Matthew the Apostle

Matthew appears dramatically when Jesus encounters him at a tax office and commands, 'Follow me.' He rises and follows. Matthew 10 later lists him among the Twelve and uniquely calls him 'Matthew the tax collector,' preserving the socially disfavored occupation from which Jesus called him. Mark and Luke tell the same kind of call story about a tax collector named Levi, followed by a banquet at which Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners. Because the settings and sequence are so similar, Matthew and Levi have traditionally been identified, although Mark calls Levi a son of Alphaeus and the New Testament never explicitly says, 'Levi was Matthew.' Jesus' fellowship with tax collectors provoked criticism from religious leaders, to which He answered that the sick need a physician and that He came to call sinners. Matthew remains with the apostolic group through the Gospel period and is listed among the apostles in Acts after the ascension. The Gospel of Matthew is formally anonymous within its text, but early Christian tradition consistently associates it with the apostle Matthew. The exact literary history of the Gospel should be distinguished from the secure biblical facts about the apostle.