Matthew the Apostle

Matthew the Apostle was a member of the twelve apostles chosen by Jesus. In Christian tradition, he is also counted among the four Evangelists, credited with writing the Gospel of Matthew—a synoptic gospel that includes the full Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes. Because of this, he is sometimes called Matthew the Evangelist. The New Testament says he followed Jesus as an apostle. Early church writers like Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria state that Matthew first preached in Judea and later traveled to other lands.

In the New Testament, Matthew appears in Matthew 9:9 and 10:3 as a tax collector working at a customs booth in Capernaum when Jesus called him. He is also listed among the Twelve in Mark 3:18, Luke 6:15, and Acts 1:13, though those passages do not mention his background. Parallel accounts in Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27 describe Jesus calling a tax collector named Levi, son of Alphaeus, without linking that name to Matthew. The three passages are very similar. Because both Matthew (also called Levi) and James, son of Alphaeus, share a father named Alphaeus, Eastern Orthodox tradition holds that the two apostles were brothers.

After Jesus’s ascension, the disciples gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem (traditionally the Cenacle), as recorded in Acts 1:10–14. They stayed in and around Jerusalem, proclaiming Jesus as the promised Messiah. The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a) mentions a “Mattai” as one of five disciples of “Jeshu.”

Early church fathers like Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria say Matthew preached to Jews in Judea before moving on. Ancient writers disagree on where he went, but nearly all mention Ethiopia—likely meaning the region south of the Caspian Sea (ancient Persia), not the modern African nation. Both Catholic and Orthodox traditions hold that Matthew died as a martyr, and the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a) seems to report his execution. One tradition says that while preaching in Ethiopia, Matthew converted and consecrated Ephigenia, the virgin daughter of King Egippus. When King Hirtacus succeeded Egippus, he asked Matthew to persuade Ephigenia to marry him. Matthew instead rebuked the king during a liturgy, calling Ephigenia a nun and bride of Christ. Enraged, Hirtacus ordered his bodyguard to kill Matthew at the altar, making him a martyr.

Early church tradition, first recorded by Bishop Papias of Hierapolis (c. AD 60–163) and cited by Eusebius, says Matthew collected the sayings of Jesus in Hebrew and that each person interpreted them as best they could. Origen (c. 184–c. 253) also said Matthew wrote the first gospel in Hebrew near Jerusalem for Hebrew Christians, and that it was later translated into Greek. The Hebrew original was kept at the Library of Caesarea, and a copy was made for Jerome by the Nazarene community. This work was called the Gospel according to the Hebrews or the Gospel of the Apostles, once thought to be the original behind the Greek Matthew. Modern scholars like Bart D. Ehrman and James R. Edwards have challenged this. Most scholars today believe the Gospel of Matthew was written anonymously, though traditional authorship still has defenders. The author is unnamed in the text, and the heading “according to Matthew” was added in the second century.

In the third century, Jewish-Christian groups like the Nazarenes and Ebionites used gospels attributed to Matthew. Fragments survive in quotes by Jerome, Epiphanius, and others. Scholars generally distinguish the Gospel of the Nazarenes (36 fragments), Gospel of the Ebionites (7 fragments), and Gospel of the Hebrews (7 fragments). Most commentators think these were composed in Greek and related to the canonical Matthew, though a minority see them as fragments of a lost Aramaic or Hebrew original. The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew is a seventh-century compilation of the Gospel of James, the Flight into Egypt, and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Jerome says the Nazarenes believed Matthew wrote their Gospel of the Hebrews, but Irenaeus and Epiphanius considered it a revised version of the canonical gospel. Epiphanius does not personally endorse the claim that Matthew wrote that gospel.