Who Was Matthew in the Bible?

Understanding Matthew 9:9, Matthew 10:3, Mark 2:14, Luke 5:27-28

Matthew's story is one of the most dramatic transformations in the New Testament. He went from being a despised tax collector — a traitor to his own people in Jewish eyes — to one of Jesus' twelve apostles and the traditional author of the Gospel that opens the New Testament.

Tax collector to disciple

Matthew was sitting at his tax booth in Capernaum when Jesus walked by and said two words: 'Follow me' (Matthew 9:9). The other Gospels call him 'Levi son of Alphaeus' (Mark 2:14, Luke 5:27), suggesting 'Matthew' was either a second name or a name given by Jesus (as Simon became Peter). Matthew got up and followed immediately — leaving behind what was likely the most lucrative career of any disciple.

Tax collectors (telonai in Greek) in first-century Palestine were Jews who contracted with the Roman government to collect taxes from their own people. They were hated for multiple reasons: they collaborated with the occupying power, they were often dishonest (collecting more than required and pocketing the difference), and their constant contact with Gentiles made them ritually unclean under Jewish law. The Talmud grouped tax collectors with robbers and murderers. The Gospels pair them with 'sinners' as a standard phrase (Matthew 9:10-11, 11:19).

Matthew was not just any tax collector — he was stationed at Capernaum, which sat on the trade route between Damascus and the Mediterranean ports. This was a major customs post. Matthew would have assessed duties on goods passing through, making him relatively wealthy and thoroughly despised.

The dinner party

After his call, Matthew threw a great banquet at his house for Jesus, inviting 'many tax collectors and sinners' (Matthew 9:10, Luke 5:29). This dinner party was Matthew's first act of discipleship — he brought his entire social network to meet Jesus. The Pharisees were scandalized: 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?' Jesus' response became one of His most quoted statements: 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners' (Matthew 9:12-13).

This scene captures something essential about Jesus' ministry. He did not wait for sinners to clean themselves up before approaching Him. He went to them, sat at their tables, and ate their food. The incarnation extended to dinner parties.

Matthew among the Twelve

Matthew appears in all four lists of the twelve apostles (Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:15, Acts 1:13). In Matthew's own Gospel, he identifies himself as 'Matthew the tax collector' (10:3) — the only apostle who attaches his former occupation to his name, as if refusing to forget where he came from.

Beyond his call and the dinner party, Matthew is not individually highlighted in the Gospel narratives. He was present for the major events — the Sermon on the Mount, the Transfiguration (as one of the Twelve, though not in the inner three), the Last Supper, and Pentecost. But unlike Peter, James, and John, he does not have recorded individual interactions with Jesus after his initial call.

The Gospel of Matthew

Early church tradition unanimously attributed the first Gospel to Matthew. Papias (writing around AD 120-130) recorded that 'Matthew collected the oracles [logia] in the Hebrew language, and each person interpreted them as best he could.' Irenaeus, Origen, and Eusebius all affirmed Matthean authorship.

Modern scholars debate whether the apostle Matthew wrote the Gospel in its current Greek form, or whether a later author used Matthew's collected teachings as a source. What is clear is that the Gospel reflects a deeply Jewish perspective — someone who knew the Hebrew Scriptures intimately and was convinced Jesus fulfilled them.

The Gospel of Matthew is organized around five major discourse blocks — the Sermon on the Mount (5-7), the Mission Discourse (10), the Parables of the Kingdom (13), the Community Discourse (18), and the Olivet Discourse (24-25) — possibly mirroring the five books of Moses. Matthew presents Jesus as the new Moses, giving a new law from a new mountain.

Matthew quotes or alludes to the Old Testament more than any other Gospel, using the formula 'This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet' at least twelve times. For Matthew, Jesus is not an innovation — He is the culmination of everything God promised. The genealogy that opens the Gospel traces Jesus' lineage through Abraham and David, establishing Him as both the son of the covenant and the heir to the throne.

Why a tax collector?

Matthew's professional background made him uniquely suited to write a Gospel. Tax collectors were literate — they had to keep detailed records in multiple languages (Aramaic for local transactions, Greek for Roman administration). They were organized, numerate, and accustomed to documentation. Matthew would have been one of the most literate members of the Twelve.

Moreover, Matthew's experience as a social outcast gave him a particular sensitivity to Jesus' ministry to the marginalized. His Gospel includes the parable of the wedding banquet where outcasts fill the seats (22:1-14), the judgment scene where nations are assessed by how they treated 'the least of these' (25:31-46), and the Great Commission that extends the gospel to 'all nations' (28:19) — not just Israel.

Later tradition

Biblical information about Matthew's later life is minimal. Acts 1:13 places him in the upper room after the ascension. Beyond that, the New Testament is silent.

Church tradition offers varied accounts. Eusebius recorded that Matthew preached to the Hebrews before departing to other nations. Various traditions place his later ministry in Ethiopia, Persia, Parthia, or Syria. The manner of his death is disputed — some traditions say he was martyred (by sword, spear, or burning), while Clement of Alexandria suggested he died a natural death.

What matters more than the uncertain details of his later life is the certain fact of his transformation. Matthew went from collecting Rome's taxes to collecting Jesus' teachings. He went from profiting off his own people to writing the most Jewish Gospel in the New Testament. He went from being the kind of person religious people avoided to being the author of the book that has introduced more people to Jesus than perhaps any other.

His call remains one of the most concise and powerful scenes in the Gospels: Jesus saw him, called him, and Matthew followed. No negotiation, no conditions, no probationary period. The grace that found Matthew at his tax booth is the same grace offered to every reader of his Gospel.