why did jesus change levi to matthew
Matthew, the seventh apostle, was chosen by Andrew. 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. The task of the present article is to explain these two variations in . Zavada, Jack. [28] Baum, Ein aramischer Urmatthus, 26364. Tradition notes his ministry in Judaea, after which he supposedly missioned to the East, suggesting Ethiopia and Persia. Jesus ate a meal at Levi's house and . 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.' ". Additionally, specialists on the Synoptic Problem generally hold that Matthews Gospel reproduced over 90 percent of Marks content, improved Marks grammar and style, and edited out Marks transliterated Aramaic terms. Omissions? While Jesus was having dinner at Matthews house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. As most of us know, the tax collector named Levi became Saint Matthew. T/F, 3. It is beyond the scope of this paper to determine why Matthew was substituted for Levi. Religion is "a matter between every man and his maker, in which no other, & far less the public, [has] a . But Pilate replied, I imagine, "What happens in Jerusalem, stays in . According to Luke 5:29, the aforementioned dinner was given by Levi in his house after his call. While He was on the cross, He cried out, "Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani," which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?". Warren Carter underscores how Papiass erroneous supposition served to underline the antiquity of this gospel and link it to the apostles.. [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. Band: Evangelien und Verwandtes. 1.62), though these Following Jesus Meant Matthew Lost His Lucrative Tax Collector Career. How Did Jesus Spend the Last Week of His Life? For three main reasons, almost all scholars believe the Gospel of Luke was written by the same person who wrote Acts: Luke and Acts were written in the same style and express the same theology. 1/27/2013 09:47:39 pm. 29.7.4). Jesus came to give us the same choice he gave . Beth: And it's in a chapel with two other paintings by Caravaggio all about Matthew. [45] Luomanen, Jewish-Christian Sects, 100101; Kok, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 41; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 47, 47n.28. My theory is that for one thing John and Peter were closer to Jesus. It is not surprising he watched Jesus carefully and wrote down the first of the four Gospels, the biographies of Jesus of Nazareth. [23] Krzinger, Papias, 24, 3342; cf. 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. [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. [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. Levi meaning joined and the name Matthew meaning gift of Yahweh.. He invited his friends to a feast, where they could meet Jesus. Matthew had a lucrative, though dishonest, tax collecting business for the occupying Roman government. T/F, 5. 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. Jesus invited Matthew (Levi) to follow him (Lk 5:27-32). Unlike the modern deductions about Matthews level of literacy, Papias did not presuppose Matthews facility in Greek. 135). Jesus Calls Levi (Matthew). Vielhauer and Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, 15465; Klijn. Epiphanius and Jerome later confused the traditional account of the authorship of Matthews Gospel with the origins of the Gospel according to the Hebrews. Perhaps most plain is the calling of the disciple Matthew, also known as Levi the tax collector. 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. ill. 3; Tract. [15], The Original Language of Matthews Gospel, Unlike the modern deductions about Matthews level of literacy, Papias did not presuppose Matthews facility in Greek. 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. [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. Levi was happy to accept! [16] This English translation of the Greek text is taken from Michael W. Holmes, editor, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations (rev. Sextus Julius AfricanusWhy Did The Magi Come ? 29.9.4; 30.3.7; Jerome, Vir. Outside the New Testament, a statement of importance about him is the passage from the Apostolic Father Papias of Hierapolis preserved by Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea: So then Matthew composed the Oracles in the Hebrew language, and each one interpreted them as he could. The Gospel According to Matthew was certainly written for a Jewish-Christian church in a strongly Jewish environment, but that this Matthew is definitely the Synoptic author is seriously doubted. 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). Caseys efforts have been critiqued by Peter M. Head and P. J. Williams, Q Review TB 54.1 (2003): 13144. 13:3; Pol. Matthew 9:9-13 begins with Jesus calling Matthew, a tax collector, to follow Him as His disciple. Whatever the case, Jerome slowly distanced himself from his earlier confident declarations that the Nazarenes had the original Matthean Gospel in their possession (cf. Legend differs as to the scene of his missions and as to whether he died a natural death or a martyrs. Jonah was in the belly of the whale 4 days. [20] Matthew Black, The Use of Rhetorical Terminology in Papias on Matthew and Mark JSNT 37 (1989): 32; Bauckham, Eyewitnesses, 222. ill. 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. For the theory that Matthew was either the founder of a putative Matthean community or the source of their traditions, see Pesch, Levi-Matthus, 56; Gundry. 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 is no indication that Matthew wrote anything (contra John 21:24; Gos. At worst, they were charlatans, sycophants, and brutes (cf. Phil. One theory is that Matthew went by the name Levi, or was simply of the tribe of Levi, and was re-named by Jesus as Matthew upon his call. Many people were surprised when Jesus sat down to eat with Levi, but they learned that Jesus' message of salvation is for everyone. Francis Watson, Gospel Writing: A Canonical Perspective (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013), 126. 1.9.9). Mich. 7.6; Is. However, most scholars think that the tax collector Levi (not Zacchaeus) and Matthew were the same person based on these three verses: - Matthew 9:9 - "And as Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man, called Matthew, sitting in the tax office; and He *said to . Acts 1:1-2 appears to tie the two books to the same author. 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 (. Levi's work was to take the money. But let's hear Matthew's own account of his calling: 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. [18] Josef Krzinger and Robert Gundry have tried to line up Papiass testimony with the academic consensus. [22] Krzinger, Papias, 22; Gundry, Matthew, 619; Pre-Papian Tradition, xxi, 68; cf. [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. [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. 3.27.4; 3.39.17; 4.22.8). In Matthew 4:18-21, he tells them he will make them "fishers of men.". [33] 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. March 2020. 3.39.1, 15), which subtly contrasts with an exclusive interest in the Lords logoi or sayings (3.39.14). After his conversion, Matthew ardently preached Jesus as Messiah to his Jewish community. Another option is that Papias was referring to a lost source. Thom. David: That's right, in the larger church. Matthew (Levi) who wrote the first of the Gospels did write it in the Hebrew tongue which at that time was Aramaic. Tax collectors at that time were known as dishonest and corrupt people. Watchthe video below. 7.2627; 14.5960). Rather, he plainly states, So Matthew composed the oracles in the Hebrew language and each person interpreted them as best he could (in Eusebius, h.e. We soon discover the difference between the man and the rock. Christ redeemed the priesthood of Levi back unto himself and redeemed Matthew the . I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Mark 2:13-17. 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. Saint Matthew made a very small decision at the time that ended up not only affecting his life, and the people of his time, but he made a choice that affected all of mankind in the future as well. (Matt. Band: Evangelien und Verwandtes. Matthew was an accurate counter. And many followed him ( Mark 2:15 ). 1.8.1; Clement, str. Per tradition, Matthew was killed by by a soldier on the order of the king of Ethiopia. All the names for our week days come from Roman and Norse/Anglo-Saxon gods. [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. [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. 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. Gundry, Matthew, xxii. People had to pay taxes to the *Romans. [48] Frey, Die Fragmente des Nazorerevangeliums, 626; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 50, 50n.35. [47] Luomanen, Jewish-Christian Sects, 103119; Kok, Gospel According to the Hebrews, 4143; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 1417; 4352. Mark 3:18). Matthew authored the first Gospel of the . Calling of St. Matthew by Alexandre Bida, 1875. The best way to think about the Greek language during the time of Jesus is to think about modern-day English. 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).