Matthew

Matthew (Gr. Matthaios, Lat. Matthæus, from Heb. Matthai, a shortened form of Mattithya, Mattathya, or Mattathai, 'gift of Jehovah'), one of the twelve apostles (Matt. x. 3; Mark, iii. 18; Luke, v. 15; Acts, i. 13), and, according to tradition, the author of the first of the four canonical gospels, was a publican or tax-gatherer (Matt. x. 3) at Capernann when called to the apostolate by Jesus, as related in Matt. ix. 9. The closely parallel passages in Mark (ii. 14) and Luke (v. 27) mention Levi in the same connection, and the general belief is that this is simply another name for the same person (compare the double names Simon and Peter, Joses and Barnabas), though the identification has been disputed both in ancient and in modern times by many weighty authorities, among whom may be mentioned Origen, Grotius, Michaelis, Neander, Ewald, Reuss, and Keim. Except in the four lists of the apostles and in Mark, ix. 9, Matthew is nowhere mentioned by name in the New Testament, and ecclesiastical tradition has little to tell of him. An early authority (Heracleon, reported by Clement of Alexandria) represents him as having died a natural death; by other writers he is stated, but with considerable vacillations, to have written a gospel for the Christians in Palestine after the dispersion of the apostles, and, after having preached the word in Parthia and Ethiopia, to have suffered martyrdom. The most important extant statement regarding him is that of Papias (bishop of Hierapolis in the 2d century), preserved by Eusebius, to the effect that 'Matthew wrote in the Hebrew (Western Aramaic) dialect a collection of the sayings of the Lord, and each one interpreted them as best he could.' This passage was long accepted as conclusive testimony to the truth of the universally current belief that Matthew the apostle was the author of our first canonical gospel (it being tacitly or expressly assumed that at some later date an authentic Greek translation had been made by himself from the Aramaic original vouched for by Papias). Modern criticism of the gospels (see GOSPELS) has led to the general adoption of another view of the passage, according to which it refers to the 'logia' document, or collection of discourses and sayings of Jesus, written in Aramaic by Matthew, which is now believed to have been one of the most important written sources used by the authors of the existing first and third gospels. In this sense, and also as having been prepared primarily with a view to the needs of Jewish Christians, the first gospel is correctly described as the 'gospel according to Matthew.' But that this gospel cannot be of directly apostolic origin, or the work of an actual companion of Jesus, is shown by the artificiality of its arrangement, the vagueness of its references, and its obvious dependence on previous authorities. As to the date of its composition critics are not agreed whether it ought to be placed before or after the year 70 A.D., some seeing in the book numerous references to Jerusalem and the temple and its institutions as still subsisting, while others interpret such a passage as Matt. xxii. 7 as certainly showing that the destruction of the city had already taken place. The first gospel is much more largely quoted than any other by early Christian writers, and in view of the fact that it successfully aimed at a reconciliation between a Jewish and a cosmopolitan conception of Christ as 'legal, yet above the law, as Jewish, yet above Judaism,' it has been characterised by Renan as 'the most important book ever written.' For literature, see GOSPELS.