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Matthew the Evangelist facts for kids

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The Evangelist Matthew Inspired by an Angel
The Evangelist Matthew inspired by an Angel is a painting by Rembrandt

Saint Matthew is one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. Matthew wrote the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Sometimes, he is called Levi. He was a tax collector before his decision to follow Christ.

In the New Testament

Bodleian Library MS. Arm. d.13. Armenian Gospels-0039-0
Matthew in a painted miniature from a volume of Armenian Gospels dated 1609, held by the Bodleian Library

Among the early followers and apostles of Jesus, Matthew is mentioned in Matthew 9:9 and Matthew 10:3 as a publican who, while sitting at the "receipt of custom" in Capernaum, was called to follow Jesus. He is also listed among the twelve, but without identification of his background, in Mark 3:18, Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13. In passages parallel to Matthew 9:9, both Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27 describe Jesus' calling of the tax collector Levi, the son of Alphaeus, but Mark and Luke never explicitly equate this Levi with the Matthew named as one of the twelve.

Early life

Levi was a 1st-century Galilean (presumably born in Galilee, which was not part of Judea or the Roman Iudaea province), the son of Alpheus. As a tax collector he would have been literate in Aramaic and Greek. His fellow Jews would have despised him for what was seen as collaborating with the Roman occupation force.

After his call, Matthew invited Jesus home for a feast. On seeing this, the Scribes and the Pharisees criticized Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners. This prompted Jesus to answer, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Mark 2:17, Luke 5:32)

Related pages


Images for kids

  • Rembrandt - Evangelist Matthew and the Angel - WGA19119

    Saint Matthew and the Angel (1661) by Rembrandt

  • Matthaeus San Giovanni in Laterano 2006-09-07

    Saint Matthew (1713–1715) by Camillo Rusconi, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome

  • Saint Matthew2

    Saint Matthew in the Ebbo Gospels

  • MattewIslam

    St. Matthew writing the Gospel with an angel holding the volume, an Islamic miniature c. 1530 by Kesu Das for the Mughal king

  • The Calling of Saint Matthew-Caravaggo (1599-1600)

    The Calling of St Matthew, 1599–1600, Caravaggio

  • Evangelist-St.-Matthew-And-The-Angel

    Saint Matthew and the Angel by Guido Reni, 1620–1630

  • MatthewSt.Matts

    Stained-glass depiction of Saint Matthew at St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Charleston, South Carolina

  • Giuseppe Bernardi-Matthew-BMA

    A terracotta sculptural model, Giuseppe Bernardi

  • Salerno 2013-05-17 10-47-55

    The Crypt at Salerno Cathedral

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