One of the Twelve
Matthew
Matthew, also called Levi, was a tax collector whom Jesus called from his booth to follow him. Despised by his people for collaborating with Rome, he left his lucrative trade at a word and threw a feast for other outcasts to meet Jesus. Tradition credits him with the first Gospel.
“And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.”Matthew 9:9
Who he was
Matthew, called Levi son of Alphaeus in Mark and Luke, was a tax collector working a booth near Capernaum (Mark 2:14, Matthew 9:9). Tax collectors gathered duties for Rome and were widely hated as traitors and cheats, lumped with sinners in common speech. Matthew therefore was a man of some wealth and much shame, excluded from respectable religious life. Yet when Jesus passed and simply said follow me, he rose and left it all (Matthew 9:9). He then hosted a great banquet at his house, filling it with fellow tax collectors and sinners so they too could sit with Jesus, which scandalized the religious leaders (Luke 5:29). Christian tradition identifies him as the author of the Gospel that bears his name, rich in Jewish Scripture and concern for the outcast.
His life, in Scripture and in tradition
Scripture shows Matthew called from the tax booth with two words, follow me, and rising immediately to do so (Matthew 9:9). His response was to gather other tax collectors and sinners at a feast for Jesus, occasioning Jesus' saying that he came to call not the righteous but sinners (Matthew 9:13). Matthew is named in every list of the twelve (Mark 3:18). Beyond the call and the feast, the Gospels record no further individual scenes of his life, and the New Testament does not describe his later ministry or death. Church tradition, not Scripture, credits him with writing the first Gospel and holds that he preached among Jewish communities and possibly in Ethiopia or Persia, dying as a martyr. These later accounts differ and cannot be confirmed.
What his life points to in Christ
Matthew's story is grace in two words. Jesus walked up to a man everyone had written off, a collaborator and cheat, and said follow me, and that call created a new life (Matthew 9:9). When challenged for eating with such people, Jesus said the sick need a physician and that he came to call sinners, with Matthew as living proof (Matthew 9:12). The former collector of debts became a recorder of the good news that debts are forgiven. His first instinct was to bring his old friends to the table with Jesus, showing that grace received longs to be shared. Matthew reminds us that no reputation is too soiled for Christ's call, and that the people society excludes are exactly the ones he seeks.
Questions people ask
Did the apostle Matthew write the Gospel of Matthew?
The Gospel itself does not name its author. Early church tradition, from the second century onward, consistently attributed the first Gospel to Matthew the apostle and tax collector. Many scholars today debate this, noting the book's use of other sources. So the traditional attribution is strong and ancient, while direct proof from within the text is lacking, making authorship a matter of tradition and discussion.
How did the apostle Matthew die?
The New Testament does not record Matthew's death. Church tradition from later centuries holds that he preached to Jewish communities and in regions such as Ethiopia or Persia and died as a martyr, though some accounts suggest a natural death. The reports vary and cannot be confirmed, so how Matthew died remains tradition rather than something Scripture tells us.
Why were tax collectors like Matthew hated?
In Jesus' day tax collectors gathered money for the occupying Roman authorities and often took extra for themselves. Fellow Jews saw them as traitors and extortioners, and Scripture regularly pairs them with sinners (Matthew 9:11). That is why Jesus calling Matthew and dining at his house scandalized the religious leaders, and why Matthew's ready response so vividly displays the reach of Christ's grace.