why did jesus change levi to matthew

why did jesus change levi to matthew

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. [16] At first sight, this description seems like a poor match for the extant text entitled the Gospel according to Matthew, for it does not look like a translation of an Aramaic precursor. Supported by: 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. Ward Powers enthusiastically endorses this line of reasoning in the following bold claim: "To have this evidence about the apostle Matthew his background, training, and employment in the Roman administration; his response to the call to follow Jesus; his appointment to the role and responsibility of apostle and to believe that he would. Perhaps most plain is the calling of the disciple Matthew, also known as Levi the tax collector. Other than naming Matthew in the list of Apostles, usually pairing him with St. Thomas, the New Testament offers scant and uncertain information about him. 29.9.4; 30.3.7; Jerome, Vir. While Jesus was having dinner at Levis house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. This creates space between Peter and the church's rock. 30.1; Jerome, Matt. 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. Matthew, of course. Several theories have been offered to account for why the toll collector Levi was re-named Matthew in Matthew 9:9 (cf. There were only 8 people in Noahs Ark. Zavada, Jack. with Q or M may depend on a given scholars acceptance or not of the Four Source theory as classically formulated. Magi, or "wise men," were royal counselors. 3.2-3), but failed to place them in a rhetorically effective arrangement (taxis), whereas Matthew arranged (sunetaxato) the oracles (logia) in a Hebrew style.[21] That is, they surmise that Matthew applied Jewish exegetical techniques and forms of argumentation to the material at his disposal to shape it into a cogent presentation about how Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures. ill. 3) and, after comparing it to the textual fragments that he received from Jewish Christ-followers living in Beroea known as the Nazarenes, would translate the entire work. Mark 3:18). 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. Hence Levi was the original name of the man who was subsequently called Matthew; the Maththaios legomenos of Matthew 9:9, would indicate this. 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 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. The best way to think about the Greek language during the time of Jesus is to think about modern-day English. As he went along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth. CLICK HEREfor Taxes in the Ancient Roman World article. Follow me, Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. 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. Both books are addressed to the same persona man named Theophilus. It is beyond the scope of this paper to determine why Matthew was substituted for Levi. This is a depiction of a moment of spiritual awakening and conversion, which was something many Baroque artists were interested in painting, especially Caravaggio. 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. Updates? The other Eleven were ordinary men. 12.13; Is. Likewise, Jerome prematurely announced that he had finished his translations of the Old and New Testaments when he just started the task (Vir. 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). 29.9.4; 30.3.7; 30.13.2; 30.14.3) and Jerome (Epist. There is no indication that Matthew wrote anything (contra John 21:24; Gos. haer. But Pilate replied, I imagine, "What happens in Jerusalem, stays in . There must have been at least 15-20 people eating in Levis spacious home. [42] Luomanen, Jewish-Christian Sects, 21, 123; Frey, Die Fragmente des Ebionerevangeliums in Antike christliche Apokryphen in deutscher bersetzung. After Jesus grants Peter the keys to the kingdom (see below), Jesus explains . Vielhauer and Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, 15465; Klijn. For two reasons *Jews did not like the men who did that work. 5.12), and the verb hermeneuein; Papias could have chosen different terminology to highlight Matthews rhetorical style. 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. There were what the Jews called publicans aka tax collectors like Matthew who collected taxes for customs or tolls on imports, exports, and merchants who came to buy or sell in Israel. A beam of light illuminates the faces of the men at the table who are looking at Jesus Christ. 2.12.87; Didymus, Comm. From the place where he collected taxes near the Sea of Galilee (probably on the outskirts of Capernaum), Matthew may often have heard Jesus speak and must have known about his many miracles. The next disciple that Jesus called was Levi (Matthew). David: So, Matthew was one of Christ's disciples. Dan. How Did Jesus Spend the Last Week of His Life? Other scholars suspect that the Nazarenes only supplied Jerome with their own translations and commentary on Matthews Gospel. [37] See B. H. Streeter, The Four Gospels: A Study of Origins (London: MacMillan, 1924). The task of the present article is to explain these two variations in . High priest Aaron and his sons were descendants of Levi (Exodus 4:14), Levi being a son of Jacob (Genesis 29:34). Teilband 1, ed. Francis Watson, Gospel Writing: A Canonical Perspective (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013), 126. T/F, 5. By Michael J. Kok Matthews relics were reputedly discovered in Salerno (Italy) in 1080. 6:25 (300s AD). 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. 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. 1/27/2013 09:47:39 pm. [40] Conversely, Papias may not have known the Gospel according to the Hebrews at all, instead learning about the woman who was accused of many sins before the Lord from his oral informants in Asia Minor, and Eusebius may have been the one who discovered that this tale was included in the version of the Gospel according to the Hebrews that circulated in his own day. The meaning in Hebrew of the word day always means a 24 hour period of time. Jefferson himself believed that a person's religion was between them and their god. Another option is that Papias was referring to a lost source. 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. Matthew's Gospel was written in approximately A.D.___, before the destruction of Jerusalem. 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. [28] Baum, Ein aramischer Urmatthus, 26364. See John P. Meier, The Vision of Matthew: Christ, Church, and Morality in the First Gospel(New York: Paulist, 1978), 2425. 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. [45] Luomanen, Jewish-Christian Sects, 100101; Kok, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 41; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 47, 47n.28. Follow me, he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. Krzinger and Gundry insist that dialektos would be preceded by an article if a language was intended (cf. There were, however, at the time of Christ and the Apostles two languages spoken by JewsAramaic and Greek. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. There are many examples of irresistible grace in God's Word. Thom. 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. James son of Alphaeus is traditionally identified as James the Less and James the brother of Jesus. 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. There is a lot of controversy in recent centuries about that subject. Jesus' death by crucifixion was the worst death that anybody would have to endure. Levi had to keep very accurate records. 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. Was the Gospel of Matthew written by Levi aka Matthew in Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek? Matthew authored the first Gospel of the . This makes it doubtful that Matthew 9:9 was intended as either the evangelists self-reference or as a pseudonymous literary device supplementing the ascription of this Gospel to Matthew. Ps. It is not surprising he watched Jesus carefully and wrote down the first of the four Gospels, the biographies of Jesus of Nazareth.

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