the most thoroughly Jewish of the four, citing the Hebrew Scriptures more often than any other Gospel and presenting Jesus as the long-promised Messiah and son of David, fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. ## Biographical sketch - **Background.** A Jewish *telōnēs* (tax collector / publican) at Capernaum, on the trade route through Galilee. The office was politically toxic: tax collectors collaborated with Roman occupation and were socially classed with sinners and prostitutes ([Matt 9:10-11](/codex/matthew-9-10-11/); 11:19). The Synoptic accounts of his call all use both names, "Levi son of Alphaeus" in Mark / Luke, "Matthew" in the Gospel attributed to him, most plausibly Levi being his given Jewish name and Matthew (*Mattityahu*, "gift of YHWH") an apostolic name adopted after his call, paralleling Simon → Peter and Saul → Paul. - **Calling.** "As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector's booth; and He said to him, 'Follow Me!' And he got up and followed Him" ([Matt 9:9](/codex/matthew-9-9/), NASB95). Matthew immediately hosts a banquet for Jesus with a crowd of fellow tax collectors and sinners, the occasion for Jesus's "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners" saying ([Matt 9:13](/codex/matthew-9-13/)). - **Among the Twelve.** Listed in all four apostolic lists ([Matt 10:3](/codex/matthew-10-3/); [Mark 3:18](/codex/mark-3-18/); [Luke 6:15](/codex/luke-6-15/); [Acts 1:13](/codex/acts-1-13/)). The Matthean list uniquely tags him "Matthew the tax collector", a self-deprecating apostolic identifier consistent with self-attribution. - **Post-Pentecost ministry.** Scripture is silent after [Acts 1](/codex/acts-1/). Patristic tradition (Eusebius, *Eccl. Hist.* 3.24.6) places his early ministry among the Jews of Palestine; later traditions send him to Ethiopia, Persia, Parthia, or Syria, sources diverge and certainty is impossible. - **Martyrdom.** Tradition (varied across patristic and later sources) reports martyrdom abroad, by sword in Ethiopia is the most common Western tradition, but Eastern traditions report a peaceful death. The early evidence is thin. ## Authorship contribution - **The Gospel of Matthew**, traditionally the First Gospel, dated by conservative scholarship to ~AD 55-65 (some place it earlier than Mark; most modern critical scholarship places it ~AD 80-90 and dependent on Mark). Critical scholarship widely doubts apostolic authorship and treats the title "According to Matthew" as a second-century attribution; conservative scholarship retains it on the strength of unbroken patristic tradition and the unlikelihood that the early church would ascribe a Gospel to a former tax collector if the attribution were invented. - **The Papias attribution.** Papias of Hierapolis (~AD 110-130, preserved in Eusebius, *Eccl. Hist.* 3.39.16): "Matthew compiled the *logia* [oracles / sayings / accounts] in the Hebrew dialect (*Hebraïdi dialektō*), and each interpreted them as he was able." The exact meaning is contested: whether *logia* means a sayings-source, an Aramaic proto-Gospel, or the Greek Gospel itself; whether *Hebraïdi dialektō* means the Hebrew/Aramaic language or a Hebrew style of rhetoric. The patristic chain (Papias → Irenaeus → Origen → Eusebius) uniformly affirms Matthean authorship. - **Audience and aim.** The Gospel addresses a Jewish-Christian audience: it opens with a Davidic genealogy, structures Jesus's teaching into five major discourses (echoing the five books of Moses), and embeds ~60 explicit Old Testament quotations and ~250 allusions. Major themes: Jesus as Davidic Messiah, fulfillment of prophecy, the kingdom of heaven, the new Israel, righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees. ## Theological themes - **Fulfillment of prophecy.** The signature Matthean refrain "this took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet" appears 12+ times. Matthew presents Jesus's life, birthplace, flight to Egypt, Galilean ministry, parabolic teaching, suffering, as the fulfillment of Hebrew Scripture. - **Kingdom of heaven.** Matthew uses "kingdom of heaven" (*basileia tōn ouranōn*) ~32 times, likely a reverent circumlocution for "kingdom of God" reflecting Jewish avoidance of the divine name. - **Discipleship and ethics.** The Sermon on the Mount ([Matt 5](/codex/matthew-5/)-7) and the eschatological discourse ([Matt 24](/codex/matthew-24/)-25) frame Christian ethics as the deeper fulfillment, not abolition, of the Law. - **Ecclesiology.** Matthew is the only Gospel using the word *ekklēsia* ("church", [Matt 16:18](/codex/matthew-16-18/); 18:17). The Petrine confession at Caesarea Philippi and the related "keys of the kingdom" passage are uniquely Matthean. - **The Great Commission.** "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations" ([Matt 28:19](/codex/matthew-28-19/), NASB95), the climactic missionary mandate that frames the church's universal mission. ## Connection to codex concepts (added 2026-04-28 bulk extraction) - [NT Authorship and Eyewitness Apologetics](/codex/nt-authorship-and-eyewitness-apologetics/), Matthew (Levi) anchored as the apostolic author of the First Gospel; engages the Papias *logia* fragment ("Matthew put together the oracles in the Hebrew language") as foundational external testimony - [Petrine Source Hypothesis](/codex/petrine-source-hypothesis/), Matthew positioned in the Synoptic chain of custody: if Markan priority holds, Matthew depends on Peter-via-Mark, anchoring the Synoptics in apostolic eyewitness; Papias contrasts Matthew's topically-arranged *logia* with Mark's looser narrative ## See also - [Peter the Apostle](/codex/peter-the-apostle/), fellow apostle and likely source for the trial narrative in [Matthew 26](/codex/matthew-26/) - [John Mark](/codex/john-mark/), Markan priority is the dominant critical view for Matthew's source material - [Luke the Evangelist](/codex/luke-the-evangelist/), fellow Synoptic author - [John the Apostle](/codex/john-the-apostle/), the fourth evangelist - [Papias of Hierapolis](/codex/papias-of-hierapolis/), early-second-century witness to Matthean authorship - Gospel of Matthew, the book itself (concept hub) - [Synoptic Problem](/codex/synoptic-problem/), literary relationships among Matthew, Mark, Luke - [NT Authorship and Eyewitness Apologetics](/codex/nt-authorship-and-eyewitness-apologetics/), overarching concept