Matthew (Apostle)

Matthew, also known as Levi, was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. when Jesus called him, he was working as a receipt of custom. Probably to the surprise of those with Jesus, he immediately followed after Him.

After being called, Matthew invited Jesus home for a feast. This was seen as scandalous by many of the religious leaders who considered "tax collectors" to be the worst kind of sinner.

In his later life, Matthew would go on to write an account of Jesus's life and teachings. Though writers in the second century speak of his writing in "Hebrew," no evidence in the Greek version shows it to be a translation

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Family
Not much is known about Matthew's family, but his father is named as Alphaeus. Another of the disciples, James, was also listed as a son of Alphaeus, but there is no indication in the text that the two were brothers. However, Matthew does identify one of the women near Jesus as "Mary, the mother of James." The parallel in John's gospel has a "Mary, the wife of Clopas" (a derivative of the same Hebrew name).