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Matthew (1st century CE) was, according to Christian tradition, one of the Twelve apostles of Jesus of Nazareth, and one of the four evangelists.

Overview

In the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke-Acts, Matthew is mentioned in the lists of the Twelve (Mk 3:18; Mt 10:3; Lk 6:15; Acts 1:13), who were with Jesus and were leaders of the nascent Christian movement after his death.

The Gospel of Matthew is the only source to include a narrative about the calling of Matthew and to consistently identify him as "the tax collector": "As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, Follow me. And he rose and followed him" (Mt 9:9; see also 10:3). In the parallel accounts of Mark (2:13-14) and Luke (5:27-28), however, the name of the tax collector is "Levi" ("the son of Alphaeus" according to Mark).

The Gospel of Thomas refers to Matthew as answering the question about Jesus' identity with the words: "You are a wise philosopher" (13). No reference to Matthew can be found in the Gospel of John, or in Paul or any other early sources.

The later Christian tradition would ordinarily identify Matthew with Levi and would attribute to him the authorship of the Gospel of Matthew. After the death of Jesus, Matthew-Levi is said to have preached for many years to Jews in Judea, and then to Gentiles in Ethiopia (the region to the south of the Caspian Sea), Macedonia, Persia, and Parthia. There are also stories about his martyrdom, although the Christian tradition is not consistent whether he was killed or died of natural death, or about the kind of penalty inflicted on him.

Studies on the historical Matthew are made impossible by the lack of evidence, and restricted to introductory notes on the authorship of the Gospel of Matthew or on the legends surrounding his life.